Arnold couldn't do much but focus. It was his first day back to work in what seemed like ages, as he took off quite a few months to help Emmy adjust to her new life. He was looking at a file for one of his students, Carl, who was having a hard time adjusting to his parents' divorce. He just saw Carl and was supposed to do an intake, however, all he could do was just look at the piece of paper.
This must be really ironic, he thought to himself, I am a guidance counselor who can't even get over his own grief.
Shaking his head, he mustered up the strength to complete the intake form and provided the right recommendations. "One visit a week will suffice. Will determine more necessary recommendations after four visits," Arnold mumbled to himself as he was writing the form out.
Just as he closed Carl's file up and placed it in his lock safe file cabinet, he realized school was out. Time to pick up Emmy, he thought to himself. Maybe we can make personal pizzas tonight, she might like that.
Sometimes, Arnold felt like his life was in a trance after Helga died. Then other times, he would be as happy and optimistic as he was before she passed away. This was one of these days where he felt like he could always look on the bright side, and nothing bad would ever happen to him.
When he finally got to the daycare, he walked in with the biggest smile on his face. When Emmy turned around and saw him, she had an odd expression on her face. Wow, guess I'm never this way a lot if she's taking notice.
"Hi baby girl! Ready to head home?" Arnold said while grabbing Emmy's items out of her cubbie.
Emmy nodded. Arnold picked her up swiftly and headed towards his truck. After getting Emmy situated in her car seat, Arnold turned the key into the ignition and headed to the boarding house, where Arnold and Emmy lived.
They didn't always live in Arnold's childhood home, in fact, they didn't always live in Hillwood. The Shortmans lived in the next town over, in a small condo. However, once Helga passed, Arnold didn't want to live in the same house where his wife took her last breath, and the condo reminded him of how lonely he felt without her. Thus, Miles and Stella gave Arnold's old room back to Arnold, where him and Emmy lived.
When Arnold pulled into the driveway, he noticed that his dad was working in the garage. "Hey Dad!" Arnold said with a burst of optimism.
With a shocked expression, Miles turned around towards his son. "Oh, hi son! I uh, didn't recognize you there for a sec." Miles rubbed the back of his neck nervously, while looking down at the ground. "Everything okay?"
Arnold scrunched his nose and laughed. "I don't know, for the first time in a while, I just feel happy."
Miles knew all too well about Arnold's random mood swings since his wife died. "Uh uh, just be careful okay?" Miles said with concern.
Arnold shook his head and said, "Don't worry Dad, I will be. Actually," he said while grabbing Emmy out of the car, "Emmy and I are going to make homemade pizzas. Do you want to join us?"
Miles reached out for Emmy, and Arnold transferred her into his arms. "How's my favorite granddaughter doing?" He asked Emmy with a smile.
Emmy smiled, and said, "Good pop pop!"
Miles kissed her forehead and then responded to Arnold's question. "Wish I could, but Stella and I are going to be heading to that conference."
"Oh! that's okay."
Emmy looked at her dad and said, "More for us!"
Arnold smiled at her daughter and said, "That's true, Em."
Miles gave Emmy back to Arnold. Arnold placed her down on the ground and held her hand to walk her into the house.
Later that night, Arnold and Emmy started to make their homemade pizzas in the boarding house kitchen. All the boarders were up in their rooms, which was perfect for the space needed to teach Emmy how to make pizzas. "There you go, Emmy, just have to spread the sauce with a spoon, like what I'm doing here." Arnold said while demonstrating how to add sauce to the pizza dough.
Emmy looked up at Arnold and said, "Okay, Daddy." She awkwardly held the spoon of sauce and somehow managed to spill it all over herself. She looked up at Arnold and laughed. "Oops!"
Arnold started to laugh with her, and it was uncontrollable; they started to laugh together.
This was the first time in a very long time that Arnold and Emmy felt truly happy.