It takes a bit for Spencer to spill the beans.

Spencer was going to tell Amy about him seeing Danielle as soon as she got in the car but he found himself chickening out at the very last second. Instead asking Amy if she wanted to stop and get ice cream on the way home. He really had to stop doing that, she was going to catch on one of these days that ice cream was his go to bribe when he was working up the courage to tell her something.

Spencer delayed the inevitable until after he’d finished a cup of lemon sorbet and Amy had had a double cone of some sort of cookie dough filled double chocolate concoction. Back in the car again he got out what he’d been meaning to say at last.

“Amy,” he began.

“Yes, Dad?”

“So, I wanted you to hear this from me and not anyone else but you know that I loved your mother more than anyone else and nothing would ever change that. You and her are still the most special people in the world to me.”

“I know that Dad,” Amy answered before getting worried, “but what is it?”

He took a deep breath, “nothing bad but I’m looking at starting to date someone again. Romantically.”

“Eew,” Amy said making Spencer laugh. “Who is it?”

“You remember Danielle from the bank who had dinner with us. We’re going out on a date this Friday and I wanted to let you know.”

“That’s cool,” Amy said nonchalantly.

Spencer had been working himself up in his head that Amy would start screaming at him and accuse him of betraying her Mom.

“You’re ok with that? Honestly?” he asked.

“Yeah. She’s nice. I like her. She’s really pretty.”

“She is and I like her too,” Spencer said relieved.

“Kimberly said that she thought you were having an affair with her Mom and that was the reason you went to Cherryville together,” Amy said then almost causing him to serve of the road and wreck another car.

Kimberly is a clever girl! “No, nothing like that,” Spencer covered.

“Yeah I know. You wouldn’t do that and crash your car.”

The car accident might have been the very thing that cause Darcie and himself to stop sleeping with each other.

After thinking on it some more Amy spoke again, “you know you didn’t have to wait so long to start dating someone because of me. I would have ok with you wanting to meet someone after Mom.”

“I haven’t not been dating because of you Amy. I haven’t wanted to until now really. I wouldn’t have been in the right headspace and it wouldn’t be fair on the other person or me,” he tired to say hoping she might have an understanding about what he meant despite her young age.

If Amy had any further thoughts, she didn’t share them with Spencer and the rest of the car trip was filled with the comfortable silence that comes from the deep familiarity of family. Spencer reflecting that he possibly had the best daughter in the world.