Page 141 of Pucking Daddy

She throws her arms around my neck, quick and fierce. “Bye, Daddy.”

“Bye, bug.”

Then she turns and launches herself at Zara with the same force.

Something tight and tender pulls in my chest as Zara catches her easily, laughing as Lily nearly knocks them both off balance.

“Bye, sweetheart,” Zara says, smoothing her hair. “Have fun.”

“We might get ice cream,” Lily whispers, as if this is classified information.

“I had a feeling,” Zara whispers back.

Mrs. Henriksen appears in the doorway, smiling knowingly. “We’ll be back later.”

I stand and nod. “Thanks again.”

The door closes a minute later, and the apartment falls quiet.

Zara looks at the door for a second, then turns slowly back toward me. “Okay,” she says. “Now I think I might actually collapse.”

“You want to sit down?”

“I want a drink.”

“It’s eleven-thirty.”

She lifts one shoulder. “If this isn’t a time to celebrate, I don’t know what is.”

I head into the kitchen and grab two glasses. “You’re right. Wine?”

“Definitely,” she says, following me.

She leans against the counter while I pour, and I catch myself watching her the way I have a hundred times now.

She’s so fucking beautiful without even trying. Does she have any idea what she does to me, just standing there?

I don’t think she does.

I hand her a glass.

She takes it and lifts it slightly. “To not crashing and burning in front of the evaluator.”

I touch my glass to hers. “To non-threatening pancakes, the statistically safe breakfast choice.”

That makes her laugh, bright and immediate, and for a second I just stand there listening to it.

It hits me all over again, that impossible certainty that has been sitting in my chest for days now.

I love her.

Lily.

Zara.

Us.

That’s the order of my life now. Maybe it has been for a while.