Page 169 of The Single Dad

Cole gets dressed, and I stand by the wall, watching him as he buttons his shirt. He steps out into the hall, and I follow him downstairs.

In the foyer, he slips into his shoes and I follow suit. He pulls out his phone, dialing a number.

On the stairs behind us, I can hear Archie’s soft footsteps. He emerges into the foyer, staring between the two of us with a bewildered, but pleased, expression.

“Riley’s still here?”

“Yup. We’re going out for a little bit though,” Cole says, his hand over the phone’s receiver. “You get to hang out with Kerry. You’ll be good, right?”

Archie nods, his round, sleep-blurred eyes still fixed upon me. I give him a smile, the biggest one I can muster.

“Hi, Kerry,” Cole says into the phone. “Uh-huh. Yes. There’s something I need to do this morning, and I need someone to watch Archer. How soon can you—that’s perfect. Yes. Thank you.” He lowers the phone, glancing over at me. “Ten minutes.”

“She’s fast,” I say with a small smile, butterflies flapping in my stomach.

Cole passes the time waiting for his assistant by fixing breakfast for Archie—a bowl of cereal, toast with jam, and a mug of hot chocolate, with whipped cream. I linger by the counter, watching them, and sip a cup of black coffee from the French press.

Finally, Kerry arrives, and Cole and I are quickly out of the door.

He holds the door to the house for me, and then the passenger door to his car. I slide in, still unsure where we’re going but very aware of Cole’s attentiveness, the urgency and earnestness that seems to exude from him right now.

But it’s a beautiful day for a drive, I have to admit, warm but not unpleasantly hot. There’s a slight breeze that keeps the temperature mild, especially for this time of year in New York. When Cole rolls down the windows, I can’t help but slip my hand into the rushing air outside.

Then I catch him looking at me out of the corner of his eye, and I withdraw my hand quickly, flushed.

It’s a long drive, all the way from Cole’s place up to the Bronx. With each passing minute, I grow more confused, until finally, Cole pulls into a tree-lined asphalt drive, dappled with sunlight.

I don’t know what destination I was expecting, but whatever it was, it wasn’t this. We’re at Woodlawn Cemetery.

Cole drives slowly through the wrought iron gates, then up the winding access road, in silence. I turn to him, frowning.

“Cole—”

“Almost there,” he says.

He stops the car beneath the sweeping branches of a massive maple, then steps out, gesturing for me to do the same. I hesitate for a few moments, watching as he crosses the street and approaches a simple, granite headstone.

Finally, my curiosity gets the better of me. I climb out of the car and approach him. He turns to face me.

“I wanted to take you to meet my sister,” he says. He’s smiling, but there’s something sad in the depths of his eyes. “I thought that the most important ladies in my life should get the chance to meet.”

I drop my gaze to the grave. There are flowers resting at the base of the headstone, a fresh bundle of yellow and white daffodils. I know, without asking, that Cole brought them here.

There’s a constricting feeling in my throat as I kneel down to the grass, as if I could shake Rebecca’s hand.

“After everything that happened, I let my guilt drive me for a long time,” Cole says. “So many decisions I made—about my life, and about Archie’s—were the product of shame and self-hatred, and nothing more.”

He speaks clearly, with conviction. I look up at him, silent, to give him space to continue.

“But it’s time for me to stop letting that happen.” He meets my gaze steadily. “You were right, when we spoke at the community center. You deserve someone who can love you with his whole being. Unreservedly. Completely.”

As I listen to him, I feel as though my heart is overflowing with emotions. I don’t think I have the words to voice all of them.

“Since you left, my life has felt empty and hollow,” Cole continues, lowering himself to his knees to be on the same level as me. “I understand why you didn’t want to come back, but I swear, I’ll do whatever it takes to show you that I can make room in my life and my heart for you.”

The tree above us stirs in the breeze, and a few leaves, the earliest signs of fall, drift down from its branches.

“Because the truth is,” Cole says softly, “I don’t have to make room. That room exists for you, and it always will, whether you’re there to fill it or not.”

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