Forget Yesterday

It was now the start of December and a weekend, meaning one thing – Jack had custody of his daughter for three nights and two days. Charlotte had dropped the whirlwind five year old off at Jack’s house on Friday night with a weary smile and the declaration that she was going to spend the rest of the evening in front of the TV with a box of chocolates and a bottle of wine. Jack just laughed and watched her leave, before attending to his daughter.

Emma was a character all to herself, even at only 5 years old. Endlessly cheerfully and incredibly insightful, there was nothing Jack could hide from her. With her dark wavy hair and bright hazel eyes, she was a healthy mix of both Jack and Charlotte, something which Jack was grateful for. At least she didn’t get his nose. Sometimes he worried that he wouldn’t be able to connect with her because they spend so little time together, but Emma didn’t seem to mind. In fact, she seemed to be even more excited for the weekends they did spend together.

In all honesty, Jack did treasure the time they spent together. It wasn’t always exciting adventures outside – some days they just chilled inside in front of the TV, watching movie after movie (all with some form of Disney Princess in). But his daughter brought out a childish side in him that would be long-lost through his work if it wasn’t for her. She let him live, reminding him that everything would be okay in the end, even if he didn’t know what he was doing sometimes.

And if all else failed, Emma could be entertained for hours with a colouring book. Like now, for instance. It kept her quiet while he was making dinner, which was important. Charlotte would kill him if he sent their daughter back with pasta sauce burns.

“Jackalope! Are you home?”

Jack smiled slightly at the sound of Vinny’s voice. Vinny had a spare key to his house and it wasn’t out of the ordinary for him to just pop round out of the blue, but clearly his best friend had forgotten about his visitor this weekend.

“Uncle Vinny!” Emma shrieked from where she was sitting at the table.

“Emma! Look how much you’ve grown!” Vinny gasped.

Emma looked up at Jack, who nodded. With a smile, Emma leapt out of her chair and ran over to her ‘Uncle Vinny’, hugging his legs tightly.

“I know! I’m the tallest girl in my class!” Emma said proudly.

“Amazing,” Vinny chuckled.

Emma grinned and hugged his legs again before returning to her colouring book. Vinny smiled softly before walking over to stand next to Jack, who was stirring a pot filled with some sort of casserole.

“Sorry Jackalope, I didn’t mean to interrupt your time with Em,” Vinny apologised quietly.

“Nah, it’s okay, you know she loves you,” Jack smiled, shaking his head.

It was true. Vinny had always been involved in Jack’s life as long as Emma had been around him, so the bond of ‘Uncle’ was strong. And it didn’t help that Vinny spoiled Emma rotten because he had no nieces or nephews of his own yet.

“I won’t be long, I only popped over to have a quick chat,” Vinny promised.

Jack just nodded, switching his casserole pot down to simmer so he could pay attention to his best friend.

“So…I need to ask you a favour,” Vinny said.

“Is it anything illegal?” Jack asked immediately.

He had to ask. There had been a few close calls in the years they’d been friends and he wasn’t going to let Vinny forget that.

“Not that I know of,” Vinny grinned.

“Then go for it,” Jack mused.

“Okay. The guy I’m seeing has invited me out to celebrate his friend’s birthday on the 5th and I was wondering if you’d come for support,” Vinny blurted.

That’s it?

“Yeah sure, that’s fine,” Jack laughed, “It’s about time I met the guy that you’re mooning over,”

“Thanks man, I knew I could count on you,” Vinny said, sighing in relief. Then he realised what else Jack said. “Hey, I’m not mooning!”

“It took me three attempts to get you to look up from a ‘cute’ text he sent you this morning,” Jack shot back teasingly.

Vinny blushed slightly.

“Touché. But you can’t tell him that I’m mooning over him. He thinks I’m a badass tattoo artist who has a weakness for animals,” Vinny said firmly.

“Badass? He’ll be disappointed,” Jack snickered.

“Shut up, you love me. I’ll pick you up at 8pm on the 5th, yeah?” Vinny smiled.

“Sure thing. Hell, it’ll be worth going just to see you blushing around him,” Jack grinned.

“Daddy! You said a bad word!” Emma scolded.

Jack punched Vinny in the arm as his friend snickered, blushing a little himself. He didn’t mean to let his daughter overhear his occasional bad language, but sometimes he just slipped. The blame was totally Vinny’s, obviously.

“And I’ll put a dollar in the swear jar. Just make sure you never say it, okay sweetheart?” Jack said reassuringly.

“Okay Daddy! I won’t!” Emma said cheerfully.

Jack breathed a sigh of relief as she went back to drawing happily. He would never hear the end of it from Charlotte if he sent their 5 year old back with a dirty vocabulary. Sure, ‘hell’ wasn’t the worst word she could learn, but it still wasn’t the best.

“I gotta go, Jackalope. See you tomorrow and we can discuss outfits for the birthday!” Vinny said with a grin.

Vinny left with a blown kiss to Emma and a wave to Jack, making Jack laugh softly.

“Are you going to a birthday party, Daddy? Will there be a bouncy castle?” Emma asked.

“It’s a birthday, yes, but not a party. Not once with a bouncy castle, anyway. I’m only going to keep Uncle Vinny calm around the man he likes,” Jack explained.

“Any man will like Uncle Vinny. He’s funny and he has colourful arms,” Emma shrugged, as if that was the answer to everything.

“I’m not funny and I don’t have colourful arms – does that mean no-one will like me?” Jack teased.

“Of course not Daddy! You’re pretty and you’re smart so you’ll have even more people liking you!” Emma beamed.

Yeah, right. Because there were queues of men lining up outside to date him. Hah. Leave it up to a five year old child to make him feel crappy about his non-existent love life. But Jack just plastered on a smile to keep his daughter happy.

“If you say so. Now, how about you go wash your hands to get ready for dinner, hmm?” Jack said.

“Okay,” Emma smiled.

Jack watched as she jumped off her chair and ran out of the room, heading towards the bathroom. He honestly didn’t know where she got the energy. As he cleared up her colouring book and pens, Jack sighed softly to himself. As much as he loved his daughter, he knew no-one in their right mind would want to be with him because of her. And that sounds mean because he loves Emma with all his heart, but it’s true. Oh well. This is just the way things will have to be. Unless someone amazing sweeps in, this is just something Jack will have to accept.