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Hardin already had Emery; Auden was mine. I told Hardin this often, but he just laughed and said that I’m too much of a pushover with Emery, and that’s why she likes him more.
“Addy is being a brat,” Hardin’s mini-me huffed. I imagined she was pacing around the room, pushing her blond hair back from her forehead like her father.
“Is she? How so?” There was sarcasm in Hardin’s voice, but I doubted Emery would catch on.
“She just is. I don’t want to be her friend anymore.”
“Well, baby, she’s family. You’re stuck with her.” Hardin was probably smiling, enjoying the dramatic world of a six-year-old.
“Can’t I have a new family?”
“No.” He chuckled, and I covered my mouth to laugh quietly. “I wanted a new family for a long time when I was younger, but it doesn’t work like that. You should try and be happy with the one that you have. If you had a new family, you would get a new mommy and daddy and—”
“No!” Emery seemed to hate that idea so much that she didn’t let him finish.
“See?” Hardin said. “You have to learn to accept Addy and the way she can be a brat sometimes, the way that Mommy accepted Daddy being a brat sometimes.”
“You’re a brat, too?” her little voice questioned.
My heart swelled. Hell yes, he is, I wanted to say.
“Hell yes, I am,” he said for me. I rolled my eyes and reminded myself to warn him about cussing in front of her. He doesn’t do it nearly as much as before, but still.
Emery went into a story about how Addy said they aren’t best friends anymore, and Hardin, being the incredible father that he is, listened and commented on every line. By the time they were finished, I had fallen in love with my brooding boy all over again.
I was leaning against the wall when he came out of her bedroom and closed the door behind him. He smiled when he saw me.
“Life in first grade is tough,” he laughed, and I wrapped my arms around his waist.
“You’re so good with her.” I leaned into him, my belly blocking me from getting too close.
He turned me sideways and kissed me, hard.
TEN YEARS AFTER THAT
HARDIN
“REALLY, DAD?” Emery glared at me from across the kitchen island. She tapped her painted fingernails on the granite and rolled her eyes, just like her mother.
“Yes, really. I told you—you’re too young to be going to something like that.” I picked at the bandage over my arm. I had just gotten some of my tattoos touched up the night before. You’d be surprised how much some of them had faded over the years.
“I’m seventeen. It’s a senior trip. Uncle Landon let Addy go last year!” my beautiful daughter exclaimed loudly. Her blond hair was straight, hanging down past her shoulders. She whipped it when she talked; her green eyes were wildly dramatic as she continued to state her case regarding how I’m the worst father blah, blah, blah.
“This is so unfair. I have a 4.0, and you said—”
“Enough, honey.” I slid her breakfast across the island, and she stared at her eggs like they were as involved in ruining her life as I was. “I’m sorry, but you aren’t going. Unless you want to reconsider not letting me be a chaperone.”
“No. No way.” She shook her head with attitude. “Not happening.”
“Then neither is this trip for you.”
She stormed off down the hallway, and within seconds Tessa was walking toward me, Emery behind her.
Damn it.
“Hardin, we already discussed this. She’s going on that trip. We already paid for it,” Tessa reminded me in front of Emery.
I knew this was her way of showing me who’s in charge here. We had a rule, only one rule in our house: no fighting in front of our kids. My children would never hear me raise my voice to their mum. Ever.
This didn’t mean that Tessa didn’t still drive me fucking crazy. She was stubborn and sassy, both lovely traits that only grew stronger with age.
Auden came walking into the room with his backpack on his shoulders and headphones in his ears. He was obsessed with music and art, and I loved that.
“There’s my favorite child,” I said. Tessa and Emery made snorting noises and glared at me. I laughed, and Auden nodded, the official teenage boy “hello.” What can I say? His sarcasm was advanced for his age, just like mine had been.
Auden kissed his mum on the cheek and grabbed an apple from the counter. Tessa smiled, her eyes softening. Auden was affectionate, where Emery was all sass. He was patient and soft-spoken, where Emery was opinionated and headstrong. Neither of them were better than the other; they were just different in the best ways. Surprisingly, the two of them got along very well. Emery spent a lot of her free time hanging out with her little brother, driving him to band practice and going to his art showings.
“It’s settled, then. I’m going to have so much fun on this trip!” Emery clapped her hands and pranced to the front door. Auden said his goodbyes to us and followed his sister out the front door for school.
“How did we become the parents of two kids like that?” Tessa asked me while shaking her head.
“No fucking idea.” I laughed and opened my arms for her. “Come here.” My beautiful girl walked toward me and leaned into my arms.
“It’s been a long road.” She sighed, and I brought my hands to her shoulders and rubbed them.
She sank back, relaxing immediately. She turned to me, her blue-gray eyes still holding so much love for me after all these years.