But before I can spend much more time getting to know her, one of the movers approaches. “Sorry, sir, we just want to know where exactly you want this desk positioned,” he says.
“Sure, no problem,” I remark, turning back to Kristen to excuse myself.
But as I’m opening my mouth to speak, I’m interrupted by a screech of “DADDY!"
I swear under my breath. “Excuse me,” I tell Kristen simply, then turn to the mover, “I’ll be right there.”
I turn and head to Judy’s room without waiting for a response from either. I get to my daughter’s room and open the door to be greeted by her tear-stained face. "What’s the matter, sweetheart? I told you Daddy would be right back,” I croon, bending down to wipe tears from her round little cheeks.
“Play with me?” she whimpers, holding up her arms to be held.
My heart breaks a little and I can’t help but scoop her up. “Aww, kiddo, I want to, but Daddy’s gotta finish helping the movers get all our stuff in so we can have places to sleep tonight.”
She frowns and rubs at her eyes with tiny fists, then turns to the doorway and points. “Who’s that?”
I follow her gaze and see that Kristen had followed behind me. “That’s our new neighbor, honey. Can you say hi?”
She ducks her head shyly, but sticks a hand up and wiggles her hand in greeting. Kristen smiles and waves back. “Hi. What’s your name?” she asks.
My daughter looks at me, and I nudge her gently. “You can tell her, it’s okay,” I urge her gently.
“Judy,” she mumbles, so quietly that I know there’s no way Kristen could have heard.
“What was that, sweetheart?” Kristen probes gently.
Judy lifts her face and repeats her name, louder this time.
“Nice to meet you, Judy, I’m Kristen.”
“Hi, Kwispin.”
I manage to stifle my laughter, save for a little snort, and Kristen just grins. “Tell you what, Judy, maybe you could play with me for a little bit while your daddy gets all your stuff moved into your new house?” she offers, then turns to me, “If that’s okay with you, of course.”
I have to admit, neighbor or not, I hesitate for a moment. I don’t exactly trust Judy with just anyone. But I figure I also won’t be too far away at any point…
“I think that would be okay. What do you think, Jude? Can you show Kristen your blocks?”
Judy nods eagerly and wriggles out of my arms, then marches matter-of-factly over to Kristen, grabbing her by the arm, and drags her over to a corner of the room where her toybox has already been unpacked.
I watch for a moment as Kristen settles in and the two start building a tower of blocks together, and the sight causes an expected pang in my gut. But I push it aside. “Just yell if you need anything, I’ll be nearby,” I tell her, then head out to help the movers.
It’s nice to have an extra hand with Judy again. I’ve been doing this by myself for the last eight months, and it’s been a lot to handle. I’d never planned on being a single dad. Hell, I’d never even planned on being a dad.
Judy’s mother, Elise, had been my best friend. She and I met our freshman year of college and immediately hit it off. We were inseparable, and people kept asking for nearly ten years when the two of us were going to hook up and get together.
Honestly, we never really felt that kind of chemistry, but after a while, we’d given in to the pressure and given dating a try…and it had been a disaster. The one and only time we’d ever successfully had sex, we’d both been completely hammered because we were too nervous to touch each other sober.
We’d decided shortly afterward that we were better off as friends, and we were happier going back to that relationship…but it turned out things weren’t quite that simple. In our drunken state, our one night together had left Elise pregnant.
We sure as hell weren’t going to attempt a marriage, but we worked out a happy co-parenting relationship that worked for both of us, living as friends and roommates and raising our daughter. And we were happy. Hell, both of us even occasionally went out on dates on our own, too, although neither one of us found anything serious.
If either one of us had found a relationship, I was quite sure we could have negotiated a new dynamic, too, had we needed to, but unfortunately, we never got to that point. Eight months ago, Elise had an unexpected tire blowout on the freeway and lost control of her car. It flipped, and while doctors had tried to save her, her injuries had just been too severe.
I’d tried to just keep going and move on, but living there, all the memories fucking haunted me, and finally, I couldn’t take it anymore and started looking elsewhere. At first, I just looked for a new place in the same city, but I quickly realize that I needed to get further. I wanted less rain, more sunshine.
So, I chose a new city, a new state, to give myself a fresh start so I can be the best father I can. And at two, it’s not like Judy had any particular roots in Seattle beyond her maternal grandmother. My parents had retired and moved to Florida years ago.
I’d considered trying to be closer to them, but then the job opening within my company had shown up here in Lacqua Bend, California, and I’d started looking at pictures of the town. I couldn’t explain what it was, exactly, but something about this place had called to me.