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Mack had long been told how competitive he was.
Praised by coaches and teammates alike, it was a trait that made him exceptional on the ice, but sometimes left him seeming like a little too much, or a little too aggressive, for the average person.
Growing up, he couldn’t begin to count how many family game nights ended in fights, life lessons, and wise words poured over his tear-stained cheeks as he was shuffled off to bed after a sibling meltdown ruined the fun family evening.
Mack knew that fatherhood was not a competition, a fact he reminded himself almost daily because, if it was, he knew he would never win against Will.
The second the girls came into their lives, Will seemed to slot them under his arm and continue moving as if no weight had been added. He was patient in a way Mack still hadn’t quite mastered. He knew exactly what to say when Walker’s little face was cherry-red with frustration over not getting her way, or when Winnie was hiding behind the veggie patch, staring solemnly at her little knees, obviously upset but unable to verbalize why. He was the first to make Hollis eat again after her tummy bug zapped all her appetite, and he did it all while juggling Mack’s needs so perfectly.
Ninety-nine percent of the time, Mack felt endlessly grateful that his horny, drunk Instagram stalking had somehow led him to not only the hottest man he had ever seen, not just the most perfect husband of his dreams, but somehow also Super Dad.
But that other one percent?
There was a little green monster of envy perched on his shoulder.
He wanted to win the Daddy Olympics just once.
And when Ryan Leonard begged Will to come along to a week-long boys’ golf trip to Hawaii during the offseason, Mack finally felt poised and ready to take the gold.
“I really shouldn’t go, baby. The offseason is for family time…” Will muttered to himself as he pulled polo shirts and dress shorts from his drawers with the enthusiasm of a pig being marched to slaughter.
Mack sat perched on the island in their shared closet, Bikini purring softly in his lap as he shovelled handfuls of lightly salted popcorn into his mouth.
“Nope…”
A few stray kernels tumbled from his lips onto the sleeping kitty.
“I’ve told you already! You spend every day juggling our lives. You need to have some time to yourself, Wills!”
“But…”
“No.”
“Maybe if...”
“Will!”
A handful of popcorn rained down onto Will’s shocked face.
“I’m not cleaning that up!”
“You don't have to! I can handle everything! It's time for Party Boy Willie is clocking in for duty!” Mack whooped, grabbing a neatly folded golf shirt out of the almost fully packed suitcase and waving it around his head like an overzealous sports fan.
“You don’t have to worry about us, baby. I’ve got it allllll under control!”
Mack leaned back casually on his palms, the movement waking Bikini and causing her to jump down onto the floor with a huff.
“I know, Mackie…”
Will put down the clothes he was folding and nestled into the spot between Mack’s legs.
“I’m just going to miss you guys.”
Mack ran his fingers through the curls falling across Will’s forehead, causing Will’s ocean-blue eyes to flutter shut, a small smile creeping across his lips.
“We will miss you more…”
Will leaned forward instinctively, presenting any available surface of his sun-kissed skin for Mack’s lips.
Always coachable, Mack pressed his lips softly against the space beneath Will’s right eye.
“But it’s time to put the cape down, Super Dad. Go enjoy some you-time…” Mack muttered against his skin.
“Well… you and Leno and all his ape-like friends’ time…”
“They are actually a great group of guys…”
“I mean, they voluntarily list Ryan Leonard as a close pal. How great can they be?”
Will rolled his eyes and scooped his arms beneath Mack’s strong thighs, lifting him and his dusting of popcorn crumbs into his arms.
“Hey, you seem to think I’m pretty great…”
Will smirked, nuzzling into Mack’s neck as he carried them back into the bedroom, kicking a stray Barbie out of the way as he weaved toward the bed.
“No…” Mack giggled as blond hair tickled the underside of his jaw. “I think you are the fucking best thing on this earth”
Will tossed Mack lovingly onto the mattress, following him down in a tangle of limbs.
“Yet you are actively shooing me out the door…”
Will joked with a cocked eyebrow, connecting their smiling lips.
“Distance makes the heart grow fonder…” Mack muttered softly against pillow-soft lips.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. You feel fond enough…”
Will commented with a slow grind of his hips, earning him a soft gasp.
“Daddy…”
Two heads snapped toward the slightly ajar bedroom door.
“I frew up…”
A guilty-looking Walker, cradling a slightly damp-looking Francisco the stuffed Shark, stared over at her entangled Dads with blinking pale eyes.
“I’ve totally got this!”
Mack offered one last quick peck before crossing the bedroom to scoop up the pukey toddler, leaving Will to flop back against the mattress.
Officially, off duty.
As Ryan Leonard reversed Will out of the driveway the next morning, affectionately flipping Mack the bird as he went, Charlie’s dinner-table tyraids about gender equality rang through his mind.
“Mothers hold so much more of the mental load… I don’t want my husband to ever refer to parenting his children as ‘babysitting’ or I will actually implode!”
She would rant with a waving fork, desperately doing her sisterly duty to make sure her brothers didn’t grow up to be useless men for some poor wife.
Now, obviously, Will was not Mack’s wife, much to his own insistence, but in this very moment, Mack was trying very hard not to be a useless husband.
“Okay, ladies…”
Mack spun on his heels once Will’s face was fully out of view.
“It’s just us now!”
He looked at the three small girls sitting listlessly on the bottom porch step: a collection of messy pigtails, braids, and a princess tiara, dressed in an oversized T-shirt, overalls, and a full Princess Tiana ball gown, all sporting big, blinking blue eyes and sad little pouty lips.
“What’s wrong?”
“Daddy left us…” Walker offered with an eye roll, as if Mack was the dumbest person she had ever come across.
“But he will be back! Just like I always come home!”
“Yeah, you leave… Daddy never leaves…” Winnie offered casually, as if she hadn’t just ripped Mack’s heart out and begun gnawing on it like a feral dog.
Mack swallowed.
“Daddy is just going to have a super fun vacation with Uncle Lemon and his friends, but we are going to do lots of fun things too while he’s away. You’ll be so busy having fun, you won’t even realize he isn’t here!”
“…Why can’t we go on a fun vacation with Uncle Lemon?”
“Well…”
Mack pondered.
“Uncle Lemon isn’t really all that fun…”
“But you just said...”
“Okay, you caught me, I’m a liar!”
Mack clapped his hands together.
“Now come on! Who wants breakfast?”
He bellowed the last word with the enthusiasm of a children’s entertainer, causing the three curly tops to slowly turn in unison toward the sleepy Great Dane perched beside them.
“Not Breakfast…”
Mack ruffled the dog’s head before stepping over his family toward the front door.
“Breakfast!”
He mimed an exaggerated tummy rub.
“Pancakes.”
“French toast.”
“Eggs Benedict!” Walker added with a cheeky glint in her eye.
“You know what? Sure. One breakfast feast coming up!”
So Mack got to work.
He whisked.
He chopped.
He toasted.
He poached.
Hell, he even garnished their plates with herb sprigs.
As he worked the girls rolled around on the kitchen floor at his feet, Barbie cars whizzing into his shins as the games changed so quickly that Mack lost track of what imaginary world they were currently inhabiting.
Eventually, he placed three plates on the table.
“Okay, girls! Breakfast!”
Three tiny bodies scrambled toward their chairs.
Walker climbed into hers first.
“What’s this…?”
“Eggs Benedict.”
Mack studied her wrinkled nose like he had just placed a dish in front of Gordon Ramsay himself.
“No, thank you.”
She stared up at him sweetly.
Mack blinked.
“But you asked for it.”
“I changed my mind.”
“Okay…”
He looked at Winnie.
“Pancakes?”
“No.”
Mack looked at Hollis.
“French toast?”
She shook her head.
“Cereal.”
Mack stared at the three untouched plates.
“You all just watched me make this?”
Three tiny heads nodded.
“And you asked me to make it?”
Another three nods.
“And now none of you want it?”
Winnie smiled.
“No thank you, Daddy.”
Mack slowly lowered himself into the chair opposite them.
He looked toward the ceiling.
“Okay.”
Breakfast wandered into the kitchen and rested her enormous head on his thigh.
Mack looked down at her.
“You want eggs Benedict?”
Breakfast licked her lips.
“Finally. Someone with some fucking taste.”
He pushed his plate toward the dog.
All three girls immediately erupted into giggles.
“Cereal it is.”
“Daddy?”
“Yeah?”
“Can I have chocolate milk?”
Mack stopped.
“Of course.”
“And strawberries.”
“Yep.”
“And toast.”
“Absolutely.”
A pause.
“With butter?”
Mack turned around slowly.
“Anything else, Princess?”
Walker thought about it.
“Maybe a pancake.”
Mack stared at her.
“You know what?”
She smiled.
“I’m starting to think you guys are trying to kill me.”
Three little girls dissolved into giggles.
Will:
how’s my little family?
Mack:
excellent
Will:
everyone alive?
Mack:
yes
Will:
fed?
Mack:
yes
Will:
emotionally regulated?
Mack:
meh
Mack:
we’re at the park
I’ve implemented a new energy-management strategy
Will:
….Mack.
Mack:
athletic circuits
Will:
😂
Will:
they are three years old
Mack:
exactly
they have unlimited energy
Will:
THEY ARE NOT DOGS
Mack:
I know
Will:
then why are you exercising them until they’re tired?
Mack:
because it works
Will:
Mack
Mack:
we did three laps of the playground
climbing wall
balance beam
relay race
and some jumping
Will:
you made our toddlers run a fucking training camp
Mack:
they loved it
Mack:
Walker is currently earing a Cinderella dress, she has excellent mobility in it
Will:
I cannot believe you
Mack:
I did this when I was little
Will:
you did athletic circuits at three?
Mack:
pretty much
Will:
and look how you turned out
Mack:
exactly
Will:
Mack, you play professional hockey
Mack:
THANK YOU
Will:
that wasn’t necessarily a compliment
Mack:
the results speak for themselves
Will:
you’re insane
Mack:
Winnie just beat Hollis in the 10-meter dash
Will:
there’s a 10-meter dash?
Mack:
there is now
Will:
did you time them?
Mack:
obviously
Will:
what are their splits?
Mack:
Winnie: 4.8
Hollis: 5.1
Walker: DNF
Will:
WHY DID WALKER DNF?
Mack:
she stopped halfway to pick a flower
Mack:
she has no killer instinct
Will:
SHE IS THREE
Mack:
we’ll work on it
Will:
please stop coaching our children
Mack:
never
Will:
I leave for a few days and you’ve turned the girls into a youth development program
Mack:
I miss you very much
Mack:
now I have to go
Will:
why?
Mack:
the girls are demanding a rematch
Will:
good luck, Coach
Will:
❤️
“One more chocolate chip, please…”
A tiny finger is raised in the air, just barely popping over the top of the glass display case.
“Don’t we think we may have had enough?” Mack glances over from where he is chatting with Pete while his daughters all tear into the various baked goods Maryann has placed in front of them.
“But I love chocolate chip…” Winnie’s eyelashes flutter softly against her cheek as she blinks up at him, a look she definitely learned from Will after studying the way he can get anything he wants from Mack with just a few slow blinks.
“Growing girls need sustenance, Mackie!” Maryann chimes as she places another boulder-sized chocolate chip muffin in Winnie’s eager hands.
“You guys better eat your dinner tonight…”
“Don’t need it…” he swears he hears Walker mutter through a mouthful of macarons.
“How’s solo dad life treating you, Macklin?” Pete asks, a look of pure amusement washing over his face.
“Oh, you know… piece of cake!” Mack pauses. “Or I guess… several pieces of cake…”
Mack throws Maryann an unimpressed look as she shuffles past him with three small pink cupcakes on a plate.
“What? They’re tiny!”
It took Mack over an hour to wrestle the girls into bed later that evening.
It turns out tummies full of sugar lead to tummy aches and overtired little bodies crying big, weeping crocodile tears and screaming about how much they hate each other.
Bathtime had to happen in shifts once Hollis decided Walker was “antagonizing her,” and although Mack was very impressed and mildly confused as to where this impressive vocabulary had come from, he was an inch away from waving the nearest white flag, eventually conceding that Winnie could wear the ducky costume to sleep and Breakfast could snuggle Hollis to sleep, as long as they got into bed in the next 32 seconds.
As he finally clicked the door to their bedrooms closed to creep downstairs to assess the disaster that awaits him he realised that falling onto the pillowy sofa before tackling the task of cleaning up the kitchen may have been a mistake as Mack didn’t think it was possible for him to ever move another muscle in his entire life.
His hazy, sleepy brain was snapped back into his body by the faint buzzing from his pocket.
“Mackieeee…” Will’s loving voice seemed to revive something deep within his soul. “How’s my baby doing?”
“Oh, you know…” Mack chucked a glance at the large pile of dishes used to create a nutritious meal the girls had not touched after eating the entire bakery just a few hours before. “…I’m thriving.”
Will chuckled knowingly, sparing Mack’s ego by not pushing for any further details.
“How’s the trip?”
“Golfy… booze-y… Actually, I’ve found my putting gets a lot better when I’m smashed!”
“Oh, so educational. Sick!”
“Turns out one of Leno’s friends is a big Sharks fan! He was casual at first, but once the beers hit, he grilled me about you for the whole back nine this afternoon.”
“Oh yeah? What did you tell him about me?”
“That you are super sexy, an amazing chef, bad at telling jokes because you find them too funny and laugh through the punchline, and love to have your collarbone sucked on…”
“Sick, Will. Perfect.”
The sound of Will shuffling about filled the background as Mack nattered away, glazing over the minor details about how perfect and angelic their little cherubs had been today.
“Are you all good?”
“Yeah, sorry, baby. I’m just trying to get changed. Leno, ugh…” There was a brief pause as Mack listened to the cogs in Will’s brain turn. “I think he’s dragging us to a strip club…”
After a beat of silence, Mack erupted into a fit of giggles.
“The most Leno shit I have ever heard!”
“Ugh, I don’t want to go, but I’m trying to be a team player! What do I do at a strip club?”
“I dunno, motorboat a tit?”
“Macklin.”
“What?”
“A singular tit? You want me to motorboat a singular tit?”
“Two seems a bit too straight…”
Mack offered through continued giggles at the image of cool, calm, and collected Will schmoozing amongst the fratty almost-thirty-year-olds at a local Hawaiian strip club.
“Didn’t you say you were so sleepy?” Will cut in on Mack’s fun.
“Ugh, you know what? Actually, I’m feeling very refreshed. Thank you for the laugh!”
Will huffed down the line, his best impression of an annoyed husband.
“I’m so glad!”
“Throw some dollars for me, baby!”
“Yeah, yeah. I love you,” Will offered with a kiss through the phone.
“Love you too, playboy!”
Mack hung up with a chuckle and wandered over to the kitchen to get to cleaning, the vision of the messy night Will had in store keeping a smile caught on his lips.
Mack:
[photo: Winnie asleep upside down on the couch, one sock missing, surrounded by stuffed animals]
Mack:
Winnie has entered recovery mode
Will:
why is she upside down
Mack:
optimal sleeping position apparently
Mack:
[photo: Hollis wearing a princess dress and holding a wooden spoon like a sword]
Mack:
Hollis is currently leading a troop into battle
Will:
against who?
Mack:
me
Will:
😂
Mack:
[photo: Walker sitting on Pete’s shoulders while Pete salutes]
Mack:
Sergeant Pete has reported for duty
Will:
😂😂
Mack:
she immediately promoted herself
Will:
sounds right
Mack:
she outranks me now
Will:
everyone outranks you
Mack:
false
Mack:
I’m still captain
Will:
sure, baby
Mack:
[photo: Pete lying flat on the floor while all three girls climb over him]
Mack:
Pete has made a tactical error
Will:
😂
Will:
what happened?
Mack:
he laid down
Will:
amateur
Mack:
rookie mistake
Mack:
[photo: Mack, Leonie, and the girls at Birdy’s]
Will:
why are you at Birdy’s?
Mack:
team dinner
Will:
with three toddlers?
Mack:
they’re part of the organization
Will:
Mack
Mack:
the girls have large fries
I have a small beer
Will:
you are at a bar
Mack:
a family establishment
Will:
Birdy’s is absolutely not a family establishment
Mack:
they have chicken tenders
Will:
that does not make it a family establishment
Will:
I leave for five days and you all turn into fucking frat boys
Mack:
uhm I’m sorry how was the strip club yesterday?
Will:
Touché
Mack:
[photo: the girls asleep in the backseat, all holding hands in a line]
Mack:
worth it
Will:
🥺
Will:
okay
that one got me
Mack:
they’re good kids
Will:
the best
Mack:
even when they’re little gremlins
Will:
especially then
Mack:
[photo: Mack in a helmet beside RJ, with the three girls on little bikes]
Mack:
we’re taking the girls around the neighborhood
Will:
oh great, more athletic conditioning
[photo: Walker riding ahead while RJ jogs beside her]
Mack:
Walker is a natural. I’m thinking Tour de France?
Will:
Remember before we had kids and you talked about now wanting to pressure them into athletic greatness like their Dad?
Mack:
Hmmm doesn’t sound like me
Mack:
Must be making it up.
Will:
you’re ridiculous
Mack:
one more day
Mack:
then you’re coming home to all your favorite athletes
Will:
….and you!
Mack:
uhm yes, I’m still your #1 favorite
Will:
Whatever you say baby ❤️
Mack:
Aw that’s sweet, but that’s actually coach to you! ❤️
“BAMPAAAAAAAAAA!”
The shrieks from the front room seemed to echo around Mack’s aching skull as he sat criss-cross applesauce beside a mound of clothes, slowly sorting them into five perfect little piles.
Rick Celebrini’s smiling face was a welcome relief as he came through the front door, immediately dropping to toddler height to be smushed with kisses, his hands suddenly full with a toy train, Francisco the stuffed Shark, and a half-eaten Granny Smith apple.
“How’s my guy doing?”
Mack felt fingers scratch at the top of his head, inside the princess crown he was wearing.
“Truth or lie?”
“Shoot it to me straight!”
“Dada, I’m exhausted. My tiredness is bone-deep! I tried to suggest we all take a quick nap before, and the very idea seemed to refuel them with the power of a thousand Pixy Stix!”
Rick chuckled as he plonked down beside his son’s laundry mountain and began folding dish towels.
“But are you having fun?”
He shot a glance over at the K-pop concert currently happening on the mantle, three warbling toddlers dancing along to a song Mack had now listened to 24 times this hour alone.
“They are very fun…”
Rick offered a nod of contentment.
“Trust me, kid, it goes so quick.”
Mack felt his dad’s eyes studying him the same way he stared lovingly at his own girls.
“Especially for us. We are the parents who do the leaving while our partners hold down the fort. We trade a few more hours of sleep a night for less time with all this…”
Rick gestured to the chaos of the room, the buzzy life Mack missed out on for stretches of time while he was on the road and Will was the one holding them all together.
Mack and his dad shared a smile of understanding, two motivated men held up by the hard work and dedication of their loving partners.
“I feel like I owe Will a million thank-yous… This shit is not easy!”
Rick laughed at the sentiment.
“Trust me, kid, I know! Your mum has had me in awe for over 30 years. Just remember that you have a whole gang of support in your corner. Use your resources! And be thankful. These are angels…”
Rick gestured to the girls as Winnie flopped down into his lap.
“You were a devil.”
“Okay, thanks, Dad. Way to ruin the moment!”
“Anytime, kid! Anytime!”
Mack:
hey mumma
Robyn:
hi sweetheart
everything okay?
Mack:
yeah
just wanted to say thank you
Robyn:
for?
Mack:
everything
Robyn:
oh, Mackers
Mack:
I don’t think I ever really understood it before
Robyn:
you were busy being a kid
Mack:
still
you made everything look so easy
Robyn:
that was my job
Mack:
you made it feel like dad being away didn’t mean he was missing anything
Robyn:
we were a team, sweetheart
Mack:
love you mum
Robyn:
love you too, baby
now go hug those girls for me
“Would we call this cheating, Macklin?”
Mack pulled his sunglasses slightly down his nose to squint up at the shadow speaking over his sun lounger.
“This is called using your resources, Felicia!” Mack offered her a smirk and a subtle hand wave to move her out of his sunlight as she flopped down next to him on a sun lounger.
The air was full of giggles and whoops from the nearby pool as Wenny and a gaggle of her own offspring splashed about with the three heavily water-winged Celebrini-Smith children.
“Do you want a cocktail, Princess? I could hand-feed you some grapes, maybe?” Felicia ribbed as she worked some sunscreen into her arms.
“Cocktail would be perrrrrrfect!” Mack offered with a smirk, as Winnie waddled over and placed her cold little pudgy hands on Mack’s sun-warmed calf.
“Daddy, this is so fun!” she squealed through slightly chattering teeth as she gestured toward the summer-fun utopia the Weinbergs called their backyard.
“It is so fun, isn’t it, babygirl?” Mack threw Felicia a wink as he watched his littlest duckling waddle back over to the pool.
“You good, Wenny?”
Mack watched a thumb be thrust into the air as Alex slowly sank under the water beneath the weight of six giggling children.
By the afternoon, Mack had decided they needed one final project.
“Okay, ladies. Daddy has been gone for almost a week, so we need to make him something beautiful.”
Winnie gasped. “A PICTURE!”
“Yes! A picture. Something Daddy can put up in his office that shows him how much we missed him!”
Walker was already dragging an entire container of finger paints across the kitchen table.
“Walker, we only need a few.”
“I need all of them.”
“Of course you do.”
Twenty minutes later, the kitchen table looked like a small paint factory had exploded.
Winnie carefully dipped her fingers into pink paint, creating a series of tiny handprints across the paper.
“These are Daddy’s flowers.”
“They’re beautiful, baby.”
Hollis had abandoned handprints entirely and was painting what appeared to be a large blue circle.
“What’s that?”
“Daddy.”
“Why is Daddy blue?”
“He’s sad.”
“Why is Daddy sad?”
“Because he misses me.”
Mack pressed his lips together at his sentimental little girl.
“I think Daddy misses you very, very much!"
Walker, meanwhile, had managed to get green paint on both elbows, one cheek, and somehow the ceiling.
“Walker....”
She looked up innocently, implementing the Will Smith slow blink 9000 to keep out of trouble.
Mack turned back to the paper just in time to watch Winnie add a giant red blob across the middle.
“What’s that?”
“Daddy’s heart.”
Mack’s expression softened.
“Aww, sweetheart.”
“It's so big because Daddy loves us so much”
Mack used every ounce of control he had not to breakdown into tears, refusing to be brought down by a couple of finger paints!
“Daddy is going to be so proud of you girls, you are pretty special...do you know that?”
Walker slapped both paint-covered hands onto the paper.
“Duh Dada!”
Mack smiled at his self confident little angel who....was suddenly looking suspiciously mischievous.
He watched her little blonde piggy tails shake as she looked at her painty hands
Then at Mack.
Then at the wall.
Mack’s eyes widened.
“No.”
Walker grinned.
“Walker....”
She giggled.
Mack lunged across the kitchen.
“DON’T....”
Too late.
A tiny pink handprint appeared directly beside the refrigerator.
Mack stared at it for a long moment.
Then sighed, suddenly overcome with the idea of that little hand growing big and strong and different and never wanting to cover this little memory of it up.
“Okay. That cam stay.”
The girls erupted into giggles as Mack lined the girls up and directed them to put one little handprint in a two foot high cluster by the fridge. One day, these would be his most treasured little art pieces, he was sure of it.
“Perfect.”
Hollis nodded.
“Daddy will cry.”
“Probably.”
Winnie smiled.
Will:
boarding now
Mack:
finally
Will:
miss me?
Mack:
desperately
Will:
oh?
Mack:
six days is a long time
Will:
you survived
Mack:
barely
Will:
what are you going to do when I get home?
Mack:
I have a few ideas
Will:
should I be worried?
Mack:
probably
Will:
Macklin 😂
Mack:
come home ❤️
Mack prided himself on being a good, fair, and just father who almost always put his babies first.
Almost…
Because as Will stepped out of the idling car, Mack may have completely forgotten that he was, in fact, a grown man with three children as launched himself over the squealing blondes with the agility of an Olympic hurdler, clearing a pile of tiny limbs and discarded toys in one frankly unnecessary leap.
“DADDY!”
“Sorry, ladies!”
Will barely had time to turn before Mack came barrelling across the lawn like a man possessed.
He smashed into Will with the force of a bucking bull, knocking a laugh directly from his diaphragm as he scooped him clean off the ground.
“MAAAACK!”
Mack hooked his arms around Will’s thighs, hauling him up against his chest as Will burst into helpless laughter, his legs dangling uselessly around Mack's hips.
“Macklin! Put me down!”
“No.”
“Mack!”
Behind them, three tiny girls erupted into shrieks of outrage.
“HEY!”
“DADDY!”
“THAT’S OUR DADDY!”
Mack took off with his greatest treasure help firmly in his arms.
He sprinted across the front garden with Will clinging to his shoulders, laughing so hard he could barely keep his arms around Mack’s neck.
“You snooze, you lose!” Mack yelled over his shoulder. “He loved me first! I'm the winner!”
“DADDY!” Walker shrieked, chasing after them at full toddler speed.
“UNFAIR!” Hollis yelled, somehow managing to sound personally betrayed.
“Daddy belongs to everybody!” Winnie called after them, apparently the only child attempting to establish order.
“You guys are so embarrassing…” Leno yelled from the driveway.
Mack skidded around in the grass, pivoting with Will still clutched against him as the girls came charging from three different directions.
He spun left.
They followed.
He spun right.
They followed.
“Mack, you are a grown ass man!” Will wheezed.
“And still elite!”
He spun again, narrowly avoiding three grabby sets of hands reaching desperately for their Daddy.
Leno shook his head as he and a man Mack had never met stepped out of the car, both watching the chaos with looks of bemused delight.
“Hey, Mack, this is my friend Nate. Big Sharks fan.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, go Sharks!” Mack yelled across the yard, never slowing down.
“I’m Mack! Nice to meet you, man!”
Mack disappeared around the side of the house with Will still clinging to him.
The thuh, uh, uh’s of wind escaping Will’s lungs as he was carried caused the girls to fall into deeper hysterics.
“DADDY!”
“COME BACK!”
“HE STOLE HIM!”
“CAN'T STEAL WHAT HAS ALWAYS BEEN MINE!” Mack yelled back.
By the time Mack finally collapsed onto the front lawn, he was thoroughly winded from his aerobic welcome-home zoomies, dragging Will down with him into a heap just as three two-foot torpedoes came barrelling in.
One landed across Will’s back.
Another wedged herself between them.
The third simply threw herself on top of the entire pile.
As shrieks of toddler delight and rambling stories about every single thing Will had missed began to echo around the garden, Mack nuzzled into Will’s warm neck, finally letting out a breath he had been holding for a week.
“I love you,” he mumbled.
A kiss.
“I love you so much.”
Another kiss.
“You are super Dad.”
Another.
“I don’t know how you do it.”
He squeezed Will tighter beneath the pile of toddlers.
“I love you…”
Will couldn’t help but smile at the chaotic noise that washed over him as words and kisses and hugs welcomed him home.
Mack tucked himself closer against Will, surrounded by their girls, finally home.
From the driveway came Leno’s disgusted voice.
“You guys are gross.”
Mack didn’t even look up.
“GO HOME, LENO!”