Page 59

The boys move on to the next attraction and we follow. “Your face says different,” Rosilyn presses with a smile.
“He’s a friend, I swear,” I laugh, pulling my shades from my bag and putting them on. The sun is peeking through the clouds now. But also, I’ve never had a great poker face. The boys are getting hungry and we find a grassy area near a playground. We sit at a table in the trees enjoying fried chicken potato salad, baked beans and watermelon.
“I love cold fried chicken,” I say, dabbing my lips with a napkin. “I know that’s kind of weird. But when I was a kid, I didn’t grow up around a lot of family, but my neighbors used to take me on picnics with them while my dad was working. He worked a lot, even Sundays.”
“No grandparents?” Rosilyn asks, spooning up a bite of potato salad.
I shake my head, taking another bite. “My dad doesn’t talk to his parents. And I guess he stopped talking to my mom’s parents when she died.”
“Your mom died?” Luca blurts out and Rosilyn shoots him a look.
“Luca!”
I smile though. “It’s alright. I was a baby. I don’t even remember her.”
“Still must be hard,” Rosilyn empathises.
I half shrug, tousling Jax’s hair. “I used to feel sad about it once in a while. Mostly when I saw other kids with their moms. It seemed like everyone had a mom but me. My neighbors must have noticed because they always offered to let me do things with them. Their kids were a little older than me but it felt nice. Like I belonged with them. Sometimes I actually wished they were my family. We’d go to parks and on picnics like this and they always brought cold fried chicken. Something about it being chilled was delicious to me. Maybe association, I don’t know.”
“Mommy can Luca and I go on the playground before we go see more animals?”
“That’s fine with me,” I say and Rosilyn nods too. They throw their plates in the trash and take off.
“I didn’t have a lot of family growing up either,” she tells me. “It makes me sad for Luca.”
“That’s how I feel too. I was pretty much raised by my dad and his friend, as odd as that sounds.”
“That’s not odd.” She shakes her head. “The friend must have cared about both of you a lot.”
“He does. Did,” I correct myself. I’m glad the heat from the outside temperature has already settled into my cheeks enough that she probably can’t see me blushing. “As long as Jax is happy, I don’t care about any of that anymore.”
My phone buzzes. Another text from Ethan.
Ethan- I wish I was there with you.
Izzy- No you don’t. It’s a bunch of sugar high, cranky kids, stinky animals and sweaty parents.
Ethan- Sounds better than golfing with your dad.
Izzy- But he’s your bestie!
Ethan- You’re not being a very good girl.
Izzy- …but I’m cute.
“Okay that smirk tells me I was right. Who’s the man?” Rosilyn asks, attempting to look over my shoulder. I shove my phone aside before she can see.
“He’s no one!”
“I call bullshit.”
I stare at her. She stares at me. I break.
“Okay fine. It is a guy. But you can’t say anything.”
“I knew you were seeing someone!” She blurts out and I wave my hands for her to hush. “Tell me everything.”
Tell her everything. That is going to be difficult. Because I’m not about to tell her I am seeing my boss. Which, technically I’m not. Nothing is official and we can’t date. Not technically. But also, she knows who my boss is. She’s seen him. And she also knows he’s older. I’m not so sure she’d approve, even if she did say to date more mature men.