Something Just Like This:
Tom’s life as a dad:1
He didn’t know exactly when Josie had stolen his heart, maybe along the lines of “you’re the best father I could ever have!”, maybe even “Help!”
All Tom knew was that Josie Holland, his own daughter, could have anything she wanted. Tom was like that. Suddenly, Josie was his everything. The park? We can stop by after the ice cream, after school, even if he had a photo shoot 10 minutes after. Beach day instead of studio work? Of course. Dolls and tea with Josie the Queen of England? Tom didn’t mind, all of a sudden, that he was wearing a pink crown and dressed in a tutu that barely fit.
Because it was Josie, his little girl, his princess, his darling, his everything. Josie moved from Barbie to Princesses to Cowboys to Dinosaurs in the blink of an eye. Wanting him to be her Ken, her Prince Charming, her horse, and her pet dinosaur. But didn’t she know that Tom would walk through Hell for her? If she wanted the crust off her sandwiches all she had to do was ask, instead she shyly pushes the remains on the plate towards him with a “daddy you don’t mind I didn’t eat my crusts, do you?” If she murdered someone Tom was sure he wouldn’t mind, with those doe eyes.
This was only the beginning of Tom’s love for Josie, only the beginning of a strong love, for if Josie scratched her knee learning to ride a bike, Tom would be there in a hurry, patching her up. Scared in the middle of the night, if she crawled into bed he’d cuddle her and tell her a story, as though to calm her.
The baby years were easy, the infancy years were a wonderful time. The teen years, not so much.
