Alex swallowed thickly. "You told him about me? Does he know he's got one more parent?"

"Well, what was I supposed to do? Most of the other kids at preschool have more than one parent; of course he was going to ask," Ashly grumbled. She crossed her arms over her chest defensively and still wouldn't quite meet Alex's eyes. But her scent hadn't soured; it had just sort of gotten weaker, so she wasn't mad, just embarrassed, Alex guessed.

So he took mercy on Ashly and let it rest. It was enough to know that Ashly hadn't pretended like he didn't exist. He hoped Ashly had told Adom good things...