Daniel stood in the toy aisle at Target, feeling completely out of his depth. Two months until Emma’s fifth birthday, and he’d found himself here without really planning it, drawn by some compulsion he couldn’t quite name. He had no right to be shopping for his daughter’s birthday present, no guarantee that he’d ever work up the courage to contact Kassie, no assurance that if he did, they’d want anything from him.
But here he was anyway, staring at an overwhelming wall of pink and purple and glitter, trying to figure out what a almost-five-year-old girl might want.
“Can I help you find something?” A teenage employee appeared beside him, probably noticing his deer-in-headlights expression.
“I’m… looking for a birthday present. For a five-year-old girl.” Daniel felt foolish saying it, lik
