Toe the Line(51)

This must be him.

She’d told me in the last couple of emails that she’d been dating an older guy with kids, but this was my first look at him.

His name was Jason, and he was some sort of television executive who worked for a competing network. In another shot she sat on his lap, looking a little drunk. Or maybe she was just happy. I used my thumb and index finger to zoom in on his face for a moment. He definitely had some light wrinkles around the eyes, but he was a handsome guy. Salt-and-pepper hair and a slight beard. She’d told me he was in his late forties—more than fifteen years older than her. She’d also mentioned that his two kids were college-aged. It surprised me that she’d taken up with someone who’d already been married and had kids. One of the reasons she’d broken up with Shane was because he claimed he didn’t want kids. This guy already had kids who were grown. Did he want more, or was he done? Those were questions I should’ve asked her, but I hadn’t felt comfortable prying as much lately.

I zoomed back out and looked at her smile again. Grilling her would mean having to reciprocate on my current personal life, which I wasn’t prepared to do. I wanted to make sure I didn’t come off like a failure when I finally told her.

One thing was for certain, though. I’d missed Noelle’s face. And seeing her smiling like that made me happy, even as it made me physically ache. I zoomed in on his face again.

“Whatcha doing, Daddy?”

I flinched as Clancy startled me. Her movie must have finished. I closed my laptop before turning to her. “Nothing important.”

“You were looking at an old man,” she noted.

I loved my daughter. She had no idea how much pleasure that comment gave me.

“It was just a friend of a friend.” I laughed.

“Oh.” She scrunched her nose. “You have friends?”

I bent my head back in laughter. “Of course I have friends. What are you tryin’ to say, little girl?”

“I thought Uncle Max was your only friend.”

Max, my business partner, was practically a member of the family. He and his wife, Sharon, lived right down the street from us.

“No. I have other friends besides Uncle Max.”

Since my daughter only ever saw me going to work when I wasn’t hanging out with her, it was no wonder she’d assumed I had no social life.

“Who’s your best friend?” she asked.

At one point the truthful answer would’ve been Noelle. But I wasn’t sure where she and I stood as of late. And Clancy had no clue who Noelle was since the only time they’d met, she was just a baby. I’d never spoken about Noelle to Clancy, since I knew it would get back to Mariah. To this day she still had a complex about my female friend. I hoped someday Clancy could meet Noelle again.

“You’re my best friend.” I tickled her.

“Can we go get ice cream, best friend?” Clancy flashed her little teeth.

Such a manipulator. “Trying to butter me up, huh?” I looked over at the clock. I still had a little time before I had to be at the restaurant to prepare for the dinner crowd.

She hopped up and down. “Please!”

“Sure.” I sighed. “I think we can swing that.”

I had a tendency to spoil my daughter lately. I think I was trying to make up for the fact that I’d let her down in the one area that mattered most. She just didn’t know it yet.

When Mariah entered the room, our daughter turned to her. “Mommy, Daddy says we can go for ice cream.”

“Overcompensating again, are we?” Mariah muttered.

“She and I haven’t gone this week. I have a little time before work, so why not?”

“Well, it’s kind of close to her dinner time, that’s why.” Mariah rolled her eyes. “Sometimes with you it’s like having another kid.”

“If you really don’t want me to take her, I won’t.”

“No, it’s fine.” She turned to Clancy. “Why don’t you go grab a jacket? It’s cool out.”

“Okay!” she said, running out of the room.

With my daughter gone, the silence was deafening.

“When are we going to tell her?” Mariah asked.

I placed my head in my hands. “I don’t have the heart. You know that. If it were up to me…never.”

“You’re just going to keep taking her for ice cream and hope the issue disappears? It’s not going to be any easier if we wait.”

“I agree. But… She’s too young to understand that it’s not her fault.” I raked my hands through my hair. “Maybe we should put it off for just a little while longer.”

She shook her head. “I need to move on with my life, Archie. This situation is suffocating me.”

I lowered my voice. “Is this about Andy?”

“No. He hasn’t put any pressure on me at all.” Mariah crossed her arms. “But I’m not happy. I think you and I need our space. We can’t have that until we tell her.”

Staring up at the ceiling, I blew out a breath. Mariah was right, but I wasn’t ready for the drastic changes that would come from taking this step. The thought of living apart from my daughter killed me. Once we told Clancy we were getting a divorce, the next step would be for me to move out. I was in no rush to do that. But I had to respect Mariah’s wishes. She had every right to her independence, especially since I was the primary reason our marriage had fallen apart.