“Mommy, Daddy’s there.”
I froze. A waiter passing behind us slowed.
All the color slid out of Harold’s face in one long draw, like a shade being pulled down.
He set Mia on the tiles too fast. She stumbled half a step, caught herself, and pointed straight at him.
“Mommy, but Daddy’s there. Look! You need to save him!”
Heads turned. A man near the bar stopped mid-sentence.
I felt my cheeks go hot in a way that had nothing to do with the summer air.
“Sweetheart, sweetheart, come here.”
I knelt and pulled Mia against me, smoothing her hair, whispering nonsense into her curls.
“Harold, I am so sorry. She misses her dad. Sometimes she just… she says things.”
Harold nodded, but he wasn’t really looking at me. He was looking at the ground between us.
“It’s fine. It’s fine, Alison. Kids, right?”
Then my boss stepped back. Just one step, but it registered like a door closing.
“Excuse me for a minute.”
Harold walked toward the far end of the pool, where the string lights hung lower. I watched him go with Mia’s fingers still curled in the collar of my dress.
