He holds out a hand. “Hey. Atlas, right? I’m Marshall.”

I return his handshake. “Yeah, good to meet you.”

He nods, but when Emerson sees me, Marshall has to clasp a tighter hand around her because she lunges for me. I step forward and take her from him.

“Hey, Emmy. Did you have fun today?”

Marshall watches me with her for a moment, then says, “Be careful. She puked on Ryle twice today.”

“Is she not feeling well?”

“She’s fine, but she’s been with the two of us all day. Both the girls had sugar for breakfast. And snack. And lunch and second snack and…” He waves a dismissive hand. “Lily and Issa are used to it.”

Emerson reaches up and pulls the sunglasses off my head. She tries to put them on her own face, but they’re crooked, so I help her adjust them until she’s wearing them right. She grins at me, and I smile back at her.

Marshall glances over at the car that Ryle’s sitting in, and then back to me. “Sorry he’s not getting out. This is all still a little weird for him. Her moving in with you.”

When Marshall says “her,” he doesn’t mean Lily. He’s looking at Emerson. I nod in understanding, because I do understand. “It’s fine. I can’t imagine this is easy for him.”

Marshall ruffles Emmy’s hair and then says, “I’ll get out of here so you guys can finish up. It was good finally meeting you.”

“You too,” I say. And I mean that. Marshall seems like someone I could be friends with if the circumstances were different.

He turns to head back to Ryle’s car, but he pauses and faces me again before he gets very far. “Thank you,” he says. “Lily means a lot to my wife, so… yeah. Thanks for making Lily happy. She deserves it.” As soon as Marshall says that, he shakes his head and holds up his hands, taking a step back. “I’ll go now before it gets too awkward.” He makes a beeline for Ryle’s car, but I kind of wish he wouldn’t have run off so fast. I would have thanked him, too. I know his support has meant a lot to Lily.

Marshall shuts the passenger door, and Ryle puts his car in drive and heads out.

I glance at Emmy, who is now chewing on my sunglasses. “You want to go say hi to Mommy?” I start to walk in the direction of the building, but I pause when I see Lily standing in the doorway to the stairwell.

As soon as she sees me, she spins around and wipes quickly at her eyes. I’m not sure why she’s crying, but I walk a little bit slower so she can erase the tears before she greets her daughter. Sure enough, several seconds later, she spins around with a big grin and takes Emmy from me.

“Did you have fun with your daddy today?” she asks, right before she smothers Emmy with several kisses.

When she looks at me, I shoot her a curious look, wondering why she was crying. She gestures to the parking lot, where Ryle’s car was moments before.

“That was a big thing,” she says. “I mean, I know Marshall was with him, but the fact that he felt okay enough to leave her with you…” She’s starting to tear up again, which makes her sigh and roll her eyes at her own reaction. “It feels good knowing the men in her life can at least pretend to get along for her sake.”

It honestly makes me feel good, too. I’m glad she was upstairs when they showed up. I know Ryle sat in the car while Marshall handed her over, but it was a step in the right direction. Maybe Ryle and I needed an exchange like that just as much as Lily did.

We just proved cooperation is possible, even if it stings.

I wipe at Lily’s wet cheek, and then I give her a quick kiss. “I love you.” I put my hand on Lily’s lower back and guide her toward the stairs. “One more trip before you’re stuck with me forever.”

Lily laughs. “I can’t wait to be stuck with you forever.”

Chapter Thirty-Six Lily

I’m curled up on Atlas’s couch, exhausted from moving.

Our couch.

This is going to take some getting used to.

I had Theo and Josh help me unpack the rest of Emerson’s and my things because Atlas has a late night at work. I wake up early, he gets home late, but it’s exciting that we’ll now get more pieces of each other, even when it’s in passing. And we have Sundays together.

But tonight is a Friday, and tomorrow is a Saturday, Atlas’s busiest days, so I’m entertaining Josh and Theo until my mother returns with Emerson. The three of us have been watching Finding Nemo, but it’s almost over.

I honestly didn’t think they would sit through it because they’re at the age when preteens tend to want to separate themselves from Disney cartoons. But I’m learning that Gen Z is a different breed. The more time I spend with these two, the more I think they’re unlike any generation that came before them. They’re less prone to peer pressure and more supportive of individuality. I’m a little bit jealous of them.

Josh stands when the credits begin to roll.

“Did you like it?”

He shrugs. “It was pretty funny, considering it started with the brutal slaughter of all that caviar.” He takes his empty bag of popcorn toward the kitchen, but Theo is still staring at the television. He’s shaking his head slowly.

I’m still stuck on Josh’s description of the beginning of the movie…

“I don’t get it,” Theo says.

“The caviar comment?”

Theo looks between me and the television. “No. I don’t get why Atlas said that to you about finally reaching the shore. It wasn’t even a quote in the movie. He told me he said it because of Finding Nemo. I waited for someone to say it through the entire movie.”

I’m sure I’ll have to get used to a lot of things now that I live with Atlas, but knowing he talks to this kid about our relationship is probably not one of the things I’ll ever get used to.

The confusion in Theo’s eyes flips like a light switch. “Oh. Oh. Because when life gets them down, they keep swimming, so Atlas was saying life will no longer… okay.” His mind is still going a mile a minute behind those eyes. He starts to shake his head as he pushes himself off the floor. “I still think it’s cheesy,” he mutters. Theo’s phone buzzes right as he stands. “I gotta go—my dad’s here.”

Josh is back in the living room. “You aren’t staying over?”

“I can’t tonight; my parents are taking me to a thing in the morning.”

“I want to go to a thing,” Josh says.

Theo is pulling on his shoes when he hesitates. “Yeah, I don’t know.”

“Where are you going?”

Theo’s eyes flash briefly to mine, and then back to Josh. “It’s a parade.” He says it quietly, but also like it’s a warning.

“A parade?” Josh tilts his head. “Why are you being weird? What kind of parade is it? A pride parade?”

Theo swallows like maybe him and Josh haven’t had this conversation, so I’m nervous on Theo’s behalf. But I’ve been around Josh enough over the last several months to know that he values his friendship with Theo.

Josh grabs his shoes and sits next to me on the couch and starts putting them on. “What are you saying? I’m not allowed to go to a pride thing because I like girls?”

Theo shifts from one foot to the other. “You can go. I just… I didn’t know if you knew.”

Josh rolls his eyes. “You can tell a lot about a person by their taste in manga, Theo. I’m not a dumbass.”