The soft, warm spring breeze, the melody of the wind chime and the scent of coffee made the atmosphere relaxing.

Everything was calm except for the low murmur of the rest of Jackson's inhabitants going about their day. It was a peaceful morning, one that Joel had come to appreciate more than he ever imagined.

Adding to the external noise, Joel hears giggles and the sound of quick steps approaching his porch, a sound that had become a familiar and welcome part of his life.

“Getting better at running, huh?” Joel says with a grin, putting down his coffee mug on the small table next to his chair. The toddler already had his arms up, waiting for Joel to scoop him up. Visiting Joel after daycare became a routine.

Gael wasn't Joel's biological son. At 56, he never expected to be in a situation where he would be parenting a toddler again, especially not one he hadn’t fathered himself. The last time he had been in this position, he was raising Sarah all on his own as a single parent. It had been a long time since those days, and parenthood felt like a distant memory—until now.

The change in Joel’s life didn’t happen overnight. He met you, a single parent in Jackson, and things slowly began to change. You were trying to raise a child with everything else life threw at you, just like Joel had done many, many years before. The connection between you two was almost instantaneous.

Days turned into weeks, weeks into months, and Joel found himself not only helping with Gael but also growing closer to you.

What started as a friendship built on similar experiences became something more deep. Joel hadn’t expected to be dating again —especially dating someone who had a child— but here he was.

Not that he was complaining. He loves you both with all he has.

“He's giving you a hard time?” Joel asks grabbing the boy's backpack from your hand, while Gael touches his beard, quietly mumbling something at how weird the prickly hair on his tiny hand feels. “Coffee's still hot in the kitchen, go have some."