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His lips curled at the ends in an amused smile.“Okay, fine.I’ll put a bag in the microwave.”
“But Oaky does it on the stove.I like it better that way.”
Wilder looked over at me as I made my way to the sink.“What?”he asked, looking confused.
I set my plate down and walked over to the oven, then opened the cabinet above it to pull out the container of kernels.I shook them and smiled at him.“The old-fashioned way,” I said, then turned to Sarah.“Get the pot, and I’ll get the oil,” I instructed.
“On it!”she exclaimed happily.
“Explain why you do it this way when we have microwave popcorn in the pantry,” Wilder said, watching us get our supplies.
“Because it’s fun,” Sarah told him, setting the large pot on the stovetop.
“What she said,” I replied.
He chuckled and shook his head.Turning, he took my plate and rinsed it before loading the dishwasher.
“While you heat the oil, I’ll go pick the movie,” Sarah told me, then hurried from the kitchen.
I glanced over at Wilder, who was making domestic work look sexy, before putting the oil in the pot.
This was going to mess my head up so bad.Being here with them like this.Wilder being nice to me.It was all making me want what I feared he would never give me.
“You still dothe best thing that happened to you todaything,” he said.“That’s why Sarah asked us that.She got it from you.”
I smiled.“Yeah.When I pick Sarah up from school, I ask it, and I try to text her every day and ask.”
I hadn’t realized he remembered that about me.I hadn’t thought it was something memorable.Just my way of trying to focus on the good and not let the bad get to me.I had begun asking myself that question after my mom died.
“She loves you,” he said.
“And I love her.”
Even when I hadn’t wanted to, I’d loved her.She’d been a tiny little life, who was the result of my biggest heartbreak.But I fell in love with her anyway.It had been impossible not to.
“I don’t—” Wilder began, but Sarah came rushing back into the kitchen, holding up a DVD.
“I found it!The Polar Express!”she exclaimed.
I turned to her.“Then, we will need hot cocoa too.”
She nodded enthusiastically.
“Do I get the packets out of the pantry, or do you make that like a pilgrim too?”Wilder asked.
“Pilgrim-style,” I replied.
He nodded.“Of course you do.”
“The packets are for the lazy and those with no taste buds,” Sarah told him, repeating what she’d heard me say.
“When Oakley isn’t here, that’s how we make it,” Wilder replied.
Sarah grinned up at him.“But she’s here now, so we get the good stuff.Not the Dad stuff.”
“Ouch!”he said, placing a hand over his heart.
“Sorry, Dad, there are just some things Oaky does better.”
