“Ice skating?” Kylie asks. “Why is this place so deserted?

“I pulled a few strings. I figure Dean is probably too young to really nail the skating part, so…” I nod my head at the kid I spoke to over the phone, who comes out from the concession stand with a big black garbage bag over his shoulder. He lays it at our feet. “Just like you asked, sir.”

“Great,” I say, sliding a few hundreds into the kid’s hands. He looks at the money with wide eyes. “Now go man the DJ booth.”

He nods rapidly, running so fast toward the booth that he nearly falls over several times.

Kylie frowns at me in confusion. Dean is already squatting in front of the bag, grabbing it with both hands, and shaking it up and down while he giggles.

I kneel beside him. “Look at this,” I say, opening the bag and pulling out the costumes. One is a huge elephant costume big enough for Kylie. The other is the lion in my size. The smallest is a panda bear small enough for Dean. His eyebrows come down as he takes in the costumes. With a hilariously high pitched voice, he does a convincing imitation of a lion’s roar.

“That’s good,” I say, raising my eyebrows at Kylie.

She smirks. “He can do an elephant too.”

Right on cue, Dean blows out a raspberry that sounds a little like an elephant.

“This is adorable,” she says. “I can’t believe you thought of this.”

“They are pretty heavily padded, and I had them put a helmet inside the panda head for Dean, so he should be able to just fall and roll around as much as he wants without getting hurt. Think he’ll like that?”

Kylie nods. “Oh yeah. We may not ever be able to get him to leave.”

A few minutes later, the three of us are all skating on the empty ice rink to the sound of Staying Alive, by the Bee Gee’s. The skating rink had training skates for Dean, which have two little wheels set out wide from the blade to help him keep his balance. But Dean is having more fun crashing on purpose than actually trying to stay upright.

Kylie lets out a terrified scream when Dean sets his sights on her. He sets his course for a slow but inevitable collision, and Kylie can only watch as the little panda comes inching toward her. He actually lowers his head at the last minute and does his little version of a bear’s roar. Kylie throws herself back, bouncing harmlessly off the ice in her thick elephant costume. It’s so thick around the middle that she can’t get up without my help. I help Dean up first, which turns out to be a mistake because he mercilessly headbutts me next. I have no choice but to hit the ice right beside Kylie, roaring in mock pain.

“Oh no!” says Dean. “Boo boo!” he is tipped over too, so he can only wiggle and kick his legs uselessly to try to get closer to me to help my imagined injury.

It’s nearly five minutes before I manage to get all of us on our feet again. Dean gets distracted when he realizes he can skate into the wall and bounce off, which gives me a minute alone with Kylie.

We’re both breathless and smiling when we take off our masks.

“I would’ve never thought of something like this,” Kylie says.

“That’s what I’m here for.”

The look on her face grows more serious. “I’m sorry it took so long. I should have tried to look for you. I’m sorry that you had to miss so much.”

I shake my head. “Don’t be. I’m just worried about making the most of right now. We can’t change what happened, but we can focus on making every day the best it can be for him. For us.”

She tries to hug me, but the bellies of our costumes make us bounce apart. I barely keep my balance, but Kylie falls on her butt. I’m about to offer her my hand when a commotion draws my attention. I quickly help her up and we both watch the swarm of costumed moms and toddlers come storming in through the front doors.

“What the…” starts Kylie

“Sorry, I forgot to tell you. I thought it would be more fun for Dean if there were some other kids for him to ram into. I reached out to a local mom’s group and told them everything would be paid for. I guess there was some interest.”

“Yeah, no kidding.”

Before long, there are at least twenty other toddlers in various costumes, all bumping and bouncing around the rink. The entire place is filled with old disco music and the high-pitched laughter of kids. Most of the moms are costumed as well, skating around and helping to police the kids. I nod to Angie, who I secretly got to agree to come keep an eye on Dean so Kylie could have a chance to relax and enjoy herself.

We eventually move outside the skating area to catch our breath and grab some nachos from the concession stand.

“You’re just full of surprises, aren’t you?” she asks while we share the nachos and watch the kids have a blast. “On one hand you’re Mr. Dominant McPunisher, and on the other you’re pretty much the perfect dad.”

“Dad,” I say slowly, testing the way it feels to say it out loud. “I guess I am a dad, aren’t I?”

“You are,” she says seriously. “And you’re already making a really good case for dad of the year.”

“It’s hard to take you seriously when you’re wearing an elephant costume,” I say with a grin.

She looks down and clutches the paunch of her costume, shaking it around playfully. “You aren’t turned on?”

I slide my hand behind her, gripping what I can of her ass through the thick costume. “You could wear a garbage bag and still turn me on, Kitten.”

I love watching the way I can affect her. The simple touch and a few carefully chosen words and I can already see the hairs rising on the back of her neck. I know her pussy is heating for me, and I know I could have her wet enough to fuck in just seconds if I wanted to. But now clearly isn’t the time.

“Damian Price?” asks a woman I didn’t notice approaching us. She’s one of the few people in the entire building not wearing a costume. She wears her blonde hair in a tight bun and her clothes are even tighter. I recognize her immediately as one of the reporters who was always hounding me a few years back when it got out that I was dating Faleena.

“We’re trying to enjoy ourselves,” I say.

“Want to introduce me to your friend?” she asks, holding her phone up in a poor attempt at discretion.

“No,” I say. “I want you to give us some privacy.”

“Who is this?” asks Kylie.

“Privacy?” asks the reporter. “I can see why a beautiful couple like yourselves would want privacy. By the way, I notice your son bears a striking similarity to Mr. Price. Do you care to comment?” she asks Kylie.

I stand up, push her phone away, and place my body between her and Kylie. “You need to leave.”

She makes an expression that doesn’t look all-too-concerned and turns to leave. “We’ll be in touch.”

“No,” I growl. “We won’t.”

Once she leaves, Kylie looks at me with worry creasing her forehead. “What was that about?”

“She’s from one of those trashy gossip magazines. Don’t worry about her.”

“Gossip magazine? You mean like the kind that are in the checkout aisles at the grocery store?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Don’t worry about her? What if our faces end up plastered all over those things? What if Dean ends up on one?”

I grit my teeth. “I’ll do everything in my power to stop that from happening.”

Kylie looks toward Dean, who is in the middle of a pile of costumed toddlers who are all rolling around on the ice. “I hope so.”