Best Friends

May 13, 2026

Sarah

As the kids finished their mac-n-cheese and hotdog dinner, I made a little bed for Leon on the couch in the living room, and went back to clear the table. Kyle had already gotten started. It must have been a bad day at work, since he only helped with dinner when he was stressed.

Stressed was something I would relate to really well right now.

"What?" He asked.

"What, what?" I double asked.

"You sighed." He said. "Come on, just tell me. You trust me, right?"

I put a lid on the left overs and walked to the kitchen. "Of course I do. I was just noticing that you must have had a really bad day at work, right? What happened today?"

He shrugged. "Just a lot of work. Your turn. What's wrong?"

I shook my head. "Just a personal problem. I'll figure it out on my own." He glared at me, so I rolled my eyes. "I've been... thinking." I looked around the room at the furniture I had basically memorized. I knew where everyone sat to eat and where the kids liked to sit when they did their homework, and everyone's prefered spot for monopoly. "This can't last. I can't just keep coming over here and playing mom. I have to be both parents for Leon and bills are going to pile up. The insurance money just won't cut it, not for an extended period. I have to start thinking about that sort of thing."

To my annoyance, Kyle seemed amused.

"Is that it?" He asked. I nodded, glaring. He didn't seem to understand how much I loved being here, with all the kids, with him. "Sarah..." He stepped around the table, towards me, but then I hear Leon's soft cry.

I hurried to him and immediately started feeding him. That had easily become second nature to me. Kyle had followed me and, rather than sitting across the room on his chair and avoiding looking at how I fed him, he sat down next to me and wrapped a warm arm around my shoulders.

"I'll help with the bills." He said. "I don't want you have to go either. I love having you here with the kids. I don't know how Jess will cope without you." He stared down at Leon. "Maybe you don't have to go."

"Kyle, I can't just live here. It doesn't work like that." I sighed.

"I know it doesn't." He slid off the couch and knelt in front of me. "Will you marry me?"