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“Don’t you love him?”

Did she? She thought she did But was she ready to accept that Alex could be gone for months at a time, just like Josh?

Their problem wasn’t his, but hers She was afraid to love his as they were and not risk the heartache? Either way, those weren’t topics for her ten-year-old daughter “It’s not that sirown-up way that you’ll understand when you’re older”

“But Grandure out the hard stuff together”

Leave it to a ten-year-old to boil her issues down to so her fears complicate what should be an unco in love? Every couple went through growing pains But this felt as bad as the “you’re thirteen years old and you grow three inches overnight and every bone in your body ached” kind of growing pains

The doorbell rang before she had time to consider that possibility

Cameron hopped up, Lizzie hot on her heels

Alex and Mariana were standing on the porch, Alex in the saood Too good Especially holding Mariana’s pink, floral duffel bag like a man unafraid of people’s silly stereotypes Beside hily upbeat way for a sick little girl

“See you later, Daddy” Mariana hurried into the house, and the girls headed into Lizzie’s roo

She couldn’t just leave hi on the porch, but she wasn’t ready to talk to hiht “Come on in”

He hesitated for a minute but followed her in

She stopped in front of the couch She wasn’t ready for a conversation about the else, she needed to reassure hi?”

“As you can tell, she seeht now I took her tehtly elevated, and her cheeks are flushed and she’s got the splotches The clinic said there wasn’t much to do if she had chicken pox but to wait it out I tucked her insurance cards in her bag along with her doctor’s phone number and a medical release if you need to take her in I also included uez’s, too”

“She’ll be fine, Alex You don’t need to worry” If only she could ease that tick in his jaw And if she covered his hands with hers, ers that had curled into fists

But she given up that right when she’d told hiht