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“If you want, you can come for dinner tonight. I’ll introduce you as my old friend. We can start there.”
He stares at me for a couple seconds, his nostrils flaring. Isn’t this why I brought him to a public place? To keep his temper in check.
“I have to fly back to LA in a couple of days.”
“Okay.” I pause to not lightly approach my next topic. “Listen, you have every right to be pissed off, but when we’re in front of Monica, can we put that aside? She’s a smart girl and has a lot of changes headed her way. If she feels the tension between us, it will only make this more difficult for her.”
He stares into his coffee mug. For a moment I worry he’s going say no. “Sure, yeah.”
“Thanks.” I release the breath I was holding because he could very well bulldoze into our life and tell Monica how I took her from him. He can make me the monster and him the hero. I shouldn’t have doubted he wouldn’t put our daughter first though, this is Jimmy after all.
“How long have you lived here?” Jimmy asks at the same time I ask, “Why did you come here?”
We both laugh awkwardly, but before either of us can answer, Parker catches my eye.
Shit.
“Hey, doll. We still on for tonight?” he says a few steps before reaching the edge of our booth.
I glance at Jimmy. He’s looking down at the table and away so Parker will only see the top of his ball cap.
“Hi, Parker. I’ve been meaning to call you. Something came up and I’m going to have to reschedule.”
A slight frown tilts the corner of his lips, and he spares a glance at Jimmy. “Sorry to hear that. Everything okay?”
I purposely spill my coffee, the dark liquid gushing over the edge of the booth. “Yeah, everything’s fine. I’ll text you later this week and we can figure out another time, okay?”
He bends down with napkins and Misty rushes over to clean up the mess.
Parker smiles, standing. “I’m gonna hold you to that.” He knocks his knuckles on the table twice, winks, and heads to the door
“Thank you, Misty. I’m such a klutz.” I help her with all the paper napkins from the table.
“It’s fine. I’ll bring you a refill.” She smiles and walks away.
I can already feel Jimmy’s gaze on me before I turn my head to him.
“Who’s that?”
“No one. Don’t worry about it. Now tell me why you came here.”
“I will worry about it if he’s around my daughter,” he snaps.
I barely hold back my own tone. “Thanks, but I’ve looked out for Monica pretty well over the past five years. You don’t need to worry about that.”
“Yeah, well, I wouldn’t know that, would I?”
I rub my temples, pissed at myself that I walked into that one. There’s no defending the fact that I kept Monica away from him.
“So who is he?” he asks again.
“Just a guy I’ve gone on a few dates with. He hasn’t even met Monica. She thinks I’m going out with my friend Amanda. Happy?”
He nods, his lips pressed firmly together.
“And before you ask, I’m sober. Have been since I went to the treatment center in Utah.”
Minus the one shot at the bar that night, which I promptly forced myself to throw up. But that’s none of Jimmy’s business.
