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Right.
So he didn’t forget I existed.
He knew his little girl.
“Double scoop?” he asked me.
Totally knew me.
I nodded.
We ordered, got our gelato, and he firmly shoved in to pay.
We then walked outside and sat at a table.
Tex and Tito still sat on their bench.
Dad glanced at them.
“I didn’t ask them to come,” I informed him. “They followed me.”
“Who’s the demented Santa Claus-looking guy?” Dad asked.
I grinned at him. “That’s my boss, Tito. And that’s not his name. No one knows his name. We just call him that because he likes Tito’s vodka. He’s weird and quiet, and has a very interesting sense of style, but he’s a really good guy.”
He dipped into his pistachio (and yeah, I could have picked his too). “You got an all-around interesting posse, darlin’.”
He could say that again.
He took a bite and watched the people walking by.
I took a bite and did the same.
He took another one.
So did I.
I knew what this was.
We both had the same dilemma. When the wall between us was so high, and neither of us had a rope or a ladder, how did we even begin to climb it to meet at the top?
Dad, who had been a Dad Interrupted, was still a dad.
So he found a finger hold first and grabbed on.
“I’m more sorry than I can express that I didn’t tell you I started seeing Deb. I hope it goes without saying that it gutted me you weren’t at our wedding. It put a pall on the day, so it was a double gut, because Deb felt it, and I hate I left her with that being part of the memory of our special day.”
“You look good. Fit.” I smiled at him. “Handsome. Had to clean up your act to turn the eye of a pretty lady, hunh?”
He smiled back, not hiding his relief I lightened the mood. “Deb goes to the gym four times a week. Couldn’t have the guys hitting on her while she’s there, so I had to go with.”
I loved knowing this about his life.
I loved it with everything I was in that moment.
“She talked me into selling the house and moving into a condo about six months ago,” he shared. “I fought her on it. Thought I’d miss the yardwork. No clue why. Haven’t missed it once.”
This explained his text of six months ago, sharing his new address.
