Page 76 of The Path to Loving Him
“What is prio-titity?” she asks.
“I mean you are what I care about most, I could never forget about you.”
“But you’ve forgotten about Mommy?”
Uhhhhh . . .
“What do you mean?” I ask. “I haven’t forgotten about your mommy.”
“Yes, you have. There are no pictures of her anywhere in the purple house.”
Shit.
I drag my hand over my face.
“That’s because I haven’t finished unpacking yet. Trust me, once I finish unpacking, I will be sure to hang pictures of Mommy everywhere. Okay?”
“Promise?” she asks.
“I promise.”
“Okay.” She’s silent for a moment as guilt consumes me. I need to do something about the house. I thought it would be easy to move, but it’s turning out to be way harder than I thought. In my spare time, I play with Mac, so by the time I put her to sleep, I’m exhausted or thinking about the upcoming season. Unpacking has been the last thing on my mind. Now that school is starting, it’s going to get harder and harder. I make a mental note to tackle some unpacking this weekend, maybe make a thing of it with Mac.
“I’m sorry that I haven’t unpacked,” I say. “I’ve been having a hard time getting everything done.”
“’Cause you’re fixing that girl’s shower?”
“Gabby’s shower?” I ask. “No, I hired someone to do that, but it hasn’t helped.”
“I saw her when I was outside yesterday. She waved at me. She seems really nice.”
That’s one way to put it.
“Think she would want to play with me?”
Christ, why do kids ask questions like this? I want to answer Mac and say you need to stay far away from that Orson-loving wench, but she wouldn’t understand why. I don’t want to say shewouldn’t play with Mac because that might hurt Mac’s feelings. So I go with a simple answer.
“I don’t know, maybe.”
“Maybe you can ask her if we can have a playdate.”
All I need is another playdate with Gabby, although this would be very G-rated.
“Yeah.” I swallow. “I can ask her.”
“Do you think she likes horses?”
“Who doesn’t like horses?”
“Some people.”
“Well, they clearly don’t have good taste because we are horse people over here.”
“You hear that, Chewy Charles?” Mac says and makes the horse neigh. “We are fucking horse people.”
My eyes widen, and I look into the mirror. “Hey, we don’t say that word.”
“Aunt Aubree said it a lot when I was at her house.”
