Page 80 of Gross Misconduct

“Whoa.” I step back and take in the finished product. The ice castle sits mightily on the tree branches.

“Nice job,” Jack says, nudging my elbow.

“It took the work of a lot of good friends.” I’ve never been so happy to have handy friends. No way could I have done this on my own.

“So what’sFrozenactually, like, about?” Jack asks, wiping the sweat off his forehead with his shirt, exposing his rippling abs. I feel a little guilty that he’s spent his lazy Saturday doing manual labor and answering a barrage of questions from my daughters.

June runs up, at the ready. “It’s about two sisters, and one has this scary special power, so their parents force her to stay in her bedroom and never come out. But then her parents die, and she leaves her room, and everyone gets mad at her, so she leaves and creates a new ice castle for herself in the woods…” By the end, she’s out of breath. My daughter can’t remember if she did her homework, but can recite the entire plot of a feature-length film in stunning detail.

“Daddy, can we watchFrozentonight in our new ice castle?” Annabelle asks.

Rather than immediately say no, the spirit of the day convinces me to run with the idea. Fortunately, it’s a balmy early March evening. If we bring blankets and my space heater into the castle, we won’t freeze.

“Sure,” I say.

“Really?” Annabelle asks, just as shocked as I am that I easily said yes.

“Really,” I confirm.

“Can we make popcorn?” Annabelle asks.

“Sure.”

“Can Jack watch with us?” June loops her arm through Jack’s.

“Girls, it’s been a long day and Jack wants to get home.”

“I don’t know.” Jack scratches at his chin. “You ladies have been hyping upFrozenall day. I think I need to see it.”

The girls bounce with excitement as they sense the scales tipping their way. Another kind of excitement flutters through me. The terrifying kind of excitement, like what the guy who did a tightrope walk across the Twin Towers must’ve felt.

“Jack, you’ve spent so much time with the girls. You don’t need to wreck your Saturday night plans for this. Girls, Jack can watchFrozenon his own and tell us what he thinks.”

“WatchingFrozenis better than what I had planned,” he says.

“You heard it, Daddy. He wants to watch it in our ice castle treehouse with popcorn.” June stands on her tippy toes and beams in victory.

I glance at Jack, giving him the signal that he can go. But Jack pays me no mind.

“Let’s make some popcorn!” He scoops up Annabelle in his arms and goes into the house.

The one guy I can’t let get into my head has moved in and thrown his stuff all around.

* * *

A little bit later,we’re all set and ready to go. We set up my tablet on an extra piece of wood with the movie all queued up. We brought sleeping bags, pillows, and blankets into the tree house. Jack and I hauled up two folding lawn chairs. The girls decorated with streamers andFrozenaccoutrement as Jack strung twinkly lights around the walls.

The lawn chair creaks as I unfold it and makes louder groans when I plunk my big ass down. The girls lay on their stomachs in front of the TV. Jack unfolds his chair right next to mine.

“Is this too close?” Jack asks.

“No. No, not at all.” I cough down a flutter of excitement in my chest.

Jack collapses into his chair. “Comfy.”

In the twinkly lights, his lips glow against the darkness. His stubble comes into view on his cut jaw line. He is even more handsome than usual.

I turn on the movie. The girls keep looking back at Jack to tell him what’s going on in the movie. Jack, for his part, seems engaged in what’s going on in Arendelle.

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