Kate sucked in a deep breath and blew it out. “I don’t know how to say this without offending you. But, no, I really don’t care to know about your mother.”

Mia stood up, her head cocked to the side. “You don’t want to know about Momma at all? Don’t you have questions?”

“Do you even have the answers?”

They stood there staring at each other for a long moment. “Fine. But, even if you don’t want to know about Momma, what about me? I’m innocent in all of this, Kate. Just like you are. Don’t we deserve to see if we can form a friendship, at least? Doesn’t Evie need as much family to love her as possible?”

“I have a life, Mia. A job, responsibilities, an apartment. I can’t just walk away from that. I don’t have to stay here for us to get to know each other. We can be friends on social media or something.”

Mia looked disappointed. She sat back down and stared off into the black water. “I remember when I was about eight years old, and I was getting bullied at school. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m a little…”

“Short?”

“I prefer petite. Well, anyway, I was sitting on the school bus one day, and this big boned heathen named April plops down next to me. She was the worst of the bullies with her fire engine red hair and ginormous freckles. She was as tall as her father, who was a former linebacker for the Atlanta Falcons back in the day. Anyway, big April sits down so hard, I swear I almost popped up like a wine cork and flew out the window.”

Kate couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s quite an image.”

“Momma always dressed me up for school. She said you only get one chance to make a first impression, so every single day she pulled my hair up into these beautiful, long pigtails and then braided them. She’d tie ribbons in my hair to match my dress that day. That particular day, I was wearing a sky blue dress with a lace smock.”

“Sounds like something out of the pioneer days.”

Mia chuckled. “Momma loved to sew, but she didn’t always make me the most fashionable clothing. Anyway, this particular day, big April was in a mood.”

“Why?”

“Who knows? Somebody probably stole her Twinkie or something. But, she came on the bus already aggravated like some kind of wild, hungry animal at the zoo.”

“You paint quite a word picture,” Kate said, sitting down beside her.