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“Thank you!” Abby lowered her voice to a loud whisper “I hated that pen It was ugly and it only made black But I like Imma She’s nice”

Marc sat down at the conference table with Abby on his lap “We can draith these until Claire gets here Make me a picture”

“Of what?”

“Of the cupcakes you ate”

“’Kay” Abby started drawing

She’d finished drahat appeared to be two yellow blobs with black tops and some dots of red all over them when Claire walked in

She glanced around the conference room, and her lips twitched

“One superthick coloring book and a hu them in the air

“Yay!” Abby bounced up and down on Marc’s lap “Thank you” A tiny terror, but always polite, Marc thought That was one thing Aidan insisted on

Eagerly, Abby took the coloring book and box of crayons “You’re nice, too What’s your name?”

“Claire”

Abby’s face fell “Daddy uses that hen he’s mad He says, ‘Is that clear?’” On the last part, Abby lowered her voice to as deep a sound as she could muster in an attempt to imitate her father

Without allowing herself to smile, Claire nodded “My daddy used to say that a lot to ood news is, my name’s not Clear, it’s Claire It rhymes with hair”

“Oh” Abby digested that “Claire,” she repeated “I like that naht Mine’s black and has waves like the ocean That’s what Daddy says”

“Your daddy is right You have beautiful hair Maybe we can brush it later—after we do some somersaults on my special mat I have a room here with lots of mats and balls in it”