My new apartment has barely been broken in before I bring my two new guests over. It’s furnished lightly, with a stylish living room set, TV and sound system. My bedroom has a large king-sized bed, and while I turned one of the spare rooms into a workout room, the third sits unused.

I welcome them both in, carrying Cierra for Alice as I point to the washroom so she can clean the blood off of her.

“Hey now, Cierra,” I say to the young girl with a smile, “I don’t have a lot of toys around here, but I tell you what… I’ll order your favorite kind of pizza and treat you like a princess as long as you’re in my castle, how’s that sound?” I ask her before putting her down on a chair, like she was a queen taken upon a palanquin to her throne.

She’s had a long day, so I don’t blame her for the way she looks at me with that curious expression, and those big, green eyes. Her head tilts to the side, her curly blonde hair gone a bit matted against her head from the blindfold. After a few seconds of thinking about it, her eyes darting to the bathroom where her mom had gone, she nods and gives me a small smile.

“Like Prince Charming,” she says, her speech remarkably good for a four-year-old.

“Well, I won’t say I’m all that charming, but you’re welcome to Prince Charming’s castle,” I say with a smile and a wink. I place the order, take a while to hang out with the young girl. She reminds me so much of Alice, but in a mini, childlike version.

I haven’t spent any time with kids in years, but luckily it turns out the fancy new TV I bought came with a games console, and I introduced her to Minecraft on it, buying Alice the time she needs to not only clean but to cope with all that’s happened. I don’t expect any of this to be easy for her.

Most of my mind is screaming at me to go check up on Alice, to make sure she’s okay. But I know that as a mom — a tenacious mom I saw in action, at that — her first concern would be for her girl. So I shove down my own worries, my selfish concerns for the love I lost, and do my best to keep young Cierra happy. Comforting Alice would be more for me than her; comforting her daughter is the most selfless thing I can do.

And she seems like a really happy kid. Now that she feels a bit safer, I can see her opening up, giggling and laughing. But every once in a while a strange look comes over her as she looks at me, like she’s trying to figure me out. I guess it’s just having someone new around, especially after the type of day she had.

But then she smiles, and those dimples show in her cheeks as she turns back to the TV, or towards the door.

“Mommy never lets me have pizza,” she confides, and for a second I wonder if I did something wrong. But Alice never mentioned anything in the car, so I guess it’s more of a personal preference than an allergy.

Cierra starts climbing on me, and I spread my legs to let her get cozy between them, both of us sitting casually on the floor, my back against the sofa. She didn’t seem to care for sitting on the couch, but she seems to warm right up to using me as her backrest.

“So how old are you now, Cierra?” I ask, and she puts up four fingers, beaming proudly at me. “I’m almost four-and-a-half,” she boasts, and I can’t help but smile. Her beguiling smile is infectious, especially as she rests her head on my stomach, looking at me upside down.

“That’s so old,” I say, my eyes going wide, my tone teasing, and she laughs at me, her head shaking, golden curls going wild.

“Not as old as mommy. Or you,” she adds, and I grin.

“How old do you think mommy is?”

“Real old. This many,” she says, holding up nine fingers, and I laugh as I capture them in my hands.

“Wow, that is old,” I tease, and she laughs, squirming in my lap before heading for the door. I don’t know what she’s after, but just then the doorbell rings. Kid must have a sixth sense for timing.

I open the door and tip the pizza guy before taking a glance around. I know no one saw me leave, but it doesn’t hurt to be cautious.

Cierra makes grabby hands at the pizza, dessert, salads and drinks as I move into the kitchen, rebuking her with a grin. “We have to wait for your mom,” I remind her, and she lets out an exasperated sigh.

“She’s always in there forever with makeup,” she says, then pouts, “and never lets me wear any.”

“You want to be like mommy?”

“Mhm,” she says with an adamant nod, and I grin, stroking her hair.

“She’s pretty great,” I agree. “But so are you,” I say as I pick her up, and she happily laughs into my shoulder as I zoom her about the apartment.

I pass the time with the girl some more, but still Alice isn’t out.

“Y’know what, your mom wants you to be a growing girl more than anything. So I’m sure this once time she’ll forgive you for starting without her,” I say with a wink, opening the box of pizza and handing her a slice. “How’s that?”

She cries out excitedly, taking the slice and biting into it with a big smile. I like the girl, I realize. She’s so much like her mom, it’s endearing in every way. And we get along so naturally.

But our pleasant moment gets disrupted by a crash from the hallway.