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Luke leaned against the counter, looked to his feet and let out a huff before looking at his wife. “I’m here when I can be. Listen, can you just let this go? I come home early, have dinner with my family and this isn’t how I wanted it to end.” He crossed his arms over his chest as if he was challenging Tilly to rebut.
She hated that her concern for him was always made to sound like she was being difficult. She wouldn’t press the point because she knew him well enough to know the conversation was over. It didn’t keep her from feeling that prick of anger, though, the urge to shake him out of it, but he’d made the choice a long time ago and what came first for him was his job. “I’ll let it go, but I only brought it up because seeing you with them, I hate all you’re missing out on.”
Luke spread his arms out wide. “What exactly am I missing, Tillian? Because from where I’m standing not much except that Ashley has gotten taller and Justin needs a haircut.”
It wasn’t a prick of anger anymore. What was he missing out on? What wasn’t he? Soccer games, choir concerts, outings where it was just him and his kids. All he could say about his children was Ashley was taller, and Justin needed a haircut. A fucking haircut again. She could argue, she could scream, but she’d be right back where she was. With a husband who was only a part-time husband and father. It wasn’t how it was supposed to be, but it was what it was now. She reached for the bottle of wine. “You’re right. You’re not missing out on anything.” She didn’t wait for an answer and walked from the room. Going to her craft room, she closed the door, even though she wanted to slam it shut. It wasn’t how she wanted the evening to end either, but fuck, she was getting tired of the bullshit.
_______________
Gage opened the door to the small coffee shop and immediately spotted his daughter. She was sitting at a table with a single chocolate cupcake in front of her. Making his way toward her, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a woman watching him.
“I wish I could draw as much attention as you,” his daughter said as he sat down opposite her.
Gage chuckled. “I don’t draw attention.”
“Dad,” Scarlett drawled. “Every place you go women are looking at you.”
“That’s only cause I’m getting old,” he told her and grinned.
“Whatever.” She threw a hand out and rolled her eyes.
Gage tossed his phone on the table. “Hey, just remember you have my genes, it will happen.”
His daughter was in that awkward teen stage. The one where she was transforming from a kid to a woman all in the midst of finding out where she fit into the world. Currently, she was all about being a social butterfly and spending as much time with her best friend as she could, even sleeping less at home. But he had no doubt that she was going to turn out as beautiful as her mother.
She pushed the cupcake across the table. “Happy birthday, Daddy.”
His heart warmed. Not because she had texted him while he was out having a few beers with the guys telling him to meet her at the coffee shop so she could wish him a happy birthday, but because she called him daddy. Something she hadn’t done in two years.
“Thanks, Letty.” He winked at her.
Her eyes drifted to the table, her cheeks turned pink as she whispered, “You haven’t called me that in a long time.”
“I know.” His voice was low.
The waitress appeared at the table, and Gage ordered a black coffee and waited for her to leave before he addressed his daughter. “So, you took time away from your friends to meet me?”
“I did.” She hung her head. “I felt bad not being with you on your birthday. Plus, I knew Mom wouldn’t.”
She was right, his wife’s idea of a birthday gift was a blowjob in the shower that morning. Not that he was complaining, but the twelve and a half hours that had passed since then, he hadn’t heard a word from her.
“It’s all good, honey. I was your age once, I get it.” Gage said, while taking the wrapper off the large cupcake, breaking it in half, and holding out a piece to his daughter.
She took it, held it in front of her mouth and then asked, “What’s going on between you and Mom?”
“Nothing,” Gage said around a mouthful of the sensational chocolate treat.
Scarlett put her piece on a napkin and cocked her head. “I’m not a little girl anymore, I can see it.”
Gage shook his head. “It’s just a stage married people go through, that’s all.”
She sat back in her chair and crossed her arms. “Yeah, and that’s the same stage Rachelle’s parents went through right before they got a divorce.”
“No,” Gage spit out quickly. “No one is splitting up. Your mom is involved in her work right now, it happens.”
Scarlett tilted her head and muttered, “Okay.” But he knew by the tone of her voice that she thought he was full of shit. She grabbed for his cell, tapping the screen to check the time, and saw the notification across the locked screen. “You’re playing Friendly Words?”
Gage looked down, reading the small banner letting him know that Tilly F had played him back that morning. “Yeah, it’s not bad.”
