Golden Box Book Publishing GBBPub February Magazine | Page 9

EXCERPT
Antonio watched as Ms. Ingrid threw her arms around Tess’ neck,
tears streaming down her face. He moved to grab four-year-old Gia as
she stared at her mother and teacher with a frown on her face.
“Why is Ms. Ingrid crying?”
He kissed her cheek. Gia looked like she was about to burst into
tears. “Mommy told Ms. Ingrid that you’re staying home from school
next week, to spend extra time with her.”
That elicited a deeper frown. “But how come?”
He swung her around as a lump formed in his own throat. “We’ll
talk about it later.”
Ms. Ingrid knelt before Gia. “You be a brave girl for Mommy,
okay?”
Gia drew back and scrunched up her entire face. “You guys are
being so weird.”
Tess laughed. “I just want you to stay home with me for a few days,
okay?”
“But what about my spring program?”
Antonio watched Tess struggle to draw in enough breath to be able
to speak. “You’ll be back in time for your program. It’s not for two
more weeks.”
Tess’ lip quivered as she carried Gia to the car.
Antonio didn’t dare meet her eye. It’s going to be a very long
afternoon. They had debated when to tell Gia about the deployment and
decided it was probably better to give her a little notice.
“Want to stop anywhere?”