My Mom & My Dad

Chapter 1: An Afternoon at the Park

By then, the little girl had stopped crying, and her mother was wiping the tears on her face with the long sleeves of her pink shirt. She planted a kiss on her daughter's forehead. After that, she finally looked up and saw my dad standing behind her daughter. My dad offered his hand to lift her up to her feet, and she took it.

"Thank you, but that's not necessary. Emily's going to be fine. She just needs to calm down. I don't think there's a bump on her head anyway."

I thought the woman was going to lash out at my dad for what happened, just like other mothers I've seen when their little girls or boys get hurt. Nope. This woman said all that with a breath-taking smile. She wasn't angry at all. She was calmer than I had expected.

I looked at my dad. He stood frozen where he was standing. His eyes were glued to her eyes, beaming. I hadn't seen that look on his face before. He couldn't say a word. And he was still holding her hand.

Emily:

I heard my mom speak again. "Uhm, thank you for saying you're sorry. You can let go of my hand now." I tapped on the man's big hand that held my mom's smaller hand. It was warm. The man suddenly noticed me tapping on his hand, so he let go.

"Uh... I'm sorry. I... I forgot my... my manners," the man began to speak, two words at a time. "My name is Oliver Queen. And your's is?"

"I'm Emily," I answered. I thought he was asking me.

My mom chuckled and grinned. "This is my Emily, my daughter, and I'm Felicity. Felicity Smoak. Nice to meet you. Even under such 'accidental' circumstances. I never thought I'd meet you in person, though. I've always only read about you or saw you on the news."

Stephen:

My dad had the warmest smile on his face. Something was going on. I could see his eyes searching for her hand as she introduced herself, so I followed his line of sight. No ring. Dad's smile widened.

I heard him apologize one more time, asking if she was sure she didn't want her daughter checked by doctors. The kind-hearted woman assured him that the little girl would be okay. I walked over to where they were and picked up the ball that caused the fuss. I remember thinking, "There goes our game. Too bad, I was winning."

My dad and I walked mother and daughter to the park bench where their stuff was. I thought she was really nice, polite, cheerful, and quite... chatty.

"I don't see you here often, Mr. Queen. Emily and I are here almost every afternoon to relax. She loves the playground. I like watching her play in the sandbox. I get to do some reading on my own. See this spot here? This is my park bench. I'm planning to have my name etched right here," she said, pointing to one of the wooden slats on the bench.

"We don't come here every day. Stephen likes to play ball, and there isn't a court near where we live, so once in a while I bring him here after work and spend time with him," Dad replied.

"That's nice. Not too many CEO dads do that for their kids. I wonder where the press people are? Don't they always follow you around? They're missing this big scoop." Then she gasped in embarrassment. "Not that you're just pretending to enjoy spending time with your son. That's not what I meant. I mean... They keep covering stories about you and your family and your company, and they only show that side of you that's serious and boring and--" She stopped. "I'm babbling, aren't I?"

My dad laughed so hard my eyes almost bulged out in surprise. He hadn't laughed like that in a loooong time.

"You're funny," he told her.