Page 103 of Falling for Keeps

“Yes!”

They leave me, heading into the kitchen. I feel like we made progress, but something’s missing. Why was Emma hesitating? Why didn’t that feel like a momentous occasion? I get up and head into the kitchen to take Penny home. We need to have dinner and my mom is probably waiting for us.

Emma is covering a paper plate of cookies as I cross the threshold. “You can tell everyone you made these,” she says, handing the plate to Penny. “They’re going to love them.”

My heart swells with affection.

Penny takes the plate and skips out the door. “I’m gonna watch you walk across the road, but then I need to speak to Emma for a moment.”

She screws up her face in mild disgust. “Are you going to kiss her?”

The floor nearly falls out from under me and Emma chokes on the cookie she was chewing.

“Why would you ask that?”

“Because you guys have googly eyes for each other. Duh. You look like the skunk with the heart eyes on that show you make me watch.”

“Looney Tunes is not a punishment,” I remind her. So much for trying to culture my kid.

Penny rolls her eyes.

Now my heart is hammering a million beats a minute. “Would you be okay with that?”

“Kissing is gross, Dad.”

“Kissing is wonderful, Nickel. Someday you’ll agree, but I’m glad you don’t like it now.”

She makes a fake gagging sound. “Yuck. I don’t want to.” She looks at Emma. “Does this mean you’re going to be my stepmom?”

Emma coughs again, shaking her head. “That’s moving a little fast, Penny. You have to date a guy first, then you decide if you want to spend the rest of your lives together.”

“Not everyone spends the rest of their lives together,” she says.

My heart pangs. I step in, because Emma shouldn’t have to deal with this. “No, they don’t. That’s another choice two adults make together. But it’s the goal, Penny. You don’t know where life is going to take you, but you make the best choice you know how, and you put in the work to keep showing up for the other person.”

“You have to choose them every day,” Emma says, looking at me. “Every morning you wake up and make that same choice, and you work hard to show it.”

“Would you choose me too?” Penny asks.

“You and your dad are a package deal, Penny. Anyone who chooses your dad will already love you.”

“That means you love me,” Penny says. “Because you chose my dad.”

“I sure do,” Emma says without hesitation.

I’m not sure I’ve ever felt more strongly for a woman than I do now. Emma’s right, and I don’t think I saw it until this moment. From the day I met her, she’s been showing up for us without fail. Despite my roller coaster of emotion and all the fear holding me back, she let me go at my own pace and didn’t pressure me.

Maybe I’ve only really known Emma for a month, but it feels like a lifetime. I love the person she is for me and the one she is for everyone else. I love how she cares deeply about anything that comes out of my nine-year-old’s mouth, how she’s wise and thoughtful in her responses. I want to tile her entire house—I mean, if that’s what she wants—and make sure she feels chosen every single day, like she’s done for me.

“Want to be my girlfriend?” I ask her.

Penny gasps. “Dad! Really?”

“Really, Nickel.”

Emma crosses the room and pulls me into a hug, then reaches for Penny, tugging her into the group. “Yes, I do.”

We don’t kiss, though. Penny deserves a moment to absorb everything that happened today, and all the things we told her, before we foist PDA on her, too.