64. Stella
CHAPTER 64
STELLA
I t takes a while to transition, but I’m fully back in mom mode by the time I pick up Jessie at school.
“How’s your wrist been feeling today?” I ask when we’re nearly home.
“It’s fine, Mommy. It’s been fine all week.” She doesn’t bother to hide her impatience with my questions about her injury. Even though it’s been healing for ten days, I worry that she might reinjure it on the playground.
“Well, that’s good. Only three more days, and you can be done with the brace.”
“Thank goodness!” She sounds like she’s been wearing it for ten months, rather than ten days.
At home, we go through the regular routine of a treat for Goldfish, a snack for Jessie, and some playtime outside, though what Jessie can do has been limited while she heals.
We also had a talk last week about safety on the playset, after I found out she was doing something risky to try to impress Cam and Wyatt that evening that she fell.
When she comes inside, she skips through the living room.
“Are you excited to go out to dinner with Cam and Wyatt?” I ask her.
“Yes, I am!”
“They told me they’re taking us to a restaurant where we’ll eat outside, and there are games like bean bag toss, that we can play before and after we eat.”
“I can’t wait,” she cries.
“Before we go, I wanted to talk to you about the neighbors, about Cam and Wyatt.”
Jessie scoots to a stop and plops her bottom down on the carpet. Goldfish is immediately at her side. “What do you want to talk about, Mommy?”
I sit down on the floor with her. “Well … I really like them, and I’m going to be going out on dates with them.”
“Okay.”
“But I want you to know that you’ll always be my first priority. Seeing them won’t take away from how much I love you.”
Jessie nods as she pets Goldfish. “Are they your boyfriends, Mommy?”
I bite my lip. “I guess you could call them that.”
She nods. “I knew that already.”
“You did? Did they tell you?” I can’t imagine that Cam or Wyatt would have decided to tell her before I did, but maybe it slipped out somehow.
Jessie shakes her head. “No, I just knew. I told Goldfish a few days ago, and he said he already knew, too.”