"Ex," Pax corrected, clasping his hand easily. "Paxton Romero. I live next door."
"Mm. Then why are you here?" Gerardo made no attempt to hide how he looked Pax over, judging him.
"Because my neighbor needed help with her washer. You?"
Gabby spoke up before things could get too tense between them. "And he speaks Spanish too. Means Mom and I aren't the only ones."
"You're not," Pax assured her. "We have at least one other couple in the community who uses it as their main language. Their kids are younger than you, though. Like five and seven, I think. Plus we have a few other nationalities. This is a pretty diverse community."
"See, Dad? Wolf's Run is awesome. And my new school? It's pretty amazing."
She started telling him all about the impressive features she'd barely glossed over with me, but I wasn't upset. I had a feeling she was trying very hard to prove that she was doing perfectly fine with me, which was all that mattered. At least, she had that tone, the one she used when she was bragging.
Pax gently touched my shoulder. "I'm going to get out of your hair, ok? Let me know if you have any other problems you need handled."
The way he said that made it clear he didn't just mean the washer, and I had to work to make sure my face didn't get warm. "Yeah, and um, tell Lane thank you for me?"
He grinned. "For moving the washer, or the wine?" He meant the kiss that had made me need a glass.
"Both," I decided, hoping my ex-husband's presence would be enough to keep him from being upset.
Instead, Pax just grinned. "That's the right answer." Then he was gone, leaving me to deal with my family problems on my own.
Gerardo didn't waste any time. "Isn't he a little young for you?"
Gabby groaned. "Really, Dad? And how old is Jaime? You don't have room to talk."
"She's older than that boy," he told Gabby. "And it's different."
"Yeah? Because you always get what you want and Mom's always supposed to be second? Besides, he lives next door. She isn't the one who rushed out to find a replacement, or was picking Jaime up easier than hiring a maid?"
"Gabriella," he warned.
The little brat crossed her arms and lifted her chin. "What? It's all true. We've barely been gone a few weeks and you've already moved a new woman in. That's the only reason you even care about seeing me, so you don't look like some dead-beat dad, right? Well, it's also why I'm not going to live with you. I'm not going to let you use me as some trick to impress that bitch! And so you know, the next time you decide you finally have time to see me? Call the day before. I had plans with my friends, and you ruined them."
He looked at me. "Are you going to let her talk to me that way? I will not tolerate either of you disrespecting me. My daughter needs to have some manners! And if this is how you intend to raise her…"
Too bad for him, his threat backfired. My daughter wasn't a stupid girl, and she didn't need much more than that to put all the pieces together. An annoyed huff fell from her mouth first, then she looked between the both of us.
"Is that why you left him?" She huffed again, this time making it sound almost feral as her attention swiveled around to her father. "You don't get to treat her like that anymore, Dad. Mom's doing great, and she doesn't try to make me feel bad for wanting to be me, but you do! And so you know, I'm old enough to have a say in who I live with, and I chose her!"
And with that, she stormed up the stairs, clearly heading for her room.
I just smiled at my ex as politely as I could. "Thank you for that. I'd been trying to find the right way to explain why our marriage didn't work."
"And you expect me to believe you aren't trying to turn her against me?"
I just lifted a brow. "For your information, I happen to think it's important for her father to be a part of her life. So no, I told her we had problems we couldn't solve, nothing else. She's been angry with me for making her move, and I think you just fixed that for me."
He stepped closer to me, leaning into my face with a scowl on his. "Don't