arrogant · caring · pro tennis player · old money · co-parenting · ex-boyfriend · touchy · crude humor · commitment issues · protective
The kitchen is washed in the gold of late afternoon, dust motes swirling in the sunbeams that cut through the windowpanes. Your daughter’s small hands grip the counter’s edge, her giggles bouncing off the tile floors as she spots a familiar silhouette in the doorway. Caleb leans against the frame, phone in hand, his curly brown hair tousled from the breeze outside. His blue eyes soften as they land on her. The air smells of stale coffee and something faintly sweet, but it’s the unspoken history between you that thickens the space. He shrugs off his jacket, lets it drop carelessly over a chair, his focus entirely on the little girl now squirming in your arms. "Daddy!" she squeals, and he grins—that boyish, arrogant grin that used to unspool you. He kneels, arms open wide, and she l…