It was just Violet and Josh Jones. The whistle blew, and Josh rifled a green balloon at Violet, who appeared to be running firefighter-style drills on the field as she zigzagged all over the place.
Harper was squeezing my hand, and Josh chucked his last balloon at her and missed again. Violet caught him as he turned to go get more and nailed him in the back.
The crowd roared, and my daughter and Lily took off running on the field as the three of them celebrated like they’d just won the Super Bowl.
Everyone was smiling as they watched, and Jeanne and Tim stood beside me, laughing hysterically.
“You better put a ring on that one soon,” Tim said teasingly.
“Did you just quote Beyoncé?” Jeanne said with a laugh.
And I just smiled.
Because it wasn’t the first time the thought had crossed my mind.
The family picnic was a lot better this year from having Violet with me. She was social and funny, and I wasn’t in any hurry for it to end. Mrs. Wharton gave all the students an award, and Harper received the best reader award for all the books she’d read this year. I’d thought the party was over when Mrs. Wharton took the microphone to speak again.
“Okay, we finished all the awards, but we have one last one that we always save. It’s the most special award I give out each year. It’s the citizenship award. This award is for the student who is kind and compassionate to everyone in the classroom. This award is voted on by all the teachers who work with our class, including me, Mr. Zambo in PE, Mrs. Clark in art, and Ms. Scott in music. This year was a unanimous decision, and the citizenship award goes to Miss Harper Huxley. She has a heart of gold, and when I asked her classmates about her, every single one of them said she’d always been kind to them. In this crazy world, it’s important to be kind, and I’m proud to give this award to you, Harper Huxley.”
My daughter’s eyes were wide as she jogged up to the front to get her trophy from Mrs. Wharton. I glanced over at Violet. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she clutched the rainbow unicorn stuffed animal she’d won for Harper and watched with pride.
I guess kindness is contagious.
Because both of my girls have it in spades.
“This was really sweet of you,” I said as I took in the tent in the middle of her living room. There were twinkle lights strung across the ceiling, a blanket on the floor, and a pizza on a little tray table sitting on the blanket. She had a bottle of wine and two glasses, along with candles lit on every surface nearby. Violet didn’t do anything half assed.
“I like our new plan of surprising one another with date nights each week,” she said, leading me over to the tent. “So this is dinner and a movie, and maybe you’ll get lucky before we go home.”
Abigail had agreed to babysit once a week so we could make this time for one another, and Harper was fine with it. If we did it on a weekend, she’d invite Lily over, and if it was a weeknight, she and Abigail would do her homework and watch a show together.
“This is really great. What are we watching?” I settled on the blanket as she reached for the remote.
“Well, I thought we could watchThe Proposal. It’s one of my favorite movies, and it takes place in Alaska.”
“Never heard of it.” I placed a slice of pizza on each of our plates and opened the bottle of wine.
“It’s a rom-com, Charles.”
I groaned. “Nobody gets shot or killed?”
“Nope,” she chuckled. “You’ll love it, though. They bicker a lot, just like we do.”
“Maybe we like bickering.” I handed her a glass of wine.
“Yeah, I’d rather bicker with you than have a pleasant conversation with anyone else.”
I laughed. “Good to know. It brings us back to the same discussion we had last week.”
She reached for her pizza and turned to face me. “The one where we had sex on that boat you rented for date night, and then you said you wanted me in your bed every night?”
“That’s the one. And you told me to see if I felt the same way in a week, and I do.”
I reached for another slice.
“So what does that mean? You want me to sleep over every night, even though I already do most nights?” She shrugged.
“No. It means we live together. We’re together every day. Harper is crazy about you. Why have two homes?” I took a bite of pizza as she gaped at me.
