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He put the phone to his ear and didn’t stop walking until he stood in front of the stretch of windows.
I shouldn’t listen in. I should mind my own business. But I didn’t like his expression. Something was off.
With a quick glance at me, he asked, “Hey, honey, what’s wrong?”
He paused as he listened to who I figured was his daughter on the other end of the conversation. She was the only one I’d ever heard him call that endearment.
“Didn’t Mommy tell you that I’d see you this coming weekend?” During another pause, Tate turned his back toward me, changing his tone so it was more soothing. “Don’t cry, Mazie, it’s only a few more sleeps away. I promise.”
Silence followed his promise, but his tense shoulders said it all.
“Yes, just a few more days. I’ll be there before you know it.”
Another long gap occurred as he listened intently to his daughter, who tended to be chatty.
But one thing he had mentioned caught my attention. He had said “there.” Normally, he spent the weekends he had with his kids here in Pittsburgh.
“I can’t, honey. I…” His head dropped and his voice softened even more. “I don’t live there any more, Maze, so I can’t sleep there. That’s why you and Alec normally come sleep here in my place.” After another long gap, he spoke in a rush. “Don’t cry, honey. I’m sorry… I’m sorry. I know it’s hard for you. It’s hard for me, too. I miss you and think about you every minute. I always count the seconds until I see you again.”
Pinching the bridge of his nose, he took a quick glance over his shoulder at me with his nostrils flared and his expression pained. Then once again, he turned away.
“Put Mommy on, please. I love you, Mazie girl,” he called out at the last second, his voice catching. He cleared the rough from his throat and raised his voice, making it stronger when he said, “Right… Friday… Yes, we can. I’ll be there.” He nodded. “Okay, see you then. Goodnight.”
His head dropped and he tapped the top of his phone against his forehead a few times before he took a deep breath, lifted his head and headed back to me in the kitchen.
He stood there for a moment, looking lost. Then with a frown, he said, “I’m going to go shower.”
I glanced over at the timer on the oven. “We’re about to eat, Tate.”
“I need to shower.”
He was shutting down and I needed answers.
“Do you want to tell me what’s going on? Why you’re driving all the way to Harrisburg to pick them up instead of meeting her at Sideling Hill like normal?”
“I’m staying in Harrisburg this weekend.”
My heart stopped. “Why am I only hearing this now?”
“Because it doesn’t matter where me and the kids stay, Roe. When they’re here with me, I don’t see you, anyway.”
While that was true, I was still comforted by the fact he was close. And if he needed anything from me, emergency or otherwise, I could be there in a flash. We could easily remind the kids that I was his neighbor.
“But you haven’t once stayed in Harrisburg since you moved out here.”
I might be going a little overboard but it wasn’t the fact that he was going to Harrisburg that bothered me, it was the fact that Dahlia was there.
Was I going to lose Tate to Dahlia again not long after making things right between us? Would she try something? To trick him into getting what she wanted? To guilt him into complying with her demands? Even use the kids against him?
I didn’t trust her one damn bit. And that lack of trust made my anxiety spike and unreasonable thoughts spin through my mind.
“Look, I know this is getting you upset. I can see it on your face, Roe. I can see it in how tense you’ve become. You’re white-knuckling the damn counter! But bottom line is, my kids are a piece of me.” He slapped his hand over his heart a couple of times. “They’re my world.”
I pried my fingers from the counter and stepped away from it. “As they should be.”
“So, whatever I need to do to keep things civil between me and Dahlia, I’m going to do it.”
Whatever I need to do… I’m going to do it. My blood turned cold. “Do you want to explain that?”
“She wants to sit down to talk about the kids and how to better co-parent. She also wants me to attend their teacher-parent conferences.”
Panic starting to rise and I had a flashback of that day in our apartment when he announced she was pregnant and that he was going to marry her. It had come completely out of left field and so was this news.
“When are the parent-teacher conferences?”
“Friday. I put in for time off and I’m leaving Thursday night.”
