He shakes his head, serious. “No way. Knights get the sword. And the horse. And the crown sometimes.”
“Well, obviously,” I say, trying not to laugh. “We’ll go, and you can save the kingdom again. Maybe this time, the dragon can be your friend instead of the bad guy.”
He thinks about it, his little brow furrowing in concentration. “Hmm. Maybe. But only if he promises not to breathe fire on the castle this time.”
I smile against his hair. “Sure. No flaming castles today.”
“Mama, today I’mSir Laddie the Brave!And I’m gonna rescuePrincess Momfrom the evil swamp monster of boredom.”
I snort. “The swamp monster of boredom?”
He nods fiercely. “Yeah! ’Cause he lives in a big goo puddle and he throwsboring slimeon people, and then you get all sleepy, and your brain turns into oatmeal. But I’m gonna jump in with my knight sword and be like—Hi-Yaa!—and save you.”
I laugh, pulling him into a side hug. “Well, Sir Laddie, I am honored to be your princess.”
He beams up at me, missing tooth and all. “You’re the prettiest princess, Mama. But you gotta let me do the sword fighting part, okay?”
“Deal,” I say, pressing a kiss to his cheek.
When his focus drifts back to his shows, I pull out my phone and look up Liam Callaghan’s social media pages again.
His page is still the same wall of hockey, but I scroll anyway, slowly this time, studying little details I didn’t take in before — the way his smile never quite reaches his eyes in press photos, how he always stands a little apart in group pictures, like he’s there but not reallywiththem.
That familiar ache curls low in my chest.
He’s still hard to read. Still closed off. Still carrying the weight of whatever he never says out loud.
And I hate how much I recognize it.
How much I miss it.
How much I want to know what’s underneath.
I sigh, staring at the blank text screen for too long before finally typing:How are you?
The reply comes almost immediately.
Liam:Like, generally? Or existentially? Or...
Emma:Ummm...whichever?
Liam:I’m fine. Trying to motivate myself to do some laundry.
Emma:Sounds exciting.
Liam:Absolutely.
Emma: …
Liam:It was really good seeing you the other night.
Emma:I agree, same.
My heart beats faster.
Liam:I’ve been thinking about you a lot since then.
Emma:Oh?
