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“Mommy, I hungry,” Savannah says from across the booth.
“I know, buttercup. We’re waiting on Daddy.”
“Where Daddy?” she asks for the billionth time. She slaps her hand on the table as if she’s full of impatience. That’s what I wish I could do. The waitress has been by our table a number of times already and she keeps giving me a sad look when all she can do is top off our drinks. I think she believes we’re being stood up.
I grab my phone to call Ian. He doesn’t answer, but immediately calls me back.
“Hey, babe.” There’s lots of noise in the background and I hear some guys laughing.
“Where are you?”
“At dinner with the guys. What’s up? Did her lesson go well?”
Did I just hear him correctly? “You’re at dinner with the guys?”
There’s a pause. “Yeah.”
“Okay.” I hang up. He forgot he was supposed to have dinner with us. Ian tries calling back, but I turn my phone on silent and drop it in my purse.
“Where Daddy?” Savannah asks.
“It’s going to be just us. Do you want pizza, hot dog, or chicken nuggets?”
“Nuggets!”
I wave the waitress over and order, hating that he’s not showing up after she’s already been giving us pity looks. God, I’m so pissed. What possible excuse is he going to give me when he realizes he was supposed to meet us and chose his friends instead? How could he forget us?
“Color, Mommy!” When I raise an eyebrow at her, she adds, “Please!”
“Yes, ma’am.” I reach over, pick up a crayon, and color her menu with her. Coloring with her temporarily diffuses my anger, which is good because I don’t want to be pissed around her. Ian, however, will be a different
story entirely.
The perfect speech is already forming in my head. It’s tempting to go to Logan and Carey’s for the night, but that might be taking my silent treatment too far. It would definitely be a bad idea since Savannah would be with me. I don’t want to get into a habit of taking her away from him when I’m trying to get away from him because I’m angry. I also don’t want him to think it’s a show of how I could take her away from him, even though I never would. The idea of avoiding him is appealing, but the consequences would be terrible. Not worth it.
“Brr!” Savannah says as we walk outside to my car. “Carry me, Mommy! I’m cold!”
“Mommy’s cold, too,” I tell her, but I pick her up anyway.
“Look! Daddy! He came!” She’s pointing over my shoulder, so I turn around.
Running toward us is Ian. “Babe! I’m so sorry!” He comes to a stop in front of us. Savannah is reaching for him, so he takes her. “Hey, little Miss. Sorry I missed dinner.”
“It okay.”
Ha. She may think so, but I don’t. I turn around and continue to my car.
“EJ’s had it rough lately, so we wanted to give him a break. It was last minute.” Right. His teammate, EJ, has an infant daughter to take care of after her mom died. He didn’t know anything about the pregnancy and suddenly has a baby. It’s nice Ian wants to do something for EJ with his teammates, but not at the expense of Savannah and me.
I unlock the car and open the door, taking Savannah from him. Once she’s settled in the car, I close the door. “You forgot us, Ian. We waited for twenty minutes before I even called you with Savannah asking me every two minutes where you were. I don’t want to hear about you doing something nice for someone else. Go back to wherever you were. I have to get her home.”
“I’ll meet you there then.”
I shrug, not caring either way. He grabs my wrist and pulls me against him before I can open my door.
“I’m sorry, Sydney.”
I step away from him without saying a word. After a tense moment of silence, he lets me go and starts walking away.
