her pizza the other night and had been hungry. All because of my dumbass comment to my mother.

“And Mama T said I could come over to her house and stay the night again soon. We’re out of

school Friday and Mama T said I could stay with her ’cause I don’t want to stay at day care. Her and

Grandpa Dave’s house is more funner.”

“More fun,” Sienna corrected him.

“Yeah, more fun, and so maybe I could stay the night tomorrow night. I told Momma, but she said

she’d have to talk to Mama T first.”

I had no doubt my mother would take Micah any time he wanted her to. My dad, too. When Micah

had called him Grandpa Dave the other day, he’d had to leave the room because he’d teared up. My

dad wasn’t a crier. Seeing him get emotional like that wasn’t something I was used to. Once again it

made me feel like I owed Sienna Roy the world. She’d been alone and scared, but she’d had Dustin’s

baby anyway and she’d been a damn good mom. All on her own. Micah was the healing I didn’t think

my parents would ever find. Because one young girl was brave enough to be a mother without a

family’s support around her.

My chest ached and something fierce settled in. I had to protect this woman. Even if I was

protecting her from myself. I wanted her to have nothing but happiness in life. She deserved that.

More than anyone else I knew, Sienna Roy deserved the best life had to offer.

And the best wasn’t me.

“And I bet that Momma could go on another date with Mr. Dodge.” Micah’s comment snapped me

out of my thoughts.

“Mr. Dodge hasn’t asked me out again, Micah,” Sienna said to her son while setting drinks down in

front of us.

“Then he’s an idiot,” I said. The dude had stepped way up out of his league with Sienna.

Sienna laughed. “I think he might have seen a side of me he wasn’t crazy about.”

She was referring to our argument in the parking lot. She’d been all fired up and gorgeous that

night. I couldn’t even remember it fondly, though, because the memory of my hurting her arm was too

painful. I hated myself for that.

“Then Uncle Dewayne can take you out on a date. You think Momma is pretty, don’t you?” Micah

said, and I watched Sienna freeze.

A panicked look came over her face, and then she looked at me. I wasn’t sure what to say to the kid.

I thought his momma was gorgeous, but I didn’t think saying that would help get him off this idea.

“Um, well, see, Uncle Dewayne is family. You don’t date family,” Sienna said to Micah, and took a

seat across from him.

Micah frowned, then shrugged. Luckily, he let it go while he took a bite of his burger.

“How’s the mac ’n’ cheese burger?” I asked him, wanting to ease the sudden awkward silence.

Micah gave me a thumbs-up.

“I can’t believe you got them to put mac ’n’ cheese on the burger,” Sienna said with an amused

smile.

“My boy wants a mac ’n’ cheese burger, he’s gonna get one,” I told her.

There was a flash of something in her eyes, and then she looked down at her own burger and

studied it a moment before she picked it up and bit into it.

I wasn’t sure what I’d said, but she got quiet after that. Micah didn’t. He started telling me all

about the Heat’s lineup this year and how they were going to beat each team. Or how LeBron James

was going to beat each team. I didn’t have anything to add to the conversation because basketball had

never been my sport. But I listened.

SIENNA

After I finished my burger, I excused myself and went to the safety of my bedroom while Micah took

Dewayne to the living room to make him watch Return of the Jedi. It was a school night, and I knew

Micah would end up falling asleep twenty minutes into the movie. He was like clockwork with his

sleeping pattern. The kid required serious sleep.

I would need to be out of the bath and dressed when Dewayne left, so I could make sure Micah was

tucked into bed. I sat down on the bed and reached for my phone. It was time I made a call.

I’d been putting off calling my aunt Cathy for two reasons. One, I wanted to see if she’d ever call

me and check in on us. She hadn’t. Two, I was thankful for my aunt Cathy’s willingness to let me live

in her house for so long, and I didn’t want to hear she’d had anything to do with the Falcos not getting

my letters. But I honestly didn’t see any other explanation. I had resigned myself to the fact that my

aunt Cathy had taken them.

I scrolled down the list of numbers in my phone until I found hers, and then I pressed send. When I

had told Aunt Cathy I was moving, she hadn’t seemed to care either way. She was glad my mother had

finally stepped up to help me, but that was about it. No warm hugs or any other emotions.

“Hello?” Aunt Cathy’s familiar voice came over the line.

“Hey, Aunt Cathy, it’s Sienna,” I said.

“Good to hear from you, Sienna. I take it life there is good?”

She was always so formal. Even with Micah she had been stern and strict. She didn’t do nonsense

of any kind. She reminded me a lot of my dad.

“Yes, ma’am. It’s good here. Micah likes his new school, and I am doing well at my job. Micah, uh,

met the Falcos. They didn’t know about him until they met him. Now they’re very active in his life.”

I stopped and waited for her to say something. She didn’t.

“I sent letters to them. So many letters. I wanted and needed them to know about Micah. Micah

needed them. Tabby is the wonderful grandmother I knew she would be. Micah missed that for five

years of his life. I don’t understand how this happened.”

Again I was met with silence. I started to say something else, but my aunt finally spoke up. “If you

are calling me to ask me if I took those letters, this is a conversation you need to be having with your

mother. I’ve done her job long enough, Sienna. I didn’t have children because I didn’t want the

responsibility. Yet my younger sister neglected her responsibility to her own child, so I stepped in

until you could stand on your own two feet. However, I’m not your mother. What happened with those

letters is something I don’t have to answer for. You were staying in my house. I could do whatever I

pleased. You need to call your mother and have a talk with her. It’s past time. Now, if that is all you’d

like to talk about, I have some work to do.”

There was nothing else to say. Aunt Cathy had made it very clear. “No, ma’am, that’s it. I’ll let you

get back to work,” I replied.

“You’re a smart girl, Sienna. Use that brain of yours and make a life that kid you were determined

to have deserves. Let the past be the past.” And with that, Aunt Cathy hung up the phone.

I wasn’t surprised. Not really. She’d always been that way. Not once had she cooed over or cuddled

Micah. She had treated us as if she was our warden, and now I realized that was really all she ever had

been. But I’d been so desperate for someone to love us that I’d accepted whatever she was willing to

give.

I looked out the window at the Falcos’ across the street. They loved us. More important, they loved

Micah. Maybe it was time I called my mother. I had to forgive her and forget the past. If she wanted to

see Micah, who was I to keep her from him? He loved having family. He deserved it.

A knock on the bedroom door stopped me from calling her. I put the phone down, walked over, and

opened it up to Dewayne holding a sleeping Micah.

“You want to change him before you put him in bed?” he asked in a whisper.

I nodded. “Take him to his room and lay him on the bed. I’ll take it from there.”

Dewayne did as instructed. I followed him to Micah’s room, and then he stepped out while I took