Daddy Cranky Pants:Great. See you around 6.
At six on the dot, I hear the buzz from the down0stairs doorbell. Without checking who it is, I hit the button that unlocks the front door. In a matter of minutes, there’s a knock on the door. “Come on in.” I unlocked it when I buzzed him in.
“You shouldn’t just let me walk in,” he announces as he steps over the threshold.
“I knew it was you.”
“No, you didn’t.”
Choosing to end this little argument, I say, “I was about to feed her. Do you want give her whatever it is you brought tonight?” I smirk.
“Sure.”
I guess I hadn’t noticed what was in his hand. When he lifts it, I recognize it as a picture frame. A silver one. He turns it, and I see.
“Is that him? Is that Aiden?” I immediately start to tear up. “Oh, my god, Nate. He’s beautiful.” Hewas,but I can’t say was. I just can’t.
“Yeah.” Nate’s expression is unreadable. “He was somethin’.”
“May I?” I reach for the frame so I can take a closer look. “Brynn has his nose.”
Nate steps closer, wrapping his arm around my waist. “She sure does.” I feel him nod. “This one was taken the day we brought him home.”
Pressing the frame into my chest, I look up at him. He’s only inches away. “Thank you, Nate.” I turn and carry it into Brynn’s room. Moving aside the photo of my mom and me, I place Aiden right in the center of the second shelf. “He will always be here, with his sister.”
“Jesus.” I turn in time to watch Nate wipe at his face. “I knew this was going to be tough.”
“Oh, Nate.” I rush to him and wrap him up in my arms. His face finds purchase on the side of my neck. When I hear him sniffle, I stroke his back. “I know. I know.” When his arms wrap tightly around mine, I know I did the right thing. “You’re doing so good.”
“Not really.” A quick laugh escapes him. “But I’m doing better. Thanks to you.”
I smile to myself.
Nate lifts his head and looks into my eyes. “Do you believe in fate?”
An odd question, but considering how this has all happened with us, I can see why he’d ask. “I do.”
“Do you think you and Brynn are fate?”
It makes me laugh. “Well, I don’t know about that considering creepy Mad Dog with his creative pickup line is what brought us together…”
“So, it’s not fate, it’sMad Dog?”
I visibly shiver, then laugh. “Let’s hope not.”
“Well then, remind me to thank Mad Dog the next time we’re at EZ’s.”
I don’t think I’ll ever want to go back there, but who knows? “Sure.”
When his lips touch mine, I freeze. He pulls back fast. Too fast. “Thank you, Maggy.”
“You’re welcome.”
The moment passes, and I pick up Brynn right as her hungry squawks begin. “Let’s make a grocery list while she nurses.” Heading into the living room, I gingerly sit in the rocker, hoping to avoid the wires.
I fail.
“Ouch,” I mutter, but I do it softly.
