AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I think that’s a yes,” Jillian said, and I winked at her.
“Come on, I’ll show you our favorite place.” We headed was back out the doors, plus one Emma.
About half an hour later, we were making our way across the perfectly cut grass fields to the playset at the local park, Emma holding both our hands as she tottered along. Every now and then, she elected to jump up and swing on our hands, giggling wildly, and I was thankful that Jillian seemed delighted to no end by it.
“Jillian, is this your favorite park?” Emma asked, looking up at her with wide eyes.
“I think it might just be,” she said with a judicious nod. “At least, it’s getting there.”
“Daddy, we have to show her the slide.” Emma tugged on both our hands.
“If you’re on the fence about your favorite park, the slide will seal the deal,” I said to Jillian with a faux-serious tone.
We jogged up to the slide in question. This park was definitely on the upscale side of town, so even I had to admit that everything was a child’s dream. The jungle gym was more like a jungle castle, a maze of a wooden fort with tunnels and playsets a kid could get lost in for hours. Maintenance workers tended to everything on a daily basis. Even the geese in the pond were docile, which in my experience was a very rare thing.
Once we got to the slide, Emma ran ahead of us to the steps leading up to it. “Now Emma,” I warned. “You know you’re not allowed to go up there alone.”
She gave me a defiant look, and I could tell she was considering running on up there anyway, but to my surprise, Jillian stepped in to the rescue.
“Emma, can I go up there with you?” she asked in a bright, excited voice. Emma’s face lit up.
“Yeah. Daddy, is Jillian allowed to go up there without you?”
“I don’t know,” I teased, tapping my chin with a smile. “Maybe if the two of you go together, you’ll be okay.”
“Let’s go.” Emma squealed, grabbing Jillian’s hand and taking her up the steps.
I grinned as I watched them go, Emma telling stories about her favorite times down the slide. When they got to the top, Jillian crouched down and held Emma in place while I went to the bottom of the slide and did the same.
Emma went down, giggling hysterically the whole time, until she got to my hands, and I swept her up and laughed triumphantly, tossing her up and catching her like she weighed nothing.
“That was incredible, Emma,” Jillian called down. “This is definitely the best park in the world.”
“I don’t know about that,” Emma said when she finally settled down and Jillian was back down with us. “They probably have really good slides in Japan.”
“Japan, huh?” Jillian said, surprised yet again. “And what all do you know about Japan?”
“So much stuff,” Emma answered with wide eyes.
“Emma’s tutor is from Kyoto,” I explained quietly. “I know she’s a little young for the heavy stuff, but I wanted to get her started early on exposure to other languages. And other basics too, but language is what you want to focus on this young.”
Jillian nodded, then spoke to Emma. “That’s incredible, Emma. I speak lots of languages, too.”
“Really?”
“French and Spanish.”
Emma looked at Jillian like she had suddenly become a goddess. “Whoa.” She then turned to me with an urgent expression. “Daddy, can I learn Spanish?”
“You can learn anything you want,” I told her with a proud smile, and I winked at Jillian, who bit her lip through a grin.
It had never hit me until just then how strange this afternoon was turning out to be. I thought I’d just come to show Emma to Jillian and show her around the house, but the two of them really seemed to be connecting. What was more, I didn’t feel awkward about it.
What Jeff had insinuated about me and Emma followed me around a lot. In the back of my head, as much as I loved Emma, I worried sometimes that people would look at us and assume I was a fuckup of some kind. Of course, that wasn’t how I saw Emma at all, but watching Jillian play with her made that worry vanish so completely that I never would have known it had ever haunted me.
“Daddy, can we go to the bathroom?” Emma asked suddenly, and I raised an eyebrow at her.
“How about you go with Jillian?” I asked, looking questioningly at her.
