Alina felt her cheeks flush. It wasn't a crush. It was… recognition. He saw her—not as his wife’s daughter, not as a responsibility, but as a person. Smart, funny, a little lost. And in his eyes, she saw something she hadn’t expected: loneliness.
“I canceled it,” she admitted. “He didn’t laugh at my jokes.”
And she was too. Whatever happened next—whether they’d pretend that moment never happened or talk about it someday—she knew one thing for sure: she’d be back next Saturday. Not for the garden. For the conversation. And for the chance to see that smile again. Want me to continue the story or write a different version? DadCrush 20 03 29 Alina Lopez My Stepdaughter B...
They worked side by side for an hour. He taught her how to tell a weed from a sprouting carrot. She told him about her art history exam and how her professor didn’t appreciate modernism. The conversation drifted easily—about her mom’s terrible cooking, his failed attempt at baking bread during lockdown, the stray cat they both pretended not to feed.
Then came the moment. Alina reached for a trowel just as Mark bent down to grab the same one. Their hands brushed. She looked up. He looked down. For a second, the garden went silent—no birds, no traffic, just the soft weight of something unspoken. Alina felt her cheeks flush
Alina stood, brushing dirt from her knees. “Hey, Mark?”
“Yeah?”
Mark smiled—that slow, rare smile that made the corners of his eyes crinkle. “His loss.”