Page 52 of Worth the Fall
“Oh, Miss Addison,” she said, sounding far sadder about Addison being gone than her own mom.
It made sense when I thought about it though because Clara had never even known Jenna. Which was a heartbreaking fact all on its own.
“But I do remember your mom always being very nice to everyone,” I said, and Thomas’s knee bumped against mine gently from under the table. “She was super friendly whenever I saw her.”
When my eyes met his, he silently mouthed,Thank you, and I offered a soft smile in return.
It wasn’t a lie. Jenna had been kind.
Things between Thomas and me were shifting so quickly. Being at the diner together shouldn’t have been this comfortable or easy, but it was. And I swore that anyone looking in from the outside would think that we’d done this a thousand times before.
“You know, your uncle Patrick and Addi used to love it here. We could barely get them to leave,” Thomas said, and I took the hint.
Subject change accepted.
“Really?” Clara asked at the same time I responded, “I remember that. Addison wanted to do something with food, right?”
A slew of memories about Patrick and Addison filled my mind, all good ones. And even though Addison was younger than Patrick and I were, the two of them had still been envied by everyone at school. They’d been dubbed the perfect couple. It hadn’t seemed like anything could ever tear them apart. I remembered feeling genuine shock when she moved away and left Patrick behind.
Thomas nodded. “Yeah. She’s an amazing chef. Always has been.”
“Miss Addi always made the best starfish mac and cheese. I haven’t had that in a long time.”
I shot Thomas a confused look. “Starfish mac and cheese?”
“She made it from scratch. Cut the damn shapes out herself and everything,” he said as if he still couldn’t believe she had done that.
“Bad word,” Clara said, and Thomas apologized.
“Darnshapes. She cut thedarnshapes out herself,” he corrected, emphasizing the new word, and I bit back a laugh.
It was adorable, the way this little girl owned this man.
“My uncle Patrick misses Miss Addi a lot,” Clara announced.
“Do you miss her too?” I wondered, trying not to pry too much, but still wanting to know.
“I do. But she’s been gone forever.”
Thomas let out a little huff. “She has not been gone forever, but I’m sure it feels that way to you, kiddo.”
“Uncle Patrick doesn’t think she’s coming back,” Clara said, her voice barely a whisper, and I saw the look of surprise on Thomas’s face.
“Does that make you sad?” I asked, but she only nodded.
Seeing this sweet girl look so distraught damn near broke my heart. I wanted to fix it. Tell her that it would all be okay and make her a plethora of promises that I had no business making and certainly couldn’t keep.
“Can I ask you something else?” I nudged her shoulder with my arm.
She put down her crayon and laid her hands in her lap. “Of course, Waffle Princess.”
“Do you have a favorite uncle?”
She immediately threw her hands over her mouth as she started laughing.
“I think that means you do.” I shot Thomas a look, but he only shrugged, like it had never even occurred to him to ask this question.
“I can’t answer that,” she said through her covered mouth.