There’s noSuck it up, Maisey. Our parents raised us—they’ve got our daughter.
Not that Flint would use the same line as Dean, but he might express the same sentiment.
And she’s not spending a few weeks with her grandparents while her father and I are on the road this time. This time, she’s spending a week with her father and his girlfriend and her grandparents, who will all act like I’m the bad guy for keeping her from them.
“I don’t want to be the bad guy,” I confess while I lean into his heat.
“To her or to everyone else?”
“To her.”
“She knows you’re not the bad guy.”
“You’re just saying that to get into my pants.”
He snorts in amusement. “Is it working?” he deadpans.
“Clearly. Didn’t you see them just go flying?” I sigh and drop my head into my hands. “Look, I’m a total disaster. Maybe—maybe come back in a few hours?”
“Nope. C’mon, Maisey. In we go. Time to watch your favorite movie and wait for Junie to call and say she landed.”
“You called her Junie.”
“So do all of her friends when you’re not around, even if she tells us teachers to call her June.”
I don’t know why that breaks me again, but it does. Flint hauls me to my feet and pulls me into my house and then directs me onto the couch in front of the fireplace with the television over it. He disappears for a hot second but returns with the basket of goodies from the porch.
“Superheroes, fast cars, sci-fi and aliens, romantic comedies, or dude-bro fests?” he asks while he grabs the remote.
“You don’t have to—”
“There’s this completely awful movie I saw once when I was little.The Pickle.Heard of it?”
“No.”
“Guess we better rectify that. If I’m hanging around, I can’t have a memory of a horrible movie that I can’t share with you.”
There it is again.
Warmth.
Patience.
And it makes this place feel likehome.
Not just home. But the home I always wanted.
The only thing missing is Junie.
He settles onto the couch next to me and points the remote at the television once more.
It’s notThe Pickle.
It’sThe Princess Bride.
I blink up at him.
“Tell any of my kids I like this movie and I’ll let mice in your house,” he murmurs.
