Her reply came in the form of a genuine smile that made me think of stars and planets again. “Thank you. The same goes for you too.” She pointed at my water ice with her spoon. “No matter where I’m living, when I see any place selling Italian ice in the summertime, I get horribly homesick. John’s is my dad’s favorite, of course. After he and my mom got divorced, Alexis and I would make him go there with us every summer weekend. It was a surefire way to get him to laugh a little. Seeing all the families and the kids. Running into old friends. It used to be if we could get dad to laugh at John’s, it would be an okay week.”

She’d spoken about this the other day. When she admitted she’d secretly hated cheerleading. His heart was very…fragile at that time. I didn’t want to put any extra pressure on it.

“Was he sad because he still loved your mom?” I asked, a little tentative. I wracked my brain for memories of her sharing about this in our support group. My impression had always been that her mom wasn’t in their lives anymore.

“Not at all,” she said emphatically. “Now that I’m older, I understand he was mourning the person she’d turned into. She wasn’t a loveable person. And she’s much too manipulative to love my dad the way he deserves.” Her face filled with affection. “Dad refers to Kathleen as his extremely patient soul mate. He took some extra time finding her.”

“I think I’ve only met her a couple times,” I said. “My impression is that she’s very…protective.”

Tabitha snorted. “That’s an accurate impression. Having Kathleen as a stepmom is like having six moms.”

“I know the feeling,” I said, brow raised. “I actually have two moms. Still feels like I have at least double that.”

She laughed. I wondered if making Tabitha laugh was something a person could ever get tired of.

She twirled her spoon through the water ice, carving little circles. “You know, those nights at John’s? I think deep down Dad was worried about us and we were worried about him and it was like a cyclone of keeping each other happy. But you know my dad. Seeing that guy sad is like watching an otter cry. It’s heartbreaking.”

A few beats of silence passed. Then I said, “You take good care of your family, Tabitha.”

She shot me a wry look. “When I’m home. I’m constantly on the road.”

“They must miss you a lot.”

There was that flicker again. But I would have missed it if I wasn’t paying such close attention to everything about her. The strands of hair around her face, blowing in the warm breeze. The flecks of gold in her brown eyes.