Hi! It’s me! Lily!!!
So tonight kind of… went off the rails.
Last night was nice. Liz was, indeed, a bit more cuddly than usual, and she just wanted to be held. So, I did. I know some of you silly billies out there are thinking naughty things, but it truly is just how it sounds. She wanted to be held, so I did. She… she’s a sad and lonely girl sometimes. I mean, she’s really smart! Wicked smart! She knows about things I don’t, she plays a mean violin (I mean, yes, I play a mean piano, but I still don’t really know how I learned it), and she could excel at anything she wanted to. But, at the end of the day, she’s a sad little girl who wants to be hugged. She likes boys like I do, but… sometimes we girls have to stick together, y’know? Especially when a boy hurts one of us.
But “sad and lonely” seem to be the words of the day. Diana’s staying over this weekend, her mother wanted to spend some time with her boyfriend. I noticed she seemed to be hanging around Dave a lot. He was putting around in the garage, and she was in there asking him all sorts of questions and trying to help. He went out to pressure wash, and she kind of followed him around like a lost little puppy. Dave wasn’t really getting annoyed but I could tell he was really confused. Did she have some kind of a schoolgirl crush? That’d be kinda dumb, Sabby’s right there.
I asked Sabby about it, and she sighed. We went to my room so we could talk freely.
“Lily,” she said softly, “Diana doesn’t talk to her father. He left when she was very little. Her mother is raising her by herself. Her mother’s boyfriend doesn’t really have a whole lot to do with her right now – her mother wants to know if he’s the right one for her before she introduces Diana. And, well… it’s just her and her mother. Dave is… attractive to her. Not in a bad way, just… she desperately needs a father, and, well… Dave’s a good man.”
I sighed. “That poor girl…”
She nodded her head. “Dave’s not her father, but I don’t have the heart to put a stop to it.”
“Maybe we should talk to her mother…”
“And say what?”, Sabby half-snapped. “Maria, your daughter is taking an interest in my husband because she doesn’t have a father, and it’s all your fault. Go find her a father, chop-chop! Well? What’s taking you so long?”
I looked down at my lap. When you put it that way…
“Well, maybe Dave can be like her uncle then.”
Sabby was quiet for a bit. “I don’t like it,” she said finally. “She’s fourteen. Dave has three kids already. He doesn’t need a fourth. We don’t need a fourth.”
“You know how this is going to turn out,” I said finally.
Sabby grumbled. “Dave’s going to end up being like her uncle whether I like it or not.”
“Could be worse,” I said. “She’s a nice kid. And she makes mean tacos.”
“There’s that,” she said, and walked out of my room.
Well… I guess this one really isn’t my business. I’ve got enough to deal with. Liz, and Jack, and… and a recital coming up next week that I have to keep practicing for… and… and you can never have enough little sisters. Right? Maybe you can never have enough daughters either. Or faux-nieces.
I left my room and looked outside. Dave and Beth and David and Diana were throwing a football around. She looked happy. Who am I to judge?
I’m not much of a football girl, though, so I just sat down at the piano and started practicing.
If I ever have a child, I hope we’re a family. Me, my husband, and a child. A kid needs a daddy.
Diana and her mother are still living in a hotel, but their house is almost repaired. That’s good.