With my hand tucked happily into Holden’s, I headed out the door and to the car waiting outside. Hunter hopped into the back seat, practically dancing where he sat, and Holden turned around to face him.

“So what do you feel like doing today, buddy?” he asked. “Autumn’s going to come with us, so make sure it’s something cool.”

Hunter opened and closed his mouth, overwhelmed by all the options surrounding what he was going to get me to do today. I grinned at him.

“Where’s the most fun place in the city?” I asked him, and he beamed at once.

“Freddie’s!” he replied excitedly.

I turned to Holden and raised my eyebrows. “And where might that be?”

“A place down by the pier,” he explained, shaking his head with a smile on his face, as though that’s precisely what he’d expected his son to say. “Lots of games and junk food.”

“Sounds great.” I turned to smile at Hunter, whose face lit up as soon as he met my gaze.

“How about we hit the science museum as well?” Holden suggested as he pulled the car out of the driveway. “Then we can at least pretend we’re doing something educational.”

“Yeah!” Hunter squealed excitedly from behind us. It was about the most animated I’d seen him in the whole time I’d known him, and it was distinctly adorable to see him expressing so much excitement about something like this.

“Lead on.” I waved my hand and leaned back in my seat, as Holden drove us across town to the science museum. I rolled my window down and let the cool air blow in, enjoying the way it bathed my face and the calmness it brought me. But I was excited too—maybe not quite as much as Hunter, but I was getting to spend the day with the two of them together. It was an extension of our date in the best way. I couldn’t imagine how this could get any better.

“Come on, I want to show you the bird exhibit!” Hunter exclaimed as he climbed out of the car, and he grabbed my hand and hurried me into the large, modern building that housed the science museum. I glanced over my shoulder at Holden, who waved me ahead.

“I’ll pay for the tickets. You go on ahead,” he told me. I grinned and let Hunter lead me into the building.

“They have all these bird skeletons,” Hunter explained to me enthusiastically. “They’re so cool. I love them.”

“That sounds very interesting,” I agreed, as he paused for a moment to figure out where he wanted to take me. He ducked off down one corridor, and I hurried to keep up with him, and just like that, the day had begun.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the science museum. I had never much been one for the nerdier side of things, but they had everything set up to make sure it was accessible to even complete dunces like me. Hunter clearly loved it there, bouncing between exhibits and pointing out details to me that I might have otherwise missed. Holden caught up with us within a few minutes, knowing exactly where his son would have taken me on my first trip, and I watched as the two of them admired a deconstructed motorcycle. I loved Holden when he was with his son, loved the way they interacted, how utterly Holden gave himself over to whatever it was his son was excited about. He was an amazing father, one of the best I’d ever seen. Though perhaps I was a little on the biased side.

We went around what felt like every exhibit in the place until my legs were aching, and my stomach was growling.

“Freddie’s?” I suggested, and Holden shrugged, a smile on his face.

“If you want to put away fifty pounds of terrible food, sure,” he agreed.

“The food isn’t terrible!” Hunter protested, and Holden held his hands up.

“Well, we’ll have to get Autumn’s vote on that one.” He winked at Hunter and then turned to glance around the foyer. “I’m going to grab a bottle of water for the ride. I’ll be back in a minute.”

“Sure thing.” I waved him off and sank down gratefully into the stone seat behind me. My feet were sore, and I needed to get the weight off of them. I wasn’t used to standing up for such a long time. Damn, I needed to hit the gym.

“Are you having a good time?” I asked Hunter, and he nodded excitedly.

“I still think I like the birds best,” he told me. “But the cars are cool too.”

“Any of them catch your eye?” I remarked. “For when you’re old enough to have one of your own?”

“All of them,” he blurted out at once, and I couldn’t help laughing. It was awesome seeing him so enthusiastic, so passionate, so engaged. But as he stared up at me, I could see something else lurking behind his eyes, a question, a concern. I had worked with kids long enough to know when they were holding something back from me, and the last thing I wanted was for Hunter to feel as though he couldn’t say whatever he needed to say.

“What’s up?” I prompted him, and he twisted his mouth up and shook his head.

“I don’t know if I should ask it.”

“Come on, it’s okay,” I assured him. “What’s bothering you?”

He took a deep breath and then finally came out with it.

“Do you know my mom?”

I fell silent for a moment. That wasn’t the question I had been prepared for, although I supposed I should have expected it. Here I was, a woman in his life, someone dating his dad when he’d never had anyone fulfill that role before. Of course, he was going to have questions.

I shook my head at last, glancing over at Holden and wondering how long he was going to be. I didn’t want to come out with anything he didn’t approve of, but I couldn’t deflect the question, especially not after pressing it out of Hunter.

“No, I don’t,” I replied.

“Neither do I,” he said with a sigh. “I’ve never met her. And my dad…”

He looked over at Holden, and a brief flash of sadness passed over his face. I wanted to give him a big hug, but kids could pick up on when you were feeling emotional, and I didn’t want him to think this was a huge deal.

“He never talks about her either.” He shook his head. “I don’t know why. But I know I’m not supposed to bring her up.”

I fell silent. I didn’t know how to respond to that. Hunter was old enough to have noticed he didn’t have a mother around when a lot of the kids his age did and to start having questions about it. But it wasn’t as simple as that when it came to explaining why. This woman, Hunter’s mother, had hurt Holden badly, and bringing her up would be a painful memory for him, no matter how much his son needed to hear the truth about her.

Before I could say another word to him, thankfully, Holden turned up next to us, swigging from a bottle of water.

“Everything all right?” he asked, seeming to notice the odd atmosphere between us. “What were you two talking about?”

“Nothing,” Hunter replied quickly, shaking his head, and he gave me a quick look to indicate that I should agree with him.

“Nothing important,” I said with a nod. I got to my feet. “Are we ready to go? I’m starving. And I want to see the most fun place in the city!”

With that, the conversation seemed to be behind us—well, behind Hunter, at least, as he got to his feet and skipped to the exit. Holden and I followed behind, and I wondered if I should tell Holden what his son had been asking me. But he had already been through enough, with everything that was happening with me, and I didn’t want to stress him out more. Raising kids was a trial at the best of times, and I wanted today to be fun for all of us.

We arrived at this goofy little diner with a bunch of old-fashioned arcade games, great boxy things that looked as though they would need industrial cranes to move them, and Hunter showed me his favorites and his skills. Holden ordered a selection from the menu, and I sat down at one of the little booths next to him. The seats so small, we were all pressed up against each other.

“See? The food is good here,” Hunter fired in his father’s direction, taking a sip from an enormous chocolate milkshake and reaching for the plate of pancakes.

“Sure is,” I agreed, and Holden cocked his eyebrow at me playfully.

“Taking his side over mine? Duly noted,” he teased, and I grinned as I started to tuck in.

As we ate together, and Holden and Hunter chatted about the high scores on his games and how Hunter planned to beat them, I let myself settle into the moment. I hadn’t realized how much I had needed this. I could never have imagined being this close with a family other than my own, and I certainly had never guessed I would get involved with a single father. I might have worked with kids, but that didn’t mean I wanted them in my personal life as well. But this was… good. Easy. Fun.

And then Hunter’s question from before drifted back into my mind, and I tensed slightly. It wasn’t that I was worried I had said the wrong thing. I had hardly said anything at all, and I couldn’t imagine that I would spark something awful with the vagueness I’d offered him. But he was without a mother. He had always been without a mother.

Now that I was here, that was going to change a little bit. Whether I liked it or not, it was clear that motherhood was the role Hunter wanted me to play for him—maybe even needed to. And Holden being open to me spending time with the two of them together as a family meant I was already slotting into that position. Which was flattering and thus far, I was enjoying my place with Hunter and Holden, but what if I wasn’t enough? What if, when things got hard, I didn’t know what the fuck to do? I had never done anything like this before, and I was so scared that I was going to do or say something that hurt one of them. They were so wrapped up in each other that to hurt one would be to hurt both.

“You okay?” Holden nudged me, and I blinked and remembered where I was. No time for drifting off into neuroses.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I assured him, and I smiled and grabbed a handful of curly fries. I had to keep focused on the here and now, what was right in front of me, and stop my brain from straying to places it had no right going. I was having a good time and so were they. For the time being, that was all that mattered.