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She shivered as she remembered something else Billy had done with that whipped cream.
“Anyway, I’m not that thin-skinned kid anymore,” Billy added. “I really do pick my battles now. You learn that pretty quick in the big leagues. And I don’t just mean baseball. The big leagues of life.”
She gave him a sidelong glance under her lashes. He really was a different guy now, more mature than the one she’d married. She’d fallen in love with that “thin-skinned kid.” But this version of Billy was…even more attractive? They didn’t fight the way they used to, either. But she attributed that to the fact that they weren’t together anymore, so she didn’t have to torture herself about how he spent his nights in baseball-world.
“So what do you think we should do about this situation? Nosy reporter with a narrative she’s trying to spin…it makes me nervous.”
“Just keep going. She’s very observant. She’ll see pretty quickly that we’re just two people who respect each other as co-parents. We’re not putting the band back together.”
She snickered at that phrasing. “Interesting way to put it. Are you the lead singer in that scenario? You left the band to launch a solo career?”
“Got kicked out of the band,” he corrected with a grin. “For good reason,” he added quickly.
Not wanting to get into that discussion, she turned to gaze out the window of the Tundra. The snow was falling more thickly now, collecting on the branches of the pines along the road. The forecast called for only an inch of snow, but to her it looked like more might be coming. The boys had only worn their parkas to school, not their boots.
Don’t baby them, she scolded herself. Direct quote from Zack—“Don’t baby me, Mom!”
She was about to suggest that they pick up the boys, since school was about to let out, but Billy’s phone buzzed. He dug it out and handed it to her. “Who is it?”
The gesture touched her. He must trust her to see whatever popped up on his phone. That was…new-ish. Back when girls sometimes got hold of his number, a simple glance at his phone could give her a stomachache and spark an argument.
“It’s from Archie at the bar.”
He nodded, and she handed it over. “Billy here.” After listening for a moment, he said, “Be right there,” then swung the wheel around in a screeching mid-road U-turn.
Jenna grabbed onto the seat. “What it is? Bar emergency? Can you take me home first?”
“You’re probably going to want to come. It’s about your dad.”
“What?”
“When I was at the bar the other day, Archie told me he hadn’t seen your father in a while. So I went and checked on him. He wasn’t home, but everything looked fine. I asked Archie to call me if he surfaced, or if anything out of the ordinary happened. Well, it did.”
“What happened?” Her heart was pounding a mile a minute. The last time she’d seen her father, he’d told her to get out and not come back. He was working on a huge canvas that required all his attention and he didn’t want to be distracted.
The fact that Billy had gone to check on him…she didn’t know what to make of that. But she couldn’t think about that yet.
“Well…he’s…uh…he’s having a moment.”
Anxiety flooded through her. She loved her father, but he epitomized the eccentric artist. She used to live in dread of what crazy thing he’d do next. “Just spit it out, Billy. What’d he do now?”
“He’s sort of…” He caught her expression. “Don’t worry, it’s not as bad as you’re thinking. He’s standing on the bar butchering Jay-Z lyrics. And he’s wearing a kilt and playing an accordion.”
“Is he drunk?”
“Archie says he didn’t serve him anything, but he can’t vouch for before he got here. He’s not too worried about it, but since I told him to call, he did.”
Jenna covered her eyes with one hand. “God, he’s impossible. Why did you go over there?”
“Archie said you had some kind of falling out, and he hadn’t seen him in a while. I just thought I’d say hello, and put my eyeballs on him. We always got along pretty well.”
That was true. Her father could be quite sexist; ironic that he’d gotten stuck raising two girls.
“Well, that’s kind of you, but you don’t need to get involved in all that,” she said stiffly. “Annika and I can deal with him.”
His jaw flexed as he fixed his gaze on the road ahead. Had she hurt his feelings?
“I didn’t know it would bother you,” he said softly. “I’ll back off.”
