Dante was standing just a little ahead of her. Elodie could see him in her peripheral vision, but she kept her eyes on the ga, focused on keeping pace with the others.
She heard Liora’s excited voice calling out to him.
Then Dante’s calm reply. "Don’t look around. Stay in sync with your mom."
"Okay!" Liora chirped.
When Elodie had been recording earlier, she’d just stood in one spot and fild. Nice and easy.
But Dante? He was walking backward, matching their speed, keeping the cara steady the whole ti. Moving with them.
A few more steps and they crossed the finish line.
Liora imdiately ran to Dante, bouncing on her toes. "Daddy, that was so fun! Can we do it again soti?"
Dante smiled down at her. "Sure."
Elodie walked over and reached for her bag.
As soon as she picked it up, her phone buzzed inside.
She pulled it out and saw it was a video from Dante.
She saw the notification but didn’t open it.
Liora, however, leaned right into Dante’s side, tugging on his sleeve. "Daddy, show ! I wanna see!"
He handed her his phone without hesitation.
Then he twisted the cap off a water bottle and held it out to Elodie.
She blinked, surprised, but took it. "Thanks."
She was thirsty. Had been for a while, actually.
She took a few sips, then screwed the cap back on tight. Dante glanced at the schedule board nearby.
"What’s next?"
Elodie didn’t believe for a second that he’d forgotten. He’d looked at the schedule just as carefully as she had.
But still...
She looked down at the water bottle in her hand. Accepting little favors like this made her feel like she owed him sothing. And she didn’t want to owe him anything.
She hesitated, then answered. "Little Ants Carrying the Ball."
"You want to do it, or should I?"
Elodie looked at Liora. "You pick, sweetheart."
Liora didn’t even pause. "Daddy! Mom doesn’t know how to play basketball, but Daddy’s really good."
Elodie could play basketball. But she didn’t correct her.
If that’s what Liora thought, fine.
"You do it then," Elodie said.
"Alright," Dante replied.
The sun was getting stronger now, heat was starting to press down on them. Dante shrugged off his black coat and handed it to her without a word.
Elodie stared at it for a second.
Then she took it and laid it down on the grass next to her.
Dante raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything.
Right before the ga started, he glanced back at her. "When you’re filming this ti, move with us. Don’t just stand there."
Elodie’s jaw tightened. "...Got it."
---
The rules for Little Ants Carrying the Ball were simple but tricky.
Parents had to pull a rope taut in a circle while dribbling a basketball inside the loop. At the halfway point, they switched and their kids took the rope, parents kept dribbling. The ball couldn’t leave the circle the entire ti.
Elodie used to play basketball and volleyball with Liora when she was younger. She’d been the one teaching her back then.
But Liora had been little. Probably didn’t even rember.
Now, whether it was because the school had been teaching her or because Dante had, Liora was good. The second the whistle blew, she was dribbling like she’d been doing it for years.
Dante was moving backward, pulling the rope taut, perfectly matching Liora’s dribbling rhythm.
They made it through the first leg without a hitch.
The way back was even smoother.
Liora had said Dante was good at basketball. She wasn’t wrong.
He handled the ball like it was nothing, spinning it effortlessly between his hands. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, and he moved with this easy, natural grace, keeping pace with Liora like they’d practiced it a hundred tis.
Soone nearby let out a soft, admiring sigh. "He’s so handso."
Elodie kept her phone steady, recording.
But watching him move like that, so confident, and controlled, made mories suddenly hit her out of nowhere. She rembered him playing basketball back in school. On the outdoor courts. The way he’d looked then.
A few months ago, when she’d thought back to those days, his face had been crystal clear in her mind. Every detail was sharp.
But now, looking at him, now taller, broader, more polished than he’d ever been back then, those old mories felt... blurry. Faded.
Like they belonged to soone else.
Dante and Liora won, obviously.
Liora practically exploded with joy, jumping up and down, her smile so big it looked like it might split her face.
Dante laughed and scooped her up into his arms in one smooth motion.
Elodie caught it all on video.
She thought to herself... Liora was probably the happiest kid at this entire event today.
But then another thought crept in, quieter and sharper.
If it had been Sienna here instead of her, Liora would’ve been even happier.
---
So of the other parents started drifting over to Dante, making small talk, shaking his hand. He handled it smoothly, like he always did. Polite. Charming.
Elodie stayed where she was. Tommy’s mom wandered over and stood beside her.
After a mont, once the ga had wrapped up and Elodie had stopped recording, Tommy’s mom said, "Your daughter and her dad get along really well."
Elodie nodded. "Yeah."
They did. And that bond was only going to get stronger.
What Tommy’s mom didn’t say out loud was that it was actually kind of unusual for a kid to be closer to their dad than their mom. Most kids clung to their moms.
But she figured Elodie’s husband must be a really involved father. That would explain it.
She also noticed sothing else.
The other parents were all watching their partners play with their kids, cheering them on, laughing when things went right, wincing when they didn’t. You could see it with the way they were together in it as a team.
But Elodie?
She was there, but she wasn’t really part of it.
Even when Elodie smiled at Liora during the gas, sothing felt off. Disconnected. Like there was this invisible wall between her and the two of them.
Tommy’s mom rembered the last parent-teacher eting. The one where that other woman had shown up. The one Liora had clung to, all smiles and affection.
No wonder Elodie felt like an outsider. How could she not? Watching your own kid bond with the woman who wrecked your marriage, that had to hurt.
Tommy’s mom felt a pang of sympathy. She glanced at Elodie, wanting to say sothing comforting but not knowing what.
Elodie caught the look. The pity in her eyes.
She smiled.
The worst of the pain had already passed. She’d survived it.
She knew Sienna must’ve been busy today. That’s the only reason Dante and Liora had asked her to co. She was the backup. The stand-in.
And honestly? That’s exactly how it felt.
---
Dante and Liora ca back over.
Liora imdiately leaned in to see the video Elodie had just fild. Elodie pulled it up and sent it to both of them.
"I sent it to you. You can watch it on your tablet later."
"Okay!" Liora said happily.
After three rounds of gas, the activities officially wrapped up.
Liora had won two trophies. She clutched them both like they were made of gold.
The second the teacher handed them over, Liora held them up high. "Daddy, take pictures of !"
Dante pulled out his phone and snapped a bunch.
Then Liora turned to Elodie. "Mom, take so of and Dad together!"
"Sure."
Elodie took Dante’s phone and clicked through four or five shots of the two of them, Liora grinning between the trophies, Dante crouched beside her.
She sent the photos to Liora’s tablet, then handed the phone back.
Dante looked at her. "Let get a few of you and Liora too."
Liora nodded eagerly. "Yeah, Mom! Co on!"
"Okay."
Dante took Elodie’s phone this ti. She knelt down next to Liora, and he snapped a few quick shots.
When he handed the phone back, Elodie’s screen lit up with an incoming call.
Johnny.
"I need to take this," she said.
"Okay, Mom!" Liora chirped.
Dante just nodded.
Elodie stepped away and answered. The conversation dragged on, all about work stuff, contract details, scheduling. More than ten minutes passed before she finally hung up.
When she turned back around, Dante and Liora were huddled together over his phone, clearly on a video call with soone.
Elodie didn’t walk over. Just stayed where she was and opened the work files Johnny had sent.
A few minutes later, Liora waved at her. "Mom! Co here so we can take a group picture, then we can go eat!"
Elodie walked over.
The three of them joined the other families for a big group shot. Then the teacher went around taking individual family photos.
And just like that, the parent-child event was officially over.
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