“If it makes you feel any better, I’m not, either.”
twelve
Jordan arrived a few minutes early to take the kids out to dinner. Daisy let him in, then stepped out of the way as Lucky and Sheba came running, their big feet skittering on the hardwood floors. He greeted them both, then smiled at Daisy.
“I hope these two are behaving themselves.”
“They are, but they miss you.”
“Next time I drop off the kids, I’ll stay a little while and throw the ball for them.”
“They’d like that.”
She studied him. He looked as he always had—handsome, with broad shoulders and a strong face. He was the kind of man women noticed and speculated about. Daisy’d had a crush on him all through high school, but he’d only had eyes for Sage.
“Ben is finishing up some homework and Krissa is doing her reading. They’ll be down in ten minutes,” she said, then wondered if she should offer him a drink or take him to the formal living room or what? She felt awkward and unsure of herself, unclear if they were going to stay on friendly footing.
Jordan solved the problem by heading for the kitchen. She and the dogs trailed after him. Jordan sat at the island and smiled at her.
“How are you doing?” he asked.
She took a seat a couple of barstools down. “I’m good. Busy.”
“Me, too. We have a spay and neuter event coming up. We’re working with one of the shelters.”
Several of the local animal clinics offered low-cost spay and neuter days for families on a limited income. Volunteers helped keep things moving. Daisy had helped a few times, but wasn’t sure she should offer now.
“The annual reunion is in a couple of weeks,” she said, keeping her tone neutral. “Did you want to go?”
His gaze locked with hers. “Did you?”
Why couldn’t he just answer the question? Why did he want her to put her feelings out there before he did the same? She suspected it was just a style thing on his part, yet it always left her with a sense of being exposed. Worse, a part of her kept waiting for him to use her feelings against her, which was a very real fear but probably not fair to him.
“I’m not sure, considering how things are between us,” she said slowly.
He leaned toward her. “We always have a good time.” He reached out and captured one of her hands. “Daisy, I miss you. I miss us.”
Tension she hadn’t known was there eased. “I miss us, too.”
“I’m glad we have an appointment with a therapist. We need to figure this out and we’re not getting anywhere on our own.”
She had no idea what “this” was. From her perspective, Jordan had simply moved out with no warning. Except for his odd complaint that she never bought him shirts anymore, she didn’t know what he wanted or even what had made him so unhappy in the first place. As for them not getting anywhere on their own, they were barely speaking, so the odds of anything changing seemed slim.
But she didn’t want to get into that right now, so instead murmured, “The timing of his vacation sucks.”
“Yeah. Three weeks? Who goes away for three weeks?”
“Exactly.”
The most highly recommended therapist she’d found had explained he was going to be on vacation and then would be catching up with his existing patients. Daisy had been willing to wait, but that had put off their first appointment several weeks. Still, it was scheduled and that was a good first step.
“Daisy, I—” Jordan began, but was interrupted when both kids ran into the kitchen.
“Dad! Where are we going to dinner?” Ben asked.
“I want to go somewhere fun.”
Ben sighed. “Not pizza. We always have pizza.”
Jordan released her hands and reached for his children. They surged close and hung on to him.
Daisy watched the kids with their dad, each of them telling him what was happening in their lives. Most of the time, she thought they were doing fine with the separation, but every now and then she was reminded this was hard on them, too.
He straightened. “There’s a new sushi place on Melrose I thought we’d go to.”
Ben and Krissa stared at him with identical expressions of dismay.
“We’re having raw fish for dinner?” Ben asked, sounding horrified.
Krissa made a gagging sound.
Jordan laughed. “I’m kidding. We’ll go to Island Burger. How’s that?” He looked at Daisy. “I’ll have them back by eight.”
“Thanks.”
Daisy walked them to the door, Sheba and Lucky leading the way. She hugged Ben