Alina stood, brushing dirt from her knees. “Hey, Mark?”
He laughed softly, setting the glasses down. “Guilty.”
“Yeah,” he nodded, clearing his throat. “The date tonight?” DadCrush 20 03 29 Alina Lopez My Stepdaughter B...
“Thanks for not being weird about… this.” She gestured vaguely at the house, the garden, the invisible line they’d just stepped over.
They worked side by side for an hour. He taught her how to tell a weed from a sprouting carrot. She told him about her art history exam and how her professor didn’t appreciate modernism. The conversation drifted easily—about her mom’s terrible cooking, his failed attempt at baking bread during lockdown, the stray cat they both pretended not to feed. Alina stood, brushing dirt from her knees
Mark smiled—that slow, rare smile that made the corners of his eyes crinkle. “His loss.”
“You don’t have to do that,” Mark said, stepping onto the patio with two glasses of lemonade. He was in his late forties, with a quiet intensity and hands that knew how to fix things. “The date tonight
“I should probably get cleaned up,” she said, pulling her hand back.