Page 47 of Canadian Boyfriend

“Sit.” I pointed at the island. “I have to go get something I want to show you.” She opened her mouth—to protest, no doubt—but I wasn’t having it. We were doing this. “Sit.”

She sat, and I turned to Aurora, who was backing away in the direction of the stairs. “You sit, too.” She opened her mouth, but I cut her off. “Sit.Make sure she doesn’t go anywhere.”

I visited the safe in my bedroom and came back down and stood at the island like I was a bartender, but instead of a drink, I slid a stack of papers toward Olivia.

“What are these?”

“Adoption papers. Just got them from the lawyer.” I’d been planning to show them to her when she got back to town, but no time like the present. “We have a court date in February, then it’s done, and you’re legally my kid. Not my stepkid. Mykid. Nobody can take you away from me.Nobody.I never needed a piece of paper, and I should have done this years ago, but there it is on paper. We’ll get a copy of the court judgment, too, once that’s done.”

She burst into tears. Wild, hysterical sobs. I ran around the island and grabbed her off the stool. She was trying to apologize, but she was crying so hard it was coming out all garbled. Eventually she calmed down and said, “I’m sorry I’ve been so mean. I’m sorry I keep calling you Mike. I don’t even know why I do that.”

“I don’t care what you call me.” I pulled away and wiped her eyes with my sleeve. “How about you keep calling me Mike, and I’ll start calling you Daughter? Great job in class today,Daughter. Do you want to go for ice cream,Daughter?”

She laughed through her tears, which had been my aim, even though under the surface I wasn’t feeling very jokey. “I still don’t want to go to Grandma and Grandpa’s.”

“Why not? Is it because they talk about Mom so much?”

“Yeah. I know that sounds bad, but it’s like they’reobsessedwith her.”

“Well, she was their kid. They miss her so much.” I wastrying to be generous. “What if I talk to them? Ask them to cool it on the constant talking about her?”

“Would you?”

“Of course.” I blew out a breath. “Anyway, you’re going to have fun. Aren’t you going to Disney on Ice? And you know they’re going to bury you in presents.”

“I know.” She was still staring at the papers.

Aurora cleared her throat, and when I looked over at her, she mouthed, “Sorry.” I waved away her apology. I didn’t mind that she’d witnessed our reckoning. In fact, it would save me having to tell her about it later.

Not that I’d’vehadto tell her about it. But I would have wanted to.

Aurora rested her hand on Olivia’s arm. “What if you took a picture of those papers with your iPad? Then you could look at them anytime you want while you’re away.”

Oh my God. There was the spear to the chest again. The idea of Olivia comforting herself that way. The thoughtfulness of Aurora’s having had the idea to begin with.

“That would be good,” Olivia said.

I heard the sound of gravel crunching outside. “Sounds like they’re here,” I said, though I had to clear my throat to dislodge the spear. “Why don’t you run upstairs and finish your packing? Maybe Aurora can help you with that?” I raised my eyebrows at Aurora, who nodded. “That will give me some time to talk to your grandparents.”

“Let me run downstairs and grab my stuff,” Aurora said to Olivia. “I need to change for my mom’s. I’ll meet you upstairs and we’ll get ready together.”

“Yeah, OK, thanks, Rory.” She turned to me. “And thanks,Dad.”

Talking to my in-laws went about as well as I’d expected, but what could I do but keep trying? “It’s not that Olivia doesn’t care,” I explained. “It’s that remembering is a fine line. Sometimes it’s good to do, but sometimes talking about Sarah all the time makes her sad.”

“Well, itissad, Mike,” Renata said. “Losing a daughter is a sad thing.”

Normally this was where I would point out that the first time they “lost” Sarah was when they turned their backs on her when she got pregnant with the kid they now loved so much. But what was the point? But I couldn’t resist saying, “So is losing a wife.”

“I know,” Renata said in a placating tone I had learned not to trust. “I think of you sometimes, of how you must be consumed with guilt over the fact that Sarah died on her way to one of your games.”

Oddly, I wasn’t. Sarah’s death had utterly upended my life. It had almost destroyed me. But as to the actual means of it, she’d lost control on a patch of black ice. It could have happened anywhere. It could have happened a mile from our house. I suppose I could have blamed myself, but I just… didn’t. They clearly did, though, which I suppose was their prerogative, and it would let them win the grief one-upmanship contest we were apparently having, but I didn’t want them spouting that bullshit in front of Olivia.

I swallowed my anger. “Olivia is excited about this visit. She’s been talking nonstop about Disney on Ice. I think she views her time with you as a respite. A little bit of mental recharging away from school and stuff.” Maybe I could manipulate theminto being decent. “All I’m asking is that you let her lead the way when it comes to talking about Sarah. That’s what her psychologist advises.” If they wouldn’t take advice from me, maybe they would from an authority.

They made some noncommittal murmurs of agreement, which was probably as good as it was going to get, so I called Olivia. I didn’t want her to go, but since she had to, I wanted to get the show on the road for all our sakes.

She came running down, and Aurora, who’d been taking the stairs at a more sedate pace, appeared a few seconds later, looking stunning in a fancy black dress. Her lips were painted scarlet, she was wearing dark eye makeup, and she had her hair in a severe dance-class bun. Renata’s eyes hardened. Shit. No matter what I said, they were going to get the wrong idea. Well, onward. “Renata, Stefan, this is—”

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