The three grownups stopped talking and looked at her.
“It’s time for bed, Princess,” Daddy said, and Grace wished she’d kept her big fat mouth shut. Whining, she shuffled over to her Papa and opened her arms for a hug. He scooped her up and twirled her around, kissing her neck. She clung to him still, giggling as he let her go, and she slipped back down to the floor.
Grace went to Nana, who stood by the sliding glass door, chewing on her thumbnail. It took a lot of nerve, but Grace said, “Nana? Thanks for playing Chutes and Ladders with me.”
Nana stopped biting her thumbnail and looked down.
Grace tried to smile, but it wasn’t very good.
Then Nana did the most amazing thing: she bent down and picked Grace up.
Grace was so surprised she gasped. She would have hugged her Nana, but it was over so fast Grace barely had time to blink before Nana was whispering, “Night, Gracie. Don’t let the bed bugs bite.”
It was so weird. Grace sidled close to her daddy and slipped her hand in his back pocket, just so she could be close to him. He plucked her up and carried her down to the bathroom they both used. He helped her brush her teeth and get ready for bed. When she had on her jammies, he put her in her bed and sat down beside her.
Her room was messy, with toys everywhere, and her Wall-E comforter in a bunch at the end of the bed. Daddy pulled it up carefully, tucking Grace in.
“Are we gonna read more of The Secret Garden tonight, Daddy?”
“Not tonight, Princess.”
Ask him.
“What?” Grace whispered furiously to her wrist.
“How come you’re talking to Ariel when I’m right here?” Daddy said, frowning at her.
“Ariel thinks something weird is happening.”
“She does, does she? And what does she think it is?”
“What is it?” Grace whispered to her wristband, but Ariel had vanished. “I guess she went to sleep.”
Daddy reached over and unhooked Grace’s wristband.
“Can’t she sleep with me tonight?” Grace mumbled. It was an old fight, and she didn’t expect to win, but she had to ask.
“You know the rules. She sleeps on the nightstand.”
Her daddy stretched out on the narrow bed, with her big stuffed panda bear as a pillow behind him. Grace snuggled against him and looked up. “Daddy?”
He stroked her hair. “What, Gracie?”
“Who’s Lexi?”
He stopped stroking her hair. “Lexi is your mother.”
Grace scrambled to sit up. This was news. “What?”
“Lexi is your mother, Grace.”
“Wow,” Grace said. “Is she a spy?”
“No, honey, she’s not.”
“An astronaut?”
“No.”
Grace felt bad, but she wasn’t sure why. “Where has she been?”
“She’s been … busy. I guess those are questions you’ll have to ask her.”
“I get to ask her questions?”
“She wants to see you, Gracie.”
“She does?” Grace felt a brand-new emotion unfold with her. It was shiny, like tinfoil, and sparkly as a birthday crown. “Did she miss me?”
“I think she did,” he answered.
“Wow,” Grace said again. She tried to imagine what it would be like to have a mommy, someone who would know everything about her and love her anyway. Now Grace would finally be like all of the other kids.
But why had her mommy left her in the first place? And how long was she gonna stay? What if she didn’t like Grace? What if— “Daddy?” Grace said, frowning. “How come you look sad?”
“I’m not sad, honey.”
“Don’t you want me to see my mommy?”
“Of course I do,” he said, but she could tell that he was lying. She’d seen him look sad lots of times, but this time he looked worse than sad.
“What if she doesn’t like me?”
“It’s me she doesn’t like, Princess.”
“If she doesn’t like you, I don’t like her,” Grace said, crossing her arms. She could tell that her daddy was hardly listening to her. He was just staring at the picture on the nightstand—the picture of him and his sister sitting on a gray beach log.