Feel Better

All David could do was sigh as he stared at the damage to his bumper. When he was hit he had pulled over and exchanged information with the other driver for insurance purposes, but he hadn't really looked at how bad it was. Now that he was home, though, David took it all in. It would have to be replaced. Sure, insurance would cover it, but he'd have to cover the deductible. Work had been hard enough, coming home to the realization of having an unexpected two hundred dollar expense made it so much worse.

Pushing the car from his mind, David let himself into the house. Samantha's shoes were by the door and her coat was on the hook, so he deduced that she was home somewhere, probably studying. He loved having her back home, but the volume of her schoolwork kept her locked away in her room most of the time. It was better than being alone, but he still missed his wife. He still missed Nancy.

David kicked off his shoes and hung up his coat, walking toward the kitchen to grab a beer from the fridge. The whole in his heart combined with the damage to his car made him want to sooth his feelings. What he needed was to be comforted, but what he had available was ****. On a weeknight when things hadn't gone great during the day, David had gotten into the habit of having three or four beers over the course of the evening, just enough to dull the feeling of loss that he carried with him. Holding the cold bottle in his hand, his heart ached. In that moment he missed Nancy's way of cheering him up more than anything, the way she could just sense how terrible things had gone during the day, the way she'd drop everything to pull him out of his funk.

For the briefest of moments something happened in David's brain, like an itch, or a tic, or a flash. If asked, he wouldn't have been able to describe it. It was... something. Like a brand new muscle that he'd never noticed nor used before suddenly beginning to move.

But then it stopped. He would have thought on it more had not the noise from upstairs pulled him from the consideration.

It was the sound of a chair scraping across the floor, something heavy like a book hitting the ground, and hurrying footsteps.

"Daddy?" Samantha's voice called from the top of the stairs, "Daddy, are you home?"

"Just in the kitchen," he called back.

"Welcome home!" her feet pounded down the stairs and into the kitchen, "You should have come to say hi!"

"You were probably studying," he said, pausing to take a drink from the cold bottle, "I didn't want to disturb you."

"You're never a disturbance," she said with a grin, then she stared at his face and her grin vanished, "What happened? Did you have a bad day?"

"I guess," he said with a sigh, leaning back against the kitchen countertop, "Got rear ended on the way home."

"Oh daddy!" she exclaimed, rushing toward him and embracing him tightly, "Are you okay? Did you get hurt?"

"I'm fine, but the bumper wasn't so lucky."

"It's just a bumper," she said, resting her head against his chest, "that can be fixed. You're much more important. I don't know what I'd do if something ever happened to you."

David was taken aback. He was close to his daughter, but this was extraordinary. She had never been demonstrative like this, even as a child. Not that he was complaining. Having extended physical contact with another human being was something he hadn't had since Nancy died. He could feel his heart filling up. He loved it.

"Tell you what," Samantha said, "You go sit down on the couch and I'll make dinner tonight."

"But don't you have school work to do?"

"I'll do it later," she dismissed, "If my daddy's had a hard day, it's my job to make it a little better. Now you go relax while I cook."

"Well, if you're sure..." he said, walking out of the room, feeling uncertain.

"Of course I'm sure," she said, shooing him away with her hand gestures, "And let me know if you need another beer!"

David retired to the living room, flopped on the couch, and too another deep drink. Sinking backward into the soft padding of his seat he wondered what he had ever done to deserve such a great daughter.