to me.” He shifted and pulled out his phone from his suit pocket. “Look at this. You can’t say I’m not trying.” His finger swiped at the screen, and he opened up the Kindle reading app.
How to Be a Cool Dad.
I couldn’t help it. I laughed out loud. Not a full-on belly laugh, but a good chuckle.
“What?” he said, sheepish. “I’m trying.”
I grabbed his phone out of his hand. “Let me see this.” As I scrolled through the chapters, I saw there was everything from kid conversation starters to dad jokes. “Seriously?” My finger swiped at the screen as I read fast. “Let us see here.” Good gosh, some of these were bad. “Okay, how do you get a squirrel to like you?”
“Act like a nut.” I shook my head. That was bad, but it got worse. “Okay, next one. Why don’t eggs tell jokes?”
A laugh fell out of Charles’s mouth.
“They’d crack each other up.” I shook my head.
He reached for the phone, and he continued to scroll. “Did you hear the rumor about butter?”
“Oh gosh. No, what?”
“Well, I’m going to spread it.” He shook his head, grimacing and laughing at the same time.
Now, I had a case of the giggles. As he continued with the most horrendous jokes, we both laughed so hard that the kids came over and wanted to join in the fun.
“I wanna play,” Mary said.
“What are you guys up to?” Sarah said, sitting by her father.
Charles angled his phone away from her. “I’ve got a great joke about construction …”
The girls’ eyes widened as they waited for the punch line that I knew would be bad.
He finished with, “But I’m working on it.”
The girls’ faces were blank, and Charles and I started cracking up.
“Is that supposed to be a joke, Dad?” Sarah tilted her head, thoroughly confused.
Charles nodded and lifted a finger. “I’ve got another one.” He pressed the screen on his phone. “If a child refuses to sleep during nap time, are they guilty of resisting a rest?”
Good Lawd this was horrid, but I couldn’t stop laughing.
Mary hopped on my lap, wrapping her arms around her center.
“Where’s the end of it?” Sarah asked.
Charles rubbed at his eyes. “That’s it. That’s the end of it. They’re guilty of resisting a rest. Get it?”
Sarah scrunched her nose. “Dad, you’re weird.”
“I can’t argue that,” he said, standing up and sobering a little. “Enough dad jokes. But don’t be surprised if I bust out with more later.”
Sarah jokingly rolled her eyes. “Please don’t, Daddy.”
Charles
After ice cream, I grabbed a pizza, and we headed back home to eat dinner and watch a movie. As I sat on the floor, my back against the couch, with Mary on my lap, I couldn’t help but savor the feeling of normalcy that I hadn’t had in years. Movie night.
When was the last time we had an honest-to-goodness movie night?
The marathon of princess movies just started, and there was no doubt in my mind that it would only end with the girls asleep on the floor and me carrying them up to their rooms.
Becky’s shoulder was against mine, as she was sandwiched between me and Sarah.
Mary let out a peal of laughter as Sebastian the crab belted out his song. It reminded me of so many years ago—with Sarah on my lap, my one hand on Nat’s stomach, Mary still forming in her belly.
A sharp pang hit me directly in the chest. I missed those times—the silent, simple moments that I had been able to enjoy with my family, where we were seated on a cushion of pillows on the floor. We never did sit on the couch like normal people. We would all be laid out on the floor, comfortable, how my family had always watched movies.
My gaze moved to my right, noting Becky’s smile, wide and genuine as Princess Ariel sang on the screen. Where Mary was snuggled against me, resting her head against my chest, Sarah was seated right next to Becky, shoulder to shoulder, their expressions similar and their eyes glued to the television.
I missed having this with someone—that comfortableness of enjoying each other’s company in the everyday moments. Having someone by me, with the girls.
I craved this familiarity with someone else, this closeness. And I just now realized how much I wanted it again.
I shook my head from the thoughts. I could absolutely not have that closeness with Becky—our nanny. We needed her. I did not need to complicate our relationship, our