All three of them are growing up too damn fast.
“Bye, Mom,” Louisa calls out.
“Love you,” Toni adds, already opening the front door.
“Have fun,” Emi answers from somewhere in the back of the house. “Listen to your father.”
Sophie looks at me with grave seriousness. “Do we have to?”
I point toward the driveway. “Car.”
They pile out laughing, and I follow. The summer heat rolls across the yard. Somewhere down the street, a sprinkler ticks over a lawn. It’s an ordinary Saturday afternoon, and I’m driving the girls to a pool party, and somehow that makes my chest feel too full.
“Dad,” Louisa says from the front seat as I pull onto the main road. “Please don’t interrogate anyone when we get there.”
“I don’t interrogate people.”
All three girls laugh.
“I ask normal questions,” I say.
Toni leans forward between the seats. “Last time you asked Mia’s dad where he kept his fire extinguisher.”
“That’s a normal question.”
“At a birthday party?”
“Especially at a birthday party.”
Sophie adjusts her sunglasses. “Are you going to ask if the pool has a lifeguard?”
“Yes.”
“We already know you are,” Louisa says. “Mom said to let you get three protective dad questions out of your system.”
“Your mother is a wise woman.”
“She also said not to scare the hosts.”
“I don’t scare hosts.”
Toni snorts. “You scare everybody.”
“I’m polite.”
“You’re polite and huge,” Sophie says. “It’s a powerful combo.”
At the house, the party is already underway. Music plays in the backyard, and I can hear splashing from the street. The girls unbuckle in a rush, but I stop them with one look.
“Phones charged?”
“Yes,” Louisa says.
“Sunscreen?”
“Yes,” Toni says.
“You stay together?”
