Page 91 of The Trouble with Flings

“What secret?” Thane asks.

Fitz beckons them with his finger, and when they all lean in, he lowers his voice and says, “The dark is actually one of the bravest things in the whole wide world.”

That gets their attention. “It is?” Kyleigh asks.

“Why?” Thane asks.

“Because every night it shows up and lets all the important things rest. The birds sleep. The squirrels sleep. Moms and dads and grandmas and grandpas sleep. Even superheroes have to rest, so the dark stands guard while everyone else sleeps.”

“The dark protects us?” Kyleigh asks.

“Yup, and you know what else the dark does?” Fitz asks.

“What?” Kyleigh and Thane ask in unison.

“It lets us see the stars. Did you know the stars are always in the sky? Even during the day?”

“No. I can’t see them,” Thane says.

“That’s because they only show up in the dark,” Fitz explains. “Without the dark, we’d never see them.”

“I like staws!” Kyleigh says. “I wanna see them!”

“I do, too. That’s why we need the dark. Sometimes the things that seem scary are just making room for something beautiful.”

“What if the dark’s still scawy?” she asks.

“Then you need Grant’s other secret,” Fitz says confidently. “But it’s a doozy. It’s the one that makes you into a fear-busting superhero.”

“I wanna be that!” she exclaims, jumping up and down.

“What’s the secret?” Thane asks.

“The secret to not being afraid of the dark is to be braver than it,” he says. “Grant taught me how. He said I had to stay in my bed even when I was afraid, which was hard, but there’s a trick to it, and if you can do it, then you’re braver than the dark.”

Kyleigh jumps up and down. “How? How? How?”

“Grant told me to name three things I could see in my room, and I had to say them out loud.” He punctuates the last two words by saying them slowly, holding the kids’, and everyone else’s, rapt attention.

“If I could do that three nights in a row, all of my scared thoughts would disappear like that.” Fitz snaps his fingers. “So every night, I’d look around my room and name three things I saw, like my favorite stuffed bear, my night-light, and the glow-in-the-dark stars on my ceiling.”

Kyleigh’s eyes widen. “I have staws on my ceiling!”

“Did it work?” Thane asks.

“Like magic,” Fitz says.

“You can do that, Kyleigh!” Thane exclaims. “You’re brave!”

“I’m gonna be the bwavest!” Kyleigh exclaims, and hugs Fitz.

Mia sidles up to me and whispers, “He’s going to be the greatest dad.”

Emotions clog my throat, but I squeeze her hand in agreement and catch the same look she’s giving me from my mother across the room.

As the kids chatter about being brave, Fitz pushes to his feet, and my father says, “He slays fears and brings cake? This guy’s a keeper.”

Everyone laughs, but my heart squeezes.