The Luckiest Girl In The World

Kathy would go to her grave declaring the smug was entirely patrilineal. She'd be lying, yeah, but she'd try for it.

"Your daughter," Kathy reminded him with a smirk. A smug, smug little smirk. "But he's right. No soda, it's too early. Have some juice."

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"Ugh, whatever, mom," Evie muttered, getting up to stalk to the juice in a huff.

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"Don't you fuckin' italicize your mom's name like that," Dante called after her.

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Kathy beamed at Dante, leaning down to giving him the kind of kiss that had probably led to Evie anyway.

"Thank you," she said, softly.

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"Yuck," Evie said, sticking her tongue out while she reached for the apple juice.

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Dante didn't bother breaking the kiss until he was good and ready, an easy grin on his face. "I mean, your mom and I could start arguin' right now, would you like that better?"

Silence.

"Didn't think so."

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"Aren't you too grown and old to be complaining when your parents kiss?" Kathy teased, sliding down into Dante's lap, legs kicking over the side of the armchair. "What's it like for you? Tell us about your life. Are we so very strict?"

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"Kinda," Evie said, pouting a little into her juice. "... Not as bad as my friend Laqua, though. Hers make me say please and thank you for everything, it's dumb."

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"Ew," Dante said, still easy, his arm winding around Kathy's waist.

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"You should be using your manners though," Kathy said, at the exact same time. "Especially when you're a guest."

Shocking literally nobody in the room, probably.

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"Dad says I don't have to," Evie said primly.

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"I mean, why be polite to people who are being assholes?" Dante said.

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"It's not assholish to ask for manners," Kathy said, frowning in truth now. "It's assholish to be in someone's house and not use them. Especially when they're being polite to you."

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"They are polite, but they're mean polite," Evie said, "And they keep telling Laqua she can't play outside or have fun until she does all of her homework, but they're lying, because there's always more homework."

She sounded awfully vehement.

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"Oh," Kathy said. That...yeah, that sounded familiar. "Are we worried about Laqua? I mean, your parents at home."

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Evie shrugged one of her shoulders. "I don't think it's fair," she said.

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Dante let out a soft sigh and slid out of his chair to pad over to the g--- to Evie. "Did you tell us about it?" he asked, putting a gentle hand on her shoulder.

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"'m gonna," Evie mumbled.

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"Do you wanna practice on us?" Kathy suggested, voice gentle. "Get an idea of how to bring it up with us when you go home?"

She didn't wanna crowd Evie, not yet, so she just watched from the chair, hands clasped tight. "We'll always be here for you to talk about this kind of important thing."

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"It's just-- sometimes you and dad talk about how mean granddad could be, and I worry..."

Evie pulled a face. She reached up, rubbed at it with her elbow, and tried to straighten out her expression. "Whatever."

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"My dad - my real dad, could be very mean," Kathy admitted. "And I didn't realize how bad it was. Even now, I'm still learning all the different ways that the things he said and did affected me. It wasn't until my friends and people I trusted started pointing out all the bad things he did that I started realizing it at all. So I think if you're seeing things that are making you uncomfortable or worried, you should listen to those feelings."

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"You seem like a smart kid," Dante said. "You've probably got good instincts, too."

Fuck it. Was it okay for him to pull her into a hug? ... He was pulling her into a hug.

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"Ugh, you're always so huggy," Evie complained.

Even as she clung to him.

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"You're just lucky he's not picking you up to bring you over here so I can hug you, too!" Kathy declared, trying not to let the sudden lump in her throat Evie's complaint affect her ability to speak.

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