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She sighed. Of course, David would have rented an impressive car. But then just about anything would be more impressive than Ruth’s aged Toyota.
She microwaved a frozen dinner for herself and sat down to spend the evening with some Anthony Bourdain and a glass of wine.
Around nine, car doors slammed outside. Carol came through the door first, and Ruth tried to read her expression. She looked annoyed, which wasn’t at all what Ruth would have predicted.
David stepped in behind her, with that same infuriating smirk. Although he seemed a little tense around the eyes.
Ruth managed a smile. “Nice dinner?”
“Decent. Better Greek than I expected for small-town Colorado.” He turned a quick look toward Carol, but she avoided his eyes.
Ruth kept her determined smile in place. “Okay, kiddo, it’s time for you to get ready for bed.”
Carol’s face flushed. “But it’s early.”
Ruth shook her head. “Nope. It’s after nine, and tomorrow’s a work day. You can read for a while if you want to. Say good night to your father. I’ll come up with you.” And try to find out what’s bugging you. Which was her main reason for sending her daughter to bed early.
Carol turned toward David with a bright, artificial smile. “Night, Dad.”
“Night, munchkin.” He glanced at Ruth. “I’ll stick around. I need to talk to you.”
Terrific. She put her hand on Carol’s shoulder, guiding her up the stairs.
Ruth let Carol change into her pajamas and brush her teeth before she sat down on the edge of her bed. “What’s wrong, kiddo? Didn’t you like your dinner?”
Carol didn’t look up from her book. “It was fine.”
She really needed to work on her delivery. “No, it wasn’t. What’s the matter?”
Carol sighed. “Dad had a phone call. He talked for a long time.”
Ruth wished she could jump on that, but she couldn’t. “Sometimes business calls come at the wrong time. I’m sure he didn’t mean to interrupt dinner.”
“And then he talked to Brianna.” Carol narrowed her eyes. “A lot.”
Well, damn. Brianna was a waitress at Selig’s. She was also what passed for a femme fatale in Antero, a statuesque brunette. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
Carol shrugged. “It’s okay. I watched the Rockies game they had on in the bar. And Dad stopped talking to Brianna after a while.”
“Good. I’m glad you had something to do.” She leaned down and kissed Carol’s forehead. “Don’t stay up too late, okay?”
“I won’t.”
Ruth took a deep breath and headed back down stairs. She would not yell at him. At least not at first.
David sat on the floor in the living room playing something on the Xbox. He glanced up as she entered the room, then pushed himself to his feet. “Hey, so we need to talk about California.”
“Really?” Ruth raised an eyebrow. “I don’t have a whole lot to say about it.”
David folded his arms across his chest. “Are you going to be a bitch about this?”
“About what? About sending my daughter off to California without knowing where the hell she’s going to stay or what the hell she’s going to do?”
David’s face flushed. “What are you talking about? She’s going to stay with me, and I’ve already told you she’ll go shopping. Or to the museum or the tar pits. Or maybe Disneyland.”
“Are you going to take time off to be with her?”
He narrowed his eyes. “Some. I’ve already taken a lot of time off to be here.”
Where you spent a total of three evenings with her. “Who’s going to look after her when you’re not around? She’s only twelve, David. You can’t leave her on her own.”
“I know that.” His jaw tightened. “I can have my PA, Jessica, take her around.”
“Your PA.” Ruth gathered her hands into fists at her sides. “I don’t know your PA. I have no idea if she’s capable of looking after Carol. She’s not a nanny. She’s your girlfriend.”
“No, she’s not,” David snapped. “She just graduated from film school. She’s a great kid.”
