Hi, George Manley here. I am 29 years old and I live in San Francisco, California. I am divorced and I have a daughter, Lucille, who is the sunshine of my life. She's only six, and is starting first grade at the nearby elementary school today.

To be honest, I was nervous. How could I not be? My little girl was off to her first day of school. She was just in the back seat in her backpack that was way too big and she was kicking her feet and playing with her favorite doll.

"Are you ready?" I asked her.

"Yeah, Daddy." she said in her innocent little voice. I helped her out of her car seat and held her hand as we walked to the doors. The classroom was a six year old's paradise. It was very organized and very colorful and had large windows. You could see the small playground outside. Inside, there were toys everywhere and little tables with little chairs and little cubby holes for all the little kids' things.

Some other children were already there, exploring all the nooks and crannies there were. Lucille held my hand tighter. I knew she was very shy and nervous, so I knelt down to her level and said, "You're gonna be fine, okay, Sweetie?" Lucille nodded.

"Look! It's Sammy!" Lucille said excitedly, her eyes lighting up. Sammy? None of my friends had kids named Sammy. She was looking at a little boy who was very cute. He had curly dark hair and golden eyes and light golden-brown skin. He was with a woman that was obviously his mother.

The lady that was holding the little boy's hand was quite possibly the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. She had long, curly brown hair and golden eyes and rich dark skin and a beautiful smile. Wow. After a few moments, I realized I was staring. I quickly cleared my throat and looked for Lucille. She had run off to hang out with the Sammy kid. When I looked up, I saw Sammy's mother walk up to me.

"Hello," she said, smiling "Are you Lucille's father?"

"Er, yes. I am." I said, nervously.

"I just have to say, your daughter is so adorable and sweet. You did a great job." she said, smiling kindly

"Thank you. But, uh how do you know…?"

"Oh! Silly me! We met a week ago at the park. She was with her mother, I guess. Sammy accidentally ran into her...You get the point. Anyway, she basically spilled her life story to Sammy and she absolutely adores you. By the way, sorry about your wife." the woman said hurriedly.

"Sorry. It must creep you out that I know your whole life story. I'm Hazel. Hazel Zhang." the woman- Hazel said.

"George. George Manley." I said reaching out my hand. She shook it.

"Manley? Really?" Hazel said, laughing slightly.

"Yeah. It sucks." I said, smiling.

"Well, Mr. Manley. It was very nice meeting you. I regret that I must be going." Hazel said.

"Bye." I said, waving. She smiled and waved before leaving the room. As she waved, I caught a flash of gold on her ring finger. Huh...

"Do you like her?" Lucille said right next to me. I jumped. "She's very pretty. And nice."

"Lucille...It's not like that.." I said.

'Okay. Bye, Daddy." She said, giving me a hug.

"Bye, Sweetie." I said, reluctant to let her go, but she went and talked to her new best friend, Sammy. I sighed and walked out of the building. I got into the car and drove off to work. In case you want to know, I'm a software engineer. My life was all about computers and stuff. Very exciting. I liked my job, I really did, but I had always hoped for something more...I dunno, just more. But, enough about my job woes, let's get back to the story.

After I was done with work for the day, I drove over to the school to pick up Lucille. When I pulled over into the school parking lot, I saw her on the playground chatting with Sammy. When she saw me, her eyes lit up.

"Daddy!" She yelled and ran at me. I picked her up.

"So, how was your first day, Sweetie?" I asked her, smiling.

"It was awesome! I met Casey, and Andy, and…" she began rattling off a list of names. I just smiled.

"Guess what?" Lucille said.

"What?" I asked

"Sammy's dad is a superhero!" she said enthusiastically.

"Really?" I said, pretty disappointed. I hadn't really considered the possibility of Hazel being married. Then, I remembered the flash of gold on her ring finger.

"Yeah. He fights bad guys and saves lives and he even has a special uniform!" Lucille continued.

"Wow." I couldn't compete with that. I was only a tech guy.

"I know! And he has a secret camp!" she finished.

"Interesting!" I said, a bit surprised at that one. The dude sounded like a policeman, but the secret camp threw me off.

"Daddy, can I have some ice cream?" Lucille asked with puppy dog eyes. I tried hard to resist. I really did, but…

"Sure."

"Yay!" she said, jumping out of my arms and running to the car.

"Don't you just love children?" a voice asked right next to me. I turned my head and saw it was Hazel.

"Yeah." I said, looking at Lucille dancing around the car. Hazel just sighed.

"I just wish…" Hazel trailed off

"What?" I asked, concerned.

"It's nothing. Nothing." she said, decidedly. I knew it wasn't nothing, but I let it go. I didn't want to pry, because she obviously didn't want to talk about it.

Over the next few months, Lucille and Sammy became inseparable. That meant a lot of play dates, meetings at the park...You get the idea. Hazel and I became good friends, One weird thing was, she never mentioned Sammy's father. Ever. I figured he left her and broke her heart. Hazel was a good woman, and she didn't deserve to be treated that way. I couldn't help but fall for her. She was kind, beautiful, smart, and there was something special about her. She had this aura about her. And her eyes, her beautiful golden eyes.

One day, in the middle of the school year, while I was picking Lucille up, I saw Hazel crying, her head on her arms, which were on the steering wheel. I knocked on her driver's side window. She looked up and saw me and tried for a smile. She let down her window.

"Hi." she said, her voice watery.

"Everything okay?" I asked.

She wiped away her tears. "Yeah. I'm fine." She smiled again and rolled up her window. That was a little harsh, but I just waved and walked away. Lucille was in a bad mood that night, so I was a little preoccupied. Hazel crying would have to wait. The next day, Hazel was her normal self, smiling and laughing, as if nothing had happened yesterday.

I worried about Hazel. She seemed so down, but she wouldn't tell me. It was pretty frustrating. I wanted her to tell me what was wrong so I could hold her in my arms… Sorry got carried away.

Anyway, a few weeks later I was a bit early in picking up Lucille when I saw a strange man I had never seen before. He was definitely army. I could tell because of his posture. He was tall, at least 6'3 and had a black buzz cut. Also, the army uniform gave a lot away. From my angle, I couldn't get a good view of his face, but as I got closer, I saw he was definitely Asian and pretty good-looking (not that I'm gay).

"Hello." I said to the stranger. "Waiting on someone?" I asked.

"Yes. My family." he said in a deep voice.

"Nice." I said.

Then, the doors opened and a flood of children came out. I was curious to see who he was here for. As I searched the crowd for Lucille, I saw Hazel walking in from the parking lot. She seemed to be busy with her phone, but I called out anyways. The army guy looked in her direction and froze. Hazel looked up and smiled, but then her expression turned to one of shock. She mumbled something, but I couldn't hear because I was too far away. Then, she broke out in a huge smile and started running towards the stranger. He caught her in his arms and twirled her around. I could have sworn some of the fifth grade girls went, "Awww…"

"Frank! Thank the gods!" I heard Hazel say.

I just stood there awkwardly, my heart splintering into a million pieces. I cleared my throat, and Hazle pulled away from the stranger, Frank.

"I hate to interrupt your reunion, but, who's this?" I asked.

"Oh! George, this is my husband Frank. Frank, this is my friend George. He's little Lucille's father." Hazel said, beaming.

"Ah! So this is who's been taking care of my Hazel when I was gone. For that, I am eternally grateful." Frank said, with a smile.

"Uh, thank you." I said.

"DAD!" Sammy yelled. Frank picked up his son and tossed him in the air.

"And how has my young centurion been faring?" Frank asked. Centurion? Weren't centurions Roman or something?

I turned away from the happy family's reunion to look for Lucille and then I saw her talking to one of her friends, Casey, I think. "Hey,sweetie, It's time to go home."

"Okay, Daddy. Bye, Casey!" Lucille said.

"Bye!" the blonde first grader replied.

"Who's that man with Sammy and Ms. Zhang?" Lucille asked.

"A superhero." I replied.