February 14th. The day all men dreaded. You really couldn’t miss it. There were hearts everywhere. Someone even made heart-shaped cupcakes decorated with little heart sprinkles and brought them to work. Hearts hung from the ceiling in the kid’s therapy area and were on every billboard in the city.

Mark and I had been doing the friends with benefits thing for a month and a half when the madness that is Valentine’s Day rolled around. I was pretty sure it wasn’t customary to buy your friends with benefits guy a gift. Oddly enough, I had the urge to get him something, which made me all the more determined to treat it like any other day.

I was contemplating this as I ate my heart-shaped cupcake when I got a text from him.

Mark: Were you planning on coming over Friday?

That had become our pattern. I would stay over at his place on Fridays and we would hang out on Saturday. Then I would go home, and he would get Emma and they would do whatever you do with a 4-year-old girl on Sunday. I was just about to say I was busy this week. I wasn’t. Well, maybe laundry or grocery shopping but nothing that actually meant I was busy when the second text came through.

Mark: Tom has some grand plan to romance Suzie this year so Emma will be at my house Friday night instead of Saturday. I just wanted you to know.

His message stopped, but I could see he was still typing. Man, ditched on Valentine’s Day for a 4-year-old. I chuckled to myself. I couldn’t blame him. Emma was way more fun than fighting crowds at a restaurant or at a movie. I learned a long time ago not to go out on V-Day. Every place was always crowded and the guys at the clubs were always super desperate.

Mark: Emma will probably go to bed around 9:00 and we can play video games. You are welcome to join us for pizza and a movie first if you don’t have anything going on.

Me: Okay. Video games sound good to me. Not sure what time I’ll come, but order enough pizza for me.

I had only seen Emma a couple times since we started sleeping together. She did run back and forth between the two houses some, but mostly I had only seen her when it was a get together with everyone there. I really didn’t mind having her around; she was a pretty cool kid.

The rest of the week was crazy busy. Two of our other therapists were out with the flu. We’d all had the flu shot at work, but this year it didn’t seem to help much. I didn’t do anything all week but work and sleep as we all tried to cover the other therapists’ patients. By Friday I was beat and actually really glad we were staying in.

My plan had been to go around 8:30 or so, see Emma for a few minutes, she could go to bed, and then we could hang out and kill some orcs and trolls. But I decided I would just go straight there when I got off. I figured if I went home, I might not have the energy to get back out again. It was close to 6:00 when I got there, and I met the pizza guy out front. I paid for the pizza and then rang the bell.

When Mark opened the door, I could see Emma leaning over the back of the couch watching. “Someone order a pizza?” I asked.

“Justin!” she exclaimed. “Do you work where they make pizzas?”

“No, I don’t. But I heard there was a princess who needed a cheese pizza. Extra cheese. So, I insisted the royal pizza cook make their very best cheese pizza with extra cheese and let me hand deliver it to her. Have you seen the princess anywhere? I don’t want her pizza to get cold.”

“You are so silly,” she giggled. “That is my cheese pizza with extra cheese. Are you going to stay and share it with me?”

“Maybe or maybe I’ll share some of your daddy’s pizza instead.” I shrugged.

She made a horrible face. “My daddy’s pizza is yucky disgusting. It has onions and olives and peppers. Trust me, it is no good.”

Mark laughed “Well, maybe he’ll try both, and then he can judge who has the best taste in pizza. Let’s grab some plates, eat some pizza, and then we have homemade cookies for dessert!”

We ate the pizza and decided that both pizzas were the best. Then while Mark cleaned up, Emma ran to get her box of crayons and paper.

“This is something I started when she was really little. I would put her in her chair at the table and give her crayons and a coloring book, and she would color while I cleaned up. It kept her busy where I could see her and gave me time to clean up. Especially since every time I cook, it looks like a bomb went off in the kitchen. Now, it’s just what we do,” he explained.

“While Daddy cleans up, you can draw with me.” She climbed up in her chair at the table. She had two drawing pads and a box full of crayons, most of them broken. “Tonight, I’m drawing rainbows and clouds and maybe a clown,” she announced. “What are you going to draw?”

“I’m not very good at drawing. But I think what I draw will be a surprise.”

We worked on our pictures until Mark was finished. It took him a few minutes. I assumed the mess was from the cookies because it couldn’t take too long to clean up from delivery pizza. But by the time he was done, Emma had a rainbow, and I had a castle with a pink top.

I showed her my picture, and she was suitably impressed with my castle drawing ability. Then she showed me her rainbow, and I oohed and ahhed over it, exclaiming that it was perfect. But she said that we weren’t done yet; we still had to sign them. She took her crayon and carefully put an EM at the bottom of her picture. “That is how I sign my pictures,” she explained. “It is special because it is my ‘nitials, and it is my name ‘cause Daddy calls me Em all the time. You can just put your name or your ‘nitials. Daddy puts Daddy on his.”

“I think I’ll go with my initials,” I proclaimed as I wrote JJ on the bottom of the castle.

She studied it carefully for a minute and then asked, “Jay Jay?”

“Yep,” I said. “Justin Johnson. So, two J’s.”

“That is like mine. EM is my ‘nitials and my name. Your ‘nitials are Jay Jay and that is your name too.”

“My name isn’t Jay Jay,” I told her, obviously confused.

“Yeah, it is. I just made it up. Your name is Jay Jay from now on.”

“Oh really?” I asked trying hard to look like I wasn’t so amused and totally charmed.

“Yep, really,” she proclaimed like it was final because she said it was. She gave an affirmative nod and said, “That is your name.”

“Whatever you say, princess.” I laughed.

* * *

I had the kitchen clean in a matter of minutes, but I managed to look busy for a while so I wouldn’t interrupt Justin and Emma. Seeing them together like this was heartwarming, which was a very dangerous thing, but he was so good with her. It was obvious he was having as much fun as she was.

I put down my towel and leaned against the counter and watched them. Until finally, Emma looked up and saw me.

“Are you finished, Daddy? ‘Cause me and Jay Jay are finished with our pictures.” She hopped down and methodically set about putting both pictures on the fridge. She removed a couple old ones, placing them in the basket on the counter with all the other former fridge pictures and then used two magnets from the old ones on the two new pictures.

“Jay Jay, huh?” I asked her as I looked over at Justin’s face and tried not to laugh. He shrugged his shoulders like ‘what are you gonna do’ and just grinned.

“Yep, that is his name,” she said as she stepped back and looked at her handiwork. I could tell she was trying to decide if she had everything just right. “I just gave it to him. It’s his ‘nitials and name just like mine. Can we go watch the movie now?”

“Sure thing, sweet pea, you run on in and pick the movie but pick a happy one. No sad movies tonight.”

“I feel so honored.” Justin laughed. “I made it on the fridge. That’s a pretty big honor. I am an Ar-teest,” he said with a fake French accent.

“Thank you,” I whispered as I leaned over and gave him a kiss.

“What for?”

“For spending the evening here with us instead of doing something fun like a normal single guy. I’m sure this isn’t exactly your idea of the perfect Valentine’s Day.”

“Are you kidding me? This is like the perfect Valentine’s Day. I mean, there was dinner, a movie, and an art exhibit. Plus, I’m hoping before the night is over that I might get lucky.” He winked.

“Oh yeah, you are for sure getting lucky.”