With a hand over his mouth Jayson stroked his beard while looking at his face in the mirror.   He stared a minute longer than he usually did after his shower.  The eyes looking back at him were different every morning.  One day they looked back at him reminding him of the checklist items he needed to follow-up on when he got into the office.  Another day they reminded him of extra stop he needed to make on the way home to pick up Mya’s tutu from his sister Claire’s house.  Today they reminded him that things have changed and were changing still and they were changing faster than he was prepared to accept.  He slashed cold water on his face, then again looked back into the mirror and shook his head side to side and took a deep breath.  “You got this!” he said to himself walking into his bedroom to get dressed for the big day ahead.
​He entered Mya’s room and gently rocked her awake while calling her name “Myyyaa”.  She squirmed around in the bed under her covers like a little worm.
“Rise and shine Princess M, your subjects are hungry” he’s proceeded to start tickling her.
“King daddy tell my subjects…” her declaration was interrupted by uncontrollable laughter.  “Daddy stop it… my subjects…I have work to do” she wiggled out of his grasp and onto her feet in front of her bedroom door.  “let’s go King daddy!”  He took her hand and made their way down to the kitchen.
Mya was only four years old but somehow became his right-hand man in just about everything.  She passed him tools when he did work on his old fixer-upper in the garage, she was his kitchen assistant and even kept him hydrated when he cut the lawn.  She was an old soul.  She was also his tv buddy when they watched the game.  Ava had never been his side-kick, she was more of a mommy’s girl.  He used to call her my little traitor since he was only her first choice when Skyler wasn’t home.  Skyler… his thoughts lingered.  He could smell the lavender.  He closed his eyes and took a deep breath and was lost. 
“Excuse me!” Jayson tried to get the librarian’s attention.
“Yes, can I help you?”  You can definitely help me Jayson thought as she turned around.  Her eyes were the milk chocolate brown and her lashes seemed to hide and reveal them in the most captivating sequence.  “I’m … I’m looking for the journal articles earlier than 1995.” And your phone number he thought.
“You’ll have to pull them up on the microfiche in the room next to the copiers, I can show you.”  She smiled and came from behind the information desk and began leading him down the aisle.  His eyes trailed her black shiny hair that was pulled back by a hair tie leading her mane down the back of her neck and in between her bare shoulder blades to the top of her strapless dress.  Her skin glowed a golden brown almost copper color.  Her dress hugged her torso and cinched her waist and the area between her waist and calves were a mystery held by her dress. 
“eh hmm! there in here” she cleared her throat to regain his attention as she opened the door to the microfiche room.
“thank you, umm, what’s your name?” he raised his brow as he crossed closely in front of her to the opening of the door.
She took a step back, “Skyler, let me know if you need anything else, I’ve got to get back to the info-desk” she diverted her eyes and turned quickly leaving him standing at the door’s entrance.
“Daddy, how many eggs?  You’re not listening Daddy!” Mya tugged on his sweatpants.
“I’m sorry Princess, we don’t need eggs, these are the instant pancakes” he took the tray of eggs from his helper and returned them to the refrigerator, the cold air across his face and chest reminded him of the task at hand.  “what else do you think Ava will want with her breakfast pancakes?”
“ummm bacon!” Mya smiled
“you know she doesn’t like bacon, this week anyway!  Let me guess, the bacon is for someone shorter?”  she nodded licking her lips.
“well maybe she wants strawberries or something.”  Mya stuck her head in the fridge and pulled out a carton of strawberries.
“Strawberries it is!”  he took the carton from Mya and helped her onto the highboy chair and the finished-up Ava’s birthday breakfast.
  “ALL DONE!” Mya yelled as she sprayed the finishing touches of canned reddi-whip onto the pancake faces making smiles.  “I’ll go get her” Mya hopped off her stool and started out the kitchen to the stairs to go wake Ava.
“Wait wait wait, how about you go get the presents off my nightstand, I’ll go get Ava. Deal?”  Jayson hurried to catch Mya before she made it to the 2nd stair.  He wanted to be the one to wake her in accordance with tradition.  It was a silly tradition and didn’t involve anything other than being the first person his children saw when they woke on their birthday; however, since they were born they always went into their girls’ rooms and stood there waiting for them to wake up to say “good morning baby girl”.  “you know we can’t do this right Sky?
“what do you mean, of course we can.” A hint of denial on his wife’s face with a side of smile.
“so they’re going to live here forever, huh?”
“shut up and open the door!” she often ignored his attempts at reality when it came to her girls leaving their home and other conversations about their impending adulthood.
He stood outside of Ava’s room on his own this morning.