CHAPTER TWO
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THE PINK PRINCESS
“Sit up and finish your lunch,” her mom said patiently.
Posey got back on her chair.
“Why aren’t you leaving Danny?” she asked.
“I told you,” her mom said. “My new job has day care.”
“You should leave him.” Posey wrinkled her nose. “He smells.”
“I think he smells sweet.” Her mom buried her nose in Danny’s neck. He grabbed her hair.
Posey felt the ends of her mouth turn down. “You love Danny more than me,” she said.
“Oh, Posey.”
Her mom came around the table. She put her arm around Posey’s stiff shoulders. “It’s going to be fine, sweetie. You’ll see. We’ll buy you something new to wear.”
“Why can’t I wear this?”
Posey pointed to her pink tutu. It had a hole above her belly button. The skirt had a tear on one side.
Posey loved to wear it more than anything. She wore it every day, all summer long.
It made her feel special.
Posey never told anyone, but when she wore her pink tutu, she was Princess Posey, the Pink Princess.
Princess Posey could go anywhere. Do anything.
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Even walk into first grade by herself.
“You can wear it when you get home from school,” said her mom.
Posey didn’t want to wear it after school. She wanted to wear it to school.
Her mom untied Danny’s bib. “You wait with Danny while I get some towels,” she said. “We’ll go for a swim.”
“It’s all your fault,” Posey said to Danny with a big frown. “I was the baby till you got here.”
Danny smiled and grabbed his toes.
“Mom thinks you’re great because you’re a baby,” Posey said. “But you wait.”
She leaned forward until their noses were almost touching. “One day she will leave you the way she’s leaving me.”
Danny blew a bubble and laughed.
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