Mr. Mom

34

"You know, as shitty as the circumstances were, I'm real glad you came to stay with us." FP tells Alice, placing his hand over hers as they sit together on the couch.

After finishing up dinner Ellie had skipped off to her bedroom to play with her toys, leaving Alice and FP to keep each other company.

"I am too." She smiles at him, lacing her fingers with his.

"Especially because of Ellie, it's nice for her to have another girl in the house, she was really torn up after Gladys left... broke my heart seeing her so sad."

Alice sighs and gives his hand a squeeze. "I don't know she can do that."

"Leave me?" He questions.

Alice nods. "And Ellie. How do you just leave your husband and your three year old daughter with no explanation?"

"Gladys was never really attached to her, not sure she ever really wanted kids, I think to her it just felt like the next step. I on the other hand fell in love with our baby the second Gladys told me she was pregnant. I could never leave Ellie like Gladys did."

"She's lucky to have you." Alice tells him, honestly.

"I'm lucky to have her."

"I never had that. My folks were always fighting until they finally split up. Neither of them really wanted me to begin with so when they couldn't decide who got stuck with me they settled on joint custody and every week I was passed between... not that either of them really noticed or cared that I was there." She sighs and FP scoots a little closer to her. "I left when I was seventeen, had enough of being invisible. Lived with a friend of mine until I was nineteen, that's when I met the asshole I dated for five years."

"That's how long you've been with him?" She nods slowly, embarrassed. "Was he always that shitty to you?"

She scoffs. "Yeah. Not the first time I've had to cover a black eye."

"Why'd you stay with him that long?"

"Comfort? I don't know. I just spent so much of my life feeling unwanted and every time I was gonna leave he became the sweet guy I fell in love with, so I would stay. But then he would flip again and it was just a never-ending cycle."

"So what made you decide to leave this time?"

"You." She answers without missing a beat. Looking up at him, looking deep into his eyes. "The look in his eyes was just so... terrifying. It was like he had no soul left, like he was just pure evil. And then I remembered looking into your eyes, seeing the warmth and sweetness behind them. You were a complete stranger but you still treated me better in the few short hours that we spent together than my boyfriend had in pretty much our entire relationship. That's what gave me the strength to flee."

"I'm glad you did." He tells her, moving closer to her. He runs his thumb over her knuckles and she turns to him, a hint of a smile pulling on her lips.

They both lean in and just as their lips are about to touch the sound of little footsteps echo through the house.

He turns in the direction of the footsteps and sees a tired looking Ellie walking over to them, rubbing her eyes. "Hey princess, what's up?"

"Can we watch a movie?" Ellie asks, her eyes already heavy from how sleepy she is.

FP chuckles and pulls her up onto his lap. "You sure you'll make it through the movie, you look pretty tired?"

"I will! Please can we watch one, daddy?"

"Sure we can, baby." He kisses the side of her head and she snuggles up closer to him. "What do you want to watch?"