Page 144 of The Heartbreaker

Those hard years are built into the DNA of our relationship, but we’re still healing. Always healing.

Dylan accidentally knocks his head on the side of the table and starts wailing in the living room. When he sees me approaching, he raises his arms for me.

“Dada!” he cries, seeking me out for comfort. I quickly pick him up, kiss his head and sit on the couch with him.

Lifting him up, I blow raspberries on his belly to make him squeal with laughter and distract him from the pain. This draws Henry’s attention, so he joins us, tickling Dylan to make him laugh more. After a moment, Sadie and Ezra are with us, too.

“Picture!” my mother announces as she sees my family together on the couch. So the five of us squeeze in together: me, my beautiful wife, and our three amazing sons.

This picture will go in a frame, and it doesn’t matter that Ezra is crying again, that Dylan is still in just a diaper, or that our life looks like a bit of a mess.

Because it’s a beautiful fucking mess. And it’s all ours.