“Your dad is home,” I said.
Gina bolted to the sliding doors, and I sprinted to keep up. They opened as she approached and she flung herself into Noah’s arms.
“Hey, honey,” he said, lifting her into the air.
Her little face scrunched up as she hugged him tight against her.
“Hey, Jess,” he said.
“Hi. How was your day?” I asked.
He placed Gina on the ground, and she took off toward the swings again. We both walked over.
“Busy as usual. How was Gina?”
“She was great,” I said. “I took the car out to this local bakery that I love, and we picked up some bread. Then we did a few errands. That car drives nice.”
He nodded. “It has the best safety rating.”
During Gina’s nap, I had checked the MSRP on the car, out of curiosity. The car was worth over eighty grand. Even though his house was massive and I knew he made a ton of money, the sticker value still shocked me. I could do a lot with that kind of money.
He stood behind Gina on the swing and started to push her.
“Higher!” she cried, giggling as he obeyed her request.
I stood next to him, watching them interact. If someone were to take a picture of this moment, no one would guess that Noah was a single father who barely had time for a home life. They loved each other so much. The thought brought heat to my eyes.
“She loves to swing,” I said.
“She certainly does,” he said. “When she was younger, the only way I could get her to stop crying was in one of those mechanical swings. And then she’d sit there all day, looking around and smiling.”
“That’s a beautiful memory,” I said.
He nodded.
I didn’t want to interrupt any of their bonding time, so I said, “I’ll make you two a quick dinner before I go if you want? I can whip up some pasta. It pairs with that bread—”
“On Fridays, we order pizza,” he said.
“With cannoodles!” Gina said.
Noah chuckled. “With cannolis.”
“Oh, okay,” I said. “I guess I’ll see—”
“You’re welcome to stay,” he interrupted.
“Please stay!” Gina begged.
I didn’t have any plans. I rarely made plans the nights I worked in case parents came home late. But none ever asked me to stay for dinner. “I would love to. As long as I’m not intruding.”
“Not at all,” he said. “It should be here around five-thirty. I ordered on the way home.”
The pizza and dessert arrived right on time. Noah insisted we use paper plates since they were easier to clean up. Even though he was rarely home, he knew his way around a kitchen. It was almost cute.
We all sat at the kitchen table together.
“So, tell me more about yourself,” Noah said. “This hiring process moved along a lot quicker than I expected and I didn’t get to ask many personal questions.”