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“Yep. I got a hundred percent. But Preston spelled a bad word for lemon. Mrs. Clifton sent him to the office for some time to think about what he did.”
“How did he spell lemon?” I asked because I was all caught up on the kindergarten drama lately.
My days consisted of crazy animal antics and hearing what that little shit, Preston, did at school, which had become one of my favorite things. The kid just looked like trouble. I’d drop Gracie off in the morning, though I preferred to walk her in if there was time. Preston always walked up and squared his shoulders at me, like we had some kind of beef. I knew trouble when I saw it. Hell, I had four siblings. I could spot a little hellion a mile away.
Gracie set her fork down and looked over both shoulders, as if this were the biggest secret she’d ever shared.
“He spelled lemons,” she paused and cleared her throat, “B. U. T. T. That spells butt, Daddy. Like the butt you’re sitting on. Or the butt we use in the bathroom.”
I wiped my mouth with my napkin to hide my smile beneath it. She was so damn cute the way she took everything so seriously.
“Well, he certainly didn’t sound that word out, did he?”
“He did not. Butt does not start with an L, right, Daddy? Lemon starts with an L. L. E. M. O. N.”
Atta girl.
My little scholar.
“Correct. I think Preston likes to get attention.”
“Well, you say Uncle Finny likes attention, but he doesn’t spell butt for a lemon.” She had a slight southern accent when she spoke, which my family found hilarious, seeing as we lived on the West Coast. But she’d always had this little twang, and I fucking loved it.
Loved everything about this kid.
I barked out a laugh. “I’m sure Uncle Finny and Uncle Hughey have both gotten into their fair share of trouble.”
I let her finish telling me what everyone who sat at her table today ate for lunch, and my chest squeezed when she talked about the mothers of every kid in her class making their lunches.
I was doing this parenting thing solo, and I dreaded the day that Gracie realized she’d been shortchanged by getting me as her sole parent. My only hope was that my parents and my siblings being so involved in her life would make up for the fact that she’d been dealt a shit hand with just having one grumpy dad and no mother.
But damn, if I didn’t try to make up for it by loving her fiercely.
“All right. Let’s clean up, and then it’s bath time, story time, and bedtime.” I cleared our plates, and she pulled her little step stool to the counter and watched as I loaded the dishwasher, just like she did every night.
“Daddy, why do you have hair in your nose? I can see it up there.” She was leaning over the sink, looking straight up my nostrils.
“Because I’m big and strong, and that requires hair in all sorts of places.”
She giggled. “I don’t want hair in my nose.”
I leaned over and, with the pad of my thumb, raised the tip of her nose to inspect it. “I don’t know. I think it’s going to be extra hairy like your daddy’s nose.”
More laughter. It didn’t take much to amuse her. She continued to tell me all the details about her day.
Tedious shit that I absolutely lived for.
It always surprised me because I would have never in a million years guessed that I’d be a single dad with a little girl, doing this on my own. Yet there had never been a single day since the moment this little girl was placed in my arms that I hadn’t been fucking thankful for her.
I scooped her up and carried her to the bathroom.
Bath time was her favorite. There were bubbles and ducks and sponges and watering cans and a huge mess to clean up after, but it was her thing, so I went along with it.
If the simplest joy in her day was soaking in warm water with a shit ton of toys while telling me the reason that she had 1350 favorite crayon colors—halle-fucking-lujah.
I could make that dream a reality every day until she was too old for me to sit in the bathroom with her.
We went through the routine… I dried her off and pulled her nightgown over her head. She brushed her hair and then her teeth, and I was exhausted by the time I tucked her in and finished reading the final book on her list tonight.
