Of course, real parents probably preferred that to this also.
Sighing, he made another sandwich, cut the crusts off, placed it on a plastic plate—lesson learned—and knocked on Kaira’s door.
“Go away!” she said, but she sounded sulky and miserable rather than angry, so Rowan ignored her and opened the door.
Kaira was sitting on the floor with her Piglet stuffie, red-faced and snotty. Her lower lip trembled.
“You need to eat some lunch,” Rowan said firmly. He set the plate beside her on the floor. Normally she didn’t have the privilege of eating in her room, but Rowan was picking hisbattles today, and he didn’t have the troops to spare for that one. “Finish your sandwich, please. We are going to leave the house in twenty minutes.”
Kaira made a face like she was fighting back tears, but she picked up half of her sandwich and took a bite.
The day progressed in a similar fashion. Kaira was docile and sweet for an hour and then bratty and recalcitrant. For once Rowan was glad the first meltdown occurred at the library rather than at the sweet shop, as at least it was a book and not a cupcake that got thrown on the floor. He felt a bit bad for thinking that—he was a librarian; he should protect the books—but the book had survived the encounter with library carpet. The cupcake would have been lost forever.
She finally settled down after dinner (dino nuggets—Rowan was taking no chances), and they watched two episodes ofBlueycuddled on the couch with a blanket.
Then Kaira said, “Can I watch the hockey game with you?”
Absolutely not. She’d been a bear most of the day, and if she didn’t go to bed at a reasonable hour, she’d disgrace herself at school tomorrow. Rowan didn’t know if Canadian private schools gave first-graders detention, but he didn’t want to be the one to find out and have to tell Jordy.
But the game had an early start, and he didn’t want to give up the closeness. He only had so many more days like this. He’d already looked at three apartments, and one of them was just about perfect. He was going to see it again this week. He had the application all filled out.
“Tell you what,” he bargained. “If you put on your pajamas and brush your teeth and agree there will be no story time tonight, you can watch the first period with me. And then first thing tomorrow morning I will tell you the score, and we can watch clips if your dad did anything cool.”
Kaira had a very serious Thinking Face—she screwed up her forehead and pursed her lips and squinted her eyes. Jordy made that face sometimes when he was exaggeratedly deliberating whether they should eat food they had at home or order pizza. She made it now, and Rowan’s heart gave a painful, loud beat, because he loved her, and he was going to lose her.
And Jordy too.
“Okay,” she said finally, nodding once. Then she climbed out from under the blanket and ran to the bathroom.
Rowan took a deep breath and flicked from Disney Plus over to cable to find the game.
When Kaira returned, smelling of mint and wearing her favorite Pooh pajamas—Rowan noted with alarm that they were suddenly an inch short—she climbed up onto the couch next to him.
They took a selfie together and sent it to Jordy “for luck,” Kaira said, after she insisted on kissing his cheek during it.
Then she fussed with the blanket and squirmed until she could use his leg as a pillow. “I’m not going to fall asleep,” she assured him.
“I won’t let you,” Rowan lied.
By the time the game hit the first commercial break, Kaira was breathing deep and even, keeping Rowan warm even if he couldn’t feel anything below his knee on the left side.
He debated for a second but then took another picture. It didn’t show much, just the back of her head and his legs under the blanket, the television in the background. Objectively it wasn’t very good.
Rowan saved it anyway, then put away his phone. He could pick Kaira up and put her in bed after the first period was over.
THE SHIELDwon their next away game, but Jordy didn’t exactly feel like the returning hero.
Rowan wasn’t home, and Kaira was with one of the temp nannies in the living room. The nanny was sitting on the couch with a book, keeping an eye on Kaira while she played. Which Jordy might have been miffed by if Kaira hadn’t placed herself as far from the nanny as she could with her back turned. Jordy kind of doubted this tense parallel play situation was the nanny’s idea.
“Hi, peanut,” Jordy greeted softly.
Kaira counterpointed by squealing, running into Jordy’s arms, and demanding to be held. He scooped her up, enjoying her little kid smells and her soft hair as she pressed her face into his neck and clung to him.
Jordy rubbed her back and murmured softly that he’d missed her. She clutched his neck harder and made the ridiculous whining noises she used to make after he returned from away games two years ago.
Jordy’s heart broke.
Kaira wouldn’t let go of him while he spoke with the nanny and sent her off for the day. She didn’t look familiar, but “Hi, I’m Liz” seemed kind and competent. She was certainly able to give an informative recap of Kaira’s day so far in a way that was sensitive to her presence while still giving Jordy a clear picture of how difficult she had been.
