Hargrove Analytics designer volunteered.
Daniel insisted on paying.
Riley said he was impossible.
Website doubled bookings.
Daniel pretended correlation uncertain.
Sophie began taking apart radios.
Daniel showed her tuner mechanism.
Riley signed her up for engineering camp.
Sophie loved it.
Life became ordinary.
Then, one February afternoon, Sophie asked question that terrified them both.
“Are you getting married?”
Daniel nearly dropped screwdriver.
Riley froze.
Sophie sat at workbench in pink jacket.
“What?”
She repeated.
“Are you getting married?”
Daniel said, “Why?”
“Because Mrs. Park says when two adults are together a long time they sometimes get married.”
Riley asked, “How long is long?”
Sophie shrugged.
“A year?”
Daniel looked at Riley.
Wrong move.
Sophie saw.
“Oh.”
“What?” Daniel asked.
“You thought about it.”
“No.”
“Dad.”
Riley covered smile.
Sophie turned to her.
“Would you?”
Riley swallowed.
Not because answer unknown.
Because it was.
“I think…if your dad asked me someday, I would think very seriously.”
Daniel raised eyebrows.
“Very seriously?”
Riley looked.
“I have standards.”
Sophie sighed.
“Adults make everything complicated.”
She returned to radio.
Conversation ended.
It did not leave.
That night Daniel and Riley sat on porch.
Snow falling.
He said:
“Very seriously.”
Riley groaned.
“You are never letting that go.”
“No.”
She leaned against him.
“Have you thought about it?”
Daniel was quiet.
“Yes.”
Riley's heart changed pace.
“Me too.”
He kissed her hair.
No proposal.
Not yet.
Enough.
Two months later, Daniel woke to a sound in the garage.
Metal.
Then silence.
He got up.
Riley was asleep beside him.
Sophie had stayed over.
Daniel checked her room.
Empty.
His heart stopped.
He ran toward garage.
Sophie was on floor beside old radio.
A stool tipped nearby.
She was awake but dazed.
“Sophie.”
He dropped beside her.
She blinked.
“Dad?”
Blood touched small cut near hairline.
Daniel’s world narrowed.
He called emergency services.
Riley appeared barefoot in doorway.
“What happened?”
“She fell.”
Riley immediately crouched.
“Sophie, sweetheart, look at me.”
Daniel’s hands shook.
Riley touched his arm.
“Daniel.”
He looked.
“Breathe.”
Ambulance arrived.
Hospital again.
This injury was minor.
Far less severe than first.
But Daniel’s fear was not proportional.
Fear rarely was.
In waiting room he paced.
Riley watched.
“Sit.”
“I’m fine.”