Forget Yesterday

“So how was school today, pumpkin?” Jack asked, unlocking the front door.

Jack had just picked his daughter up from his neighbours house after work, Emma bouncing all the way to their house in her excitement to get home.

“It was awesome! We read a brand new story today about a tiger that came to tea and my teacher did a really funny growly voice that made everyone laugh. Then we did some painting and some counting and I didn’t even laugh at the boy who fell asleep in circle time,” Emma said proudly, kicking off her shoes.

Jack smiled at her – at least she was learning her manners. Kind of.

“That sounds great, Em,” Jack laughed, locking the front door behind them.

“It was, it really was,” Emma grinned.

“How about you go put your bag upstairs and I’ll get you a juicebox?” Jack suggested.

Emma readily agreed and ran up the stairs. Jack laughed under his breath and flicked through the pile of mail he’d grabbed on his way in. Bill. Bill. Pizza menu. What was this?

Moving to sit down in the living room, he opened the thick brown package with a frown on his face, not recognising the handwriting on the front. Jack pulled out the letter, leaving the rest of the items in there.

Dear Jack,

I finally forced myself to sort through Charlotte’s things this weekend, and I found a few items you might want, if nothing more than for Emma when she’s older. I have copies of the photographs so don’t worry about them. I hope the two of you are doing alright. Call us?

Charlotte’s mom. Fuck, he hadn’t spoken to her properly in ages, even though she had seen Emma a couple of weekends ago. With a shaky hand, he pulled out the rest of the contents of the envelope.

Charlotte’s old locket, with a picture of Charlotte in one side and Emma in the other.

A photo of Charlotte and Emma in their local park.

A photo of Charlotte holding Emma on her first birthday.

And a photo of Jack and Charlotte in hospital, holding Emma together the day she was born.

Jack promptly burst into tears. How could he not still remember the sound of her laugh? How could he not remember her favourite perfume? How could he barely remember the sound of her voice? Had he really dropped his memories of her so quickly?

“Daddy? What’s wrong?”

Jack snapped out of his thoughts, immediately feeling guilty. Emma should never see him like this. He had to be strong for her.

“I’m just remembering your mommy, that’s all pumpkin,” Jack sniffed, wiping his cheeks dry.

Emma pouted slightly, before coming over to sit on Jack’s laugh.

“I miss her too daddy but mommy wouldn’t want us to be sad,” Emma said seriously.

Jack smiled sadly. “You think so?”

“Definitely. She would want us to be happy when remembering her,” Emma nodded.

“How do you know?” Jack asked softly.

Emma smiled brightly at him.

“Mommy would never want you or me to be sad. She loved us, remember?”

That just made him want to cry all over again. Of course his 6 year old daughter was wiser than him.

“Thank you sweetheart,”

“That’s okay. Daddy, do you want me to call Alex?” Emma asked.

“What?” Jack asked, confused.

Fuck. Alex. He’d been so caught up with his grief over Charlotte that he’d forgotten the one person who had made him whole again. Fuck. He’d have to do some serious making up for this, even if Alex didn’t have a clue what had happened.

“Well, I know Alex makes you happy and I don’t have magic Alex powers so I think he should come over,” Emma reasoned, shrugging.

Jack couldn’t help but laugh at his daughter’s rant, unable to stop his stomach flipping at the thought of her taking his boyfriend into such consideration.

“But you have special Emma powers and that’s what I need right now,” Jack replied.

Emma thought about this for a couple of seconds before smiling innocently. This never meant anything good.

“My powers only work with hot cocoa,” Emma said sweetly.

“Oh really now,” Jack said deadpan.

“Mmhmm,” Emma said innocently.

Damn it. Those puppy dog eyes really were too persuasive.

“Alright squirt, go wash your hands and I’ll start the cocoa,” Jack sighed in defeat.

Emma pumped her fist in the air before jumping off his lap and heading for the bathroom, making Jack laugh again. She really was such a strange child. Jack looked down at the photos one last time, before putting them back into the envelope. Maybe one day he could look at the photos again, would be able to look without instantly crying. But right now he had everything he wanted, and that was enough for him.

"Daddy! I think Alex would like some cocoa too! Call him over! I want to play!" Emma yelled from the bathroom.

Yeah, he had everything he wanted.