I put her little purple suitcase on the bed and opened it. I unpacked her clothes, underwear, and shoes while she inspected her new books. Pulling out some sky-blue shorts with a stretchy waistband and a matching plain T-shirt, I asked, “Um, Care. These are your play clothes, right?”

She glanced up and said, “Yessir. Mommy says play clothes have to be soft and comfortable and cheap.”

“Your mom is a very wise woman,” I mumbled, setting those clothes on the bed and putting the others in a dresser drawer. Then I put her hairbrush, toothbrush, and toothpaste in the bathroom.

I sat on the bed and watched my little girl putting her books away. Her tongue rested on her top lip in concentration as she stacked and rearranged her books until they were just the way she liked them. She had her own little system in her mind, and it was fascinating to sit back and watch her work. “All done,” she finally announced.

We got her dressed in her play clothes, and she crawled onto the bed and lay down on a satiny purple pillow. “This bed is so big!”

“Yeah, I’m kind of a big dude, and I wouldn’t fit on a little tiny bed.” I toed off my shoes and lay back on the bed with her. “See? This way we can both fit when we read at bedtime. Oh, wait. I have something else to show you. Stay right there.”

I got up and turned off the overhead light before coming back to the bed and turning on the lamp on her nightstand. It lit up with moving purple stars projected on the ceiling. I lay back down and watched the stars floating across the ceiling. “That is totally cool,” Carrie said, reaching for my hand. We lay on her bed watching the purple stars and holding hands for a long while, and I fell a bit more in love with my sweet little girl.

“What do you want to do now?” I asked her when she started to get restless. It wasn’t quite time for dinner yet, so I was drawing a blank on what to do.

“Can we go outside? Uncle Bode says it’s good to get some sunshine on your face every day.”

“Sounds good. We could go for a walk in the park. There are some ducks in the pond there, and I think I have some bread we can feed them.”

Her whole face brightened at the mention of ducks. “For real? Okay, let’s do that.”

I grinned as we went downstairs and grabbed a couple of slices of bread from the kitchen. “I like hanging out with you, Carrie. You always make me smile.”

“You make me smile, too, Daddy. Thank you for my cool new room. And thank you for letting me stay at your house.”