There has been a change of plans,” I said, holding the phone up to my ear and talking to Lacey. “Bring your bathing suit with you today.”

“Uh, okay?”

“Don’t be curious,” I said. “Just get over here.” I laughed and hung up.

When she got to the house, she was all smiles, carrying her suit with her. She was on the way out the door when I had stopped her, so she went into the bathroom to change. I knew that tutoring was important, and Bella would get it. I just didn’t want the summer to continue to slip by with the two of us and not be taking advantage of our time together. When she came out of the bathroom, I smiled, seeing the little red straps poking out from underneath her sundress.

“I think, in an attempt to not miss summer, Bella should have her tutoring on the beach today,” I exclaimed when her and Bella walked into the living room.

“That is a fantastic idea,” Lacey said, laughing as Bella screamed and ran to me, hugging me tightly.

We grabbed blankets and all the supplies and went out to the beach, thankful for the privacy of our own property as we looked down at the crowds closer to town. I spread the blanket out and Lacey helped me, before we all sat down. I sat to the side, not wanting to interrupt the lessons for the day and just watched. I couldn’t keep my eyes off of Lacey. She was wearing this tiny little red bikini, and she looked so damn hot in it. She stopped and sat up on her knees while Bella read a page from her book out loud. Lacey pulled her hair up in a ponytail, and my eyes trailed down her body and back up to her face, which was now watching me watch her. I smiled mischievously, and Lacey shook her head, blushing.

“The dog ran to the house,” Bella read. “The dog’s name is Spot.”

“Very good,” Lacey said excitedly. “Let’s go all the way to the end of this book, and then we’ll give the harder one a try again.”

“Okay,” Bella said happily. “I’ve been practicing.”

“Of course, you have,” Lacey said, ruffling Bella’s wild brown hair.

When she was done with the Spot book, Lacey pulled out a first-grader book and handed it to Bella. She told her it was okay if she didn’t get it all, that it was just for fun. Bella smiled and nodded, preparing herself to start reading. She was so adorable in how serious she was about all of this. I hated learning when I was growing up, but I felt like Bella loved it because it quenched her curiosity for things. That was very reminiscent of her mother, always wanting to learn more, never being satisfied with the status quo. It was a really good trait to have.

“Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Goldilocks,” Bella read without skipping a beat. “She went for a walk in the forest. Pretty soon, she came upon a house. She knocked, and when no one answered, she walked right in. At the table in the kitchen, there were three bowls of porridge. Goldilocks was hungry. She tasted the porridge from the first bowl.”

“Wow,” Lacey said, sitting back completely stunned. “You really have been practicing.”

“It was hard to get the porridge word, but I sounded it out and practiced it several times like you showed me, and now it’s normal like Spot,” Bella said excitedly.

She read the entire book out loud, only struggling on one or two parts. I couldn’t believe my ears. Bella had conquered a reading level she should be on at the end of first grade, not the beginning of Kindergarten. She flew through every lesson that Bella had given her, and when something stumped her, she didn’t get frustrated or angry. She just dug in her heels and worked harder. I was so proud of her.

“Baby, that is absolutely amazing,” I said, leaning forward and kissing Bella on the head. “How about we take a break and eat some lunch?”

She nodded as I stood and jogged back up to the house. I grabbed all kinds of finger foods that we could just snack on out on the beach and packed them in a basket. As I was walking back down the beach, I could see Lacey sitting on the blanket with Bella in her lap, pointing out the different ships on the horizon. My heart swelled, and my anxiety completely lifted. I couldn’t help but think that this just might be it for us. This could be the real thing. My life hadn’t felt settled and whole since Isabella died, but right then, I couldn’t think of anything I wanted or needed. I could see Isabella in my mind, but my heart no longer broke. It was like it was all lifting off my shoulders, and I knew it was because of Lacey. I knew that she had brought a light and an ease to our lives that I never thought I would find again.

“How about this?” I asked, setting the box on the blanket and winking at Lacey as Bella jumped up and started taking things from the box.

We had a nice little picnic, just the three of us, and it went off without a hitch. There was no awkwardness or uncomfortable feelings. It was like the three of us were a family. Lacey had brought so much to the picture, and not just for me. I hadn’t seen Bella this wide-eyed and excited about each day her entire life. Usually, her excitement revolved around her playroom and her Grandma Betty, but Lacey had definitely added to that. I wanted to do something nice for her, to show her how much I cared about her.

“Did you know that the ships look smaller because of your field of vision?” Bella asked proudly.

“I did know that,” Lacey said with surprise. “Where did you learn that?”

“My daddy taught me that,” she said, smiling over at me. “He’s really smart, too, but he doesn’t talk a lot, so you can’t tell.”

“Gee, thanks,” I said, bursting into laughter. “You put that so elegantly, Bella.”

“I have seen how smart your daddy is, and you are just as smart,” Lacey said, winking at me with a giggle.

“Good, because I want to be just like him,” she said, eating some grapes. “And you, too, Lacey, because you are smart and beautiful and very nice.”

“Aww,” Lacey said, looking as if she were truly touched. “That is so sweet.”

After lunch, I just sat there watching the two of them go through the last bit of lessons for the day. Lacey only had one day left of full lessons because all of the preparations started next week for Bella’s school. I was more than a little sad that my daily time with Lacey was going to end, and I could see that Lacey was struggling with it as well. All the more reason for me to plan to do something with her and for her to show her this wasn’t the end of our time together.

When they were done for the day, we gathered up all of our things and headed back to the house. Lacey pulled her sundress on as Bella insisted on taking a shower all by herself. I was nervous about it, but I let her do it, knowing this was just the beginning of her wanting more independence. Lacey laughed as she pulled her bag over her shoulder and smiled at me, her beach hair wild, and the tan on her skin getting darker every day. She no longer looked like the New York City transplant, and finally looked like a beach girl, tanned and windblown. I loved it.

“Thanks for a great day,” she said, smiling as she walked toward the door. “Text me later, okay? I’m going to go catch up on some reading and coffee at Aggie’s.”

“Sounds like a great day,” I said with a half-smile. “You’ve been doing really great with Bella. And Lacey?”

“Yeah?” She turned from the open door and looked at me.

“I liked spending the day with you too,” I said.

She blushed and smiled, nodding her head and walking out of the door. My heart was erupting from my chest for the first time in a really long time. I tapped my fingers on the counter, trying to figure out what I wanted to do for her. Then I realized, she wouldn’t want anything crazy or over the top, just time together, getting to know each other better. I picked up the phone and called my mom.

“Hey, sweetie,” she said, answering after one ring.

“Wow, that was a fast answer,” I said, chuckling. “Usually you are too busy to answer at all.”

“Yeah, there’s nothing going on today, so I’m watching trash day time television.” She giggled. “What’s up? Everything okay?”

“Everything is great,” I said excitedly. “I was actually calling to see if you would take Bella for the night tomorrow night?”

“For the whole night? Really?”

“Yeah, I want to take Lacey out for the night,” I said.

“That’s wonderful,” she replied. “Of course, I will take her for the night. I’ve been waiting for you to ask me to do that. I’ve really missed my sleepovers with little miss.”

“I know, and I’m sorry that I’ve kept her so close,” I replied.

“It’s understandable; you lost your wife and you wanted to keep Bella safe,” she said.

“She’s probably safer around you than anyone else,” I said, laughing.

“I would have disagreed, but after that incident where she cut her own hair…” She was laughing hysterically.

“Oh God, I completely forgot about that,” I groaned. “That was terrible. I made her stand in the bathroom away from the sink with her eyes closed for a month when I was taking showers after that.”

“She looked like Joe Dirt,” my mother said, still laughing.

“And she didn’t care at all,” I replied, chuckling. “She thought she was hot shit because she styled her own hair.”

“Well, I promise she won’t come back with a mullet from my house,” my mother said.

“Good,” I said. “Okay, I’ll bring her over tomorrow after tutoring, if that’s okay?”

“Bring her to the church,” my mother said. “I’m doing a craft fair over there on Saturday, and she can help me set up for it. She loves the attention she gets from the old people.”

I chuckled. “She loves all attention.”

“Alright dear, I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said before hanging up.

I smiled, leaning against the wall and thinking about how I was going to have the first real date I had been on in years the next night, and with an amazing woman. I walked over to the door of the playroom and watched Bella teaching her stuffed animals what she learned that day. She was reading Goldilocks to them. She turned and looked at me with a big smile.

“Hey, Daddy,” she said.

“Hey, sweetie, I have a question for you,” I said, kneeling down. “How would you like to spend the night at Grandma Betty’s tomorrow night?”

“Really?!” she asked with excitement. “That would be so much fun. I’ll start packing right now!”

I laughed and kissed her on the forehead, walking out of the room to let her do her thing. My mother’s house would be full of stuffed animals and books by that time the next night. I sat down at the computer and looked up different places around Blue Hill. I wanted to have a special night with Lacey, but I wasn’t really worried about where we were going. I knew that as long as I was with her, it would be more than amazing. Hopefully, she said yes to the date.