“Dad!”she drawls, an octave lower this time. Ellie loves to remind me that she’s not five anymore, but she’ll always be my little girl, and never too big to play spaceships with.
I set her back down and immediately feel Piper watching me from afar. The soccer ball is clamped under her foot, completely forgotten about.
“Mom! You have the ball.”
“Ah. So I do.” She kicks it back to Sonny—could probably work on her aim.
But time is something we have a lot of. She could learn a few lessons on soccer from me, that way we can all play together.
“Hey,” I begin, offering her a small smile. “I’m off work for a while, but not sacked, so that’s a cause for celebration.”
She returns my small smile. “Caleb?—”
“Don’t. I’m sorry for overreacting.”
“No, it was completely justified. I was thinking of myself and never stopped to consider how keeping this from you might’ve made you feel, considering what happened in the past.”
I say nothing, and decide to kiss her.
She responds to my touch, accepting my tongue into her mouth. It brushes tenderly with mine in the start of a fiery embrace that we’re gonna have to save for later when we’re alone.
Thankfully, Ellie’s excited screaming breaks us apart.
“Oh. My. God! Did you know that you’re kissing?”
“Well aware,” I quip, my nose still pressed against Piper’s.
“But you told me that you weren’t together.”
“Things change,” I say, turning to face Ellie this time.
That’s when Piper shuffles forward and gestures for Sonny to come over here. “I wanna speak to you for a minute, buddy. Actually, we both do.”
Sonny scampers over, heavy-footed. I see now where he gets that from.
All thoughts from today wash away as soon as I see Sonny. That mischievous smile is mine. His eyes, his chin—everything about him is a combination of things derived from me and Piper, and that heals something huge inside of me.
Piper squats down to meet his eyes, her mouth flapping open several times as she tries to find the words. Eventually, she settles for: “Caleb…” Another dozen hesitations follow before she actually gets somewhere. “Sonny, I know it’s been just the two of us, which is why I wanted to get your thoughts on us living here permanently with Caleb and Ellie.”
Sonny’s brown eyes flare wide. “As in, we get to stay here?” The boy is already punching the air in victory, eager to take off through the yard like he’s scored a goal.
Piper reels him back in. “I take that as a yes?”
Sonny nods his head repeatedly.
“Good,” she says. “Because there’s something you should know about Caleb.” She squeezes his hands tighter and says, “He’s your dad.”
It can’t be possible for Sonny’s eyes to get any bigger than they already are, but they manage to pop right out of the sockets. “As in, myrealdad?”
Piper nods, waiting for his reaction.
He takes off, and this time she lets him do a lap around the lawn. His extended arms wrap straight around my thighs as he comes back around to his starting point, and my heart bursts with overflowing love again.
“You’re really my dad?”
I ruffle his hair and smile. I’ll save the tears for later. “I really am, buddy. So be prepared to lose all of your soccer games from now on. We’ll be spending a lot of time kicking that ball about in the yard”—I narrow my eyes—“if you can handle my game.”
“The last time we played, I handled you four-one.”
