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There was a knock on the door and Sam ran to answer it. “Mommy, the bloo hair man!” Mark laughed at his cute little striped shirt and some plain black swim trunks.
“Hey, Sam. Are you ready to go?”
“Yes! I want to play in the water! Mommy promised to help me float!” Sam grinned as he jumped up and down. “Mommy hurry up.”
“I'm coming,” ___ came in the entrance with a bag and a carseat. She set down the carseat. Then fixed her baggy long sleeve shirt and pulled down her shorts a bit.
“You want some help with the carseat?” Mark offered.
“That would be amazing! Thank you so much.” She smiled at him with appreciation while handing him the carseat.
“No problem at all.” Mark smirked and walked back to his car to put the carseat in. “No wonder Jack keeps talking about that smile.” He whispered to himself as he buckled the seat into the back.
___, Sam and her mother, Mary, came down to the car. Mary helped Sam into his seat while ___ put their stuff in the front seat. Then getting into the car herself.
“Oh, Mark.”
“Huh?” Mark was buckling up.
“I made some salad. I'm not sure how many people there would be so I made a lot.”
“You really didn’t need to, but thank you, though. Jack has told me you’re a really good cook.” As he started to drive back to his house.
“Well, I would hope so. I think my cafe wouldn’t be doing too well if I wasn’t.” ___ chuckled a bit.

Sam stuck to ___ while they walked back to the pool. Mark led them all to the back while carrying the salad for ___. Sam clung to ___, then tugged on her shorts a bit. “Mom. Mom!” He pointed to the pool. No one was in the pool, yet.
“Mark, can Sam go play in the pool?”
“Yeah. I think some of my family members would be happy to get in, too.”
Sam pulled on ___’s hand dragging her to the pool. Which made her smile. She sat by the pool dangling her legs in the pool. Then taking off Sam’s shirt and putting sunscreen on him. Mary blowing up his little duck floaty. Mark went to tell his younger family members that they could get into the pool.
Jack came up to Mark. “Thanks for picking them up.”
“It’s a cute little family.” Mark elbowed him a bit. “One you should be a part of.”
“I already told you, I can’t tell her, yet.” Jack grumbled a bit, remembering to let Mark tease him… If the occasion should arise.
“You have to tell her! She likes you and you know it!” Mark lectured him. “You keep staring at her, but I guess I understand that it needs to be timed.”
“Yeah.” Jack smirked as Sam stepped into his little floaty ring. Then jumped into the pool giggling. Sam started to splash ___ telling her get into the pool. She blushed a bit and looked around. Her mom said she’d get in instead.
Jack could see that she calmed down at bit. “I'm going to talk to ___.”
“Alright.” Mark patted his shoulder. Then headed over to others to chat with them.
“Hey. Want to get into the pool?” Jack asked ___ putting his legs into the pool as well.
“I'm sure Sam would love to play with you. You both have so much energy. You probably need to burn it off together.”
“You can’t burn this bossness!” He joked, making her laugh. “I meant you and I getting in the pool.” He could see the blush come up on her face a bit. “Are you not comfortable with the pool?”
“I love to swim, but I just don’t have the body I used to. You know, after two kids and all.”
“You look good to me.” He winked, making her blush even more. “I don’t think anyone here would judge you. If they do, I’ll beat them up.” Jack flexed a bit, getting a giggle out of her.
“Okay… I guess. I don’t know why I'm being so self conscious. I usually don’t care what people think.”
“Hurry up, Grandma.” He snorted. She pushed him slightly making him laugh. She stood up and went over to the edge where Mary had put their stuff. She quickly pulled off her baggy shirt, then pulled down her shorts. She quickly sprayed herself with some sunscreen. She stuffed everything into the bag. ___ sat down next to Jack.
“Hi.” She was blushing a bit from Jack’s stare. Jack was trying very hard to keep eye contact with her.
“You look amazing. You have no reason to be self conscious at all.” She looked down into the water moving her legs back and forth.
“Mommy! Mommy!” Sam swimmed over to her quickly.
“Yeah, sweetie?”
“Where is my dad?”
Jack should sense how tense ___ became by such a small sentence. She knitted her eyebrows together. “Honey… Why would you ask that?”
“The kid over there was telling me about his daddy. I told him about you, but I don’t where Daddy is to tell him.”
Jack looked over to her.
“Come here.” Sam came over closer and she pulled him out of the water and onto her lap. “Your daddy isn’t with us, anymore. He’s far away, but I know he loves you and is happy that we are together.”
“Can we go see him?”
Jack could feel his heart aching as he saw ___ tear up a bit.
“We can see him someday… Probably when you’re a bit older… Okay?” She poked his nose.
“Alright… Do I get a new daddy?”
“Maybe someday.” She smiled at him softly.
“Why maybe? I want one now!”
“Well I have to find someone who loves us both first. That isn’t as easy as it sounds.”
Jack was biting his thumb a bit as Sam tried to process what she said.
“Can I choose my new daddy?”
“As long as he loves us both, you can surely have the final say. You can choose your new daddy if he appears.” ___ smiled at him then kissed his cheek. He giggled.
“Can I choose him now?” He asked all excited.
“Well-”
“I choose green hair!” Sam leaned over and grab Jack’s arm with a big grin. “Will you be my new daddy?”
Jack’s cheek tinted pink while ___’s whole face heated up.
“I think you need to cool your head, little man!” ___ said. Quickly jumping in the pool with Sam. Not giving Jack any time to answer. Sam squealed with delight as his mother played with him and dragged him around the water. Before putting him into his floaty duck ring.

Jack got up and went to help Mark.
“What’s with the pink cheeks? You’d get slapped without me recording it?” Mark teased.
“Sam asked me to be his new dad.”
“Oh shit.” The silence hung for a moment while they turned the patties on the grill. “What did you say?”
“Nothing, ___ jumped into the pool with him. I was going to answer, but I still don’t even know how I would have answered. I’ve only known her 2 months. I haven’t even told her I like her… How can I be a dad to a kid, that isn’t mine?” Jack ranted a bit.
“Are you sure you want in on that life?”
Jack paused. “I don’t know. I really like her, but I feel so weird now. Being so confronted with innocence and hope like that. Its tearing me down.” He sighed heavily.
“Just go with your most recent plan. Wait until you’re all in Ireland again. If you still feel the same, you can take action. If not, just keep being her friend.” Mark peered over at Jack because he wasn’t answering. “She has no clue you like her. From what I can tell, she’s just happy to be your friend. She’s a very nice person.”
Jack smirked. “She is very nice.”

The party went on for awhile. Eventually, Sam needed a nap from swimming so much and fell asleep on ___. She was reading something on her phone when Jack came up to her.
“I'm surprised he can sleep through all this noise.” Jack chuckled.
“He is so worn out… He will usually sleep through anything, anyways.” She laughed while she moved some hairs away from his face.
“At least, he sleeps well.”
“Yeah, he probably got that from his dad.” There was a comfortable silence between them for a minute. “I’m sorry about earlier… When Sam asked you to be his dad… I know that must have been weird.”
“I understand his logic. I'm 6 years old, after all.” ___ laughed at him.
“I think he’s forgotten about it for now. It’ll probably be best, if he doesn’t see you too much… I don’t want him getting any hopes or anything…” Jack could tell she meant it nicely, but those words hit his heart. Hard.
“If you think that’s what is best.”
“I'm not sure. I'm not exactly good with the whole new guys around little kids.”
“How difficult will it be with dating I wonder?”
She sighed. “I don’t even want to think about that. I'm so scared to have a boyfriend for a long time and have Sam get attached to him. Then to have the new boyfriend just leave us. I think it would break Sam more than me.”
“Unless you found the right guy.”
“Where would I find one?” She laughed and looked at Jack. “You offering?” Jack smiled at her joke. “Even if you were, I think you could do better. I'm sure you’d like to build your own family. No one really wants to be just put into a family.”
“Well, if you think about it. A new couple, they are put into a family anyways. You have to deal with the in-laws.”
“I never thought of it like that.” ___ stared into his eyes for a moment. Then blushed and looked away.
“You do that a lot.”
“It’s not my fault that those ocean blues just drown me.”
“Just drown then.” Jack whispered. He couldn’t take back what he said and he knew she heard.
’Maybe I should just tell her now. Maybe it would make her feel better? Fuck it, she heard me, might as well.’
“Look, ___. I need to tell you something?”
“Yes, Jack?” Her cheeks were a bit red, it only made Jack even more uneasy.
“I—.”
“Hey, there is still leftovers. Do you guys want some?” Mark offered and Jack groaned. “Well jeez, I was just asking.”
“You ruined it.” Jack whined.
“Ruined what?” Jack groaned again. “What? Were going to tell her?”
“Forget it.” Jack motioned for Mark to go away. “Shoo!”
“Well then!” Mark storm off with a feminine flare, making Jack and ___ laugh.
“Well were you going to say, Jack?”
Now Jack was nervous. The way her eyes smiled; her baggy shirt making her look smaller. He let his eyes wander all over her for a moment then cleared his throat. “I—.”