1
Ryan
"...andtogether with Magic the unicorn, the little family lived happily ever after," I said, my eyes tearing up.
Dammit. It was just a storybook for kids but it always made me cry. Sometimes I wished I wasn't such a freaking emotional sap. I couldn't even blame it on the hormones either because I wasn't pregnant anymore. I hadn't been since Andrew was born a little over two years ago.
"Again!" Andrew demanded. He punctuated this by slapping his hand on the back of the thin hardcover book.
"Again?" I asked as if I was shocked by this, even though I wasn't. My son could hearMagic the Unicorna million times in one day and still ask for it one million and one times. At least I was getting a lot of mileage out of one book, which was helpful since I didn't have a ton of money to buy him more. My part-time gig at the local diner only paid so much. There were libraries, sure, but there was something special about owning a copy of your favorite book. It was Andrew's prized possession, one of the few we had.
Andrew giggled. "Again!"
I checked the time. Today was the cherry blossom festival in the park. I'd wanted to go early before the crowds began showing up, and I knew it would take at least another twenty minutes to readMagic the Unicornagain (more if Andrew had insightful comments and questions and other sorts of interruptions), plus getting him dressed and bathroom'd and ready to go, and another twenty minutes to walk there...
Running through the list of tasks was mentally exhausting, and just another reminder of how much I had on my plate. This whole parenting thing was hard enough, but it was made harder because I was doing it all on my own. Not that I particularly wanted Andrew's birth alpha father in the picture—he was a scumbag manchild who wouldn't know proper childcare from his own ass—but it would've been nice to havesomebody.
I absentmindedly smoothed my hand over the back of the book. It was a cute story about a little girl raised by a single dad. The girl wanted another daddy, and the dad wanted a life partner. One day, the girl made a wish for a magical unicorn to solve all their problems. A unicorn shows up and at the end of the book, her wish comes true. The unicorn ends up being a shifter, able to change between a unicorn and a man. The single dad falls in love with him, and so does his daughter, and they live happily ever after.
The premise of the story hit a little too close to home initially but after the billionth time reading it, it didn't faze me anymore. What mattered was how much Andrew enjoyed it.
Besides, it wasn't like a unicorns existed. Or shifters. Those were just in books and movies.
Andrew wriggled impatiently in my lap while I was zoning out thinking about unicorns.
Right. Gotta reply to my son.
I had the "maybe another time, okay?" poised on the tip of my tongue, but one look down at Andrew's pleading puppy eyes melted me. I just couldn't do it. I sighed and gave in.
"Okay, one more time..."
"Yay!"
* * *
It turnedout I'd severely underestimated the time it took to get a two-year-old to empty his bladder, change into a clean outfit, eat a snack, and get into his stroller. By the time we got to the cherry blossom festival, it was packed.
I withheld a groan. I was disappointed but I didn't want Andrew to pick up on my negative energy. I had to be a good role model for him, especially since I was the only one he had.
"Well, we're going to have fun, aren't we, Andrew?" I asked.
"Fun!"
"Yeah! Lots of fun."
Saying it out loud helped me believe it a little more, too. It was a tough habit to break but I was trying my best. I'd been pretty pessimistic growing up, which is probably why I fell for the deadbeat alpha who impregnated me. He was a 'bad boy' who would rather stay up until 3 AM playing video games and guitar (badly, I might add) than get a job, which was attractive when I was young and naive. Not so cool when I was an adult with responsibilities and needed to buy diapers. Video games and guitar-playing alone did not diapers buy.
But with Andrew in my life, I couldn't be so negative. I didn't want him to turn out that way. I had a duty to stay positive for his sake.
"Okay, Andrew," I said. "Where to first?"
"Cotta candy!"
Where was he seeing cotton candy? I followed his gaze and realized he was pointing to the pink cherry blossoms. Sometimes he was so cute I couldn't stand it.
"Those are cherry blossoms," I told him. "Not cotton candy. It won't taste good if you eat it."
"Oh. Yuck."
