Page 87 of Second to None

It made me smile. “I’ll see what I can do, okay? Pretty sure we can win you that dad of the year award.”

“Thankyou. Next fifty pints are on me.” He sounded so relieved, so grateful, that I laughed.

“Hey, I’d do the same for my girl.”

“From one single dad to another, huh?” he asked, and it was a casual statement, but somehow, this was one of those moments when the world stops spinning for half a beat. Because, yeah, he’d met me as a single dad of sorts. We’d talked about what it meant to be all alone in making both the small and big decisions affecting your kid’s life, about grief, since his wife had passed far too young some five years ago. But…

But today, Cass would pick Emily up from school because I wanted to make the most of my studio time with Cosma. We’d decided together that no, Emily was too young for a phone even though it was at the very top of her Christmas wish list, and last week, she’d drawn a family picture that included Cass, like it was no big deal.

I wasn’t alone anymore.

“Aren’t you kind of co-parenting?” Cosma asked me right into that realisation, a glint of mischief in her smile.

“Are you fishing for gossip?” I shot back, and she grinned.

“Just curious if you’re gonna answer.”

“He’s had years of media training,” Raj said. “He can talk circles around you until you’re dizzy.”

“I could. But…” I shook my head. “Not with people I trust. So, yeah. I guess I feel a little less like a single dad than I used to.”

Raj’s smile was slow but genuine. “I’m happy for you, man. Really.”

Happy. He was happy for me. And I—I was…

I was happy. Bright and buoyant, even a little goofy with it.

Here’s to you, Jess.

III. EMILY

Macclesfield, Tuesday, January 13th

Grown-ups are so weird.

Like, me? I’m way too old for naps. But then there’s Cass, who’s amega superstar, and Lee, who’s just Lee, and Cass has to go other places sometimes. But because I knew he was back today, Grandma and I totally came home early.

And what are they doing? Napping. Like actual babies.

It’s kind of funny because when I yell, “Hello!” there’s no answer. So I go looking, and when I find them in Lee’s room—maybe now it’stheirroom?—they’re awake, but they still look a bit rumpled, like paper that’s been squished into a ball and then flattened out again.

I do what any normal person would do: I jump on the bed and shout, “You’re home!”

Cass laughs when I hug him, even though he’s tangled up in the duvet like Alba when she gets stuck in the curtains. It’s very silly. Lee smiles at me, then at Cass, and then back at me again. He always smiles bigger when Cass is here.

“Welcome to family life,” Lee says to Cass.

I don’t really get why he said that because Cass’s been hereforever. But then they do this thing where they justlookat each other. It’s like they’re having a silent conversation with their eyeballs, and honestly? It’s a bit boring. Isthiswhy there are all those videos about them looking and smiling? Probably.

“Wouldn’t change a thing,” Cass says, all serious-like.

Well, Iwouldchange one thing.

“Can we do pancakes?” I ask. “Because Cass is home!”

They do the eyeball thingagain, and then Cass nods. “We can do pancakes, absolutely. But only if you help Lee and me make them.”

“Okay!” I hug Lee too, then bounce off the bed and stand there, ready to go.

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