I wasn’t quite ready to face Desiree when I got home. My original plan involved hiding at the picnic table until I gathered enough emotional stability to enter my own house without embarrassing myself. I was actively trying to get over what happened, but “trying” and “progress” are two very different activities. The biggest thing I wanted to avoid wasn’t even the marriage itself anymore. It was her attitude. Desi had this uncanny knack for talking about major life decisions like she was ordering lunch. One flippant comment and I might find myself back at Dub’s gym negotiating with that bag. No. I needed a little more recovery time.
Unfortunately, Rosie had other plans. Her barking announced my arrival with all the subtlety of an emergency siren, and a moment later Sophia stepped outside. I immediately felt guilty. I’d stormed out without thinking about her even once. No explanation. No warning. Just emotional evacuation. She smiled when she saw me, but there was caution in it. She was reading me already, measuring damage. I usually tried not to alarm her. But today? I definitely deserved the concern.
Instead of asking where I’d been or if I was okay, she nodded toward the yard. “Sit with me?”
That put me on immediate alert. Sophia never wasted words, but if she got straight to business, something was up. My first thought was that Desi and Josh were inside and she’d volunteered for damage control. Or maybe she thought I still needed supervision. Both felt possible, honestly.
I sat.
She folded one leg beneath herself and looked out toward the yard for a second before speaking. “Desi and I had a long talk.”
I waited. Thankfully, she skipped the dramatic buildup and went directly to the useful information.
“Josh fell asleep pretty quickly after you left,” she said. “So we had some time to talk. Woman things first. Then the rest.”
Knowing my daughter now had an active woohoo life was one thing, but knowing the details about it was a completely different story I never want to read. I closed my eyes, hoping she’d spare me the details.
“She’s being responsible,” Sophia continued. “I figured you’d want to know that.”
Truthfully, that helped more than I expected. Parenting came with enough creative ways to panic without adding preventable disasters to the list. Still, I hoped that was the end of the woohoo part of the story. Thankfully it was, and she gave me the full story of last night sans woohoo. They’d both decided they were ready but didn’t want to risk either family barging in and ruining the moment. Which honestly? Fair. Then came the part I wasn’t expecting.
“She suggested going to another house.”
I frowned. “What house?”
Sophia looked at me. “Your dad’s.”
That one surprised me enough to sit me up straighter. “She went to Dad’s house?”
“You sound offended.”
“I’m confused.”
Honestly, I didn’t even know how she remembered that place. I’d taken her there once—maybe twice—but we never even went inside.
“Why there?”
Sophia exhaled softly. “I don’t know, Luca.”
The way she said my name made me pause. There was a hint of … something. Not exactly anger or even annoyance. Honestly, she sounded tired. That’s when I realized I wasn’t the only parent in this house having an emotionally weird day. I mean, of course not, but it was official now.
“She remembers it,” Sophia said quietly.
Children always remember things differently than we do. Maybe this was more about my dad than the house. She’d always been curious about our family, and I certainly talked about him incessantly. Or it could be that her conversation with him at our cemetery visit meant more to her than I realized. I’ll probably never understand why she made that choice because I’ll never drum up the nerve to ask for fear of unwanted details. Still, I felt oddly positive about it.
I nodded slowly as she told me the rest. Desi said she felt completely at ease with Josh, so much so she didn’t want the night to end. And somewhere in that feeling she suggested marriage. I already knew how the story ended, but hearing how they got there changed something.
“Josh thought she meant in the future,” Sophia said.
Of course he did. Who wouldn’t?
“He tried to slow things down,” she continued. “He brought up us. His family. The wedding.”
I appreciated him having our backs. Desi needs someone who will show her the smaller details she trampled while sprinting toward the big goals.
“He’s stronger than I gave him credit for,” I said.
“He definitely tried.” She paused then flashed a small, knowing smile. “But then sweet potato made her case.”
That’s when it hit me. Hard. Suddenly I wasn’t picturing Desi anymore. I was seeing Sophia. All beautiful and certain. Completely convinced she was right. Watcher help Josh.
A little laugh escaped me. “I know that smile.”
Sophia tilted her head. “What smile?”
“That I’m about to change your life smile.”
Her eyes narrowed immediately. “I don’t have a smile like that.”
I looked at her. She looked at me. We both knew she absolutely had one.
“You asked me to move in with you on our first real date.”
“That was different.”
“No. This is the exact same situation.”
That smile tried to creep through, and she fought it. Needless, she lost.
I shook my head as a realization settled in. “I always thought Desi was more like me.”
Sophia folded her arms. “Oh?”
“She’s not. She’s you.”
That smile softened even more. I felt like I had lost something, but I couldn’t even be mad about it. The more this story unfolded, it sounded less impulsive and more familiar than I wanted to admit. I used to be Josh, hopelessly tangled up in a beautiful, confident woman whose certainty made me braver than I ever could be. That boy never stood a chance.
We sat quietly for a second before practical parenting returned.
“So…” I said. “Where exactly are these newlyweds planning to live?”
“I figured you’d want to weigh in on that.”
Oh, I definitely had thoughts. I love my daughter. Deeply. And I know I told her she could stay as long as she wanted. But living across the hall from a married Desiree and her husband? My spirit rejected that arrangement immediately.
“They can stay short-term,” I said carefully.
Sophia nodded.
“I could let her have one of the houses, but you know what? They wanna make grown folks decisions on day one…”
“They will figure this out together,” she finished with a nod.
Exactly. So glad we were on the same page.
I looked down at my hands, remembering all I had put them through earlier. Somewhere underneath all the leftover emotion, something Dub said started making sense: the pride. I felt it. Not fully. But it was there. When I was Desi’s age, I was floating through life without direction and negotiating against basic household chores like they violated my rights. Meanwhile this girl cares for Logan like he’s her own child, makes decisions with little consultation, and apparently got married before breakfast. Watcher. She really was something.
“How’re you feeling about all this?” I asked.
She flinched like she wasn’t expecting to be in the hot seat tonight. “I mean…” She looked out across the yard. “Of course I was caught off guard…”
Reasonable.
“I think any sane person would be.” Then she got quieter. “But what’s done is done.”
That sounded very Sophia.
“The only thing left now is making sure they know we’re still here when they need us.”
I nodded because she was right. Our feelings were valid, but they didn’t change the job. Our parenthood app had simply received a major software update we didn’t know was coming.
She looked at me carefully. “Listen…”
I already knew this part was the crux of the entire evening.
“I know you’re still upset.” She said it gently. “And I’m not asking you to magically be okay.”
That got my attention.
“But while you’re figuring out what to say to her…” She paused. “I need you to remember something.”
I waited.
“This is what she wanted. And she’s very very happy.”
That one sat with me. Not because I didn’t know it, but because hearing it from Sophia made it harder to avoid.
I exhaled. “I know. I’m working on it.”
She nodded. “That’s all I’m asking.” Then she stood. “Oh—and they’re heading to Josh’s to tell his family now.”
I blinked. “So I get one more night to be avoidant in peace?”
She chuckled. “You do.”
I smiled. “Very generous.”
She leaned down and kissed the top of my head. “Try not to run away again.”
Then she headed inside. And for a little while longer, I stayed right there.
