I never thought Katherine would grow up so fast.

“Mommy,” she says, tugging at my arm, “Come on, let’s go! I’ll be late! I can’t be late!”

I check my watch and see that we’re at least fifteen minutes early. “We won’t be late, sweetie.”

It’s her first day of Kindergarten, and Elijah and I are walking her to school.

“Dad! We’re going to be late!” she says to him, as if I was just ignoring her all along.

“We’re early, Cat,” he says.

That reassures her. She nods, then tugs on my arm. “We’re early, Mom.”

“Oh, really?” I ask, rolling my eyes at Elijah.

He smirks back at me and takes my hand.

A crossing guard gestures for us to keep going, and we cross the street while she blocks traffic. There’s dozens of other kids walking to school, the older ones are mostly going by themselves, while the other kids Katherine’s age all have parents with them as well.

We smile and wave at some of the other families, most of them are people we recognize from around the neighborhood.

“Big day,” one of them says to us.

“You have no idea,” Elijah says, squeezing my hand even tighter.

When we’re out of earshot of him, I whisper to Elijah. “What did that mean?”

“You know,” he says, “With Katherine in school, we finally will have some alone time again.”

He gives me a look that tells me exactly what he means, and my heart pounds.

Katherine didn’t kill our sex life. Far from it. The occasional babysitter and hotel combo managed to keep the flames of our more complicated tastes fueled, while Katherine finally sleeping through the night allowed for some more back-to-basics sex.

Not that Katherine hasn’t been the biggest joy of our life. Watching her grow and raising her together has strengthened our relationship in ways I never could have imagined. I’ve seen sides of Elijah that I never even thought would exist. Seeing him shirtless, holding Kathrine in his arms as a newborn, and singing softly to her in his deep voice was one of the happiest moments of my life.

Still, having a daughter was meant we’re busy. Elijah and I are both professors at Pitt, and even though our schedules are very flexible, Katherina has tended to use up most of that flexibility. Katherine being at school for big chunks of time might finally allow for some less than basic sex at home.

We hadn’t exactly talked about how Kathering going to school would affect our sex life, as I’d mostly been excited to see my baby so grown up, but it seems as if Elijah has been planning something.

“I hope we can do coloring,” Katherine says, “And drawing.”

“I hope you do lots of reading,” Elijah says.

“We always read at home!” she says. “I think we’ve read all the books! All of them!”

“I’m sure there will be more books you haven’t seen at school, sweetie,” I say.

“I wanna color anyway!” she says.

We get to the school, and a lot of parents are taking pictures of their kids with their little backpacks on the lawn in front of the main entrance.

“I guess that’s us,” Elijah says, pulling out his phone.

“Yeah!” Katherine shouts. “Picture! I’m gonna make a funny face!”

I lean in toward Elijah. “Get at least a few of her between funny faces.”

He nods, “I know.”

Katherine gets in front of the sign for the school and the entrance, and Elijah holds up his phone. He snaps dozens of photos, and I’m elated to see that he gets some great ones of Katherine giggling between shots of her tugging at her cheeks, sticking her tongue out, and making weird hand gestures on top of her head.

He flips to one of the best ones, zooms in on her smile, and gives me a thumbs up. “Great faces, sweetheart.”

“Thank you, Daddy,” she says in a high-pitched, almost too-sweet voice.

We ask someone to hold the camera for us, and we get a picture of us all together. One of Katherine standing between us, another of her hoisted up into Elijah’s arms.

“You’ll be too big to hold soon,” he says.

“You’re strong Daddy, you can always hold me.”

I laugh, and I feel a tear streak down my cheek.

“Don’t be sad, Mommy,” she says. “You aren’t strong enough to hold me, but I still love you.”

We both laugh, and soon some teachers come out and show the new Kindergarteners—including Katherine—the way into their classrooms.

We’re left standing outside with the other parents. All of us seem like we’re in shock. The kids are really in school, and we’re really…alone? Free? Maybe a bit of both?

“Come on,” Elijah says, “This way.”

We walk back toward our house, but soon he takes a seemingly random turn.

“Where are we going, Elijah?” I ask.

“Who’s Elijah?” he says, a dark twinkle in his eye.

He pulls me around the next corner, and as we clear a wall covered with vines, a black limousine is parked alongside the road.

“You’re…” I stammer.

“Braddock Lee,” he says, “Billionaire playboy, and you’re…”

I lick my lips, letting my mind wander onto the first thing that comes to me. “I’m Kelsie Sanders, a reporter who is out to get you. I’m writing a hit piece on you, but I’m undercover as your secretary. We’ve been fucking each other for weeks, but you don’t know what I really am after…”

“Shh,” he says, putting a finger to my lips. “I don’t have any meetings today until three, Kelsie, let’s not waste another moment.”

He opens the door to the limo, and I slide into the backseat, my heart pounding just as hard as the first day that we met.