Page 44 of Fierce-Jax

Gianna shrugged. “You’ll get mad at me if I tell you why again.”

“Because he’s heavier than other kids?” she asked.

“Maddy says he’s fat,” Gianna said.

“It’s not nice to say that,” she said.

“Even if it’s true?” Gianna asked.

“Even if it’s true,” she said. “What if Maddy picked on you because you had brown eyes?”

“I can’t change that though,” Gianna said. “Just like I can’t change my name. He can change though.”

“You don’t know that for sure,” she said gently. “And I don’t want you to focus on it either. Did you tell Max he was fat? Did you say the words to him or anyone else?”

Gianna put her head down and that gave her an answer. “I’m sorry. But he was being mean to me first. He called me GiGi.”

“It doesn’t matter who started it,” she said. “GiGi isn’t an insult. It’s just a shortened version of your name.”

“But I don’t like it. I shouldn’t have to be called something I don’t like. Maddy told me that. She stuck up for me. When other kids were calling me other names, she called them names.”

Dillion rolled her eyes. “It’s nice to have friends stick up for you,” she said. “But there is a right away and a wrong way. Doing the same thing to someone else that was done to you isn’t right if it’s mean. It’s best to just tell someone to stop.”

“I did,” Gianna argued. “He didn’t listen to me.”

“Then you should walk away and be the bigger person,” she said. “I used to do that. Not everyone is going to like you in life. You can’t fight or argue each time.”

“I don’t know why I can’t just stay with my friends. If they are saying it and didn’t get picked on, why me?”

“It’s called peer pressure. If you don’t think you’d like it done to you, then you shouldn’t do it to someone else,” she said. “I know it’s difficult to understand, but you have to think of lifethat way. How would you feel if it was you? Treat others the way you want to be treated.”

One thing Alec never understood.

He wasn’t strong enough to handle much in life.

He couldn’t stand up for what he needed to.

He was afraid to ask for help.

She would not let her daughter fall prey to those things.

Everyone had weaknesses in life and Alec hadn’t wanted to accept his. He hadn’t wanted her support when she’d offered it. They cared for each other yet he pushed her away in his time of need more often than not.

“I’m sorry, Mommy,” Gianna said, sniffling. She wiped her arm under her nose, leaving bubbles on her face like a mustache.

Dillion smiled over the picture it made. “Don’t be sorry,” she said. “Just be you. But be a nice version of you. Nice people win in the end even when it doesn’t feel it at the time.”

Gianna nodded her head. “Okay. Can I get out and have a snack?”

She grabbed a towel and pushed the drain on the tub. “We can do that,” she said. “Then I’ll read you a story or two in bed.”

“Two,” Gianna said. “With chocolate for my snack. I need it. It was a bad day.”

She laughed over her daughter’s antics and told herself she’d give in for now.

But four years old was too young to be thinking they had to self-medicate with a good book and something sweet for a hard day.

Maybe it was something Alec’s parents should have watched for when he was a child and it was a promise she’d made to herself when she found out she was pregnant, to never let her daughter feel like Alec had growing up.