Chuting down the ladder

Today, after we were done with school, Lilla asked me to play Chutes and Ladders with her.

I said, "No, I need to start dinner now. Maybe daddy will play with you when he gets home."

Her eyes welled up with tears and her lips starting quivering as she said, "I don't want to play with Daddy, I want you to play Chutes and Ladders with me now."

In that instant my heart broke.

And I broke out Chutes and Ladders.

Dinner, I knew, could wait a little longer...Lilla wanting to play games with me, well it just won't.