“Good.” Nicholas approaches her somewhat cautiously, but as soon as her arms close around him, he hugs her with his usual after-school enthusiasm. “We had rehearsal for the music concert, and Dad took me out for ice cream.”
“So I see.” Liv indicates the ice-cream ring around his mouth.
He studies her for a second, and I wonder if he’s going to ask her if he can take off her scarf. Instead he says, “You look like a pirate.”
“Really?” She smiles, as if he couldn’t have given her a better compliment. “Thanks. We both know how cool pirates are. Now come sit down and show me your schoolwork.”
She takes Nicholas’s backpack, and they sit down at the kitchen table so he can show her the worksheets and drawings he did that day. Within seconds, he seems to have forgotten about her hair, though I know it’ll be tough for him to see her without the scarf.
As they talk, I start getting dinner organized. Half an hour later, the front door opens. Liv and I exchange glances.
I grab my baseball cap and put it on, hurrying to get to the foyer before Bella and Claire come into the kitchen. Claire is helping Bella off with her coat.
“Hi, Daddy,” Bella says.
I crouch and hold out my arms, letting my daughter dash into them. After a hug, I ease back to look at her.
“Do you remember when we told you Mommy would lose her hair?” I ask. “Because of the medicine?”
Bella nods, her gaze going to my baseball cap and the obvious lack of hair beneath. A worried look crosses her face.
“Well, Mommy did lose her hair,” I explain. “And I cut mine off so she wouldn’t be the only one without any hair.”
Bella frowns. She grabs the brim of my cap and pulls it off. She stares at my head, then gives a little whine and pulls away from me to run back to Claire.
“It’s okay, Bella.” Claire takes her hand. “Let’s go see your mom.”
She marches past me into the kitchen, leading a reluctant Bella. Alarm flickers through me. I follow, trying to get in front of my daughter as if I can protect her from the shock.
Nicholas and Liv are still sitting at the table. She rises from her chair with a smile.
“Hi, sweetie.” She approaches Bella and holds her arms out, but Bella doesn’t move, her eyes narrowing suspiciously at the scarf on Liv’s head.
“So let’s see it,” Claire says brightly, giving Bella a nudge forward. “We know Dean still looks great without any hair, but what about you, Liv?”
“Hey, we’ll take it from here.” I step forward to stop Claire from interfering further.
“Bella, Mom just shaved her head,” Nicholas says. “It’ll grow back, like Dad’s.”
“I don’t like it,” Bella whines.
“At least losing your hair is better than losing your boobs, right?” Claire says with a laugh.
What the actual fuck?
Liv looks stricken, two spots of color appearing on her cheeks. Claire opens and closes her mouth, faint horror appearing in her eyes.
“I’m s-sorry,” she stammers. “Liv, I didn’t mean—”
“Enough.” I grab her arm, managing to keep my voice calm as I say, “Kids, say goodbye to Claire. She has to go now.”
“Bye, Claire,” Nicholas calls.
Bella looks like she’s about to cry. I guide Claire gently but firmly to the door.
“That was completely unacceptable,” I snap, low and angry.
“Oh god, Dean, I’m so sorry.” She groans and presses her hands to her cheeks. “I totally did not know what to say or do. I meant to research how to talk to kids about chemo and hair loss, but I forgot and the whole thing caught me off guard. I didn’t realize Liv would lose her hair so soon. I’m so sorry. Please don’t fire me.”
“I’m not going to fire you.” I sigh, suddenly tired. “But we’ll handle how we talk to the kids about Liv.”
She still looks upset as she pulls on her coat. There’s a knock on the door, and I answer it to find Archer standing on the porch.
“Hey.” He holds up a kit of power tools. “Just returning this. I was going to leave it in the garage, but the door is locked.”
“Thanks.” I take the kit and set it on the floor, then hold the door open for Claire.
She mumbles another apology, tells me she’ll call Liv later, and hurries back out to her car. I close the door behind her, aware of Archer looking at me.
“Liv lost her hair,” I explain, gesturing to the cap.