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I’m hit with the sound first. A giggle. One that I would know anywhere, and one that is softer than any I’ve heard come from him before.

I set my keys down and close the door softly.

The second thing I notice is the smell. Sweet and burnt.

“Ya know what, babe? Your dada will eat these with a smile. I’m sure of it. The color choices for the frosting are a little questionable, but who doesn’t love a good pukey green? Very autumn. Very in.”

Penny babbles, “Tuptate geen.”

“Yep, cupcakes are definitely green.”

I’m not actually sure I can handle the visual. Not when my heart is already flailing around, wanting to beat out of its cage to get to him. Them. I close my eyes, inhaling a calming breath before peeking into the kitchen.

Penny has a rubber spatula in her hand, smearing frosting all over the damn place. She has some on her cheek, a single green hued curl sticking out, and she’s perched on Emery’s hip. And Emery. Emery…

He’s watching her with a cringed face but allowing her to try on her own. He’s got on an apron. My apron. ‘Girl Dad’ printed on the front.

They have on matching baker’s hats, but Penny’s is tipped sideways and a size too big.

I’m gonna have a fucking heart attack.

The kitchen is a wreck. I’m a wreck. I sniffle, then smile when Penny looks up and sees me. Her eyes go wide, her smile even wider, immediately wiggling in Emery’s arms.

“Dada!”

Emery’s eyes shoot up, and his eyes pop wide, too. “Dillon?” He looks stunned when he bends to set Penny down. When his hands are free, he doesn’t seem to know what to do with them. He fixes his hat and looks around, seeming to register the mess at that moment.

“Shit,” he whispers just as I bend to snatch a running Penny up in my arms.

She squeals when I spin her around and smack a big kiss on her cheek.

“Hi, Penny-bug,” I inhale her sweet curls, then lean my head back to poke her nose. “What are you two getting up to, hmm?”

“Geen tuptates,” she says very seriously.

When my eyes make it back to Emery, he is trying to desperately contain the exploded ingredients all over the island.

“What are you doing here? I didn’t think you would be home until tomorrow?” My dryer goes off in the background, and he looks over his shoulder in that direction, cheeks turning redder by the second.

“Baking and laundry, hmm?” I kiss Penny’s head again and walk further into the mess. Emery is looking at me like he’s not sure how I’m going to react to him in my house. My space. With my daughter.

He gives up trying to wipe up the flour mess to wring his hands in front of himself. “I’ll clean all of this up. I…I just thought maybe you would enjoy coming home to a sweet treat. And…and fresh sheets. I was just going to change them.” He hikes a nervous finger over his shoulder, then flutters his eyes like he’s having a hard time looking at me. “You weren’t supposed to be home yet.”

The vacuum is leaning against the wall by the table, mail stacked, shoes kicked off in the center of the room. All his started and forgotten tasks, and it does nothing but make me want him more.

I set Penny down, and she goes off in the direction of the living room. I have sixty seconds, tops, before I have to make sure she’s not getting into trouble.

Emery’s eyes widen again when I turn to him.

“Woah, there,” he says, watching me as I stalk closer to him. He laughs nervously, skirting around the other side of the island.

“So you came over today to make me cupcakes and change my sheets? Vacuum?”

“Ye…yes?”

“Hmm,” I hum, sinking my teeth into my bottom lip and stalking him around the island.

“Dillon,” he says, a little breathless. A little needy, but he keeps moving around.