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“Tagging along? She asked me to be here.”
“Why?”
“That’s for her to explain.” I glanced in the direction of the bathroom. “Can we not do this right now? This dinner isn’t about us.”
“Oh, so there’s still an us?” he asked.
I was spared from having to answer because Tavy returned to the table.
“That was fast,” he said as he got out of the booth.
“I just needed to wash my hands.” She settled back into her seat and then grabbed her cocktail and took a few healthy swallows.
“Easy there, kiddo,” Smoke teased. “Pace yourself.”
Tavy looked at me, her eyes wide. I nodded.
She took a deep breath and faced her father. “Grandpa called me.”
“Grandpa? Grandpa who? Leslie’s father?”
“Your dad,” she clarified.
Smoke brows went toward his hairline. “Seriously?”
She nodded. “He wants to—ah—make amends.”
“Wow.” He sat back in the booth. “And you were worried how I’d feel about it? You talking to your grandfather.”
“No.” She swallowed. “He wants to make amends with you. He thought you wouldn’t listen to him, so he called me and asked…asked if I’d be the bridge.”
Smoke didn’t say anything and Tavy went on, “I think he’s actually really sorry about how everything happened all those years ago.”
“Is he dying?” Smoke asked.
She paused. “Not that I know of.”
“Hmm. Okay.” Smoke lifted his half-finished pint and downed the rest. He slammed it on the table, got up, and left without saying another word.
Tavy looked at the exit and then to me. “That kind of went the way I expected it to.”
* * *
“You going to be okay?” I asked her as I pulled into a parking spot near her apartment building.
“Yeah. I’ll be fine.” She unlatched her seatbelt. “Thanks for coming with me.”
“Well, I did get a free meal out of it,” I said with a smile.
“And I have breakfast for tomorrow.” She lifted Smoke’s meal that the server boxed up.
“Bleu cheese in the morning? Yuck.”
She laughed, but quickly sobered. “How long do you think he’s going to be mad at me?”
“I don’t think he’s mad at you,” I said quietly. “I think he doesn’t like the idea of his father using you to get to him. He doesn’t want you to get hurt, you know?”
“Yeah. Makes sense. I mean, my grandparents didn’t just write me off, they wrote off their own son because he made a choice they didn’t agree with.”
