I sat in my car nibbling on oyster crackers from my stash from the diner. I’d been a complete wreck the whole night and anything I ate this morning made me nauseous.

Oliver and Seth stood together under the stately oak tree at the edge of the property. Main Street was alive with pedestrian traffic thanks to the shops, and the forty or so parents trying to wrangle children.

One of Laurie’s boyfriends—the girl had a few—had escaped for the lake. Weston’s dad, Dare Kramer, had him tucked under his arm as he hauled him back up to the white folding chairs.

He was a handful, but Dare was patient if a little frazzled most of the time. Another single dad who stepped up when needed. There were far too few of them in this world.

All the little perfect pieces of the town I loved so much.

The perfect place to raise a kid.

I’d been doing it for years, and now Seth was dangling it in front of my face. It was so hard to say no to. Especially because of the little girl twirling around between the twin brothers. So different, and so much the same. Even here, both of them were dressed for work and somehow were on the opposite ends of the spectrum.

Seth with his laid back summer-weight blazer in a perfectly acceptable wheat color over dark jeans and white dress shirt sans tie. And then there was Oliver, who looked like he was about to head into the city for a meeting with people on Wall Street. His navy Seville Rowe suit, crisp and perfect even with the sun beating down on them.

The only thing that matched on the two men were the indulgent smiles for Seth’s daughter. She was full of happiness from the colorful purple and pink dress with butterflies dotting the hem, to her slightly crooked blond braids. Somehow Laurie had turned into a little girl instead of staying the baby I’d helped to raise. Even when I’d drifted away from them for a few months, she was so much mine in more ways than I ever wanted to face.

Why the hell couldn’t I just calm down about all of this? Let things happen as they happened.

Because you love him madly.

I slumped down in my seat and cursed when Laurie spotted me. No turning back now. I took a swig from my water to swallow the paste the crackers had become in my dry mouth.

I swung the door open and caught Laurie against my leg before she could knock me down. “Hiya, munchkin.”

“Yay, you came.”

“Of course I did. I wouldn’t miss it.” I crouched down in front of her and smoothed a flyaway blond curl around her ear. “I love your dress.”

“Daddy got it for me.”

“Did you guys go shopping together?”

“Yes.” She buried her face into my neck and looped her arms around my neck. “Do I have to go up there?”

I laughed and wobbled on my heels thanks to the gravel path. “No. You don’t have to. But don’t you want to go up there and show your dad what a big girl you are?”

She shook her head against my shoulder.

I swung her up into my arms. “Yes you do. You’ll be up there with all your friends. And you want to show off your pretty dress, right?”

“Yeah.” Her voice was small, but less scared.

“See? Oh, and you get a diploma. Just like the big girl you are.”

“Diploma?”

I shifted her onto my hip. “Yep. A paper that says you are a very important little girl. Even though we already know you are, right Dad?”

Seth’s eyebrows shot up behind his aviators. “Of course.” He gave his little girl a huge smile. “What are we doing?” he asked out of the side of his mouth.

“She’s a big girl now. She’s definitely going up on stage to get her diploma.”

“Oh, right. Definitely. I can’t wait to take a million pictures of you, munchkin.” He poked his finger into her side and she wiggled in my arms.

“No, Daddy.”

“Okay, maybe one hundred pictures?”

She giggled. “No. Ten is good.”

Seth laughed. “Ten, huh?”

“Yes. One for you, one for me, one for Grandpa, one for Ollie…” She put her hand against my cheek. “One for Ally. She’s just like a mama, right?”

I nearly dropped her.

Seth moved in close to me and slid his hand down my back. “Would you like that, baby girl?”

“Big girl,” Laurie said quickly.

“Sorry. My big girl.” Seth brought his hand up to my ponytail and stroked it absently. “Our big girl.”

Laurie leaned into me and tangled her fingers in the chain of my arrow necklace at the nape of my neck. “I would.” Then she reached up to her dad. “A lot, a lot.”

I swallowed down a lump threatening to strangle me.

Seth hugged us closer to him. “I’d like it a lot, a lot too.”

I looked up at him, but couldn’t see exactly what was going on behind his mirrored glasses. But his familiar scent of smoky sugar and coffee mixed with the watermelon scent of Laurie and it made my head spin.

Did he have any idea what he was saying?

Was he really saying it?

I opened my mouth, but screeching feedback from the podium cut me off.

Laurie winced and slapped her hands over her hears. “Loud.”

A woman in a bright yellow dress leaned into the microphone. “Parents, we’re just about ready to begin.”

“How about that? It’s time to begin. Ally and Uncle Ollie will be sitting with me right there.” Seth pointed to the left side of the folding chairs. “Let’s bring you up there, okay?” He swung her out of my arms and up high in the air. “My pretty girl is graduating today.”

She laughed and clutched at his arms. “Carry me, Daddy?”

“You got it.” He turned back to me. “I’ll meet you up there?”

I nodded and blinked back the sudden wash of tears threatening again. God, hadn’t I cried enough last night?

I met Oliver at the chairs and noted that only the three of them were reserved. None for me?

Oliver looked up from his phone. He took the program off the chair to his left. “I saved you a seat.”

“Where’s your father?” I sat down and crossed my legs under my long summer dress.

Oliver’s jaw flexed. “Not here.”

“Right.” I swallowed and turned my attention to Seth and Laurie. How many times had the elder Hamilton bailed on these things? And yet there was Seth, bent down talking to Laurie as the teacher lined them up. He never missed a single event for her. Somehow I knew he was giving her a pep talk. A single father completely devoted to his little girl.

Even if his father and mother had been less than ideal in that arena, Seth had excelled in parenting. So much so that she was afraid she’d never live up to his ideals there.

He headed back to them with a sweet backwards wave to his daughter before he took the seat beside me. His knee bounced as he cracked his knuckles. He scrubbed his palm down his thigh with a laugh. “I’m nervous. Crazy, right?”

“First of many graduations.” I smiled up at him.

He flipped his hand, palm up and spread his fingers. “I guess you’ll just have to hold my hand through all of them.”

My throat clogged again, but I couldn’t resist the gesture. I laced my fingers with his and turned to watch our little girl.

For the first time I felt like we could be a unit and it scared the crap out of me.