Pal-entine's for Single Parents

"Put us down for forty," Olivia said, taking my hand and squeezing it in plain view.

"Great!" the Coach said. "Just let me know if you need a restock, we always have a couple of families that have a hard time helping out. Thanks!"

"No problem," I said.

"And, by the way, your girls are fantastic to have around," the Coach said. "Very motivated, and they are such good sisters to each other. You two should be proud."

"Oh, we are," Olivia said, looking at me and grinning.

"Very," I agreed.

The coach thanked us again and moved on to the next small collection of parents that were milling around.

"So, what was that?" I asked.

Olivia chuckled and gave my hand another squeeze before letting go. "I thought it was funny that she thinks we're married, and the girls are sisters. But mostly if we both do our part it looks like we're overachieving as a family, and being 'those parents' might help the girls get a little extra attention."

"Working the system," I snorted and chuckled. "Alright, 'wife.' Now we have forty boxes of chocolate almonds to sell and we both work from home and I don't think we can pawn off all of them on our families. Which of us is bringing the girls around to sell them door-to-door?"

"Are you kidding?" Olivia asked. "I'm not schlepping my butt around in this cold. I can probably sellat least my twenty to some of my old friends in Cali and a few other regular clients."

"You're going to start a mail-order chocolate almond charity?" I laughed.

"Hey, if it works then it works," she said. "I'll ship them in one package to a central friend and she'll hand them out for me."

"Now I need to come up with an equally smart plan," I sighed. "As the 'husband' Ishould be bringing home the bacon, after all."

"You misogynist," Olivia said, but scrunched up her nose and grinned at me as she said it.

"Maybe I'll start an OnlyFans and sell feet pics and chocolate almonds," I mused.

That, for some reason, cracked her up.

- - - - -

"Hey, I'm sorry and it's not an emergency, but you should come back," Olivia said.

I walked further from the bowling area, getting to a quieter spot. My old high school buddies who were still in town had organised a get-together; not a bowling league, which was a bit more of a commitment than I could agree to, but they wanted to get together and do something every few weeks. Livvy had taken June for the evening happily.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

Olivia sighed on her end of the call. "I brought the girls their dessert out in the living room because we were going to watch a classic Godzilla movie and May said 'Thanks Mom' and then June said it too. Freudian slip I guess. But then she realised what she said a second later and got really upset. May and I tried to reassure her but she just needs her Dad right now."

I sucked in a breath and let it out slowly. "OK, I'm on my way."

"Sorry, Adrian," Olivia said.

"It's not your fault, nothing to be sorry for," I said. "Back in a few."

I hung up and had to say goodbye to my buddies, leaving a couple of twenties to cover my share of the food and the round I still needed to buy. They razzed me a little, some of them not being parents and at least a couple not sounding like they were particularly involved parents. The drive to Olivia's wasn't very far and I was there in about ten minutes, and Olivia answered the door when I knocked.

"She's upstairs in May's room," Olivia said. "Sorry again."

"It's fine," I said, shrugging off my coat so she could take it. I pulled her into a one-armed hug and rubbed her arm. "I'm sure you did what you could. Thanks for calling."

Olivia followed me upstairs, but we stopped when we heard the girls talking in May's bedroom.

"But she'snot my Mom, she'syour Mom," June was saying, her voice torn and emotional.

"It's OK. Maybe my Mom can be your Mom sometimes too. I can share her with you," May said. "I know I would be really sad if I didn't have my Mom. And you're my bestest friend."

June sniffed. "I don't know," she said.

"I know my Mom likes you a whole lot," May offered. "And she says we'relike sisters, anyways. Maybe we should justbe sisters."

"If we're sisters and share your Mom, that means we need to share my Daddy too," June said. "Do you want to share him? I know you never met your Daddy, but I promise mine is really good."

"OK," May said, suddenly just as emotional as my daughter. "I'd like that. I like your Daddy a lot."

"OK," June sobbed.

I looked back at Olivia, tears welling in my eyes and feeling a deep ache in my heart for the two little girls. Olivia was covering her mouth with one hand, tears in her eyes as well. I pulled her into a crushing hug and she hugged me back just as hard. We held each other for a long moment, and then I pulled back and wiped my eyes, blinking rapidly to clear them.

Knocking softly, I opened May's door a little wider and poked my head in. "Hey, girlies," I said gently. "I heard that someone was having a hard time?"

"Daddy!" June said, pulling back from the hug she'd been holding May in as they sat on the edge of the bed. She hopped down and ran into my arms, and I picked her up as I hugged her and carried her back over to the bed and sat down next to May, wrapping my arm around her as well.

"It seems like you two are working everything out," I said. "Do you know that I'm so,so proud of how both of you help each other, and love each other?"

May hugged me back, and June wriggled out from my arms to sit on my lap. "Daddy, is it OK if you be May's Daddy too sometimes?"

I glanced up at the doorway where Olivia was hovering, watching me and the girls. She nodded slightly.

"Of course I can, Juney," I said and shifted so that I pulled May up to sit on my other leg, hugging them both. "I promise I'll be there whenever you need me, May."

"Thank you," May said, leaning against me more. "I promise I'll always be good."

"Oh, babe," I sighed. "I know you mean it, but me loving either of you will never stop even if you aren't good, OK? I'll be there for you no matter what, even if you act completely rotten for a little bit, because that's what being a Daddy, or a Sometimes-Daddy, is all about."

June looked up at me, her lower lip pouting and trembling a little. "Daddy, is it OK if maybe May's Mom is my sometimes-Mommy? Just sometimes? I know my Mommy isn't around anymore and I think maybe I would like that..."

"Oh, Juney," I sighed, trying not to sob. "Of course it would be OK."

"I would love to be that for you, June," Olivia said, coming fully into the room and dropping to her knees next to us, reaching out and taking June from my lap into a big hug. "Just like your Daddy, I promise I'll always be there for you for anything you need, OK? And I promise not to be jealous if sometimes you want to talk with your Auntie Rebecca, or your cousins, but I'll always be here for you."

We both held the kids, trying not to cry as we looked at each other, tears in our eyes.

Family was what we made it, and even if both our houses were broken we were finding ways to fix them.

- - - - -

February

"I need the girls on the 14th," my Mom said.

I was driving over to the school to pick up June and May at the end of the day. Olivia had a big project she said she was working on so I'd offered to grab the girls and then Olivia would join us for dinner later.

"Both of them?" I asked over the handsfree mic.

"Yes, both of them," my mother said. "We're going to have a Gal-entine's Day here. Nat is single and isn't expecting to be dating anyone before then, and Parker just broke up with her boyfriend and wants some girl-time."

"I didn't even know Parker was dating anyone," I sighed. Teenagers.

"Well, you know how it is with high school kids," my mother said. "Anyways, Carl is taking Rebecca out of town for the weekend and their girls are going to be staying here anyways, so your father is taking me out for dinner a couple of nights beforehand and he'll be our butler for Gal-entine's."

"That sounds really nice, Mom," I said. "Should I extend the invitation to Olivia as well? I know she had a lot of fun meeting you at the New Year's party."

"I liked meeting her too, but no," she said. "If I'm giving you and her a night off, then you better damn well put it to use. Take her out for dinner, Adrian. Have some adult time."

"Mom," I groaned.

"I didn't mean it like that," my mother scoffed. "Though I don'tnot mean it like that, I guess." I groaned again. "Just take the win, sweetie. Spend Valentines with another adult who you like. And if something happens, well, I happen to know her mother through the walking club I'm in during the summer. I have it on good authority that you are as well liked over there as she is over here."

I was silent, letting my brain chug away as it processed the fact thatboth our families were manoeuvring us now.

"Sweetie?"

"Yeah, I'm here," I sighed. "It's a little late to be making a reservation, Valentine's is at the end of the week."

"Oh, look at that," my mother said. "Your father made a reservation a couple of weeks ago for us and now it's up for grabs."

"Jesus, Mom," I sighed again.

"I'll text you the details, sweetie! Love you."

"Yeah," I said. "Love you too."

She hung up, and I had another minute of driving before I reached the school. I kept the Valentine's plans to myself, knowing I needed to run them by Olivia first before I told the girls. We headed back home and the girls got to work on their small amount of homework while I went back to answering emails, but I found myself getting distracted. Valentine's with Olivia would be... good. We got along great, so sharing a meal with her without the kids would be nice. And we could dress up and have fun with it.

I was sure she'd look stunning in a dress.

Unable to focus, I checked in on the girls, and then started dinner. Olivia came over as planned, and we ate dinner together, and when the girls were done they helped with dishes before scurrying off to get in a little more play time before it was time for Olivia and May to head home. That left me and Olivia in the kitchen nursing our beers.

"So, I got a call from my Mom today," I said. "She asked to take the girls on Saturday for a 'Gal-entine's' evening. It'll be her, Rebecca's girls and ours. She also heavily suggested that, since she's giving us the night off, we should use the reservation my Dad made. Together."

"Gee, don't sound so excited, Adrian," Olivia smirked at me.

"Sorry, I don't- I just don't want to make things awkward," I said. "This is all really, really good."

"I know," Olivia said. "And I... I agree that I don't want anything to get awkward. But we got overtwo kisses, I think we could get over dinner out."

"Right, it's just dinner out," I said.

"Definitely not a date," Olivia nodded. "It'll be... Pal-entine's Day for us. Just me and my best friend enjoying a nice dinner and music."

"Pal-entine's," I agreed. "Perfect. I'll let my Mom know."

"Great," Olivia said with a smile. It wasn't quite as bright as usual, and I could tell she was as nervously unsure about this as I was.

After a long moment, and both of us taking a couple of sips from our beers, I let out a sigh. 'You're my best friend too, by the way," I said.

"Thanks," she said, her next smile warmer than the last. "Now let's see what the girls are up to."

- - - - -

Olivia answered the door for the second time that day, and the change from earlier to this time was staggering. She was always a strikingly good-looking woman, but she'd gone all out.

"Wowza," I said, my eyebrows climbing up towards my hairline and my jaw dropping as my breath made a puff in the cold February air.

She snorted and started giggling. "Wowza?" she asked through her laughter. "Really?"

"Damn straight, really," I said. "You look amazing, Livvy. You're always- well, you always look good but the effort isvery appreciated."

She smiled broadly. "Thank you, Adrian." She took a breath. "Let me just get my shoes and coat on and I'm ready to go."

Olivia was wearing a midnight blue dress that hung down to her heels and had a plunging neckline that showed off a significant amount of cleavage - much more than I'd ever seen on her before, and revealing she had slightly larger breasts than I would have expected based on her usual build - she must have worn pretty sturdy bras on the regular that did a bit of hiding. The dress shimmered as she moved, some sort of silver thread in the fabric catching the light and turning her into a midnight sky, and as she lifted her leg to slip on a silver heel the move revealed a slit in the side that went midway up her thigh.

It was funny, for how close we were, I couldn't think of a time that I'd actually seen her bare legs. We'd met later in September, already past shorts season, and she'd always worn tights or jeans or sweatpants. Even at the New Year's party her skirt had been flowy and ankle length as well, not needing a slit to be movable. Seeing her bare thigh, knee and calf all of a sudden felt almost scandalous and made me swallow.

She was a well-put-together woman.

I stepped just inside the doorway to take her coat and help her into it, and she flashed me a smile in thanks, and then she followed me out and locked the door. I offered her my arm to get her to the car, which she took with another smile, and I brought her around to the passenger side and opened it for her.

"You're being quite the gentleman tonight," she said with a smirk as she climbed in.

"Best friend or not, I can't let a woman dressed like you are take a tumble on some ice," I chuckled.

She barked a laugh and then gestured me away. "Shut the door, it's fucking cold."

I chuckled and did so, heading around to get into the driver's side. "No kids means the sailor swearing is on the table, huh?" I asked as I got myself buckled and then turned back to check behind me out the driveway, putting my hand on the back of her seat to do so.

"Fucking right," Olivia said, grinning at me again.

The restaurant was across town and was a new place that had only been open for about a month. It was the hot new spot in our moderate-sized town, which meant it was packed for a night like Valentine's Day, and I ended up needing to park a couple of streets over so we walked quickly arm-in-arm. We both had on gloves and scarves, but legwarmers would have ruined Livvy's look and neither of us could wear our usual chooks due to our hair being styled, so by the time we were scurrying in the door we were both stinging with the bitter cold.

I squeezed by the people waiting and let the hostess, who looked a little beleaguered, know that we were there and then we backed off. People seemed to be getting seated as quickly as they could walk back and forth to the tables, but we were still going to need to wait a few minutes even though we were on time.

"Cover me for a second," Olivia said, directing me to stand between her and most of the waiting area. She'd already taken off her gloves and when I moved to the spot she quickly bent over at the waist and slid her hands into the slit of her dress, rubbing her leg quickly to warm it up a bit. When she stood up she chuckled and shook her head. "We should have Ubered, door-to-door service would have been worth it."

"I agree," I laughed. We chatted lightly, talking about how we thought the girls would like the activities that were planned over at my parent's place. Apparently, there would be makeovers involved as June's older cousins, and her Grandma, would teach them some tips and tricks about makeup and they'd all do their nails as part of the fun.

Finally, my father's name got called since the reservation was still under that, and we made our way to the front and followed the hostess into the restaurant proper. It wasn't a massive place, but big enough that we moved from a front room to a back one. Most of the tables were already full and the rest would be soon, and the din of conversation between the many couples, or double-dates, going on wasn't quite loud but definitely lively. We ended up sitting near the back of the second room, not quite in the corner but thankfully not completely centred in the room. The table was for two, set with candles already flickering.

I immediately gestured that I would help Olivia with her coat, and she smiled and let me help her. As it came off and she removed her scarf I blew out a heavy breath. "Jesus, Livvy," I said. "Stunned me again there for a second."

"Oh, shut up," she grinned at me. I pulled out her chair for her and she sat, and I went to the nearby coat rack and hung up hers neatly then my own. If there was one thing that places in the northern MidWest understood, it was the need for heavy coats for almost half the year.

I took my seat and made eye contact with Olivia, both of us smiling as the candles put a glimmer in her eyes. Then our waiter was next to us, and we were swept up by the procedure of ordering - we looked at the wine list but ended up deciding to order cocktails instead, and then we were talking about the menu and what sounded good, and whatsmelled good as food for other tables came out.

At one point I realised I'd let my eyes slip from the menu to Olivia again, and I was being torn between looking at her face and her cleavage. Rather than trying to correct myself, I chuckled.

"What?' she asked, looking up from the menu.

"Sorry, I was just thinking that we were supposed to have a night out without the girls, and here you've gone and brought out another pair with you."

Olivia covered her lips demurely as she tried not to snort as she glared at me playfully. Then she shimmied her shoulders a little as she fixed the hem of her neckline. "I figured if I was going to let anyone in on appreciating the view, you deserved it," she said.

"Well, I'm not going to lie, they look pretty spectacular but so does the rest of you. You arewearing that dress."

"Flatterer," she said and rolled her eyes teasingly. "You want to talk about wearing clothes? You look fine as hell in that suit, mister. You should be wearing them more often."

"Right," I said. "I'll see about doing some costume changes in between playing with the girls and answering emails and calls while working from home."

"That's a little forward, isn't it?" Olivia said, raising her hands to her chest like she was in shock.

It was my turn to snort and cover my mouth as I shook my head at her. "You know what I mean," I said.

"I do," she grinned.

We gave our orders to the waiter shortly after and our menus were whisked away, leaving us without any distractions other than our cocktails. Our conversation was as easy as usual, and I had just as much fun teasing her as I did getting teased.

"Oh, God," Olivia suddenly muttered, her mood shifting slightly.

"What is it?" I asked, turning to follow her gaze.

"No, don't look," she said, grabbing my hand on the edge of the table. She was watching someone move behind me over my shoulders.

"Clue me in, Livvy," I said.

"It's Francine and her husband," Olivia said. "They got seated across the room. She's dressed all in reds and pinks and looks like Valentine's Day threw up all over her, and she's already being snippy with the waiters."

I grunted and sighed, shaking my head. "Classy."

"Let's just hope she doesn't notice us," Olivia said.

"I think everyone in the room noticed you in that dress when you took your coat off," I said. "I'm pretty sure I saw the old guy over there drop his jaw so far his dentures fell out."

Olivia chuckled, shaking her head as she smiled. "You make me laugh, Adrian."

"Really?" I asked. "I hadn't noticed." I chuckled once myself. "I like making you laugh. You've got a great smile and your little snort is cute."