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“Yay!” He grabs three and then shoves one in his mouth. “Amelia, did Daddy tell you about the play I’m in at school?”
Amelia casts her eyes in my direction while popping an olive in her mouth. “No, he did not. Why don’t you tell me about it?”
Oliver sits up on his knees while reaching for another carrot. “It’s about all of the helpers in the world, like policemen, firefighters, and teachers.”
“Oh, nice.”
“I get to be a doctor because doctors help people when they’re sick or have boo-boos.”
She nods. “They do. Although I’m a doctor too.”
Oliver tips his head to the side. “You are? But you don’t work at a hospital…”
Amelia smiles. “No. I’m the kind of doctor that helps people talk about their feelings.”
“Like when you’re sad?”
“Exactly. Or angry, or scared.” She looks over at me for a minute to gauge my reaction, but I nod, urging her to continue. “I help people realize that talking about their feelings can help solve a lot of problems in their lives and heal the boo-boos we have on the inside.”
“Like what?”
“Like a broken heart,” she answers honestly. “Or when someone doesn’t feel brave or had something bad happen to them that makes them scared to try something again.”
Oliver’s eyes light up. “Oh! Like when I fell off my bike and scraped my knee and was scared to get back on it, huh, Dad?”
“Yeah, exactly like that, bud.”
“Yup. There are all kinds of doctors, Oliver.”
“I’m gonna tell my teacher that when I go back to school.” He grabs another piece of cheese and pops it in his mouth before he leaps from his chair. “Will you come see my play, Amelia?”
Amelia looks surprised before she smiles at him, ruffling his hair. “I would love to.”
“Yay!”
“Where are you going?” I ask him as he walks away from us.
“I have to go to the bathroom!” he announces as he runs inside, leaving Amelia and me alone.
“This was a great idea, Amelia,” I say, gesturing to the board in front of us full of food. “I’ll have to steal it. I can’t remember the last time I saw my kid eat a carrot without me threatening to take away something.” She laughs. “Thank you again for today.”
“You’re welcome. It’s been nice to have company. Oliver is so sweet. And I know that things between us are new…” I wait for her to keep speaking. “But seriously, if you ever need help with Oliver, I’d be more than happy to be there for you.”
“I appreciate that. Thank you.”
Silence descends between us, so I try to switch gears, going back to the food. “Perhaps I’ll try packing him lunches like this for school. He’d probably love it.”
“He’s in Kindergarten already…how does that make you feel?”
I scoff. “Old, like it’s not possible he’s already headed to school when I feel like it was just yesterday that I was still changing his diapers.”
“I can see that. I’ve always heard that raising a child goes by fast.”
“It does, faster than you realize. The days are long, but the years are short.”
Amelia smiles. “My mother used to say that to us.”
“Mine says it too. She always reminds me to soak up every moment with him and make decisions with his best interests at heart. But there are days when I feel like I’m barely surviving this parenting gig. It’s a lot, which is why I haven’t dated much, if at all.” I reach across the table and place my hand over hers. “Letting him meet you is a big step for me. I want you to know that.”
“I know. But I like where this is going. I see a future with you, Ethan,” she says, her eyes bouncing back and forth between mine, looking for some agreement on my part, I’m sure. And this would be the perfect time to tell her my reservations and let her know that I want her in my life too, but there are limitations to that as well.
“And I know it might be soon to tell you that, but I want you to know how I’m feeling. I want you to know how serious I am about you and Oliver, that I don’t take this lightly. I’ve never dated anyone with a kid before, Ethan, but I know the stakes are a lot higher. So when I told him I would be at his play, I meant it. If I tell him something, I will follow through with my words. I don’t want him to feel like he can’t trust me, and I don’t want you to feel that way either.”
Jesus, this woman is too good to be true. “Amelia…” But before I can finish, a loud bang from the house has me bolting from my seat. “Fuck!” Racing across the yard, I struggle to open the screen door.
“Daddy!” I hear Oliver yell from upstairs once I get inside the house.
“Oliver? Are you okay?” Another bang rings out as I hear Amelia behind me, trailing me up the stairs. But when I get to her room and see my son, nothing could have prepared me for what my eyes would take in.
Lying on the ground beneath a stripper pole is my kid, groaning.
“Oh my God!” I spin to find Amelia with both hands over her mouth, her eyes wide with shock and a twinge of fear in her vision as her eyes bounce back and forth between my son and me.
“Oliver,” I say, moving the few steps toward him. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I think so. I was looking for the bathroom and found this room with this pole in it, Daddy. And it looked like the ones at the fire station. Do you remember when we saw the one at the fire station?” he says, looking up at me from the ground.
“Yeah, buddy, I remember that.” I reach forward and brush the hair from his face, nervously searching him for signs of serious injury, but he looks fine, and he’s talking, which is a good sign.
“I found that pole in here, Daddy, so I tried to climb it.” Glancing over my shoulder, I see Amelia’s face completely obscured by her hands now. “But it started spinning.”
“Is that right?”
“Yes. So I started spinning around and around, jumping up and down. I wanted to get higher, so I found that box and used it to climb up the pole.”
That’s when my eyes take in the sturdy box sitting just on the other side of the pole, a box I recognize from a few weeks ago—a box full of items my son has no business seeing at his age. I can only hope and pray he didn’t open it and only used it as a ladder of sorts.
Jesus Christ. No one prepares you for this shit when you have kids.
“Why does that pole spin, Daddy?”
I have no words. Nothing I can say right now will make this experience any less horrifying. “Um…”
“It was fun until I fell down,” he says next, luckily moving the conversation forward and helping me avoid trying to find an answer to any of his questions. I help him sit up now, leaning back against the pole.
“Really?”
“It spins too fast.”
I bite my lip, keeping my smile and laughter at bay just as Amelia finally chimes in. “Oh my God, Ethan. I am so sorry,” she whispers.
“It’s okay. My son shouldn’t have been up here in the first place or going through your things.” I turn back to him to see him starting to stand up. “Are you sure you’re okay, Oliver? Does anything hurt?”
He rubs the side of his head. “Just my head. But I’m okay, Daddy.”
“I think you owe Amelia an apology for going into her room and touching her things without asking.”
“Sorry, Amelia.”
“It’s okay, Oliver. I’m just glad you didn’t get hurt badly.”
He rubs the side of his head. “I just bonked my head. Daddy says it happens sometimes.”
“It does,” she replies.
“Can I still go swimming, Dad?”
“Um, I don’t know. Listen, why don’t you go sit on the couch for a minute while I talk to Amelia, and then we can decide if swimming is still a good idea.”
He stands from his spot on the ground. “Okay. I like your room, Amelia,” he says as he walks past her, hobbling down the stairs slowly as Amelia watches him descend.
Standing from the ground, I run a hand through my hair until I realize the box is still on the ground. Reaching down, I pick it up and hand it to her. “My son is going to need your doctor’s services after this experience,” I tease her. “And I may need them as well.”
