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“Call,” she says, scooting around on my knee until I put her down. She picks up the remote from the coffee table and presses buttons before holding it up to her…well, close enough to her ear.

I chuckle, rubbing my chest.

Her blonde curls are getting longer, and I lean forward to tuck one behind her ear.

The soft knock on the door catches both of our attention. “Uuuuu,” she babbles, then toddles over to the wall that separates the entryway from the living room and peeks around, jumping slightly when there's another knock.

I left my phone on top of the fridge. Out of sight. Out of fucking mind. But that means I didn't get the notification from my camera.

Penny follows me to the door, and I open it, expecting maybe Warren, or hell, a utility guy. Someone selling life insurance.

I don't expect to see him.

Emery.

He's standing several feet away from the door like he knocked and skittered away, scared that someone would actually answer. His hair is in a braid over his shoulder, and he bunches the sleeves of the pink hoodie he has on in his fists.

“Unc Em,” Penny squeals, and Emery rips his eyes from mine to look down at her.

“Penelope,” he blurts, stepping forward before she can run outside with bare feet. I'm too fucking stunned to grab her fast enough. He crouches to catch her in his arms.

She wraps her arms around his neck, and he frowns, picking her up. She babbles a happy sound as he hoists her up on his hip, looking at her. Frown not wavering.

“I’m concerned a van with puppies would actually work on you, Penelope. Are you just happy to see anyone?”

I snort, a twisted sort of sweet pain shooting through me just seeing him here. At the door. He knew she would be here, and he came anyway.

I step back, holding the door open for him to come inside. Penny tugs on his braid, but he doesn’t seem to mind or notice. He’s too busy looking at me just inside the door, and I can all but see the war going on inside of him.

This is my life.

My real life. A rambunctious toddler. Stepping over toys, cleaning up one mess after another. Watching endless cartoons that I end up more invested in than she is, reading the same book half a dozen times before she will go to sleep. Messy dinners. Messy diapers. Messy schedules trying to navigate co-parenting with someone who also has a life and business to run.

Emery looks down and steps inside, and the fist around my heart loosens when I close the door.

“Is this…” He pauses, setting Penny down. She goes wobbling away towards her bin of toys, and Emery is right back to frowning and bunching the sleeves of his hoodie in his hands. “Is this okay?”

I’m scared to make the wrong move, to say the wrong thing and have him running right back out the door, but he doesn’t move away from me when I step closer. He lets out a small exhale when I graze my hand against his arm.

“This is okay,” I quietly assure him.

He nods once, then toes off his sneakers. He turns to walk away but stops in his tracks and turns back around.

“It’s just that… Well, I don’t know if I’m really the one that should be around a kid, you know? I cuss, like a lot. I can be a catty bitch, and sometimes, I say stupid stuff without thinking it through and that sometimes is, like, a lot of times. So you really have to consider who you’re allowing with your daughter, Dillon, because I don’t know shit about fuck when it comes to kids and what they need or how to act around them.” He pulls a pink cow stuffed animal out from his hoodie pocket and waves it around. “I can bring her gifts all I want, but that doesn’t suddenly make me not a bad influence. I don’t know how to… I don’t know if…”

His words falter when I smooth my thumbs over his reddened cheeks, big brown eyes like molten chocolate looking up at me with so much stress, it would be rude to laugh. But I’m so fucking relieved to see him, to hear him worry about being around Penny.

Hope is a dangerous thing.

Emerson Lee Bennet is dangerous.

My lips twitch and then break into a full smile when his eyes narrow.

“Is this funny to you, Dillon?”

“A little bit, baby.”

He huffs, smacking me lightly with the stuffed animal before pulling away. He shakes his shoulders out, pushes the braid over his shoulder, and stalks into my house.