Ash’s parents looked entirely too pleased with themselves when they heard from Siena how Cove, Ashley, and he had been more or less introduced upon arriving. What did they think was going to happen? That Cove would ask him back out again after thirteen years? What if he was still married? 

Before Ash could stop himself, he peered over at Cove’s left hand. There was a faint trace where his wedding band must have been. Pssh! That didn’t mean anything. Married couples were separated all the time. Even more common were divorced men wanting to have good times as free men with no more strings attached. The brunet had always felt kind of proud to already be in that state of mentality without having gone through all that marriage crap. He was a free man and didn’t want to be tied down by anything. 

A tug on one of Ash’s boots made him glance down to find Ashley meticulously tying and tightening the laces. 

“There! Now you won’t trip, mister bigger-me!” She announced proudly.

“Did you just call me ‘bigger-me?’”

“Your name is Ash, ain’t it?” 

“Yes.” 

“Well, I’m Ash, too,” she explained. “Daddy calls me Ashy, though.” 

“That’s rather mean of him,” He ended up muttering aloud without thinking.

“Mean? Why?”

Ash pulled out his phone and typed something in a search bar before showing the screen to the child. “The definition of ‘ashy’ is-”

“Of a pale gray…ish color; ashen.” Ashley read aloud in a slow pace. 

Ash’s eyes widened. Hadn’t Siena said she was only four years old? Could he read that well at four? Come to think of it, her way of speaking felt more advanced than the average four year old. Then again, she was a girl. Little girls just sometimes picked things up faster than boys. 

“But, I am gray! See? My eyes,” she insisted as she pointed at them. 

“I disagree,” Ash countered. “To me, your eyes are far cooler than that. Silver, just like your dad’s.” 

The little girl then looked at Ash in a strange manner before promptly clambering onto his lap. Ash was stunned. As far back as he could remember, if he wasn’t the one that lifted them up and sat them there, neither of his nieces or nephews actively sought out his lap. 

“I like you,” Ashley decided. 

“Not as much as I do.” 

A blush rose to Ash’s cheeks in embarrassment at the sound of Cove’s voice. A voice that was both familiar and different at the same time. He didn’t even know if such a thing was possible, but in his head, it just was. 

“That’s not very funny,” I responded. 

“Neither of us were joking,” Cove affirmed as he placed a hand gently onto his daughter’s head. “Isn’t that right, Ashy?”

“Right!” She parroted. 

The taller man was now using his daughter as a lie detector. Up until that moment, Ash had taken it upon himself to not openly stare at Cove or access his current appearance in any way. The glimpse he had caught of him earlier outside was dangerous enough. When he felt a large hand cupping the side of his face, Ash’s first instinct was to slap it away. But, he managed to control that part of his reaction. 

Getting a much better and steadier view of the man before him, however, prompted an entirely different reaction. He couldn’t have gotten uglier over time, or at least gained a few pounds? When did someone who was a dad find the time to add muscle onto his frame? Ash had been correct when he said Ashley had inherited her father’s eyes. Cove’s hair was an inkier black to the girl’s brownish black hue. But, they both had the same thickness and wavy texture. The only real difference was their skin. While Ashley’s mocha hue was evenly distributed, she had flawless skin without any freckles or moles. Cove was more fair skinned and was speckled with moles. He was better looking at nearly forty than he was at twenty-five. 

His fucking five o’ clock shadow and all. 

“Why don’t we have Siena keep an eye on Ashy while the two of us have a talk in private?” Cove suggested. 

Who was this guy and what had he done to the twenty-five year old Cove that Ash once knew? The younger Cove would have dragged him off somewhere without so much as asking first. Just when had he become so calm and reasonable? Having a kid surely changed a man. 

Ash's sister all but swooped in to lift the little girl into her arms. She seemed to have been paying more attention to them than Ash himself was. The shorter man followed Cove towards a room that once belonged to Ash, but was currently a guest room. Was it impressive that he remembered where it was, or was it concerning?

“Listen,” Ash began, trying to get the upper hand in the conversation before it even began. “Just forget whatever it is my parents have told you. I’m not-”

While kissing Ash impulsively was definitely something the old Cove would have done, the shorter man was still surprised at the action. Cove wasn’t a bad kisser in the past. But, the brunet had never become so disoriented before. His body immediately began to heat up in response to the tongue in his mouth. He had to do something…how did someone hit the brakes on a kiss again? If it wasn’t logically and physically impossible, he’d have worried he’d have become pregnant from such a searing kiss alone. 

Ash had already abandoned the rational idea of stopping their make-out session when Cove himself decided to slow everything down to a stop. Right. That’s exactly what Ash wanted to do in the first place. But, why? He couldn’t think properly enough to remember. 

“Ash,” Cove pleaded. “Can we please start over? Won’t you give me another chance?”

The words sounded so wrong in Ash’s ears that it snapped him out of whatever was left of his daze. Another chance? No, it was the other way around. If anyone should be asking for a second chance, it should have been Ash himself. 

“Cove,” Ash admitted. “Buddy, I’m going to have to get back to you on that.”