Page 7 of Child of Mine

“I missed a lot of school recovering from surgeries. It was my mom’s favorite soap. We both hated you.” He leans in close to whisper, “I actually had nightmares about you.”

I wince. “I’m sorry. I promise I’ll never reveal that you slept with my sister.”

“Or kidnap me?”

“Or force you to rob a bank with me.”

“Or convince everyone that I’m possessed by the devil?”

All I can do is shake my head at the memories. “Man, the older I got, the more outlandish Quinn's capers were.”

“It’s probably a compliment to you that they thought you could carry it off.”

I shrug, my cheeks heating at the praise. “I don’t know about that.”

He folds up his paper plate and the remains of his meal. “Anyway, the first few times we met, I really had to convince myself that you’re not like her.”

Adopting Quinn’s blunt tone, I ask, “How do you know I’m not?”

After a theatrical shudder, he points at Jess, engaged in chat with another guest. “Because that one loves you.” Nodding at my daughter, now running around with a bunch of kids shooting each other with water guns, he adds, “And you made that one.”

“Maybe I’ve got you all fooled.” When I let loose with Quinn's signature cackle, he crosses his forearms over his face.

“No, no! Not the laugh!”

We’re both howling with genuine laughter by the time Jess sits down, balancing a towering selection of desserts on her lap. “I don’t even want to know,” she says. “All I want is this chocolate cake.”

She only takes a bite before drawing a line in the air between us with her fork. “Okay, I lied. What were you two laughing at?” She twists in her chair. “Do I have a sign on my back or toilet paper stuck to my shoe or something?”

“Nah, sweetheart.” Cal rubs her shoulder, and she relaxes into his touch, practically purring like a cat. “Bella was just torturing me with her Quinn laugh.”

“You brought it up!” I protest.

Jess offers up her plate of goodies for sharing, and after I take a cookie she says, “I don’t think I ever saw you on the soap, but I lovedBoom. It was so cool to see kids like me doing skits and singing songs that other kids sent in. I wanted to audition, but the shooting times conflicted with dance and Hebrew.”

After taking another bite of cake, she tips her head to the side. “You know, I never told you this before, but I didn’t even know that was you. Izzy, I mean. I knew you were on the soap because Becky told me when you auditioned for the company the first time. But I wouldn’t have recognized you otherwise.”

It’s not easy to keep the corners of my mouth turned up. “I was a lot younger then.”

“It’s not just your age.” Jess shakes her head. “You have a completely different energy. Izzy was so…”

“Innocent?” I finish when she doesn’t.

“Mm, maybe. More carefree, I guess.”

“Being a mom kind of piles the cares on.” No need to mention the choices I made that snuffed out that Izzy energy in me.

Cal leans in. “I’m just glad she’s not as scheming and evil as Quinn.”

“How evil was she?” Jess asks.

As Cal details Quinn’s sensational schemes, I egg him on. Better than talking about my real-life problems. By the time he’s finished, the pile of sweets on Jess’s plate has disappeared and I’ve relaxed again. Mostly. Quinn may have been a villain but playing her was fun. Until it wasn’t anymore.

After scanning the crowd to make sure Lilah’s okay, I flop back into the webbing of my folding chair. “Ugh. Now I’m stuffed.”

Everyone goes quiet for a few minutes, and I sit back to enjoy the warm sun on my face. The background hum of people chatting, punctuated by the occasional shout from a kid going down the slide, calms any remaining agitation.

My mood is as tranquil as the setting when Cal asks, “So, are you guys excited for tonight? Nervous?”

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