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She hops off the bed with a thud and runs out of the room. I get dressed in my grey dress pants and a white button-down shirt. It’s an office day, so no scrubs today. I secure a black leather belt through my belt loops as I walk down the hallway and into the kitchen.

“Penny, how about some eggs for breakfast?”

“I already ate!” She exclaims, just as I notice the cereal and milk mess on the countertop.

I look at her with one eyebrow raised, and she walks into the kitchen and grabs a cleaning towel from the drawer and wipes up her mess.

“Thank you.” I tousle her hair. “I’m proud of you for making your own breakfast, but we always need to clean up our mess.”

“Yes, sir.” She says before running down the hallway to toss the towel into the dirty hamper, then bounding back into the kitchen.

“You excited for today, little miss?”

“So excited! Aunt Em is coming, right?”

“Yep! She’s meeting us there,” I tell her.

She scampers off down the hallway once more, returning with two hair ties and a brush. “Daddy, will you braid my hair in pigtails like Miss Sophie does?”

I roll my lips together to keep from laughing. I’m absolutely terrible at braiding. You’d think if I can perform surgeries, I could braid hair. But that’s not the case. I grab the brush and hair ties from her and she hoists herself up onto the barstool next to me. My large hands make the hair ties look tiny, but I separate the hair as best I can and do a quick three-strand braid on each side. They look messy, but not terrible. I secure each one and admire my work.

“Okay, there you go.”

Penny jumps down and runs to the bathroom to inspect the braids. “Daddy!” She yells from the bathroom. “These don’t look anything like the braids Miss Sophie does!”

I walk to the bathroom and my shoulders slump when I see her disappointed expression. “I’m sorry, hon. But Miss Sophie is busy this morning, and that’s the best I could do. I’ll keep practicing, okay?”

“Alright, I know you can get better. With practice.” She says with one hand on her hip.

An hour later, we’re at Heartland Academy. Penny and I walk into the school hand in hand and spy Emily at the front desk.

“Aunt Em!” Penny exclaims as she runs to embrace her.

“Hey you! I’ve missed you,” Emily says as she buries her face into Penny’s neck. When she pulls back, she looks over Penny’s hair. “Did your dad braid your hair?” She asks with a tight smile.

Penny wrinkles her nose. “Yeah, Miss Sophie was busy.” She looks back at me and grins. “But he’ll get better with practice.”

Emily smiles, but her eyes look sad. She had a hard time on Penny’s first day of kindergarten, but I was hoping she’d be okay this year.

“You okay?” I ask as the three of us walk down the hallway toward the first grade classroom.

“I’ll be fine,” she says without meeting my gaze, her voice sounding strained.

“Em—” I start, but she interrupts me.

“Don’t. I’m fine.”

I bite my tongue and the three of us walk in silence. The school is alive with people: students finding their way to their classrooms, parents saying goodbye, some taking pictures with their new teachers.

We walk into Penny’s new classroom and Emily gives Penny a hug and takes a picture of her at her desk. Penny grins at the phone. She loves getting her picture taken. I introduce Emily to Penny’s new teacher, Mr. Kenshaw, and then we say our last goodbyes to Penny. She adores school. Last year she was a total teacher’s pet. She's not the least bit sad to watch me and Emily walk out of the room.

I glance over at Emily as we walk and she has tears streaming down her face. I don’t want to make things worse, so instead of talking, I just wrap my arm around her shoulders as we walk. Sophie stands in the doorway of her third-grade classroom and eyes Emily with sympathy, or perhaps concern. Maybe both. She gives me a sympathetic smile then ducks back into her classroom.

I continue to walk with Emily until we reach her car.

I open my mouth to speak, but she cuts me off. “I don’t want to talk about it, Drew.” She takes a deep breath. “I’m still watching Penny Friday while you go out, right?”

I shove my hands in my pockets and nod. “Yep, see you Friday.” I frown, wishing I could say more, but knowing she doesn’t want me to.