The Fun Uncle

A few weeks went by. Great ones, honestly. Leon had settled into school, made friends, and was having the time of his life with Dana’s daughter, Rosie. Everything felt smooth, natural—and easy. I say this, I guess, to paint the picture that Alan hadn’t come back. Just like he said, maybe a day, a week. I didn’t know.

At first, I kept expecting him to pop up again. You know, show up at the window like some awkward Romeo. But he didn’t. And eventually, I stopped waiting.

Maybe I was a little relieved. I’d been nervous about how I’d turn him down, how to explain that the two of us just can't be together. So when he didn’t show, I tucked it all away in a quiet box in my mind and moved on.

Everything else was going great. Really. Until one Saturday.

The four of us were coming home after the kids’ game, our usual routine. The kids were exhausted, covered in dirt and grass, and we had all their stuff bundled together in Dana’s car this time. That was normal too: sometimes we used mine, somet