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ages?” he asked.
    “Fine, I’ll do the mashed potatoes,” she said. Destiny picked up a rather large knife and proceeded to hack at the potatoes.
    “Watch your fingers, Desi,” Justin said, directing an exaggerated scared expression towards Sophia. “Mom is a bit crazy with a knife.”
    The little girl almost smiled, but not quite.
    “So, busy day Soph?” Justin asked. “Did you get any school work done?”
    “My name is Sophia,” she said.
    Destiny tried to communicate with her eyes; she did her best to make Sophia not say anything about the school work. Major fail.
    “Sophia, did you do some school work when you got home from brunch?” he asked.
    “Not today,” she said. “I’ll catch up tomorrow.”
    “Why was that?” Justin asked, slipping Destiny a disapproving look.
    “Cos after brunch and our nails, we went shopping.” Sophie said with enthusiasm.
    “ Did you just and did you buy something nice?”
    “Mommy bought me a camera, and it’s really cool. It spits the photos straight out; you don't have to put them onto your computer or anything.”
    “Is that so?” Justin said, again glancing at Destiny. “Would you like to show me?”
    “Sure!” Sophia said. She jumped down from the stool and ran up the stairs.
    “Tell me her birthday is coming up,” he said, “or maybe she saved some allowance?”
    “She doesn’t get an allowance,” Destiny said, slinging the seasoned chicken onto a tray and tossing it in the oven with a little more gusto than was necessary. “This really is none of your business!”
    “Or maybe it is,” Justin said.
    Sophia darted back into the room with camera in hand. “If you take a picture it slides right out here,” she said.
    “Why don’t you show me how to use it, Sophia? You could take a picture of your mommy’s pretty pink face.”
    “Wow, it is pink,” Sophia said, clicking the button and taking a photograph.
    “You know what? I think you should put that one on the fridge,” he said.
    * * *
    Justin watched as Sophia forked piece after piece of all the vegetables on her plate and popped them into her mouth. It was impressive and he found himself over the moon at what would seem to anyone else a small achievement. It was a big thing to him because so far he had only found negative things about this child and that wasn’t really fair. She was a beautiful child, and now that he had taken the time to actually look at her features, he was surprised that it hadn’t occurred to him on their first meeting just how much like Lily-Grace she was.
    “Why are you staring at me?” she asked.
    “I was just amazed at how much you like your vegetables,” he said. He almost said, “my little girl has to be coaxed” but then he realized when this all came out, that might hurt her feelings. There would be no my little girl and your little girl. If Sophia was his, she would have his whole heart, just as Lily-Grace did.
    “You’re amazed pretty easily aren’t you?” she asked.
    “Sophia,” Destiny cautioned with a wide smile.
    “Huh? What? The principal doesn’t care about food,” she said.
    “Who’s for dessert?” Destiny asked.
    “Depends on what it is,” Sophia asked. “Do we have strawberry ice cream?”
    “I thought this wasn’t a strawberry type of a day.”
    “That was this morning,” Sophia said. “Do we have it or not?”
    Justin didn’t exactly find this exchange amusing. He may have done if he was watching a stranger’s child and if he hadn’t read all the school complaints about her. This sassy side of her nature had gone past being cute and was having an impact on her life outside the bubble of this house. If Lily-Grace spoke to him like that, she would be straight to bed and wouldn’t taste ice-cream until she couldn’t remember what strawberry tasted like. Destiny glanced at him and he could tell she was embarrassed. No one wanted to be caught with their kids talking to them like that. He purposely said nothing. His time