Chapter 14 - ELLA DIDN’T WANT MONEY BACK—SHE WANTED THE AQUARIUMSeven months after Mia’s birthday, Ella came into my office.
“Can we do something?”
“Sure.”
“The aquarium.”
I stopped typing.
“What?”
“The one I missed.”
She remembered almost nothing about kindergarten.
She remembered missing that trip.
Of course she did.
So I took Friday off.
No laptop.
No calls.
Just me, Ella and Mia.
We stood beneath the giant tank while a whale shark moved overhead.
Mia screamed like someone had released a dinosaur.
Ella laughed so hard she dropped her pretzel.
Later we sat on a bench.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
Ella looked confused.
“For what?”
“For not realizing Grandma kept you from coming before.”
“You didn’t know.”
“I believed her.”
“Because she’s your mom.”
The sentence was so simple.
Children understood the trap.
I looked at her.
“Do you think I work too much?”
She shrugged.
“Sometimes.”
It hurt.
Good.
Truth sometimes did.
“Do you wish I didn’t work?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“You’d be annoying.”
I laughed.
Then she became serious.
“I just want you to listen if I say something weird.”
“I will.”
“No.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“You don’t have to believe everything I say.”
That surprised me.
“Okay.”
“But don’t tell me what I meant before I finish.”
My throat tightened.
That was exactly what I had done.
Grandma was strict.
Grandma meant well.
You probably misunderstood.
She’s teaching you responsibility.
I had interpreted before investigating.
“I can do that.”
Ella nodded.
Then pointed toward the tank.
“Can we get ice cream?”
“Absolutely.”
“Grandma says ice cream before dinner ruins discipline.”
I looked at her.
She grinned.
I bought two enormous cones.
May you like
Not because rebellion was parenting.
Because sometimes a child deserved to experience a rule changing without someone making her pay for it.
