"Mommy, are you not coming with us?"
Nadine leaned on the wall as James put Sora's shoes on in the house entrance. James stood up and turned to Nadine when he finished tying up the last shoe.
"You know you're always welcome to come along."
She shook her head, "Then it defeats the point of a daddy-daughter date. You have this thing with Sora. I spend time with you two during dinner almost every night of the week."
"But we're going to the pier," he wiggled his eyebrows to tempt her. "The one with the park along the boardwalk. Fair food and carnival rides?"
Sora grabbed at Nadine's hand, "Mommy, come with us."
"No, it's okay, Baby."
She pursed her lips and had a stern face when she looked back at James.
"Not too much fair food... the both of you. And be safe."
Nadine got down on her knees to kiss Sora goodbye for the night, James giving her a beso before carrying Sora out of the house.
When James hit his one year mark of living with Nadine and Sora, he thought it'd be a good idea to get out the house more. So he thought of Daddy-Daughter dates with Sora once she started pre-school. The deal was if she behaved well during the week and there were no complaints from her teachers, then James would take her wherever she wanted on Friday night, regardless of how extravagant. Nadine approved of it too because it was positive reinforcement for Sora and a good way that the two of them could bond.
2 months into the routine, Nadine got used to having some quality alone time. She was either watching Netflix in the living room, having Lauren or Mika over for girls' night, or going over to Mike and Melanie's place now that their baby boy was past his "stranger danger" phase.
Tonight, Nadine decided to keep it simple and stream a new movie on the TV. She popped some popcorn and wrapped herself up into a blanket, not realizing that she fell asleep until she heard James trying to gently wake her up.
"Nadz..." tapping her arm.
She blinked her eyes open to see James looking down at her. She grabbed her phone to look at the time. 10:58 PM.
"You're home late," sitting up to give James room to sit down on the couch with her.
"We got home half an hour ago. I got her ready for bed and she's already sleeping."
"How was it?" leaning her body on the back of the couch as she turned her body to face him.
He shrugged and yawned, "She's a rollercoaster junkie like me. I think she might end up worse than me."
Nadine laughed, "Thank God, she didn't get my fear of heights."
"She got everything else but that from you," grabbing the remote.
"Hey!" she gasped dramatically. "I was watching that."
"Iron Chef Gauntlet? Nadine, you were sleeping 10 minutes ago."
She chuckled, "Fine. But only cuz I know you're gonna change it to Netflix to watch Victoria."
"Jenna Coleman is hot," he nodded. "Celebrity crush ever since I saw her on Doctor Who. You watch it because you get kilig between her and Albert. You do know they're cousins, right?"
"Yes, Victoria and Albert were cousins. But Jenna and Tom have such great chemistry! I can't help it if I get kilig."
James clicked the show to start up where they left off last week. When Victoria and Albert were arguing, he took a glance at Nadine lean forward, fully invested.
