Page 60 of Under My Skin

The restof the day moves on quickly. Lizzie goes back to her studio to work on her latest pieces. My sister drops Addy and Mackenzie off around three with a look on her face that tells me she wants to know what happened but can’t ask in front of the girls. Morgan’s definitely been talking.

Mikey and his crew finish up for the day around four. The kitchen is progressing faster than what was originally planned, and they’ll be moving on to fixing the floors throughout the whole house next.

“How was your party, Daddy?” Mackenzie asks while we’re painting nails in the living room, since the girls ran out of time to do it with my sister and their cousins.

“It was fun.” I lie. It was stressful and frustrating.

“I wish we could have gone,” Addy whines.

“Nah. You guys would have been bored. Lots of adults. You guys had way more fun with your cousins and the babysitter.”

“Yeah but we could have hung out with Miss Lizzie.”

I’ve been thinking about how I’m going to approach talking to the girls about me and Lizzie being an item all day, but I couldn’t figure out the best way. This might be my best chance.

“Speaking of Lizzie, girls, what do you think of her? Do you like her?” I ask, moving my concentration from the nail polish so I could see the girls’ reaction.

“We love her,” Addy says.

“So much. She’s so nice and said she can do our hair and helps us with our pottery. Plus, I like her clothes.” Mackenzie exclaims, and the excitement I see on her face when she talks about Lizzie is surprising.

Since Renee left, Mackenzie has been more closed off and not as vibrant as she used to be. I find that she doesn’t express herself as much, and it probably has to do with some sort of misplaced blame over her mom leaving.

Now that I think about it, she lights up whenever Lizzie is around or if she’s brought up in conversation somehow. She can’t stop talking about the pottery class and how much she’s looking forward to the next one and seeing Lizzie.

It’s clear that Lizzie Montgomery has stolen the hearts of my girls like she’s stolen mine. That’s a sobering thought, but it doesn’t send me into an anxiety attack like I thought it would. Instead, it feels comforting and puts my mind at ease.

“I like her clothes too, Mackenzie. I actually like more than her clothes. I like all of her. A lot.” I stare at the girls and wait for recognition to show on their faces. All I get are blank stares and looks of confusion.

Great. This isn’t going as well as I had hoped it would.

“We know,” Addy says casually, surprising me.

“You do?” I ask.

“Yep. You smile really big when she’s around,” Mackenzie declares while shoving another piece of chicken in her mouth. “She smiles at you too. Not yesterday, though. I think she’s mad at you.”

“Did you do something mean to Lizzie, Daddy?” Addy asks accusingly.

Wow. I wasn’t expecting to be called out for my behavior by my four-year-old daughter today.“I did. I wasn’t very nice to her. But I apologized and she forgave me.”God, did she forgive me.

“Good. You don’t want to be a meanie. Meanies are mean,” Addy states proudly.

“That they are, Addy girl.” I take a deep breath to prepare myself for the next part of the conversation, hoping the girls catch on quickly. “So, I really like Lizzie. And Lizzie really likes me. And we’re going to be hanging out with each other a lot from now on.”

I’m again met with two sets of eyes that look just like my own, staring at me like I’m not making any sense. I wait for a response, but only silence hangs in the air. Maybe I should try a different approach?

“Is she going to be your girlfriend?” Mackenzie asks.

“Umm, yeah, she is. Is that okay?”

“Yeah,” the girls say together.

“Okay. Good.” I expected that to be harder for some reason, but I honestly don’t know why. Addy and Mackenzie are the best, and so is Lizzie, so I should have known they’d all make it easy on me.

We finish painting nails and I order Chinese takeout for dinner. After we’ve eaten, we go through their nighttime routine of showers, brushing teeth, and stories. As soon as the girls are asleep in their beds, I plan on texting Lizzie and asking her to meet me under the stars.

She better say yes.

---