18
CALEB
“Ta-dah!” I said, sliding a plate onto the kitchen table across from Emmy with a dramatic flourish. “Grilled cheese!”
Emmy’s nose wrinkled as she eyed my charred-black attempt at a sandwich.
“I miss Daisy,” she said, her shoulders slumping down in her seat. “Why can’t she come over for dinner anymore?”
I miss Daisy, too, I thought sadly. But I couldn’t say that. That would just make things more confusing for Emmy. Instead, I had to put on a brave face.
“Miss Wright is your teacher,” I said carefully. “You see her at school.”
Emmy had been asking for Daisy every night that week, ever since our encounter at the museum. Every day, Emmy had gotten more and more desperate for Daisy to come over for dinner or a Disney movie marathon, and every day, it had gotten harder and harder for me to explain why Daisy wasn’t coming around anymore. I had been trying to keep my explanations vague, but I knew Emmy was losing patience with me.
Emmy wasn’t the only person I owed an explanation to. I needed to tell Daisy the truth. But ever since our encounter at the cafe, she had all but vanished. She was not on the playground when I go to pick up Emmy. She wouldn’t return my calls or texts. She had cut me off, cold-turkey.
And honestly, I couldn’t even blame her. I knew the second I walked into the cafe that agreeing to meet with Jade Jeffries for a second time had been a mistake. Jade had practically begged for a second meeting to finish up where our last interview had been cut short. She had insisted that she still had questions she needed answered for the profile she was writing for the Times and since I knew it was my fault for walking out on our interview, I had reluctantly agreed.
I had thought meeting in a public cafe would spare me from her blatant attempts to get into my pants, but I was wrong. As soon as I sat down, she made it very clear that the only ‘unfinished business’ she was interested in was her quest to fuck Caleb Preston.
I had been right in the middle of turning her down, once and for all, when Emmy had rushed into the cafe. I had tried to defuse the situation but that all went out the window when Emmy blurted out that Daisy was my girlfriend.
I only lied to protect Daisy. To spare her from the tabloid headlines that would inevitably follow: ‘Preston Hotel Mogul has secret affair with Teacher at Estranged Niece’s Upper East Side Pre-School!’
Daisy wouldn’t just lose her privacy. She would lose her job. She was already on thin ice before, and a newspaper scandal would no doubt destroy her prospects at Bellamy Day School. I thought I was doing the right thing, but when I saw how much my words devastated her, I realized I had gone horribly wrong.
“Tell you what,” I said, picking up the plate of grim grilled cheese to change the subject. “Why don’t we forget about Uncle Caleb’s sad attempt at cooking and just order Chinese? How about that?”
Emmy’s face lit up, and she nodded enthusiastically. I may not have known the right way to explain Daisy’s absence, but I definitely did know the way to my niece’s heart, noodles.
“Will Miss Preston be having the usual?” I asked, as I reached for my phone and tapped open the food delivery app. “Chicken lo mein?”
“And two spring rolls!” Emmy nodded excitedly.
“Two!” I gasped. “How can one little girl eat two spring rolls?!”
“One for both of us, silly,” Emmy giggled. I felt my heart melt a little, and I tapped the order into my phone.
I knew the lo mein was only buying me time. I would have to answer her questions eventually. I would have to offer a better explanation for why Daisy suddenly wasn’t around anymore.
And that’s not all I would have to explain.
“Emmy,” I said, setting my phone down. “There’s something we should talk about.”
Emmy blinked up at me.
“It’s about your mommy.”
In between my attempts to reach Daisy, my brain had been in overdrive trying to figure out the best way to tell Emmy the truth about her mother.
The day after the cafe fiasco, I got a call from the family attorney. He informed me that my sister had relapsed and left rehab. I believe ‘dropped out’ was the term that he used over the phone, but knowing my sister, I imagined that the truth was more dramatic than that.
I wasn’t shocked to hear that Calista’s latest attempt to get clean had failed. But I was shocked by what he revealed next. Apparently before she had left rehab, my sister had been in touch with the attorney. She had requested paperwork be drawn up, granting full custody of Emmy to me.
“She said you were a better parent to Emmy than she ever could be,” the lawyer had relayed.
I had gone through the spectrum of emotions. Shock, sadness, concern. And finally, I had settled on relief. I was relieved that I wouldn’t have to send Emmy back to an unstable home with my unstable sister. And, selfishly, I was relieved that I wouldn’t lose my niece.
While I was more than happy to accept the full responsibility of raising Emmy for the foreseeable future, I wasn’t sure how she would react. Would she be happy? Devastated? Confused?
“What about my mommy?” Emmy asked now, blinking up at me. She didn’t look afraid or forlorn, just curious.
“Well,” I took a deep breath, “She loves you very, very much, Emmy, but… sometimes love isn’t enough. Your mommy knows that you need more than love, and she knows that she can’t give you all of the things you need right now.”
“I know that, Uncle Caleb,” Emmy said bluntly. “I love my mommy too, but she’s a hot mess.”
I had to fight the urge to laugh at my niece’s sass.
“So,” I said. “How would you feel about living with me permanently?”
Emmy twisted her face into a thoughtful smirk, then the expression melted into a smile.
“I’d like that. A lot.”
“Good,” I smiled back, relieved. “I want this to feel like your home, Emmy. And I want us to be a family.”
“But...” Emmy said thoughtfully, her smile fading. “A family is supposed to have a mommy and a daddy.”
“Not all families are the same. Families are people who love and care about each other.”
“I want Daisy to be part of our family.”
“You and me both, kid,” I sighed before I could stop myself.
“So why don’t you just ask her?” Emmy asked as if it’s that simple.
“I wish it worked like that,” I said, “But it’s complicated.”
“You say that about everything,” Emmy rolled her eyes. “Maybe you should just grow a pair and apologize already.”
“Emmy!” I gasped. “Where did you learn to talk like that?”
She just rolled her eyes at me again.
“Please,” she said. “I’m a kid, not a dummy.”
I felt my heart swell with affection for my ridiculously sassy niece, and I grabbed her in a bear hug.
“You are wise beyond your years, you know that?” I ruffled her hair.
“Enough small talk,” she scoffed. “Let’s figure out how we’re going to get Daisy back!”