DANE

I braided Millie’s hair while Tate bounced on his feet next to us. He was so excited to see his new school. Millie had been extra quiet this morning. Something was off. Once I finished her hair, I made her look at me.

“What’s wrong, Munchkin?”

“I don’t have to go to public school, do I?” she asked me quietly.

I shook my head. “No, you can still homeschool. I’m setting up a desk for you and you can decorate your own office at work.”

She smiled a little, but it faded quickly. Tears were in her eyes as she looked away and pet Sassy.

“Millie, what’s really wrong?”

“I had a bad dream.”

I pulled her into my arms and kissed her head. “About Elliot?”

She nodded against my chest and started crying. It had been eight years since her dad had died but she still had nightmares about him being sick and dying. I thought with time she would forget some of it, but Millie didn’t forget anything.

“And you died,” she whispered.

“Hey, nothing is going to happen to me.” Tate had stopped bouncing and was looking at Millie worriedly. I rubbed her back soothingly.

We had days like this. Days she would have panic attacks and not be able to leave my side. Even with therapy this hadn’t changed.

“Do you want to go hang out with Aunt—”

She shook her head before I could even finish my sentence.

I continued to rub her back gently. The owls had disappeared four years ago, about the same time I came home. Losing that connection with her parents had devastated her. “Do we need to go to your mom and dad’s home before we head to the school?”

She shook her head again and held onto me more tightly.

“Okay. Deep breaths, my munchkin. Everything will be okay. We’ll go with Tate to register him then take the puppies to Uncle Zach’s and drive him crazy while we let them play in the water and with the boys. Okay?”

She nodded but wasn’t calming down. I was at a loss of what to do until Tate knelt down next to her and whispered something in her ear. I didn’t have a damn clue what it was but she slowly started calming down. He smiled at her and she kept her eyes on him until she was able to get a little better control.

He grinned at her. “Hey, Millie, why is Peter Pan always flying?

She shrugged and smiled a little. “Why?”

“Because he Neverlands.”

Millie giggled and I laughed. I loved that Tate and Millie hit it off. Not only was I getting to know my son, but Millie was getting a friend who could calm her down a lot faster than I could.

Sadie was meeting us at the school, but I hadn’t heard from her this morning seeing how covering that black eye was going.

Tate looked at me. “Is my mom, I mean Sadie, coming soon?” He sounded really confused with himself. “I mean she is my mom, but I’m not calling her Mom.”

“She’s going to meet us at the school or she’s supposed to.”

He nodded and took Millie’s hand. “Let’s go see the dogs before we leave.”

Millie nodded and wiped her eyes before following Tate out to the gated backyard.

I pulled out my phone as soon as they were out of earshot and called Sadie.

When she picked up she didn’t answer right away. I heard something drop, her say her favorite F word, and then her sigh. “Hey. Sorry. I dropped my hair straightener.” She cursed again. “On my foot.”

“Did you burn yourself?” I smirked a little. She always had been clumsy.

“Thankfully, no.” She laughed. “The problem is my long hair…My hand gets tired by the time I’m done. I was a second away from taking a scissors to it.”

“Well, don’t do that right now. We’re about to leave the house. It will take us ten minutes longer to get to the school than you. Also, we are going to Zach’s afterward. Do you want to come with us?”

“Sure, as long as Tate is okay with it. Is he excited?”

“He seems okay with it. He asked if you were going.” I didn’t tell her about the mom thing. I don’t think Tate was ready for her to know yet. “He’s very excited. Zach has a surprise for him once we get to the house. He got him a Stockbridge uniform for the games, and I’ve already talked to the traveling baseball team coach. I haven’t told him yet. I thought maybe you would want to.” I sighed. “Millie is having a bad day, though. So, if she doesn’t talk to you, don’t get upset.” I looked toward the kitchen door as the kids came through with all the puppies on the leashes.

“Oh wow! That’s great! And that sucks about Millie. Maybe we can take them out for lunch, too. I guess I’ll see you soon. And you can sort of see my black eye, but it just looks like I did a shit job on my eyeshadow.” She chuckled. “See you soon.”

“Lunch sounds good. We’ll see ya soon.” I hung up the phone and turned to the kids. “Let’s go.” I took Scout and Sassy’s leashes and we all headed to the school.

SADIE PULLED UP to the school when we did. She got out and came over to the truck and opened the door for the kids. She shut the door after they got out, and I noticed she had two small boxes her hands. She set them on the seat and then shut the door.

Sadie walked over to me and smiled at the school. “Can you believe our kid is going to school where we went?”

Millie grabbed my hand and held tightly, and I nodded. “It seems surreal.”

Tate grabbed my other hand as Millie pressed herself against my side. I peered down at her and smiled, trying to hide my worry. I hated when she had days like this.

“You ready, Tate?” I asked with a smile as I glanced down at him. I grinned even broader when I saw that he was trying to mimic how I walked and how straight I stood.

“Wait!” Sadie was beaming. She took her phone from her back pocket and motioned for us to squish together. “Smile!” She took a picture. “Okay, now we can go in.”

I chuckled as we headed inside. We made our way to the office, and I suddenly started to feel nervous. My son was going to Stockbridge Middle School. I smiled at the woman behind the desk.

“Dane! What are you doing here?” Tiffany asked a tad too excitedly. She had been in the year behind Sadie and me.

“I called Principal Jeffers. I’m here to register my son for sixth grade.”

She turned to Tate who was standing next to me and smile. “Isn’t he the spitting image of you! You’re as cute as your daddy has always been.”

Sadie had a pained smile on her face. The smile she made when she was fighting the urge to say something completely vulgar. Sadie never liked Tiffany. When we dated, Tiffany was always trying to break us up.

Tiffany looked at Sadie and then at me. “Wait, is he both of yours?” I could tell she was doing the math in her head and her eyes widened in shock.

I put my hand on Tate’s shoulder. I raised my eyebrow at her. “Yes, now can you tell Principal Jeffers we are here,” I said with a frown. This girl always got on my nerves.

Tiffany ignored Sadie and smiled at me. She nodded before leaving the front desk to go get the principal. I stared at Sadie with a raised eyebrow letting her know to calm down a bit. She should know that Tiffany only ever got on my nerves.

I gazed down at Tate and Millie. “So, Sadie is thinking about cutting her hair. What do you guys think about that? Good idea or bad idea?” I needed to give the kids something to focus on instead of the crazy secretary.

Millie looked up at Sadie and tilted her head to the side as she studied at her hair. She glanced at Tate waiting for him to answer first.

He blushed a little. “I think you should keep it. It’s pretty.”

Sadie smiled. “Then it stays.”

Tate smiled. “Did it take you a long time to get it that long?”

Sadie shook her head. “My mom never let me cut my hair unless it went past my belly button. So, I’ve always had long hair. Today it just made me really, really angry.”

He chuckled. “How can hair make you mad?”

Sadie laughed. “It’s a girl thing.”

Millie looked at Tate. “Do you know how it took forever for Uncle Dane to braid my hair this morning?”

Sadie looked at me and her expression turned soft, like she was going to melt into a big pile of mush right here in the office.

Tate nodded at Millie.

“That’s why. It takes a long time to fix. If Uncle Dane does a complicated braid it takes forever.” She smiled up at me. “But it’s worth it.”

I tugged on her braid. “Of course it is.” I turned from the kids and focused on Principal Jeffers as he came out of his office, Tiffany following behind him.

“You four come on into my office. We’ll talk about getting these kiddos signed up.”

Millie’s eyes widened and gaped at me in a panic.

“Just one. My son, Tate, will be going to school. Not Millie.” I hated the tears that had started forming in her eyes. I put my hand gently around her shoulders as we followed Mr. Jeffers into his office.