Page 104 of Wildflowers and Wide Receivers

This year, the family picture hanging on the wall in Vivi’s room is of the three of us and Molly. Yes, the dog was there, too. At one time, I thought these annual photos might be sad for her, but now all I see is the years of our life together. We’ve added Sophie, and who knows, maybe in a few years, we’ll add a baby, too. I’m in no rush, but if it turns out to be something that Sophie wants, who am I to tell her no?

“Here, let me get that,” I say, reaching for the door to hold it open.

A bell rings as each person enters, and I can’t help but squeeze Sophie’s ass as she walks by. She’s wearing a yellow sundress with short cowboy boots, and I’m counting down the minutes until we’re home and I can bend her over.

She swats at my hand, but I know she doesn’t hate it. In fact, she loves it, just like she loves me.

We’re met with the face of the same hostess we’ve seen several times now.

“Good afternoon.” She smiles at us with recognition and waves at Vivi. Vivi doesn’t drop Dan’s or Chrissy’s hands. Instead, she just smiles real big back.

“Dallmann, party of five,” Sophie tells her.

“You all are officially becoming regulars,” she says as she gathers the menus to take us to our table.

“That’s because you’re our favorite,” Vivi announces.

She’s not wrong. It did score highest on the chart. However, as it turns out, each one of us prefers some place different. I like Madison Avenue Pizza, but Sophie thinks their sauce needs a tad more salt. Sophie has declared she likes my grilled pizzas the best, the ones we make at home, and Vivi likes any that aren’t burnt on the bottom. She is not a fan of coal-fired pizza.

Two months after Sophie moved in, on a Tuesday afternoon, along with Vivi, Dan, Chrissy, and Tyler, we stood in front of a judge at the county courthouse and said, “I do.”

Neither one of us needed a big wedding. Our family is small, so we decided to keep it that way. We just wanted to be married anyway. To celebrate, we booked a private room at Bern’s Steak House, where a few other of our friends joined us. Sophie loved this being her first experience at the restaurant, loved the dessert room, and we both agreed there wasn’t a more perfect place for us to drink champagne and start our life together.

Three months after Sophie moved in, we closed on our beach house. While we weren’t in a hurry to buy just any house, I had reached out to a real estate agent to keep us updated as things became available, and this popped up unexpectedly. The owners were ready to simplify their life in retirement, and instead of dealing with rental upkeep, they decided to let it go. It’s five houses in from the water. Close enough that we can still hear the waves, and only two streets over from Reid and Camille.

In front of me, I hear Vivi gasp, and that’s when I know she’s spotted her party.

“Surprise!” everyone yells, and she whips around to look at me with big, happy tears in her eyes.

It’s been three and a half months since Sophie moved in, and it’s Vivi’s eighth birthday.

I can’t believe she’s already eight.

While we could have had her birthday party anywhere, it seems appropriate to have it here this year. I don’t know that she loves pizza as much as Sophie does, but it’s the memories we’ve made, the laughter, the love. It’s sentimental to her, and that means so much more.

Tyler is the first to break free from the group as he scoops her up.

“How’s my girl doing today?” He grins at her.

“Great!” she says as she ruffles his hair and then gives him a big hug.

“Who told you that you were allowed to get older?” he teases, and she just giggles as he lets her down.

“Papa, come meet my friends.” She grabs Dan’s hand and drags him over to Heather and another little girl named Jillian. Both are in her class at school and her level-three ballet class at Kelli’s Dance Studio. While Vivi isn’t ready to sleep over at anyone’s house yet, we did host her first slumber party. Sophie found some company that came out and set up individual bougie glamping tents in the living room, and the theme was movie night—all hot pink, yellow, and teal. There was a large screen set up, each kid had their own beanbag chair, and there was a candy bar. They had a great time.

I lean close to Sophie. “I want to make a prediction.”

“Oh, yeah? What’s that?” She shifts her weight so she’s angled toward me too.

“Eighteen months. That’s how long it takes for your dad to decide to sell the Minnesota house and move here permanently.”

We both look at Dan as he’s sitting at the table with Vivi’s friends, and she’s sitting on his lap. I pull out my phone and snap a quick picture. While I don’t think they had originally planned on starting their snowbird season until after Halloween, there was no keeping him from Vivi’s birthday once we told him when it was.

Sophie huffs. “I never thought I’d see the day he’d leave Minnesota, but I think you’re right.”

Her tone is soft, and my need to be closer has me wrapping my arm around my wife.

Wife.