Chapter 55 A Day That Felt Like Home
After the swings, Leo discovered the slide.
"Watch this! I'm going down backwards!"
"Leo—" Elena started.
Too late. He'd already turned around and pushed off.
Landed at the bottom in a giggling heap.
"Did you see? I did it!"
"I saw." Elena moved to help him up.
"Again!"
He scrambled up the ladder, went down frontwards this time, arms stretched wide like an airplane.
Alexander leaned against the swing set. "He has no fear."
"None. It's terrifying."
"Where does he get that from?"
"Not me. I'm afraid of everything."
"You don't seem afraid."
She watched Leo climb again. "I've gotten good at hiding it."
He moved closer, shoulder brushing hers. "You don't have to. Hide it, I mean."
"Old habit."
Leo reached the top of the slide. "Mama! Dad! Both watch this time!"
"We're watching!" Alexander called.
Leo went down on his stomach this time, shrieking the whole way.
"That one was the best!" he announced, dusting wood chips off his pants. "Now I'm going on the monkey bars!"
He ran to the far side of the playground.
Elena followed, Alexander beside her.
Leo grabbed the first bar, dangling. His feet kicked air.
"I'm stuck!"
"You're not stuck," Elena said. "Swing to the next one."
"I can't! My arms are too short!"
"They're not—"
"They ARE!" He dangled dramatically. "I'm stuck forever!"
Alexander stepped closer. "Want help?"
"Yes! I'm dying up here!"
"You're two feet off the ground."
"That's REALLY high when you're three!"
Alexander lifted him down.
Leo immediately tried again, making it to the second bar this time before stopping.
"This is actually really hard."
"That's because you're building muscles," Alexander said. "It gets easier."
"When?"
"When you're bigger."
"But I'm already big! I'm three!"
"Bigger than three."
Leo dropped down, dissatisfied. "That's too long to wait."
Elena checked her phone. Eleven forty-five.
"We should go soon. Get lunch."
"But I'm not done playing!"
"You've been playing for half an hour."
"That's not long enough! I need at least five more hours!"
"How about five more minutes?"
He considered this. "Ten."
"Seven."
"Deal!" He ran back to the slide.
Alexander smiled. "Does he always negotiate?"
"Everything. I can't remember the last time he just agreed to something."
"Smart kid."
"Exhausting kid."
They watched him slide three more times, each one apparently better than the last.
When time was up, Leo dragged his feet walking back.
"Can we come back later?"
"Maybe tomorrow."
"Can we come EVERY day?"
"You'll be at school some days."
"Then every day I'm NOT at school."
"We'll see."
At the car, Leo climbed into his booster seat.
"My legs are tired from all that playing."
"That means you did it right," Alexander said, checking his straps.
"Dad, where are we going for lunch?"
"There's a park with a lake. They have ducks. And picnic tables."
Leo's eyes widened. "DUCKS?"
"Lots of them."
"Can we feed them?"
"If your mama says yes."
Leo whipped around. "Mama, can we?"
"I don't know if you're supposed to feed park ducks—"
"Please? I'll be really gentle! And I won't chase them! I'll just give them tiny pieces of bread very politely!"
Elena looked at Alexander, who was clearly fighting a smile.
"Fine. Tiny pieces. No chasing."
"YES!" Leo pumped his fist.
The drive took twenty minutes. Leo provided constant commentary.
"That car is blue. I like blue. But red is better. Except green. Green is the actual best. Do ducks like green? They probably do because they're green. Some of them. The boy ones. Or the girl ones. I can't remember which—Dad, are boy ducks green or girl ducks?"
"I think boy ducks are green."
"See, Mama? I was right about the green!"
At the park, Alexander pulled a picnic basket from his trunk.
Elena raised her eyebrows. "When did you—"
"This morning. Before I came." He looked almost shy. "Thought you might not have time to pack anything."
"What's in there?" Leo tried to peer inside.
"Sandwiches. Fruit. Those cookies you like."
"The chocolate ones?"
"The chocolate ones."
Leo grabbed Elena's hand, then Alexander's. "This is the BEST day!"
They found a table near the water. Ducks paddled along the shore, occasionally tipping upside down to eat.
Leo watched them, mesmerized.
"Why do they do that? Go upside down?"
"Looking for food underwater," Alexander explained.
"But they have FEET. Can't they just walk in the water?"
"Swimming is easier."
"Oh." Leo thought about this. "I should learn to swim."
"You should," Elena agreed.
"Can you teach me?"
"I don't—I'm not a strong swimmer, baby."
Leo looked at Alexander hopefully.
"I can teach you," Alexander said. "When it's warmer."
"Really?"
"Really."
"Even the part where you go underwater?"
"Especially that part."
Leo grinned. "Cool."
They ate lunch while Leo asked approximately seven hundred questions about ducks.
"Do they sleep on the water?"
"Sometimes."
"What if they fall asleep and float away?"
"They hold onto things with their feet."
"Do they have dreams?"
"Maybe."
"What do ducks dream about?"
Alexander glanced at Elena, clearly out of answers.
She hid her smile. "Probably bread."
"That makes sense." Leo took another bite of sandwich. "I dream about dinosaurs. And sometimes ice cream. And one time I dreamed about a dinosaur MADE of ice cream but then I was sad when I woke up because it wasn't real."
After lunch, they walked to the water's edge.
Leo held the bread bag carefully.
"Remember—small pieces," Elena said.
"I know, Mama."
He tore off a tiny piece, tossed it toward a nearby duck.
It landed in the water. The duck swam over, gobbled it up.
Leo gasped. "He ate it! Did you see? He actually ate it!"
"I saw."
"Can I give another piece?"
"Go ahead."
He tossed another piece. More ducks appeared.
Within minutes, they were surrounded.
Leo stood very still, eyes huge. "There's so many."
"You're popular," Alexander said.
"They really like my bread." He threw another piece, giggling when three ducks lunged for it. "This is the best thing that ever happened!"
Elena took a photo—Leo surrounded by ducks, face lit up with pure joy.
Alexander moved beside her, looking at the screen.
"Send that to me?"
"Yeah."
She did. Watched him save it immediately, making it his phone background.
Something warm spread through her chest.
Leo had finished the bread. The ducks, realizing the food source was empty, began wandering off.
"Bye, ducks!" Leo waved. "Thank you for eating my bread!"
One duck quacked, as if responding.
Leo whirled around. "Mama, he said goodbye back!"
"He did."
"This park is magic!"
They walked along the water's edge. Leo found a stick, dragged it through the dirt making patterns.
"This is how dinosaurs wrote letters. Before regular letters were invented."
"Is that so?" Alexander asked.
"Yeah. They didn't have pencils. Just sticks. And mud."
"Makes sense."
Leo stopped suddenly. "Dad?"
"Yeah?"
"Are you going to be my dad forever? Or just for right now?"
Elena's breath caught.
Alexander crouched down. "Forever, buddy."
"Even when I'm not cute anymore?"
"You'll always be cute to me."
"But Mrs. Chen says eventually I'll be a teenager and teenagers aren't cute, they're just cranky."
Alexander smiled. "Even when you're a cranky teenager."
"What about when I'm old like you?"
"Hey—"
"Will you still be my dad then?"
"Yes. Even when you're old like me."
Leo seemed satisfied. He went back to his stick drawings.
But his hand slipped into Alexander's.
Stayed there.
They walked like that—Leo between them, holding both their hands.
A family.
Small and new and still figuring itself out.
But real.
Elena's phone buzzed.
Mrs. Chen: How did the school visit go?
She typed back: Good. He starts Monday.
And Alexander?
He's here. We're at the park.
Good. That's good. Enjoy your day.
Elena pocketed her phone.
Ahead, Leo had found a leaf. "Look how BIG this one is!"
"That's a maple leaf," Alexander said.
"How do you know?"
"The shape. See the points?"
Leo studied it carefully. "I'm going to keep this forever."
"Okay."
"It's going to live on my dresser with my other special things."
"What other special things?" Elena asked.
"The rock I found. And the button from Mama's sweater. And that dinosaur sticker you gave me, Dad."
Alexander looked at Elena, confused.
She shrugged. "He takes things that matter to him."
"This leaf matters," Leo confirmed seriously. "It's a memory."
They stayed at the park until Leo started yawning.
"I'm not tired," he insisted. "I'm just resting my eyes."
"Uh-huh."
In the car, he was asleep before they left the parking lot.
Elena glanced back at him. Head tilted, mouth slightly open, maple leaf clutched in his hand.
"Today was good," she said quietly.
"Yeah. It was."
"Thank you. For the lunch. The picnic basket. All of it."
"You don't have to thank me."
"I know. But I want to."
He reached across the console, found her hand.
Laced their fingers together.
They drove in comfortable silence, Leo sleeping in the back, the afternoon sun warm through the windows.
For the first time in a long time, Elena felt something close to peace.
Tomorrow they'd face his family.
Monday, Leo would start school.
Next week, who knew what challenges would come.
But today—
Today had been perfect.
And that was enough.