“Ladies?” Sadie asked, prying for more Mr. Dorner gossip. “Like lots of different women?”

Via was mortified, utterly mortified. They were prying into this man’s private life. And for nothing more than gossip.

“Sadie,” she murmured. She was going to take the first opportunity that they were alone to make sure Sadie knew that none of this could be shared with a single other soul.

But apparently Matty didn’t care. “Yeah. Lots. But he says he hasn’t met his match.” Matty kicked a stone down the sidewalk in front of them and the movement had him tugging down on Via’s hand. Sadie didn’t even have to fish for more information; the kid was on a roll. “Daddy says that a lady can’t be a match for him if she doesn’t want to be a mommy. But that I shouldn’t hope too much because that’s really hard to find.” Matty squinted up at the two women walking him home. “But I don’t get it because there are tons of mommies. So I don’t understand why he can’t find one.”

Sadie’s expression instantly became chagrined. She’d been pushing in a fun way, but it was so clear that this wasn’t a silly, salacious matter. This was Sebastian’s life. Matty’s life. This was a man who was trying to tread carefully enough that his son wouldn’t get caught in the crosshairs.

“Well, you know,” Via started. She was gonna give this her best shot. And then she was going to tell Sebastian everything, so that he could decide if more explanation was warranted. She owed him that. This wasn’t a game. The man was a parent. And Matty was a person with feelings. “Finding the right person isn’t easy. Because people meet each other all the time, but they don’t always fall in love. Falling in love is a little bit magic. And you know how rare magic is.”

“What do you mean, it’s magic? Magic like Serafine’s magic?”

Via weighed her head side to side. “Maybe. Honestly, I don’t know. It’s still a little bit of a mystery to me. But I guess what I’m saying is that the best thing you can do is just be happy you have a daddy who loves you so much that he wants to find the perfect person to fit in with your lives.”

“Okay,” Matty said, his eyes squinting across the street at a lady walking her poodle. He’d reached capacity for adult conversation. “You think that dog is Crabby’s mom? Because Crabby is half poodle, but we didn’t know who his parents were ’cuz we never met them.”

“Could be.” Via gave his sweaty little hand a squeeze.

“Who is Crabby?” Sadie asked, putting enough attitude in her question that Matty laughed.

“My dog!” Matty let go of Via’s hand and sprinted up the last half a block, apparently very excited to get home.

He was banging on the front door and bouncing on his heels when Via and Sadie caught up. The two women stayed down on the sidewalk as they looked up to the front porch.