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“I like this place, but why do we have to live away from Chandler?”
Surprise makes me fumble for my words. I didn’t expect her to want to live with him just yet. She’s been acting like he’s just another person in her life and it’s not a big deal he’s here.
“Well, there are a lot of reasons. Do you want us all to live together?”
She shrugs again, and I place my pointer finger on her forehead and nudge her a little, making her giggle.
“All my friends at school have both a mom and a dad, and they all live together. I thought, since we found my dad, that we would all live together like they do.”
I really have no idea what I’m doing.
“Well, that’s the goal, but I want us all to take it slow. We all need to get used to each other, we can’t just move in together and be a family right away.”
Her big blue eyes look up to me for all the answers.
“Why not?”
Blowing out a breath, I try to think of a way to explain this messed up situation to an eight-year-old.
“Well, you know how Mommy can’t remember her life before a certain time right?”
She nods, her little eyebrows furrowed.
“Okay, that means that I don’t know Chandler anymore. Just like you don’t know him, so to be safe and make sure everyone is happy, we all have to get to know each other. Plus, we are only going to be here on the weekends for now. You are still in school; don’t you want to keep going to school with your friends?”
She nods, but the look on her face tells me I’m not doing a good job at explaining this to her.
“How about this? Why don’t we take this day by day, and if you have any questions for me or Chandler, you can just ask, okay?”
“Okay, but...”
I wait for her to think about her question.
“Why can’t I call him daddy? I call you mommy.”
My heart squeezes in my chest.
“That is something that you would have to ask him, but I don’t think he would have a problem with it, he may just be waiting on you to be comfortable with it.”
This seems to lift her spirits some, and it makes me realize that I haven’t been paying close enough attention to how she’s been feeling in all of this.
“Okay, I have another question for you. What do you say about going to a charity event with him this weekend? He invited us to go, and if you want, maybe you can talk about it with him then?”
Her eyes light up and she nods happily. I smile at her, and we both get back into a better position for me to read to her. She falls asleep halfway through the book, and I slip out of bed carefully to get ready for bed myself. Quickly sending a replay to Chandler before going to sleep.
Me: We would love to.
I have no idea what time Chandler got home last night, or if he even made it home, but when I wake up the next morning, there is a text waiting from him.
Chandler: Great, I will have outfits delivered to you today.
Rolling my eyes, I place my phone on the bed and climb out, trying not to wake Sophia. I don’t like that he spends so much money on me. Sophia is his daughter; he should focus on her.
You agreed to marry him.
I cringe at the thought. I don’t know why I did it. He made it all make sense at the time, and I wanted the best for Sophia, but I’m starting to second-guess agreeing to it. We haven’t spoken about it since, and I’m starting to think it was some kind of fever dream.
I make breakfast on autopilot, too caught inside my own head to pay attention to anything around me. I jump at the sound of someone knocking at the door and end up burning my thumb on the pan I’m using to fry bacon.
