The girls both want banana splits, which Shay and I agree is way too much ice cream and sugar. The girls argue that’s unfair, since it’s “practically half fruit.” We compromise when they agree that they can share one.

I get a hot fudge sundae, and Shay has a small cone of vanilla ice cream. I know she didn’t choose it to sexually frustrate me, so I try not to stare, but I can’t deny that seeing her tongue and mouth at work puts serious ideas in my head. I’m hopeless.

The ice cream place has a tiny playground in the back, and after the girls finish maybe half their banana split, they’re begging to play. It’s warm enough today that they don’t want to wear their jackets and cool enough that Shay and I insist they do. We watch them play and talk.

Lilly asks Abi about school, and Abi tells her she’s going to go to a Jackson Harbor school next fall. Lilly tells her all about her teacher and the kids in her class and begs her to go to her school. I watch them, hoping that Abi has a friend in Lilly who she can count on, the way I always did in Carter.

“When will she see her mom?” Shay asks quietly beside me. “Or does Scarlett not . . .?”

“Oh, no, Scarlett’s involved. She’ll see her.” I scrape a bit of ice cream off the side of the dish. “That’s actually why I was in Chicago before. I was trying to help her find a place so she can split her time between L.A. and there. That way, when Abi wants to visit her mom for a weekend, she doesn’t have to take a four-hour flight. And anyway, it’ll be good for Scarlett to get away from that scene.”

“I’m glad to hear it. I know you’re an awesome dad and you’d give Abi everything she needs, but it’s good that her mom still wants a relationship with her.”

“They have a great relationship, actually. Scarlett spoils her a little, but she loves her madly.” I study Shay’s dark eyes and feel a pang of regret that I didn’t try to keep up with her while I was in L.A. Once I had to let her go the second time, I just didn’t trust myself, but regardless of what else happens between us, I do want us to be friends, and she doesn’t know anything about my daughter’s mother. “Scarlett’s not a bad person, Shay. She’s just . . . She was brought up in L.A., in the middle of all the money and fame. Her parents weren’t like ours. They had totally screwed-up priorities and don’t understand what life is like for normal people. Scarlett really has matured since becoming a mother.”