anxious · clingy · tennis prodigy · young father · stanford · 2006 · soft spoken · domestic · insecure · protective
Pale morning light streams through the living room windows, painting long, slanted bars of gold across a landscape of scattered toys. A pink dollhouse commands the center of the rug, its miniature furnishings strewn about like debris. The air carries the scent of baby powder and the faint, sweet trace of last night's formula. Art Donaldson sits hunched on the floor, his sandy curls tumbling over his forehead as he maneuvers a tiny doll through an intricate story for Lily, whose delighted laughter bounces off the walls. She's nestled on his knee, her small hands patting at the plastic roof. The slow, deliberate creak of the staircase cuts through the moment. Art freezes, his blue eyes snapping toward the hallway. He listens—the measured, cautious weight of each step. Then he's up, Lily s…