Page 5 of October

“Even though I give you blueberries instead of chocolate chips?” I say, finally glancing over my shoulder at him.

He places his hand over his heart. “What? I feel… betrayed.”

“Casey thinks it’s the funniest thing. Who am I to ruin that for her?” I pull out a whisk and begin to beat the batter together in a large, metal bowl.

“Fair enough.” He pushes around me, careful to only barely touch my shoulder, while he reaches up to pull a coffee mug from the cabinet. “Need some liquid gold?”

My skin is on fire in the spot his hand is touching me. His hand… Fuck.

“No, no thank you. I stopped for an iced coffee on the way.”

He nods in understanding then sets out to make his own cup. We move around each other easily, like we always do when we are in the kitchen together. A stranger, an outsider, could assume we were together if they were to see us in this way.

I don’t hate it.

Not at all.

“What time do you guys head out tomorrow?” I ask as I plate up some breakfast for Casey.

“I think around nine or ten.”

“It’s a few hours away, right?”

“Six. It’s an easy drive though. Casey does well with it, shockingly enough.” He leans casually against the counter and sips on his scalding hot black coffee like it’s nothing.

About the time the last word leaves his lips, we hear Casey running around her room then bounding down the stairs.

“Shocking indeed, with that amount of energy.”

“Daddy!” she screeches and hugs his legs. “I have the best idea in the whole entire world.”

“Oh yeah? What’s that?” he asks as he places his mug on the counter.

“Hold on,” she replies then takes her plate and hops up onto the breakfast barstool and digs into her pancakes. “Wren can come with us to Grammie’s,” she says matter-of-factly.

“Umm,” he says, looking over to me. “No, we gave Wren the week off, remember?”

“But pleeeeeeease. I love when Wren is in the car.”

I smile. “You do? Why?”

“Because Dad lets you pick all the music. You have the best music. Like Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo. Dad listens to boring things.”

“Hey,” he chimes in. “I don’t think my music is boring.”

Casey scoffs and rolls her eyes. “Dad…. it’s boring and they yell a lot.”

She’s not wrong. He tends to go through phases that I’ve seen, at least, of dad rock and metal. I wouldn’t call it boring, per se, but a lot? Yes. Yes, it is a lot.

“Regardless, Wren has the week off. We can’t ask her to cancel her plans.”

My mouth moves before I can even stop it… the idea of being in the car with him for an extended period of time is too tempting to pass up.

“I don’t have any plans. I can tag along if that’s all right with you.”

He doesn’t get a chance to answer before Casey bursts into cheers.

“OH MY GOD! We are going to sing so many songs!”

---