❀ Clark ❀
I hadn’t stopped smiling since we left my parents’ place. It had gone better than I could have hoped. Sure, the start was tense, Mom was tight-lipped, and Dad was giving me that classic no-nonsense stare, but somehow, Amy’s quiet grace and Eva’s relentless enthusiasm cracked them wide open. By dessert, it felt like they were already halfway to claiming Eva as their own. And Amy, f*****g Amy. She had moved through the afternoon with such care, such quiet strength. I didn’t realize how deeply I had fallen for her until I saw her at my childhood dining table, laughing with my family like she had always been there.
“Come on, Daddy Clark,” Eva said as she tugged on my hand. The movie had just ended, and now Eva insisted on showing me her new jungle gym under the moonlight. I finally
