Thirty-Two

Oakley

“What was the best thing that happened to you today?” Sarah asked, smiling at me from across the table as she picked up her garlic bread.

I finished chewing the lasagna in my mouth and swallowed before replying, “That one is easy. Getting to see you.”

She shook her head. “That’s too broad. You know the rules. It has to be more specific.”

I laughed since I was the one who had made the rules to this little game. “Okay, then making dinner with you.”

She seemed pleased with that, then swung her gaze to Wilder. “All right, it’s your turn, Dad. Best thing that happened to you today?”

Wilder put his beer down and appeared to be in deep thought. “Eating a piece of that coconut cake.”

“Dad! You were supposed to say something about me,” she scolded him.

He lifted his shoulders in a small shrug. “We can’t let your ego get too big. This house can only hold so much.”

She burst into a fit of giggles. I felt Wilder’s gaze on me, and I lifted my eyes to meet it. This entire evening had been strange. Wonderful but different. I was afraid to enjoy it too much, but then afraid not to soak it in while I had the chance.

“This is the best thing that happened to me today,” Sarah said.

“What? Eating?” Wilder teased her.

She shook her head at him and rolled her eyes. “No, silly. Eating dinner with both of you. I’ve never gotten to be with both of you at the same time. It’s perfect.”

Oh, Sarah, don’t say that. You’re going to slowly kill me.

Neither Wilder nor I had a comment for that. What did we say? I wanted to tell her I would stay and never leave. That we could do this all the time. But Wilder’s mixed signals made me think once I was safe, things would return to the way they had been.

“Can we watch a Christmas movie when we finish eating?” Sarah asked.

“I’ll clean up the kitchen while you and Oakley go get started on a movie. It’s been a long day, and Oakley will probably want to go to bed earlier than usual.”

Not necessarily, but I wasn’t going to argue with him. This was his house and his rules.

“But you’re staying for a lot of days. Right?” Sarah asked me, needing reassurance that she wasn’t missing anything if we went to bed early.

I nodded. “Yes, I believe so.”

“She’ll be here for a couple of weeks. You’ll have plenty of time to stay up too late and watch Christmas movies,” Wilder assured her.

A couple of weeks. How was I going to leave them after being here for that long? I wouldn’t think about it now. I had to stop fretting over the future. I’d survived losing Wilder once before. If it happened again, then, well, I would survive it too. Maybe.

Wilder stood up, carrying his empty plate to the sink. I finished with my last bite just as Sarah jumped up with her plate and followed him.

“Can we make popcorn?” she asked him hopefully.

“You just ate dinner,” he pointed out.

She shrugged. “But it’s a movie. You can’t watch a movie without popcorn.”

His lips curled at the ends in an amused smile. “Okay, fine. I’ll put a bag in the microwave.”

“But Oaky does it on the stove. I like it better that way.”

Wilder looked over at me as I made my way to the sink. “What?” he asked, looking confused.

I set my plate down and walked over to the oven, then opened the cabinet above it to pull out the container of kernels. I shook them and smiled at him. “The old-fashioned way,” I said, then turned to Sarah. “Get the pot, and I’ll get the oil,” I instructed.

“On it!” she exclaimed happily.

“Explain why you do it this way when we have microwave popcorn in the pantry,” Wilder said, watching us get our supplies.

“Because it’s fun,” Sarah told him, setting the large pot on the stovetop.

“What she said,” I replied.

He chuckled and shook his head. Turning, he took my plate and rinsed it before loading the dishwasher.

“While you heat the oil, I’ll go pick the movie,” Sarah told me, then hurried from the kitchen.

I glanced over at Wilder, who was making domestic work look sexy, before putting the oil in the pot.

This was going to mess my head up so bad. Being here with them like this. Wilder being nice to me. It was all making me want what I feared he would never give me.

“You still do the best thing that happened to you today thing,” he said. “That’s why Sarah asked us that. She got it from you.”

I smiled. “Yeah. When I pick Sarah up from school, I ask it, and I try to text her every day and ask.”

I hadn’t realized he remembered that about me. I hadn’t thought it was something memorable. Just my way of trying to focus on the good and not let the bad get to me. I had begun asking myself that question after my mom died.

“She loves you,” he said.

“And I love her.”

Even when I hadn’t wanted to, I’d loved her. She’d been a tiny little life, who was the result of my biggest heartbreak. But I fell in love with her anyway. It had been impossible not to.

“I don’t—” Wilder began, but Sarah came rushing back into the kitchen, holding up a DVD.

“I found it! The Polar Express!” she exclaimed.

I turned to her. “Then, we will need hot cocoa too.”

She nodded enthusiastically.

“Do I get the packets out of the pantry, or do you make that like a pilgrim too?” Wilder asked.

“Pilgrim-style,” I replied.

He nodded. “Of course you do.”

“The packets are for the lazy and those with no taste buds,” Sarah told him, repeating what she’d heard me say.

“When Oakley isn’t here, that’s how we make it,” Wilder replied.

Sarah grinned up at him. “But she’s here now, so we get the good stuff. Not the Dad stuff.”

“Ouch!” he said, placing a hand over his heart.

“Sorry, Dad, there are just some things Oaky does better.”

I didn’t look up from the pot because if I did, I knew I would laugh.