“So are you with him now?” Kayla asks.
Brandon’s just left, and Emmy’s playing happily with a stuffed bear and a picture book. Dad, thankfully, is still asleep, having missed the whole thing. Now Kayla’s pulled me back into my room to deconstruct everything that just happened.
“No, I’m not with him,” I say.
“I mean, I think it’s great if you are,” Kayla says. “I’d support it. You know I’ve always thought you two would make a good couple.”
I can’t help laughing. “Yeah, I know that,” I say. “You’ve made that abundantly clear over the years.”
“Well, good!” she says. “You ought to know how I feel about it. But seriously, with him coming around all the time, and now you introducing him to Emmy…”
“He doesn’t know she’s his,” I say. “You know that.”
“Maybe he doesn’t,” she agrees. “But you still wanted him to meet her. You wanted to include him in her life. Why?”