I stopped as soon as I saw the sandbox. Leaning to the corner of the house, I smiled.
Jamie was building a castle. Another little boy was explaining something about the digger he held up for Jamie to see. What caught all my attention was Bear, though.
He was digging with his hands in the back corner, his butt sticking up a little. Tonya, Mr. Rabbit, and what looked like a Transformers figure sat on the edge of the box.
The boy I didn’t know noticed me first.
“Uh, who’s that?” he asked, eyes wide as he pointed at me with the plastic digger.
Jamie and Bear both whipped their heads to look at me.
Jamie opened his mouth, then closed it, and waved at me jauntily. I grinned.
“That’s my Daddy, his name is Luukas,” Bear said as he scrambled across the sand, minding the other boys’ build sites, and then he was running, filthy with sand and barefoot, into my arms.
I recognized the use of my name as a honorific this time, as more than the nickname most people used and definitely nothing like when he’d said it last time.
I grunted at the impact and wrapped my arms around him as he tried to climb me. “Hey, baby boy,” I murmured against his hair. “Settle down, Daddy’s here.”
He whined and latched onto me as if trying to meld into one being with me. I lowered us on the lush grass and let him straddle me to get as close as possible. He hid his face in my neck and let out these whimpering little sounds that both broke my heart and put it back together.
I rocked him gently, murmuring nonsense into his ear as I stroked his back firmly.
Eventually, he quieted.
Pulling back so I could see his face, I smile. “There you are, sweet boy.”
He giggled and ducked his head as if shy all of a sudden. “Hi, Daddy.”
“Hi, Bear.” At his giggle, I kissed his cheek. “I missed you so much.”
“I missed you too, Daddy.”
Mal and a man, probably the other boy’s Daddy, walked down the porch steps and into our view.
“Good to have you back, Luke,” Mal said and smiled warmly. “Luke, this is our friend Jason and that there is his boy Oakley.”
I nodded to Jason. “Nice to meet you.” I vaguely remembered Mal talking about them before. “And you too, Oakley!”
The boy giggled and continued to do whatever it was he was doing.
“You too,” Jason said and nodded toward Bear. “You have a polite little boy.” Then he playfully glared toward the sandbox. “I wonder where I could get me one of those.”
Oakley let out a shrieky laugh, but otherwise ignored him.
“I do.” I pushed some of Bear’s hair behind his ear and looked at him. “He’s wonderful.”
Half an hour later after hastily thanking Jamie and Mal and saying bye to their visitors and then dashing around the house to pack his stuff, Bear was clutching my hand in the back of an Uber. On our way to the car, I’d told Jamie that his presents from Europe were in a bag on their porch and to not spoil anything for Bear.
“I’m so happy to be home.” I stared out of the window at the familiar city.
“I’m happy we’re going home,” Bear said, his tone indicating that he was surfacing from his little bubble.
I didn’t really know what to say, so I stayed quiet and soaked in the feeling of having him so close.
Once we got home, we carried his bags inside and I went to deal with my washing. I had the second load rolling merrily when suddenly Bear burst out of his room.
“Oh my God, I’m gonna be late!”
