Over the next few days, Mouse and Henry were very careful to behave in a friendly but neutral way, especially around Leo. Mouse's sunburn faded, and she was able to get back to her regular activities. The bike seat arrived, and Mouse and Leo began roaming around Lower Manhattan, frequently sending Henry selfies of themselves, with Leo in his Pikachu helmet, from Chinatown, Greenwich Village, and Battery Park.

Sometimes Travis joined them on their outings, though Leo wasn't sure how he felt about him. On the one hand, he knew Travis was Mouse's "ex," and therefore not a threat, but he still felt uneasy, for some reason, and was generally happier when it was just the two of them, or him, Mouse, and his father.

One afternoon, Travis and Mouse were sitting on a bench at a playground near the apartment, watching Leo run around on the equipment with a few kids he knew from preschool. It was a muggy day, and Mouse had her brown hair up in a messy bun, trying to cool off her neck.

Travis kept putting his arm along the back of the bench and touching Mouse on her back and shoulder, right where she was sweaty. It was irritating her, but she felt bad to just swat him away like he was a fly. She did finally shrug his arm off, however, murmuring, "Stop, please, it tickles, and it's just too hot."

Travis looked over at her, surprised. "You used to like it," he said with a little smile, shaking his sandy blond hair back.

"I used to like a lot of things," Mouse replied, giving him a sideways glance. "We broke up, remember? We're going to give friendship a try?"

"Yeah, but things were different when we decided that," Travis countered. "I was moving, you were going back home for the summer--"

"And neither one of those things was a relevant factor in our decision to break up," Mouse reminded him. "Our reasons were in a completely different realm, remember?"

"Aww, come on, Mouse," Travis said, leaning forward so he could see her face. "We were so good together, you know? We get along so well, so well," he emphasized. "And don't tell me you don't still feel something, because you do, I can tell."

"Travis, our problems were never about feelings," Mouse said. She sighed. "I don't want to have this conversation. Not here, in a park. Maybe not ever, anywhere, but for sure not here, okay?"

Travis sighed too, nodding, looking out at the laughing children. "Okay. For now. I'm good with being your friend for a while, because being friends with you is really cool, I want you to know." He smiled at her, a nice smile that she couldn't help but respond to.

She looked over at Leo, who was walking toward where she sat with Travis. He was walking slowly, appearing to talk to someone, though he was alone. He looked dejected, showing his feelings in his expression, his posture, in every way possible, like all small children did.

He came straight to Mouse and put his arms around her, positioning himself between her legs and laying his head on her chest. He sighed.

Travis leaned over and mussed his hair. "What's the matter, Leo?" he asked. "You look down."

Leo turned his head to regard Travis. "My friends aren't very nice," he explained, his tiny chin quivering as he spoke.

"Uh oh, sounds like trouble," Travis agreed. "Tell us about it, maybe we can help?"

"Dominick, he's the one in the brown pants? He called me a baby," Leo began. "Then Ezra, he's the one with the hat? He said babies couldn't play with them."

"Why did Dominick call you a baby?" Travis asked. "What happened? And they don't really sound like friends, I think, you know?"

Leo nodded his blond head as it lay against Mouse's bosom.

"I was just playing a pretend game, a game I like to play," he explained. Mouse could tell he was leaving something out, but she didn't press him.

"You want us to go talk to him?" she asked instead, kissing the top of his head.

Leo shook his head. "I wanna go home," he said softly.

"Okay," Mouse replied. "Let's go."

Travis said good bye to them at the gate, and headed in the opposite direction. Mouse bought Leo an Italian ice in a cup from a vendor, and they ate them as they walked.

"Do you have a wife?" Leo asked as they walked.

"Do you mean a mother?" Mouse answered with a smile.

Leo shook his head. "Yeah, mother, mother," he corrected himself.

"I do," Mouse said. "Her name is Carol, and she's very nice."

"Where is she?"

"She lives in Virginia, really close to Washington, D.C.," Mouse told him.

"Like by the president?"

"Mm hmm."

"My mommy's dead," Leo told her.

"I know," Mouse answered, giving his little hand a squeeze.

"Mouse?"

"Yeah?"

"Where are dead people?"

Whoa.

Mouse finished her Italian ice and tossed the cup, considering how to answer. "No one really knows," she finally told him. "Different people believe different things, and they believe those things really, really deeply, but the truth is that no one really knows for sure, so everyone believes what they want, you know?"

She hunkered down so she was eye level with him. He stared back at her, blue eyes serious and unblinking. "You want to sit down and talk about this?" she asked, gesturing to a shady bench.

He shook his head. "I like walking and talking," he said. "I can find words easier when I walk."

"Okay."

They walked in silence for a bit, crossing Church Street, heading east.

"So where do you think dead people go?" Leo asked, automatically leading her to the shady part of the sidewalk.

"I'm one of the people who doesn't know, and isn't afraid to say so," Mouse admitted. "I can't imagine what happens to us when we die. Maybe our spirits come back, like some people believe, or maybe we go to heaven, like some other people believe. Or maybe we just disappear, like some other people believe," she concluded.

Leo looked at her. "You really don't know?" he asked. He seemed amazed, which Mouse found rather touching.

Mouse shook her head.

"My mommy's sister came to see us once, and we went to church with her," Leo told Mouse. "Daddy didn't want to go, but Aunt Stacy wanted us to all go, so we went. She told me that Mommy was an angel, and that she was with god, looking out for me always." Leo looked at Mouse carefully, to see the effect of his words. "Do you think that's true? Do you think that could be true, Mouse?"

Mouse debated what to say. She and Henry hadn't talked about this at all. She had no problem lying to Leo when circumstances warranted, but she didn't think this was one of those times. While she was contemplating her next words, Leo continued speaking, tugging on her hand for emphasis.

"Aunt Stacy said that it was wrong to be sad about mommy being gone, and that I shouldn't do it," he said.

Mouse looked down at him sharply. These words angered her, and she waited for him to continue.

"She said that mommy suffered before she died, and we should joice that her suffering was over."

"Re-joice, Leo," Mouse murmured. She sighed.

"Re-joice," Leo repeated. "And she said that mommy was in a better place, she was with god, and she wouldn't come back to earth on a plane, even if she could." And now his voice was getting a little bit higher pitched, as he got emotional. Mouse wondered how this topic related to whatever had happened at the playground, and tucked that thought away for later, resolving to try to find out.

Mouse thought hard, trying to hang on to her temper at the same time. "Oh, I think you mean 'return to the earthly plane,' big guy," she said, keeping her voice even with an effort.

"Yeah," Leo agreed, squeezing her hand. He took a deep breath, and swallowed. He stopped walking, staring down at the sidewalk, which was dappled with a shady pattern from the trees overhead.

"Mouse, is that true? That she wouldn't come back to be with me, even if she could? Is that because I was--bad?" He whispered the last word, his voice tiny and horrified. "Would she want to come back on a plane if I was a good boy? Does daddy know that's why she doesn't want to come back?"

Oh my god.

Mouse heard Leo starting to hyperventilate and knew what was coming.

"Oh, Leo, baby, come here, come here--" and she led him to the gutter, and the convenient drain, just in time for his lunch, and the Italian ice to come roiling up from his poor little tummy, as he retched and heaved.

She crouched next to him and rubbed his back, waiting until all of the ugliness was expelled. She opened a bottle of water and washed it down the drain, and gave him a drink. She picked him up and carried him to a bench, sitting with him in her lap. He turned so he could put his arms around her neck, wrapping them tightly around her, and she relished his grip, feeling none of the irritation she'd felt when Travis touched her in the same place before.

Then came the crying, the tears, as Leo released what had been pent up for so long. Mouse wondered when the treacherous Aunt Stacy had come to visit, and if she realized what monstrous thoughts she'd unleashed with her stupid, thoughtless words.

"Leo, honey, listen to me, listen, okay?" Mouse whispered urgently, stroking his heat damp hair. "Your mommy loved you more than anything, more than anything, you understand? And I don't know much, I really don't, but I know, I know, that wherever she is, if she's anywhere, she would leave in a heartbeat if she could come back and be with you, okay? Even if she had to walk through fire and battle a Balrog and a thousand ring wraiths just to spend an extra minute with you, she would, she would!"

Mouse absently wiped her tears on his T-shirt and continued speaking. "I honestly don't know what happens to people when they die, I'm sorry, I don't. But I know for sure that you're the most wonderful boy, the most beautiful child, and anyone would love to be your mommy, and would never willingly leave you, never."

She felt Leo let out a huge, whooshing breath on her shoulder, and he continued sob, even as he nodded. "I hope you're right, Mouse," he said through his tears. "Aunt Stacy made me so sad."

"Does your daddy know what she said to you?" Mouse asked, lips pursed.

Leo shook his head. "She told me when she tucked me in to sleep," he confessed.

Mouse couldn't think of anything to say.

"You feel better?" she finally asked.

Leo nodded. "I'm hungry," he announced.

"Of course you are," Mouse answered, laughing. "Let's go home and make spaghetti, what do you say? I think your daddy's coming home early tonight, so we can all eat together, okay?"

"Okay," he said agreeably.

He reached for Mouse's hand again, and they walked off toward home. He even skipped a little, on the way, his earlier turmoil forgotten already.