Page 110 of Animal's Reformation
Animal laughed and squeezed her hand lightly. “You sure about that?”
“Uh-huh.” She bobbed her head up and down.
“We’ll pick you up then,” he said to Olivia.
“Sounds good. I have to get back and straighten out the classroom. Remember to practice the passages I marked for you,” she said to Lucy. “See you later.”
On the drive home, Lucy chatted about the upcoming school trip to the candy factory. She told him Olivia was going to come with her class on that day.
“Sounds like you really like Olivia,” he said.
“Yeah, you like her too.” Lucy blew a bubble with her gum and popped it.
“I do.”
“I’ve seen you kissing.” Lucy giggled.
Surprise ran through him. “When did you start spying on me?” he asked, which only made Lucy laugh harder.
“Does Ms. Mooney have a mom?” she asked after her laughter died down.
“Yeah, why?”
“Does her mom live here?”
“No. She lives in California, but Olivia’s not that close to her.”
“Does her mom love Ms. Mooney?” Lucy fixed her gaze on Animal.
For the thousandth time, Animal wondered how Emerald could desert her daughter in the way in which she had. “I don’t think they get along. Her mom was not really there for her and neither was her dad.”
“She was all alone?” A small frown formed on his daughter’s forehead.
“Pretty much.”
“She’s happy now.”
“Yeah, she is.” Animal shifted in his seat. He hadn’t wanted to tell Lucy about Olivia and him before because he wasn’t sure if what they had was going anywhere. The last thing he’d wanted was for Lucy to get attached to Olivia if she wasn’t going to stick around. But ever since their day at the lake, Animal knew he wanted her in his life, and he knew she wanted that as well.
He looked sideways at Lucy. “How would you like it if Olivia became part of our family?”
Lucy’s eyes widened. “Like marry her?”
Animal almost choked. “Whoa … I didn’t say that. I was just asking if you’d like to include her in stuff that we do. Sometimes you and I will do things alone, but we can start asking her to hang with us. You know, come over and watch TV with us, have dinner, and other things.”
“I’d like that. If you marry Ms. Mooney, will she be my mom?”
“I’m not marrying anyone, kiddo. Get the marriage thing outta your mind.” That’s all he needed was for Lucy to say something to Olivia. Wouldn’t that be a fucking mess?
“Oh … why not?”
Animal let out a loud sigh. “I don’t know. We’re not there yet, and I never thought about it.” Marriage was a dirty word for him, like a deadly diagnosis or something.
“Can Ms. Mooney be my mom?”
His heart lurched. “Do you want her to?”
“I don’t know.” Lucy turned away and looked out the window.
“You don’t have to know, kiddo. I just wanted to ask you if you’re cool with Olivia spending more time with us. What do you want on your pizza tonight?”
While Lucy talked, Animal made a mental note that he’d call the child psychologist Olivia had told him about. Even though Lucy seemed better than she’d been a few months before, he knew her mother’s abandonment had scarred her. All Animal wanted was to give her the best life he could, and helping her heal and work through all the anger shit that her fucking mother had caused was the first step in the right direction toward his daughter’s well-being.
He pulled into the garage and Lucy jumped out of the car and ran to the back door.
“Can I have a cookie? Please?”
Animal unlocked the door and followed her to the kitchen. “You can have two, kiddo.” He smiled and walked over to the cupboard and took down a bag of iced animal crackers.
