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“Takeher arms over her chest

I lifted a brow at her tone, and she quickly added, “Please, Mommy”

“Why should I hide your iPad?” I questioned, noticing the thing was turned off Holy crap I didn’t know it could do that It was never turned off If she wasn’t talking to Ryan on it, she was playing one of the hundreds of learning activities Ryan had helped her download before we left New York Those gaodsend She was beyond ready for kindergarten next year, and she was probably even raders “You’ll just whine for it in like ten minutes”

“No, I won’t I’ain” Her little chin tre before she burst into tears

Startled by her sudden change in emotions, I scooped her up She was so tiny, it was hard to believe she was about to turn five in just a fewa birthday in Nove school for another year, but I was glad for the extra time I needed itto be ready to let her leave my side

Nova was nancy had been with her, she was our last I’d had a hysterectomy thethat had savedout so badly Jet had been a s to worry about at the tiht weeks early

Thankfully, though, her small size was the only issue she now had But fuck, it had been scary for that first year

Cuddling her close, I carried her into the living roo, sweetie?” I asked, getting more than a little emotional myself because her tears alrecked me

“Ry-Ryan is so mean!” she cr

ied, pressing her snotty nose intomy shirt as her tissue

I blinked down at her, unsure she was talking about the same Ryan as her best friend Maybe she’d met a new Ryan, because the one I knew adored her too much to ever make her think he was mean Perhaps he was—hell, I’d never seen him around any kids other than my own and his cousins, but what I had seen of his interactions with theh boy

“Okay,that happened, Nova”

“He’s supposed to come to my birthday party, but when I talked to hietting ain

“This is the first I’,” I told her “Maybe you heard hi”

Her birthday party had been all she could talk about for the past few months, ever since Ryan and his mother had flown out for a few days so Ryan and Nova could spend a little tiether They’d promised to come back for the party in Nove it ever since