Fast forward three years, and her backyard adjoins ours, separated only by a fence. She’s not only the school director, but has become like a part of our family.

“Aunt Mona can cook vegetables from our garden,” Noah says, oatmeal flying past his lips.

“Son,” I chide. “That’s disgusting. Don’t talk with food in your mouth.”

He rolls his eyes. I lift one brow. Shamefacedly, he mutters an apology. We have a system in this house, Noah and I, and there is never any doubt who is the boss of it.

“Vitamins.” I point to the little dish of gels and gummies I laid out.

He eyes the pile of pills, mouth twisted up.

“Remember Pop?” Aiko asks. “How big he was? And see how big Daddy is? Take your vitamins, and you’ll be big like them. Your dad used to be little, too.”

“You were?” he asks.

“I was one of the smallest kids in my class.” I raise my right hand. “Promise. Then around tenth grade, everything changed.”

“And you got big like Pop?”

“Not quite,” I say dryly. “Pop was six feet, six inches. Two inches taller than me, but I made up a lot of ground in a couple of years.”

“And that was from taking vitamins?” he asks hopefully.

Honestly, no. That was just genetics. “Absolutely it was the vitamins.”

In ten minutes, we’re out the door and headed for the airport. When we arrive, I unload Aiko’s small battalion of color-coordinated luggage.

“I’ll miss you so much,” Aiko says, holding Noah’s face between her hands.  “You’ll be good for Daddy, right?”

“Yeah.” He bites his lip, and I recognize his “I’m supposed to be a big boy and big boys don’t cry” face. “A month is a long time, though.”

“It’ll fly by,” she tells him, her voice falsely bright. They’ve never been apart this long before. None of us have. “And we’ll FaceTime, okay?”

“Aiko!” a tall, sandy-haired man calls from the curb. “Perfect timing.”

Surrounded by his own collection of bags, he eyes my ex-girlfriend like she’s his favorite dessert.

“Um, yeah.” She glances up at me, blinking fast and licking her lips. “Chaz, this is, um…he’s…”

“Ezra,” I say, stepping forward with an extended hand. “Nice to meet you, Chaz.”

“Uh, hi.” He shakes my hand, and his hazel eyes flick between Aiko, Noah and me.