I walk through my Dad's door when we finally get to his house. It's an odd feeling of nostalgia. I've had the best months of my life while living here, then the worst as well. I never know whether to fight or flight when I'm here.

I open the door wider for Wilbur to walk through the door, and shut it loudly. A habit that's become a joke in the family. It's how I got caught sneaking out so many times. Rookie move.

"Knock knock," I yell out to the house, "I'm home!"

A blaze of red flies into the room and crashes my right leg into a hug. I smile down at the little six year old.

"Hey, Cassie." I smile as I rub my fingers through her hair. It's getting long, but I don't think her dad knows what kind of haircut she should be getting. If she doesn't get layers or something soon, it's going to look like a rats nest.

Two other people walk into the front hall. My dad and brother.

"Took you lot long enough," Max says in his protective-brother way; the very tone that probably makes George almost shit his pants every time Max is around.

"Shut that mouth of yours for once." Dad nudges him and rolls his eyes before turning to Wilbur. I gave them a heads up that I was bringing someone, so Wilbur isn't a surprise to them at all. "Please come in, Wilbur. It's nice to finally meet you."

We follow Dad deeper into the house. This isn't my childhood home, so it doesn't feel like a big piece of me that Wilbur is seeing, so I just walk through it normally. The only difference is the tall man next to me staring at every picture we walk by.

"I'm going to check on the lasagna." My dad leaves the room towards the small kitchen.

Cassie tugs on my sweater. "Can we go outside? Grandpa made me a new swing set just like the one my friend Amy has."

"Lead the way," I say as if I don't know how to get to the back yard.

She looks like her mother. A perfect replica. Her eyes, mouth, even the musical note to her little laugh sounds of Cassandra. Everything except one thing, and that's her nose. The only part of her that she received from her father.

Sometimes I wonder how Max feels about that. The one person he loves the most, the daughter he would give the world to, is not his own. He wakes up and is reminded every day of the woman who caused his heartbreak, but also gave him a bundle of joy in return. It must be a constant game of tug of war in his mind.

But that nose. That nose must kill him every time. Because the hair, the mouth, the musical note in her voice.. Those remind him of someone he at least loved at one point. Someone he will never be able to see ever again. But that damn nose will only ever remind him of the pain and resentment.

Maybe he doesn't even associate Cassie with any of those feelings. He has them all sorted into different areas, none of them overlapping. Maybe Max blocks it out completely. Maybe he doesn't think of how he got Cassie, but instead considers her as his.

Cassie leads us outside to the playset. Cassie drags me over to push her. Wilbur and Max stand chatting at the patio table.

I glance at them suspiciously. All of the sudden wondering what in the world Wilbur and my brother would have to talk about. Stocks? Bitcoin? Me? Oh gosh, I hope it's not the latter.

"Who's that guy?" Cassie asks as she tries her hardest to get higher up on the swing. She pushes her body too forward and slows herself down.

"That's my friend Wilbur," I say.

"Like a boyfriend?"

I almost laugh at her question. "No we're just friends, Cassie."

"Are you sure?" she asks, insinuating that I'm lying.

"Why would I lie to you?" I ask her simply. "Two people can just be friends, trust me."

She just nods. "Do you think he likes puzzles?"

I smile at the way her brain switches so quickly. Puzzles have become her new obsession over the phone for the past week, so I expected that we would be doing at least one while I was here.

"Wilbur loves them," I assure her, "He'll do thousands of them with you."

"Now what are you going on about?" Wilbur jokingly asks from across the small yard, no doubt able to hear the entire conversation. "What do I love?"

"Puzzles!" Camille yells out.

Wilbur grins. "Oh, I'm addicted. I would love to put together thousands of puzzles with you."

Cassie giggles from the swing. Even Max is smiling at the encounter; one I'm going to consider as a grin of approval.

Dad walks out onto the porch. "Dinner's ready."

"So Wilbur," Dad begins after we've sat down to eat, "you do the whole streaming thing like Maia?"

Wilbur nods. "Yes sir, I do."

"And that's going good?"

"I would say so," Wilbur says, "I'm focusing more on my band right now."

Dad smiles. "You know I was in a band when I was younger."

I roll my eyes. He loves to brag about this as if he was in One Direction. In reality, they were a local band that played at a couple pubs, but that's not the way Dad seems to tell the story.

He goes into detail of his 'glory days'. Wilbur listens intently to every word he says, as if he's going to get wise advice from it. I'm pretty sure Wilbur's band is more popular than Dad's will ever be, but I can tell Dad appreciates someone listening.

I focus on my food as I let them all talk. Dad made lasagna. It's one of those bittersweet meals he makes. It's one that my Mom taught him to make from a family recipe. He always loved it, and now has the recipe memorized.

I glance over at him now as he passes Wilbur a plate. He seems to be doing a lot better after the divorce. Happy.

I wonder what it's like to meet your soulmate, only to find out they're only meant to be a friend. More importantly, when it's almost too late to be friends after a divorce. I wonder if losing a friend-soulmate rips your heart out like a love-soulmate would. I bet it does, and I bet it leaves an even bigger tear in the flesh.

Most people only think of the main two types of soulmates. The love-forever kind and the best friend kind. I like to think there's a thousand different ways people are meant to be in your life; each meant to shape you in a different way.

What a confusing world to live in.. That's why I'm so glad to already have my best friend-soulmate already. George. He's been there for forever, and he's not budging at all.

Another face flashes through my mind as I think of different soulmates. I wash it away immediately by taking a sip of my drink. It's not a face I like to think about, and I hate that it's my first thought associated with love-soulmates. That face didn't love me like he should've, and I loved him far more than I ever should have.

My eyes shift to Wilbur now. I'm starting to think he's one of my friend-soulmates as well. Something about how we work so well makes me think we're meant to be in each others lives. That our impact on each other is going to significantly more than other people's in our lives.

Wilbur's eyes meet mine, and he gives me a slightly sarcastic smile. My dad is rambling about some story of him in a pub, probably trying to intimidate Wilbur, but I think he's only amusing Will at the moment.

"Have you ever been in a bar fight, son?" I hear Dad ask as I start to pay attention once again.

My head whips over to him as I realize where the question was directed. My Dad just referred to Wilbur as son. Nobody else seems as flabbergasted as I do with this, but it truly floors me. Dad is not one to like someone right off the start of meeting them, but he's somehow already referring to Wilbur so casually. Wilbur must be a god-send. That's the only reasoning there could be.

I can tell Wilbur doesn't necessarily want to answer the question, so he seems to tiptoe around it.

"Well, most people think I'm stronger than I am, " Wilbur says, "I'm kind of built like a giraffe."

I scrunch my nose. Not necessarily how I would've answered the question, but luckily for Wilbur, Cassie perked up in the conversation.

"Do you like Giraffes, Wilbur?" she asks.

Wilbur turns his attention to her. "I'd suppose so, yes."

She grins. "Can I go get my new giraffe things to show him, Dad?" Cassie turns to Max for permission although she's practically halfway out of the room.

Max nods once before she's dashed completely down the hall.

Dad chuckles. "She's going to be in trouble when she's older. I'm telling you."

Max takes a deep inhale. "You know, sometimes I see that too."

Dad leans on his elbows. "I know they're not blood related, but Cassie reminds me of little Maia."

My cheeks grow a little warm, almost honored to be compared to such a great kid.

That is, until Max makes a face before laughing. "Let's hope she's not as much trouble as Maia was."

Dad chuckles with him, and now I'm fighting a scowl. Wilbur looks like he wants to ask what trouble I got into, and I'm praying to whoever will listen that he doesn't.

And someone listens because Cassie runs back in.

"Come on Wilbur," she says quickly before heading to the living room. "I want to show you my giraffe thingies."

We all follow her to the living room. Dad and Max sit on the couch, while I sit on my favorite loveseat. There's enough room for Wilbur to sit as well, but he chooses to sit on the floor with Cassie.

"Alright show me what you got," he says as he sits.

She goes into a deep dive of her giraffe keychain, and before Wilbur is aware of what's happening, they're doing a hundred piece giraffe puzzle. All because he made fun of his own height.

Dad begins to fall asleep quickly. I glance at the clock to realize it's only nine at night.

Max moves over to the seat with me. "He's getting older now. Can't keep up with us cool people."

"Oh yeah, we're the coolest," I agree with a smile. "Honestly, puzzles on a Thursday night? Wow."

My brother chuckles. "You know, I'm glad you visited. You need to do it more often."

I nod, focusing on Cassie scolding Wilbur for accidentally breaking a part of the puzzle. "I try to, but it's... it's hard with everything. I can't just come back without being reminded."

He hums a response. "I know. I just think Cassie needs a strong woman in her life to look up to. Right now she only has me and Dad. I mean, what if she gets her period?"

"Max, she just turned six. You have a while." I shake my head in amusement.

"Just a worry of mine." Max puts his hands in the air.

"You know what a solution to your worry could be?" I ask him with a smile.

"Don't say it."

I ignore him. "Just saying if you got out into the dating pool more-"

"I mean it, Maia," Max says stubbornly.

I roll my eyes. He'll never listen to me when it comes to that. "Fine, fine. Whatever you say."

Cassie and Wilbur high five after finishing the puzzle. I would say tonight was quite a success, minus my brother's reluctance to his love life.