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always find something good in it.
    Tom opens the car door for Olivia and bows as she slips into the back seat. It’s daddy-daughter date night and they’re headed to dinner and the ballet.
    “When I grow up I want to be a ballerina,” Olivia says.
    “You’d make a beautiful ballerina. It takes a lot of practice, though.”
    “Miss Dawn says that we should practice every day, and I do.”
    Tom nods.
    “Emma does karate. Why does she do that and not ballet?”
    Tom smiles. “Because it’s what she likes. Just like you like chocolate cake and Mommy likes vanilla. It’s good when people like different things. If everyone liked the same thing, the world wouldn’t be as interesting.”
    “But what if someone likes chocolate and vanilla?”
    “That’s OK, too. But sometimes you can only have one and you need to decide which one it will be.”
    “Why can’t I have both?”
    “We don’t always get what we want, Libby. You’re little and most of the things you have to decide are little like you. But when you get to be a big girl, the decisions will be harder to make. Sometimes you can have chocolate, sometimes you can have vanilla and sometimes, if you’re lucky, you can have both.”
    I can see the wheels turning inside Olivia’s head. She doesn’t entirely understand, but I know that with age comes wisdom. I pray that the little girl I am keeping moments for will always get whatever flavor cake she wants.
    I looked at the pink sign with green lettering on the school door. “Daddy-Daughter Dance.”
    “Are you going?” Tracey Carmichael asked.
    Tracey was in my first-grade class.
    I shook my head.
    “Why not? It’ll be fun.”
    “I don’t have a dad.”
    Tyler Butler overheard me and walked over. “You do too have a dad. I’ve seen him. He rides a motorcycle and has tattoos on his arms and a red bandana on his head. My mom said he’s a biker.”
    “He’s not my dad.”
    “Then who is he?”
    “His name’s Matt.”
    I walked away from Tracey and Tyler. I didn’t want to talk to them anymore. When I got home, Grandma asked me what was wrong. She said she could tell I was upset about something because I was extra quiet and I didn’t want my usual afterschool snack of Oreos and apple juice.
    A tear slipped from my eye, followed by another. Within seconds, it became a deluge. It was as if the tears had been holed up all day just waiting for the right moment to bust loose. “There’s a dance for daddies and daughters and I don’t have a daddy and everyone else does.”
    Grandma bent down and wrapped her saggy arms around me and kissed me on the forehead. “I’m sorry, Sarah. I wish things were different. But we don’t always get the things that we want.”
    “Like the time I wanted chocolate-chip ice cream and there was only that yucky kind?”
    “Exactly,” Grandma said. “Sometimes yucky’s all there is and you have to make the best of it.”
    “Like you putting chocolate syrup on it?”
    Grandma nodded. “It made it taste better, didn’t it?”
    I smiled. “Yeah. It tasted better.”

Chapter 9
    “There she is!” Olivia yells.
    Olivia, six, is dressed in her blue Cinderella gown with tulle petticoat. A bejeweled heart-shaped cameo accents the bodice.
    She runs toward Cinderella Castle at Disney World and her beaded tiara with glitter organza ribbon flies off. Elizabeth picks up the tiara and places it back on Olivia’s head.
    Olivia gets in line behind two girls.
    Olivia loves Disney World. Her parents take her every year. She loves seeing the princesses and getting their autographs. Elizabeth always makes her a keepsake album that includes all their favorite photos. Several albums line the bottom shelf of the bookcase in Olivia’s room. One of Olivia’s prized possessions is a pink lanyard covered with collectible Disney pins. She has dozens of them.
    Cinderella is her favorite character. She always eats breakfast and dinner with Cinderella in Cinderella’s castle. And she