I pulled into the lot and got out of the car. Jessa fell asleep in the car but got up quickly when she saw where we were.

"Swings, swings, swings!" She sang loudly so everyone in the park could hear her, including her Dad, who was jogging towards us with the biggest smile on his face.

"Afternoon, ladies." He said, moving closer to us. Jessa rubbed her face in my hair, suddenly becoming shy. I pulled her to me and gave her a reassuring hug to let her know it would be alright.

"Jess, this is Ezra. You remember Ezra from the other day." I nudged her and tried to get her to look at him.

"Ezwa Shark?" She whispered into my ear loudly and her eyes went wide. She turned to look at him and smiled. He looked over at me, confused. I laughed at his expression. He really didn't have a clue what was going on.

"You have so much to learn." I said laughing as he raised his eyebrow at me. I put Jessa on the ground and she grabbed Ezra's pants, searching for his hand. He looked down at her, not quite sure what to do. "She wants you to hold her hand." I said laughing. This was going to take some time. He clearly didn't have much experience with little ones.

He reached his hand down nervously and she placed her tiny hand in his. She performed some little karate kick spastic move and he looked down again with one eyebrow raised. He looked back to me again with a little humor in his eyes.

"Don't look at me like that." I said. "She is half you too."

He chuckled as we walked towards the playground. His laugh was warm and sweet. It reminded me of when things were good between us. A few minutes of that carefree laugh could make me forget about all the bad that happened.

The day was sunny, with a slight breeze. We couldn't have picked a better day to come to the lake. Jessa twisted herself away from Ezra and ran to the playground. He panicked and looked back at me, not sure what he should do.

"You have to be fast with a three-year-old." I teased him. He didn't get the slow ease into having a toddler that I got. He would have to take the crash course.

He smiled back at me and jogged after her. I watched how his muscles moved under his shirt as he ran towards her scooping her up. He looked healthy and well. He was completely wrapped up in her already and they had just started to get to know each other. This could not be any more perfect. Maybe we could find a way to make this co-parenting thing work after all. Jessa seemed really happy with him around and he looked at her like he would give her the world.

Ezra swung her around as she screamed with delight. He turned her around and flew her through the air as she giggled and cackled.

"Momma. Look. Momma." She squealed. "I'm a plane."

"I see." I said, sitting down on a bench watching the duo play. I pulled out my phone and snapped a few pictures of him swinging her around and her trying to tackle him midair. When he put her down, she began to chase him and latched on to his legs. She couldn't get enough of him.

She managed to con him into going down the slide with her, which was hilarious since his legs were as long as the slide. She laughed and screamed the whole time. I walked over to the slide and got them to sit still long enough to snap a picture as he leaned in and kissed her cheek. She leaned over and did the same, which caught him off guard. The two of them created a perfect picture that I would never forget.

"She's energetic." He said, holding his sides out of breath.

"Yeah, it's actually pretty exhausting. She only sleeps like two hours a night. I'm serious, like every night, just two hours and then she jumps up like this." I said, waving my arms at her as she skipped around the supports of the playground equipment.

"I still can't believe she's real." He said. "I can't believe we made her."

"We did." I smiled back at him.

Jessa slipped over to the swings and looked back to where we were standing with an expectant look.

"Ezwa, swing me now." She ordered.

"I guess I am being summoned." Ezra placed his hand on the small of my back as he walked by me. My body ignited under his fingertips. I didn't even know if he realized what he just did and I wasn't going to point it out. He seemed to have the Jessa part figured out pretty easily but spending time with me again was another story.

I walked over to make sure he used the one meant for little kids, but he was already sitting her in the right one. I was still on my guard even though this was going well. She was my world and anything that could hurt her had to get through me first. She was pumping her legs and trying to swing before he could even start pushing her. I sat down on the bigger swing next to them and watched as he pushed her softly in the air. He was so nervous she would fall. I remembered being that way when I first put her in one too. I quickly got over that. This little girl was fearless.

"I swing high, Momma." She squealed as she swung back and forth.

Once my insides calmed down from watching him to make sure he was careful, I began to kick my feet out and swing alongside her. She looked over and laughed as I swung in sync with her. I never get to do this since I was usually the one pushing her. It felt good to feel like a kid again, even for just a few seconds.

"Push Momma, Ezwa." She demanded. He stopped for a second and looked at me. "Push, Momma." She growled again, letting her demon voice escape.

I knew her well enough; he was not going to win this battle with her. He looked at me, unsure of what he should do. Pushing me on the swing would require him to put his hands on me. I trembled with the thought of him touching me again. I wasn't sure if I could handle feeling his fingertips on me, even if it was completely innocent.

"Push, Momma." Jessa screamed again. She had been the boss since the day she was born and she knew it. My Mom had always told me I was too much of a pushover with her. Looking over at Ezra's face, I could see him about to give in to her demands. Great, he was going to be a pushover with her too.

"Fine, fine." He said, moving behind me. My stomach tightened when he shifted closer, half from fear and the other half from missing his touch. He pushed my lower back gently and my insides dropped. Jessa cackled the moment his fingers pressed into me.

"She's a bossy little thing." He said while his hand gently pushed me. I rhythmically swung back towards him and prepared myself to feel him touch me again. I looked over and Jessa was still laughing. If I didn't know any better, I would have said she was doing this on purpose. Ezra started moving back and forth between the two of us, pushing us higher and higher. Jessa screamed to go higher and Ezra told her that's high enough. He was really good with her today.

I tried to catch my foot on the ground to stop myself, but my feet couldn't reach it. All the years of kids swinging had worn out the ground beneath me. Ezra saw me struggling and laughed. He grabbed the ropes on the swing and gently stopped me. He was standing close behind me and I could feel the heat radiating off him. He slid his hands down the ropes towards my hips as if they were a magnet drawing him closer. I jumped up quickly and stood in front of Jessa to catch her swing and slow her down to a stop.

He moved his hair back off his face and stared over at us. I pretended like I didn't see what just happened.

"It's getting late and we need to get back to my Dad." Ezra's face fell when I mentioned leaving. He was not ready for his day with Jessa to be over.

He stuck his hands in his pockets and lowered his eyes to the ground.

"You're probably right." He looked so unsure and slightly lost. I felt the familiar urge to pull him out of his own head that I always did.

"My Mom will be home soon and I need to get back to start dinner." He looked even more like a sad puppy and I felt even worse for him. "Look, my parents know you are back. I didn't keep it from them this time. They don't like what happened between us and I can't guarantee it won't be uncomfortable. If you want to, you can come back to the house and spend some more time with her. You can entertain her while I cook."

"Really?" His face lit up immediately and he nodded. "I'll head over. I need to call Jenna and let her know what's going on." I felt guilty at the mention of his fiancé. I forgot to ask how she took the news.

"I take it, that means you told her." I asked.

"I told her the day after I went to the bar. She was pretty upset and I don't really blame her. She said she would support me through this, but I know it will be really hard for her."

"It sounds like you really care about her." I said.

"Yeah." He said, looking away from me.

Ezra pulled Jessa out of the swing and she began kicking and scratching at him. Tears welled up in her eyes as she protested. She was having a great time and didn't want to leave. He passed the wild child off to me, pinching the side of my breast accidentally in the process. His face turned red from the contact.

"Ouch." I said when I felt the sting.

"I am so sorry." He said, moving his hand to me like he was about to rub the spot. He caught himself before he did it and moved his hands back down into his pockets, not sure what to do with them.

"I'm fine. No big deal, they get squeezed all the time." I said without stopping to think as I repositioned her on my hip.

His eyes locked on my chest and his mouth was hanging open.

"What?" He asked.

"Geez, Ezra. It's not like that, you perv. Jessa is very handsy." I rolled my eyes at him.

"She gets that from me." He said, pulling the corner of his mouth up in a smile.

"Let's get out of here." I said, biting my lip. He looked down at my mouth and I saw him shift. We were walking on a tightrope, praying there was no wind to push us off.