“All of them?”
“Yes.”He looked down at his hands.“The girls were so excited… I couldn’t tell them no.”
The server came by, and he ordered a coffee and fresh tea for her.When they were alone again, he rubbed one hand with the other.“I keep thinking I should have said no and stopped them.I feel like I should have said it wasn’t practical, never mind fair.It had been her idea that we do the holidays apart.She’d insisted that we begin to have separate traditions, that we make new traditions and this year it was my turn.And then—” He broke off, shook his head, “She changes it on a whim.As if she’d never insisted that this was my year and next would be hers, and there would be no overlap.”
Cat could understand his frustration.Lyndsey was beautiful and lively, as well as a free spirit who didn’t seem to know how jarring abrupt changes could be for others.
“I am angry,” he said under his breath, as if uncomfortable admitting the truth.“There doesn’t seem to be any respect for my plans or how I feel.”
“Do you tell her that?”
“I’ve tried.”
“And?”
“She says I’m a stick in the mud… an old fuddy-duddy.”The corner of his mouth quirked but he wasn’t smiling.“And that may be true, but there are plenty of times when she doesn’t show up as promised, when she’s agreed to take one of them to ballet or a classmate’s party, but something came up, or she forgot, and she’ll be full of apologies and kisses, but she doesn’t change.She does what she wants to do, when she wants, and that’s how she’s always been.”He looked at Cat.“It’s why I still have Charlotte working full-time.I need to know that even if I’m working, the girls won’t be forgotten.”
“That’s hard.”
He exhaled, shrugged.“She’s the mother of my daughters, and she does love them, and they her.”
“They were thrilled to see her.”
“They were.Olivia was already packing before I’d even said yes.”
“Lyndsey will take care of them.”Cat rubbed at a spot on her teacup.“And it will be good for them to have time with her.”She looked at him.“Did you send cough syrup with them?”
“And children’s pain medicine.Just in case.”
“You’re a wonderful dad.”
His coffee and her fresh tea and a plate of scones arrived.“I will miss them,” he said quietly.
She nodded.“They are lively and beautiful.”
“They take after their mum.”
“And you.Those two girls are very smart, as well as very loving.You should be proud.”
“I am.”He sipped his coffee.“Now I have a week to finish the book.No excuses.”
She knew that tone—the one he used when he was shoring himself up with logic, order, control.“You’ll have the time, and you’ll get it done.”
“And you’ll probably want to make other plans.There’s no reason for you to stay on, not with the girls gone.”
And there was his famous logic, order, and control again.
Cat had just broken apart a scone, but suddenly her mouth was too dry and she couldn’t eat it.She pushed the plate away as the bells of the local churches began to toll the hour.
“Thank you for all you did for us,” he added after a moment.
She nodded and struggled to speak.“I enjoyed it.I enjoyed them.”
“That’s not what Miss Pettigrew said when she fled.”Rhys flashed a wry smile and then his smile faded.“Can’t eat?”
She shook her head.“I’m too sad.”
“I don’t want this coffee, either.Maybe we just head back.”
