Page 53 of Velvet Chains

“I’m ready!” she said.

Yeah, she looked ready.

I looped a rainbow scarf around her neck and grabbed our coats. “Okay, punk. Let’s hit it.”

“Mami,” she said as I turned the car on. “Are you and Daddy going to live together again?”

I sighed as we walked out the door. “Probably not, peanut. It’s a lot calmer when we don’t live in the same place. Don’t you think so?”

“Yeah,” she said. “I guess. You both seem less sad.”

I had to avert my eyes as I buckled her in.

Nothing really prepared you for your kid to lay emotional truth bombs on you like that.

We pulled up to the restaurant, and I spotted Alek through the window before we even got out of the car. He sat across from Julian, leaning back with his arms crossed, chatting like this wasn’t the weirdest goddamn situation we’d ever put him in. Julian was rigid as ever, all pointy cheekbones and pressed linen, a textbook gentleman with an acute lack of spontaneity.He looked like he was facing down a firing squad, but that was probably just the lighting. Or his face.

Next to him was a woman whose name I didn’t know. She was pretty in that unassuming way that came from pretending not to be. Her hair fell in soft curls over her shoulders, chunky earrings peeking through.

“Excited, tesoro?” I asked Rosie as we got out of the car and I wrapped my scarf around my neck. It was just starting to snow—the kind of fat, heavy flakes that clung to the air like sugar but vanished as soon as they hit the ground.

She nodded, a little bundle of energy beside me. "So excited!"

We walked inside, greeted by the exposed brick and reclaimed wood characteristic of all Julian’s favorite, sterile, upscale restaurants. A hostess led us to the table, where Alek rose to give me a quick hug.

"You look tired," he said.

"Wow, thanks." I forced a smile. "It's a new thing I'm trying."

Julian rose halfway, then decided against it when he realized I wasn't going to lean in for a hug. "Ruby. Thank you for making it."

"Hi, Daddy!" Rosie said, waving warmly at Julian.

His face softened. "Oh, baby. I missed you." He scooted over, making space between himself and his shiny new girlfriend. "Come here. Sit next to me."

Rosie didn’t hesitate to betray me, climbing onto the seat and reaching for Julian’s arm. “You can sit next to me if you want, Mami,” she said. “There’s space.”

I looked at Julian and the new girlfriend, both of them looking like there was not, in fact, space. I sat down next to Alek instead. “I’m okay over here, sweetie.”

“Hi, Alek!” Rosie said. “Did you get a haircut?”

“I did. You’re very observant,” Alek said. “Maybe you should take over Ruby’s job.”

She wrinkled her nose. “I can’t. I’m not a lawyer.”

“Oh, you’d make a good one, though,” Alek said.

She beamed at that—anything to be like mom.

Julian cleared his throat. “Rosie, I’d like you to meet my friend Valerie.”

“Hi,” Rosie said shyly.

Valerie smiled. “Wow. I love your shoes,” she said. “You must be seven.”

Rosie’s eyes widened. “I am! How did you know?”

“Lucky guess,” Valerie said. “Is chocolate milk cool enough for a seven-year-old, or would you rather have a martini?”