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“Daddy, can I ask you something?” Camilla asked, her eyes still down on the page as she used a pink crayon for the unicorn’s horn.
“Of course. What’s up?” I braced myself for another science question, but instead, she threw me for a loop.
“Do you ever want to get married again?”
I had been just in the middle of taking a sip of wine when I choked. “What?”
She looked up. “Do you want to have a wife again? Because it would be nice if you did. Even a girlfriend. I don’t care if you found one of those. Cassie’s nice, you know. I like her.”
I watched her open-mouthed for a few seconds and then grabbed a napkin to wipe the wine from my chin. “Is someone telling you to ask me these things?” I asked, curious how my daughter knew what a girlfriend was.
“No, I just wanted to know…” She twisted the crayon in her hands. “So? What do you think?”
“I don’t know, Camilla,” I said quickly, adding a generous helping of my wine to my glass. “I haven’t really thought about it, I guess.”
She shrugged. “Well, just so you know, it’s cool with me.”
“Thanks.” I chuckled and returned my mind back to cooking.
The doorbell rang. My heart in my throat, I brushed my hands together and went to get it.
“Hey Jason, come on in,” I said, stepping aside to let him through.
I didn’t think we were quite at the hugging stage yet, and I didn’t want to push him, so I just put out a hand.
“Hey Dad.” He shook it, thankfully.
Smiling, I noticed how much he really looked like me twenty years ago. It was wild, like looking at myself in the mirror. It hit me hard in the chest, reminding me of how much I’d missed him. I had a son, and we hadn’t spoken in ten years. Ten years!
I was so glad he was back in my life, and I wanted to do everything right to make sure he stayed around. I shut the door and hurried into the kitchen where Camilla had jumped down from her chair and grabbed Jason around the legs.
“And this is Camilla, my daughter. Camilla, this is Jason.”
“I know!” she cried, jumping up and down as she hugged him.
Jason laughed, patting her on the shoulders. “Hi, Camilla. I’ve been really looking forward to meeting you.”
I noticed they had the same color hair, exactly the same, and seeing them together, I could see even more similarities between them. A family, all together again.
“Can I show you my room?” She asked as she backed away, holding her hand out.
“Yeah, sure.”
“Good!” She pulled on his hand, and he disappeared down the hallway while I returned to the stove.
It warmed my heart that they were getting along so well, and I hoped it could continue. I hadn’t seen Camilla so happy, at least not since she first started working with Cassie. I felt a little guilty.
Have I been keeping her from having more family all this time?
Lately, she seemed to be craving more time with others, and hugging Jason like that showed me that she really needed more people in her life. A few minutes later, Jason and Camilla returned, and she was beaming.
“Great room there, Camilla.” Jason looked around. “This is a pretty sweet building, Dad.”
“Thanks. We like it, but I sometimes wish we had a yard. But the beach house is good for that.”
“I’d like to see that sometime.” Jason helped Camilla into her chair, and I pushed an empty glass across to him.
“Wine?”
