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“Thank you.”

She doesn’t reply to that, resuming her work.

“I could really get used to you doing my hair. This was a bad idea.”

“I could get used to doing your hair. You look adorable trying not to fall asleep down there.”

I meet her eyes in the mirror, and her smirk doesn’t drop.

It might just be me, but it seems like we’re making a lot of progress today.

“You’re full of nice things to say today.”

“I guess I am.” Suddenly her hold on my hair tightens and she pulls my head back. The dye on my head is touching her shirt, but she doesn’t seem to care. “You’re making it difficult not to be.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

“I haven’t decided if it is yet.”

Then she lowers her mouth to mine, faster than my brain can process. By the time I register that I need to kiss her back, she’s gone. She moves my head again so she can finish the task at hand, and avoids eye contact in the mirror.

“We should do something.”

“I like doing things. Please explain further.”

“When they go on their trip. Maybe you and I could go somewhere.”

I abruptly turn to face her.

“You want to go on a trip with me?”

She laughs and it’s the cutest sound I’ll ever hear.

“Yeah. It’ll take your mind off things.”

“You care about taking my mind off things? Where is Kara? What have you done with her?”

“Okay, you’re pushing it,” she says with a smile still on her face. “I’m done being nice today.”

“That’s okay, you can be mean to me. We could start in the shower in about ten minutes.”

She laughs again. I am such a winner. How did I get so lucky?

Kara points to the chair.

“Sit your ass back down or I’ll never finish your hair, and we’ll never make it to the shower.”

I’m well aware that it’s confirmation she will be joining.

Dahlia and I sit on the couch, her legs are draped over my lap, and a movie she picked is playing on the screen. My eyes close and open, because I’m caught in an odd half-asleep state. I keep remembering I should scoop her up and take her to her bed, but then my eyes fall closed again.

And repeat.

It has resulted in nothing.

She moves suddenly in her sleep, kicking me in the stomach much harder than I thought she was capable of. I wince as I gently move her legs off of me without waking her. It was the reminder I needed that I also have to pee, and I’m grateful an accident wasn’t just caused. The last thing I need right now is to deal with that clean up. Dahlia hasn’t had any accidents in a long time, and I’ve really enjoyed a life where all of the pee I come across is in a toilet.

And probably her baths, but there’s not much I can do to stop that. She’s six. There are worse things to happen.