You open the door to your house and quietly shut and lock the door. The sounds of your husband, Sasha and your daughter singing reach your ears. You grin to yourself. Apparently, it was karaoke night. You quietly put your keys and purse on the entryway table and take off your shoes. Quietly making your way towards the living room, you round the corner and see your husband and daughter singing out the words as they dance across the screen. They are both singing on key. They aren't great, but they aren't bad either. Leaning against the wall, you watch them trying to outdo each other. Your husband is completely focused on his daughter and outdoing her, but you notice the moment he becomes aware of your presence. It had always been this way between you two, one of you would enter the room and just know that the other was there. He turns his body around to face you, still singing. He sends a smile and a wave in greeting towards you. Your daughter noticing the actions of her dad, follows his line of sight and finally notices you. She breaks off her singing to yell "Mama!!!" and launching herself across the room at you. You catch her and hug her close. "Hey sweetie. How are you?""I'm good. How was your test, Mama?"
"It went well, I think."
She nods at you. She gives you an exuberant kiss and goes back to where your husband is still standing and continues singing. You watch as your husband and daughter finish singing the song. The software tallies up the score. Your husband wins by a landslide, due to your daughter greeting you halfway through the song. "NO! Dad! That's not fair!!! Mama came home! Rematch!" she protests. Grinning at his daughter and moving towards you, he says, "I won fair and square! It's not my fault you left in the middle of the song. But let's have a rematch with Mama as well. You can pick the song."
She perks up at being able to pick the song and starts scrolling through the songs, listening to a demo of each song (she was just learning to read) before vetoing one and moving onto the next one. Snaking an arm around your waist, he gives you a kiss. Nuzzling your neck, he asks, "How did your midterm go?"
Hugging him back, you give him a kiss of your own. Laying your ear over his heart, you answer, "It actually went really well. The fact that I watched her extra-curricular material saved me. I knew the answers to it and it was short and pretty easy. She hadn't marked our assignment that we handed in a month ago, and I had to wait in the room until she had marked it. Little frustrating. I had to catch the later bus, instead of the earlier bus. This other lady was done about the same time as me. We were the older ones in the class and everyone else was in their mid-twenties or younger. Small class. Teacher was nice though. One of the other students gave me a tip for one of my other classes so I can do well on the final."
Squeezing your waist and placing a kiss upon your head, he says, "Well that's good that you have a better idea how to ace your final for your other class. I knew you would ace your midterm. Good job, darling."
You snuggle close to him. "Aha! This one!" you hear your daughter say, triumphantly. "Okay, I'm ready! I picked the song. I'm so going to beat you two!"
Separating, you two grin at each other, then at your daughter. "Bring it on!" you say to her. "I'm going to crush you!"
"You wish!" she retorts.
"Now, now girls! None of that. Besides I'm the one who's going to win," Sasha boasts.
You two turn to glare at him. Nodding to each other, you both silently agree that he cannot win under any circumstances. Your daughter hands both you and your husband each a microphone. She turns the song on. She starts singing first. You and Sasha look at each other, wondering which of you go next. You both hold out your fists in the universal rock paper scissors sign. You both move your arms up and down three times and move your hands to shape your choices. He chooses rock. You choose scissors. He pumps his arm in victory. You blow him a raspberry. His hands grab your face, planting a quick kiss on your lips.
Your daughter is still singing, but glancing at the screen you see that Sasha's turn will start in a minute. You gave him a pinch on his waist. He sends you a grin. He looks at the screen and sees its time for him to sing. He begins singing. And it is hilarious. Finally paying attention to the song, you realize what song she had chosen. It was a song about women power and a very high pitched one at that. You and your daughter start giggling, listening to Sasha trying to hit the high notes and exaggerating them for maximum comedy effect. You are laughing so hard, tears are streaming down your face. Sasha stops singing and reminds you it's your turn to sing. You try singing, but are you doing an odd laugh snicker singing thing, because your system hasn't calmed down from the antics of your husband. Finishing your turn, your daughter is up again. Her system hasn't calmed down from the antics of her dad and she does a funny chortle singing that cracks your husband up and sends you into hysterics again. She finishes up the song. The three of you - still laughing - watch the screen, waiting for the software to compute who is the winner of this fun filled round. The screen flashes and it declares Sasha the winner. Your daughter and you both scream and launch yourselves at him. "No fair! Daddy! You cheated!"
"Yeah! You totally cheated!" you chime in.
You both start tickling him, in retribution. "I did not cheat!" Sasha sputters between his laughter. "I can't help it if you do find my singing hilarious."
"Daddy! You intentionally did that so we wouldn't sing well!" She tickles her dad harder.
"How would I know you find my singing so funny? Uncle! Uncle! Uncle!"
You both stop tickling him. He grabs you both and holds you two close to him as the three of you lay laughing on the floor, trying to catch your breath. He kisses the tops of your heads and utters a heartfelt "I love you," to you both.
"I love you too, Daddy."
You snuggle squeeze your husband in response. "Who's hungry?" he asks.