Page 165 of The Single Dad

“Yay!” Archie cries, dashing off toward the stairs. Suddenly, he’s plenty excited for bedtime.

I follow Archie up the stairs, and to my surprise, Cole doesn’t follow us. I had assumed he would accompany me upstairs to supervise storytime, but he’s giving us space.

He’s trusting me to look after Archie.

Chapter 53

Riley

A rush of memories hits me as I walk down the second-floor hallway, especially as I walk past the room I lived in while I worked here. Unable to help my curiosity, I pause outside the door, leaning in to survey my old living space.

It’s almost empty. The bed is made, but it looks like it hasn’t been touched since I was here. It’s a little depressing, so I move on quickly.

Archie, in his room, has already put on his pajamas with lightning speed. He’s crawling into bed as I enter.

“Story, story, story!” he chants, an eager grin on his face.

“Ah, ah,” I say. “What are you forgetting?”

Archie frowns for a moment, unsure; then realization dawns on him. He climbs back out of bed and goes into the bathroom to brush his teeth. Only once he’s back do I settle on the side of his bed, racking my brains for a story.

Eventually, I spin a tale about our two betta fish meeting in a stream and becoming friends. Given what I know about betta fish, this is a pretty fanciful story—if Gill and Swimmy ever actually met, they’d most likely fight—but Archie eats it up, delighted. I’ve still got it.

When the story is over, I pull the covers up to Archie’s chin.

“Daddy has been really sad,” he tells me, his voice tinged with sleep. “Since you left. He misses you.”

I pause in the middle of tucking him in. “What?”

“Daddy misses you a lot. I miss you, too. Where did you go?”

Archie’s quiet words affect me in a way I didn’t know was still possible. I bite my lip and sigh, withdrawing to sit on the edge of Archie’s bed again.

“I’m on my own adventure,” I tell him, and he nods solemnly in understanding. “Just like when your Dino went on an adventure. You know?”

“Okay,” he mumbles, barely awake. “I hope that you come back, though.”

I don’t respond to that, but instead wait until Archie has fallen asleep. I sit there for a few more minutes, listening to his quiet snoring, and thinking.

I conjure up all of the reasons I turned Cole down when he asked me to get back together with him—to make our relationship real. I needed something more than what he was offering me. I needed to be a full partner in someone’s life, more than just a nanny.

And the wound was too raw. After how things ended, I wanted them to stay closed.

I still believe all of those reasons are true, but still, I have to admit that Archie’s words felt like they were squeezing my heart. I miss him, too.

I lay a hand on Archie’s forearm, but he doesn’t stir from sleep. I get to my feet and, tentatively, head back downstairs.

Down to where Cole is waiting.

He’s on the couch in the living room, and he stands up expectantly as I enter, a half-smile on his face. “How was the story?”

“Eventful,” I say.

The two of us move out into the kitchen, talking idly.

“He’s missed you a lot,” Cole says, and it’s such an echo of what Archie just told me that I can’t stifle my laugh in time. He cocks his head, confused. “What?”

“Oh, nothing. I’ve just missed him too, that’s all.”

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