“I’m cute also, Daddy!” Lily exclaimed.
“Of course you are, princess.” I picked her up and positioned her on my hip. “All our babies are cute.”
She giggled and smushed my cheeks together. “We’re not babies.”
Don’t remind me.
About half an hour later, my heart couldn’t be happier. The whole family was gathered around a big table, which was filled with food and drinks, and I already had an enchilada in me.We always reserved the same corner booth when we were here, because the round table was the perfect size for us. And we weren’t assaulted by the din from the other guests.
Minimal fussing between Dylan and Hallie too—a big bonus. They were currently teaming up against Nate and Mikey in a debate about where we could go this summer.
I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday.
“Daddy, I don’t like these red things on the shrimpies.” Lily held up a shrimp for me.
“It’s chili. Hold on.” I sucked some queso off the side of my thumb before grabbing it, and I dunked it in my water, making sure the chili flakes came off. “Try it now.”
She found that super funny, but hey, it worked. Her eyes lit up as she chewed. “So yummy!”
I winked and went for a chicken quesadilla.
She promptly stole my water so she could give the rest of her shrimp a bath. At the same time, Nate slipped a hand onto my thigh, stealing my attention.
“I know you want to visit the West Coast again, but there’s a reason I think we should stay closer to home this year,” he was saying. “Actually, two reasons. This year, we didn’t start planning our road trip eight months in advance like we usually do, because Dad and I have been very busy.”
I nodded in agreement, rolling with the punches. We were doing this now—finally. It felt like the last puzzle piece before we could move forward.
“We’re also already goin’ to Mammoth Cave,” I pointed out, chewing. “Two days to get there, three days exploring the park, two days to get home.”
“Exactly,” Nate agreed. “But before I get to my main reason, we—Dad and I—talked about how this past year kind of got away from us.” He covered Mikey’s hand with his own. “We had thisplan, you see. We were gonna work harder and save up to buy a bigger house.”
Mikey tilted his head.
“And sometimes, when you’re so focused on something, you forget what’s really important,” Nate went on. “Dad and I started fighting a lot. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, Micah.”
I kept an eye on Lily, who was watching us silently and munching away on her watered shrimp.
Mikey eventually nodded hesitantly. “You didn’t hug anymore before today. Today you hugged a lot.”
The rest of my food went down with a gut punch of guilt.
Nate was the family diplomat and had endless patience, so I didn’t interfere.
“Do you remember when you started noticing it?” he murmured.
Mikey thought about it. “I don’t know… Maybe ten or seventeen days ago?”
God, I just wanted to squeeze him in a hug. Ten or seventeen—got it. It was a span, at least. And it hadn’t gone on forever.
Our family head doctor wasn’t done digging. “And did you feel like you couldn’t come talk to us about it?”
“Daddy,” Lilyalmostwhispered. She tried. “My shrimpies are gone.”
I coughed to hide a chuckle, and I reached for the plainest type of quesadilla. Cheese. She liked those.
“Have one of these,” I whispered back.
“…and ’case you got divorced like Charlie’s mom and dad, I didn’t wanna say anything,” Mikey was admitting. “I just tried to get you to hug more.”
