I had just gotten Bella up from her nap and finished my work for the day when Lacey pulled up in the driveway. It was amazing how since Bella was born, I got so much more work done. No more lazy days sleeping in until noon, waking up and surfing until dark. I missed those days, sure, but this kept me regular. It provided me with a routine that I had really sunk myself into since everything happened with my wife. It was good for me, and it was really good for Bella, too. I walked over to the door and opened it before Lacey had even gotten everything from her car. I walked out to help her, noticing she was pulling an entire box from her trunk. She had gone above and beyond for that day’s lessons, which made me happy.

“Wow,” I said, taking the box from her. “Looks like a fun day.”

“I just figured if we are going to bring challenge to Bella, we should make it fun,” she said. “I don’t want her to get tired of learning. That happens later in life. This is when you can really instill a love of curiosity and education into a child, something I never had growing up. It was very textbook and memorization.”

“Yeah, she is too wild for that.” I laughed, walking back into the house. “I have a few errands to run this morning if you don’t mind, and I’ll be back with lunch in a couple of hours.”

“No, that’s fine,” she said, smiling. “Feel free to do whatever you need while I’m here, just like if she were in school.”

“Great,” I replied, setting the box down on the table and turning to her. “I put my number on the fridge, and if you need anything, just text me and I’ll pick it up from town. Oh, and I set up the extra room as a teaching room for you if you want to work out of there. I thought maybe it would be less distracting than the play room, but feel free to work anywhere.”

“Sounds great, have fun,” she said, turning and walking toward the play room.

I grabbed my keys and headed toward the door, chuckling at the sound of Bella’s laughter as she greeted Lacey. It was a sound that I hadn’t heard from Bella since she was about three years old, and it warmed my heart in a way that was almost foreign to me. I jumped into the jeep and headed into town, wanting to pick up some food for the house and a few things for Bella and me to do in our down time. She played a lot in her room, but it was the beginning of summer, and I wanted her to start getting outside more.

In town, I first stopped at the hardware store, needing some tools to build the playhouse I had in mind for the backyard beach that we had. I wandered through the tool section, picking out different things and not paying attention to much of anything. I rounded the corner and stopped for a moment, hearing a familiar voice.

“Fancy seeing you here,” my mother’s voice echoed behind me.

“Hey, Mom.” I laughed, giving her a hug.

“Where is Bella?”

“She’s with her tutor,” I said.

“Oh, that’s right,” she said, smiling. “Is it going well?”

“It’s great,” I said. “I was actually just picking up a few things and heading back with lunch for them.”

We talked for several minutes, but she was in a hurry to get over to the school where she was helping out with a luncheon for the teachers. We hugged tightly like always, and I moved on, finishing up the errands and heading over to the deli. It always made me feel better seeing my mom. She has always been my rock in tough times. I ordered several different sandwiches, not knowing what Lacey liked, and then hopped in the car, oddly excited to get back to the house. When I arrived, they had just finished their morning courses, and Bella was proudly hanging up a picture she had drawn on the fridge. Lacey smiled at me and helped set up for lunch, clearing the crayons and paper off into her box and setting it in the play room.

“How did it go?” I asked.

“I drew a pretty picture of a square and two triangles,” Bella said proudly.

“I see that,” I replied, smiling at Bella.

“A square has four sides, and a triangle has three,” Bella said, holding up her fingers.

“You are so smart,” I replied, leaning over and kissing Bella’s cheek.

“She is,” Lacey said, nodding as we ate.

“So how did you like NYU?” I asked.

“It was a great school. I just wish it wasn’t in New York City.” She laughed. “I mean, I grew up going to the city all the time, but living there was a completely different story.”

“Do your parents come here often?”

“No.” She sighed. “They haven’t been here since my grandparents were alive.”

“You are brave moving to a place where you don’t know anyone.” I smiled.

“It’s like home to me,” she replied with a bubbly tone. “I know some of the people, like at Aggie’s, and I have never been the person with a million friends.”

“Me either.” I smiled. “And I love Aggie’s. I went there as a kid to get their ice cream smoothies before it was cool to drink smoothies.”

“Ha, those are great,” she said, looking up at me kindly.

As she talked, I couldn’t help but become completely engrossed in whatever she was saying. It was like she was the only woman in the world when she was sitting in front of me. I liked her, and that in itself made me completely terrified. I could feel the mix of electricity and butterflies swirling around in my chest, making it almost hard to breathe. I hadn’t liked a woman other than my wife since I was a teenager, and that wasn’t anything like what Lacey seemed to do to me. There was just something about Lacey that was alluring, something that made me want to be around her. I had even noticed that morning that my normal grumpiness was gone at the thought of the fact that Lacey would be coming over to work with Bella that day. I even took extra time in the shower getting ready and picking out my clothes, something that never really happened to me.

After lunch, Lacey and Bella helped clean up, and the two of them went back to the new office to move on with the last couple of hours of lessons for the day. Lacey never seemed like she was in a rush and made sure that everything she did with Bella was thorough and purposeful. I couldn’t have imagined finding anyone that was better with my daughter. Throughout the day, as I sat at the table putting together the blue prints for the play house I was going to build, I listened to Lacey and Bella singing songs, counting, and calling out the names of different animals that she was learning about. It was adorable how enthusiastic Bella was to learn these things, and I knew that a lot of it had to do with the kind of woman that Lacey was.

“Well,” Lacey said, walking out of the office carrying her things. “That was a really great day. She is killing these lesson plans. I hope you don’t mind. I left the box in there so I don’t have to lug it back and forth every day.”

“That’s fine,” I said. “I made that room for you, so put anything you want in there.”

“Thank you for that,” she said, smiling. “Alright, I am going to hit the road. I think Bella might be a little tired. She was starting to drag at the end there.”

“She is just getting off of the two nap a day thing, getting ready for kindergarten, so she hits a speed bump about this time,” I said. “I’ll take her outside for some fresh air.”

“Sounds perfect,” she said, opening the front door. “I’m going to go on a walk down the beach myself later.”

“Have a great day,” I replied, showing her out. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Lacey looked up into my eyes, and my heart fluttered a little in my chest. Her eyes were striking, especially against that dark hair, and I couldn’t help but want to reach out and touch her. I kept my hands by my sides, though, and watched as she walked out to her car and got inside. I closed the door and stood there for several moments, staring into space.

“You okay, Daddy?”

“Yes.” I laughed, being pulled from my own head. “I am fantastic. How are you?”

“I’m tired,” she groaned.

“I know, but remember we have to be a big girl, getting ready for school in the fall,” I said, smiling. “Why don’t we put on some flip flops and go out on the beach for a little while?”

“Okay,” she said with excitement. “Is the water still cold?”

“Yeah,” I sighed. “Just another week or so, and it will warm up. I promise.”

“Okay,” she pouted. “I want to put my toes in the water when it gets warm.”

“It’s a deal,” I replied, watching her run to her room to get her shoes.

We went outside and played in the sun, building sand castles, collecting sea shells, and chasing the seagulls away from the shore. I hadn’t really been out there to the water’s edge for two years, but there was something about the last few days that opened up my heart a little bit. I felt better than I had in a long time, and the sun really helped push that feeling further. When the sun sat low in the sky, I collected Bella and we went inside, she started to play while I prepared our dinner. I was making spaghetti. It was Bella’s favorite and easy to put together.

As we ate, Bella went on and on about all the things that she learned with Miss Lacey that day. I was really impressed that she not only was learning these things, but retaining them as well. She knew almost every animal at the zoo and just after one course lesson on animals.

“I really like Miss Lacey,” Bella said with a sigh. “I wish she could be here all the time.”

“I know you do,” I said, smiling, happy to hear how much she liked Lacey. “You will see her tomorrow, though.”

“Can she stay for dinner tomorrow?” Bella asked excitedly. “It’s Friday, which means its taco night. We can all eat tacos together.”

“I will think about it,” I said, smiling. “In the meantime, you need to get in the bath. You are covered in dinner. Did you actually get any in that belly, or did it all go down your pants?”

“No.” She giggled as I lifted her out of the chair. “Some went in my hairs.”

“I see that.” I laughed, walking her into the bathroom for bath time.

We went through our nightly routine, and she was asleep before I could even finish the book I was reading her. Ever since she started tutoring, she had been falling asleep within minutes of her head hitting the pillow. I carefully walked out of the bedroom and pulled the door shut behind me. The house was quiet, and I could hear the waves splashing up onto the shore. I grabbed a beer from the fridge and walked out onto the deck, sitting down and propping my feet up. It was a beautiful, warm night, the first warm night since summer started, and I felt light and hopeful. Maybe Lacey was the start of something new in our lives, a sign that things were going to get easier.