“Don’t mess up the hair,” she warns, blocking me. “It’s not easy to look this beautiful.”

Truly, Friday is drop-dead gorgeous in a fifties-pinup sort of way. She wears vintage clothes and red lipstick. Sometimes I think she gets tips just by smiling at people. Both men and women love her. But sometimes…sometimes this aching sadness steals across her face. I’m not even sure anyone else notices it.

Pete types into his phone really quickly. He finally looks up. “Reagan says she’ll meet us there.”

Great. I get the whole family going with me to spend time with Sky. Woo-hoo. You would think at least one of them would have an appointment for a tat. Lazy bastards.

We take the subway to the school and get there just as the boys are warming up. They’re running circles around the mat as I go and sit down beside Sky, who is in the bleachers with Mellie and Joey at her feet. They’re both using crayons and coloring in a coloring book. They look up and grin when they see me, though. I lean over the bench and remark about their drawings, and they go at it even harder. That’ll entertain them for about five minutes. I hope she brought more tricks in that big bag of hers.

I sit on the bench near her and then shove myself against her side very gently, until I’m pressed up along her from shoulder to knee. She grins and shakes her head, her cheeks turning red.

“Hi,” I say quietly. I look into her eyes.

“Hi,” she returns. She looks so damn beautiful. She must have come from home because she’s wearing a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. There’s a balled-up sweatshirt on the seat beside her. “How was your day?” she asks.

“Better now that I get to see you,” I admit. She smiles and leans into me. I lean toward her face and whisper, “Kiss me?”

She shoves my shoulder. “Not here,” she whispers. She looks around.

“Please,” I say, putting my palms together like in prayer.

She leans forward really quickly and touches her lips to mine. Last night’s kiss with our tongues touching and her body pressed against mine was pretty f**king amazing, but this quick touch has it beat by a mile. “Thanks,” I say. I can’t hide my grin, so I don’t even try.

She bumps me, rolling her eyes.

“I missed you today,” I tell her.

She looks up. “Thank you for the note on my pillow,” she says quietly.

I tuck a lock of hair behind her ear. Most of it is pulled up into an adorable ponytail, except for one piece that has escaped. “I really wanted to climb into bed with you.”

Her eyes meet mine. “You should have.”

I shake my head. “I didn’t want Seth to think I spent the night.” That shit is important to kids.

She nods slowly.

“You felt pretty damn good, though, lying on top of me on the couch.” I’m getting hard, so I had better cut this shit out.

“You make a nice pillow,” she whispers.

“Just a pillow?” I pretend to pull an invisible knife from my chest.

She pokes me with her index finger. “A nice, hard pillow,” she says.

“Hard is about right,” I say. I look at the mat where the boys are warming up so I can look at something that’s not her. I want her so bad I can barely stand it.

The boys are stretching their backs and their necks, and doing some pretty impressive rolls. Seth teams up with another boy close to his weight class, and they do some drills together. Seth flips the other boy onto his back, and I want to walk out there and show him how he should have handled it. But he’s not my kid, and I’m not his coach.

Reagan and Pete sit down on the other side of Sky, and Reagan starts to talk to her. I’m glad someone is intervening because I want to drag her into a stairwell and kiss her senseless.

Pete makes a motion at me like he’s threading a needle really close to his dick and then gives it a tug like he’s leading it around. I glare at him, and he laughs. Paul sits down behind us, with Friday beside him, and he laughs, too.

“Shut up,” I grumble.

I turn to watch the practice. Seth is really very good at what he does. But I like to watch all the kids in every weight class. Logan and Emily make their way toward us. Logan waves, and they sit down in front of us. Now Sky has Reeds on every side of her. Mellie and Joey are getting a little restless, and Joey makes her way down the bleachers without Sky noticing. She’s not used to this mom stuff yet. She sees it just as Joey gets to the bottom step and gets up to go retrieve her.

“I’ll get her,” I say. I stand up and tromp down the steps. Joey looks sheepishly up at me. She knows she wasn’t supposed to sneak off.

I scoop her up in my arms and carry her back up to Sky. She stretches out, and I blow a raspberry into her shirt-covered belly. She giggles and sticks her belly out like she wants me to do it again, so I do. She laughs, and the sound is so damn happy it takes my breath away.

I sit down and tuck her into my lap, then pull out my phone and turn on some Angry Birds. I show her how to play it really quickly, and she starts launching birds. She moves off my lap to sit beside me, and Mellie comes to lean against her and watch. That should last them for a while.

“Why does this seem so natural to you?” Sky asks quietly.

“What?” I ask. I flinch as one of the boys on the mat makes a terrible move. “Not like that,” I say to him, even though I know he can’t hear me.

“All of it,” she says. “You do it all so well.”

I look at her. “Do what?”

“You entertained Mellie and Joey, and you’re watching the match, and I’d wager you’re going to educate Seth and tell him everything he does wrong when we get home.”

Home? I grin. “Am I going home with you tonight?” I ask right beside her ear.

“You better,” she says.

My heart stutters. “Okay,” I breathe.

After a few minutes, Logan turns to talk to me. He talks and signs at the same time, and so do I. “Her dad,” he says, pointing toward the door. I scoot over to separate us a couple of inches.

“Thanks for the warning,” I say, and I clap my hand on his shoulder and squeeze.

You’re welcome, he signs. He grins and shakes his head. Pete pulls on his imaginary string. I want to punch him.

My brothers are all into the smaller weight matches, and they’re making bets on the heavyweights among themselves. Seth is about 160, if I have to guess. He’s tall and lean, a lot like me, although I weight over 200 pounds now. Paul and Logan are big and bulky, so they wrestled in the heavier classes. I was the same weight Seth his now.

Sky’s dad sits down beside us, and I reach over to shake hands with him. He glares at me. But then Mellie and Joey show him my phone, and he gets interested in entertaining them. Sky leans against my shoulder, watching the matches. She hides her face when one of the boys gets slammed on the mat.

“That’s not going to happen to Seth, is it?” she whispers vehemently.

I shrug. “Maybe.” I grin at her and tweak her nose. “Don’t worry. He’s used to it.”

“He’s not going to get hurt, is he?” she asks.

I take her hand in mine and give it a squeeze. “Quit worrying. He’s going to be fine.”

When it’s Seth’s turn, she pulls her hand out of mine and sits forward. She watches him closely, only looking toward Mellie and Joey every few seconds to make sure they’re okay. Maybe she’s going to settle into this mom thing better than she ever thought possible.

Seth shakes hands with his opponent, and the buzzer sounds. I wince because the other kid is obviously older and more experienced than Seth. His opponent has a tattoo on his neck, which means he has at least a couple of years on Seth. Seth’s good, but exuberance doesn’t trump experience.

Seth gets flipped over, and Sky squeals and hides her face behind my shoulder. She looks up but turns back to me every few seconds when something happens. Seth is up in points, but this kid could honestly pin him any second, unless Seth gets lucky. I think the kid is playing with him, honestly.

“Come on, Seth,” Mr. Morgan calls out. Seth looks up and grins.

They grapple for a second, and damn if Seth doesn’t get lucky. He gets some back points, and the clock is ticking down.

Seth holds him off and wins on points. Sky jumps to her feet and claps when they raise Seth’s arm in the air. He grins and goes to shake hands with the opposing coach. Then he stops at the edge of the mat, lifts one hand toward the sky, and says something quietly to himself. Or to his mom. I’m not sure which. Then he finds a spot on his team’s bench and dries off with a towel. I’m really proud of him. Not like I had anything to do with it, but that kid could have easily won if Seth didn’t have the technical skill he has. He did a really good job.

Sky grins. “I think I like wrestling,” she says.

“Tell that to the fingernail marks in my arm,” I tease.

She drops her voice down to a purr. “I’ll kiss it and make it better later.”

Friday must have heard her because she snorts behind us. Sky laughs and winks at me. She even fits in with my family. And I fit into hers.

We wait until the end of the match to collect Seth. Her dad comes over and kisses her forehead. She startles for a second, and I wonder what that’s all about.

“He did really well,” he says.

Sky nods. “He did.”

“I have to check on your mother,” he says.

Sky’s eyes narrow. “Why? Is something wrong?”

He avoids her gaze. “Nothing outside the norm,” he says.

“Oh,” Sky breathes. She doesn’t look shocked, and I have no idea what they’re talking about. He waves and goes to hug Seth, and then he leaves as quickly as he arrived. Sky stands there holding Joey with one hand and Mellie with the other. The girls are getting tired and whiny.

“Do you guys want to go to dinner?” Paul asks.

Sky shakes her head. “The kids already ate, and they have to get to bed. But thank you for the offer. Next time?”

“Sure thing,” Paul says. He puts an arm around Friday’s shoulders, and they leave in pairs—Paul and Friday, Logan and Emily, and Pete and Reagan.

“Are they dating?” Sky asks, pointing toward Paul.

I shake my head. “He wants to, but he thinks she likes chicks.” I snicker. “Paul is the only one who doesn’t know.”

“That’s kind of mean.”

“I think it’s part of the reason why they’re so tight. He has a hard time being friends with women.” I shrug. “It works for them.”

Seth comes out wearing shorts and a hoodie. He took a shower, though, so he’s not smelly like some of the other boys. I reach out and hook hands with him the way men do. He grins.

“You did a good job,” I say.

“I almost fu—” He shoots a glance at Sky. “I almost messed up that one time.”

I laugh. “Yeah, you did.”

We get in Sky’s car and go back to the apartment, with Seth grumbling about having to sit in the backseat with the girls, but he does it. When we arrive, I pull Seth back on the sidewalk.

“Do you care if I go up with you guys and spend some time with Sky?” I ask.

His eyes narrow at me. “Would it matter if I did mind?” he asks.

“Yeah,” I admit. “It’d matter a lot.”

“In that case, I don’t mind,” he says. He punches my arm and runs into the building ahead of me, chasing Mellie and Joey into the elevator. He holds it open for us, and we all go up together.

“To the bathtub,” Sky cries as soon as we get in the door. The girls scurry toward the bathroom.

“You’re getting pretty good at this barking-orders thing,” I tell her, drawing her toward me. I hook my index fingers in her belt loops and pull her closer.

“Kiss me,” she barks, laughing.

Seth makes a gagging sound. I shoot him the bird behind her back.

“I’m going to go help the girls,” he says, rolling his eyes.

I finally get to kiss her. She wraps her arms around my neck and pulls my head down toward hers. I’m almost breathless when a na**d child streaks through the kitchen. I laugh, and we spring apart.

“I’ll get it,” I say, and I take the towel Seth tosses me and go after Joey. I catch her and carry her back to the bathroom, all wrapped up in a fluffy white towel. I give her to Seth and look around. I realize I’m suddenly where I’ve always wanted to be. Now I just need to figure out how to make it permanent.

Skylar

The last time my dad invited me to lunch, he gave me three children and a new life. I’m a little worried about what he wants today. It has been a week since the wrestling match, and Dad has called four times just to talk. I am having a little bit of a difficult time adjusting to the presence of a parent in my life, particularly now that I’m an adult.

I’m working from home today, so Dad is coming to the apartment. I made a very simple lunch for us. A knock sounds on the door, and I go to let him in.

“Hi, Dad,” I say when I open the door. He leans in to kiss my cheek and shrugs out of his suit coat.

I haven’t made any changes in the apartment, but Dad looks around and nods his head. “The place looks nice,” he says.

“Thanks?” I say unevenly.

“I talked to Seth yesterday,” he says as he sits down and opens a cloth napkin in his lap.

“Oh yeah? What about?”

He shrugs. “Nothing important. Sometimes I like to call for no reason at all.”

“Do you call Lydia and Tim’s kids, too?” They’re my brother and sister, but they’re a good bit older than me, and we have never been close. I can’t even remember their kids’ names. That makes me feel bad for a second, but I get over it quickly. They don’t know my kids’ names, either.