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Her daughter hung her head. “It’s not just Renee’s party. It’s…sometimes Daddy…”
Mariah’s heart jerked as if she’d touched a live wire. She fought to keep her voice calm. “Sometimes what?”
“Sometimes he’s boring.” The first-grader sighed heavily. “He doesn’t do stuff with me.”
Mariah sagged. Of course Zofie would have told her if Simon had touched her like that. She had to quit scaring herself by reading something into nothing!
“I can’t always do stuff with you, either,” she pointed out, her voice only slightly shaky.
“Yeah, but then I can go to a friend’s house or something,” Zofie argued. “Or I have my toys.”
“I know perfectly well you have toys at his house, too.” Mariah raised her eyebrows and nodded at the bag in the hall. “Not to mention everything you just packed.”
Zofie squirmed. “Yeah, but…” She flung herself at her mother and hugged her hard. “I like being with you!”
Mariah dropped to her knees on the throw rug in front of her daughter’s bed and hugged back. Tears stinging her eyes, she said, “Oh, sweetie, you know I like being with you, too.”
Zofie sniffed and nodded hard. “But Dad loves me, too,” she mumbled.
“That’s right.” Mariah hoped and prayed Simon did, that he would always put the child they shared first.
One more sniff, and her petite daughter straightened, lifted her chin and said with resolution, “I’m okay.”
Mariah smiled, hoping her tears didn’t show. “Good.”
Zofie cocked her head. “Is that Daddy? Did you hear a knock?”
“No, but let’s go see.” Mariah grabbed the child’s suitcase from the bed and hurried with Zofie to the front door.
Opening it, her daughter cried, “Daddy!” with complete delight, as if she hadn’t just been bemoaning the necessity of seeing him.
Mariah stood back watching as he bent and lifted Zofie into his arms, a grin warming his saturnine face. For a moment he was the handsome man she had married, his dark hair tousled, his thin nose and wonderful cheekbones making him movie-star handsome. She had the jarring sensation of a temporal shift, as if this was once-upon-a-time, and he was just coming home from work, and he’d be looking up and smiling at her any minute…
Instead, over Zofie’s dark curls, his cold gaze met hers. “I take it she’s ready?”
Mariah forced a smile. “Yup. Zofie’s all packed.”
“Wait!” She wriggled in his arms. “I’ve got stuff to play with. I left it in the hall.”
“Run and get it.” He let her down and bent to pick up her suitcase.
The silence felt uncomfortable. Trying to sound friendly, Mariah asked, “Do you have any plans this weekend?”
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