166 [Bonus chapter]

"Hey, I said, no running!" Luca dashed forward to catch the little girl who had zoomed ahead of us with her short little legs into the forest.

I laughed as I watched him grab her by the waist and lift her over his shoulders. The little girl squealed with delight and pretended that her father was a horse. "Onward!" she commanded. Holding her arms so she wouldn't fall, Luca started to run in slow motion.

The little girl's shiny raven hair, which I had taken my time combing and fixing into a high ponytail before we left, now lay in a messy heap on the back of her neck; the blue ribbon that I had carefully tied into a bow, now unwound.

I deliberated on whether to go up to them and fix her hair quickly, but then I knew that it was just going to get messy again in no time, knowing that my daughter was just like me when I was her age.