“Do what? Have lunch?”
“Have arelationship.”
“I love you, Kenzie, but that’s a you thing. I’ve tried. For years. I’m either doing too much or too little—”
She cut him off. “Mom says…”
“Mom isn’t here.” Thomas held up his hands to stop that train of thought before Kenzie had a chance to get it out of the station. Even though he and Jennifer had agreed to not disclose the reasoning behind their divorce, he wouldn’t put it past her to have done some underhanded things to cast him in a negative light with their kids. Kenzie and Dakota had never been his biggest fans and he knew a carefully dropped word or phrase would have done wonders to pull them both into her corner.
It wasn’t his fault, or maybe it was, but it wasn’t anything he could change. Jennifer had wanted to be a stay-at-home mom, so Thomas had done everything he could to make it possible. He’d worked the long hours and the double shifts to ensure he had enough money to provide for their family of four. Jennifer hadn’t complained, at least not to him. He didn’t want to know what she’d said to his friends, but he imagined it was far from kind. If the things he’d said tohisfriends were any indication, at least.
Thomas hadn’t ever meant to be absent from his kids’ lives, or his wife’s life, but that was how it had turned out. The three of them had become a fully functioning family unit that he bankrolled until Dakota was in high school and Jennifer decided she wanted to go back to work.
He hadn’t argued because he thought it would be nice to finally have some support when it came to the finances, but he hadn’t anticipated Jennifer using work to find other men to sleep with. He hadn’t anticipated a lot of things that had happened in his life.
Thomas sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “How is your mom?”
“She’s great.” Kenzie sounded like she had more to say.
“Is she seeing someone?”
“Do you want me to answer that?”
The waitress brought their drinks and a bread basket. Thomas watched Kenzie tear the crust off a chunk of sourdough, just like she had her whole life. She tossed the crust back into the basket and rolled the center of the bread into a ball before shoving it into her mouth. He laughed under his breath as she chewed. Jennifer had always been grossly annoyed at Kenzie’s relationship with bread, but Thomas found it endearing. Part of him flashed with an unspoken kind of pleasure about knowing it was something she still did. That even though he might not know his daughter the way he wanted to, he still knew parts of her.
“No,” he said, taking a drink of his beer.
He didn’t need Kenzie to confirm what he already knew.
Of course Jennifer had started dating now that they were divorced. She’d started dating years ago. He just hadn’t known about it.
“He’s horrible, though. If that counts for anything.”
Thomas looked across the table at her, lips pursed. “I said you didn’t need to answer.”
“I’m just saying,” she mumbled, taking a drink of her wine. “He’s an idiot.”
“You think I’m an idiot.”
“Idioter,” she said. “Bigger idiot.”
“Impossible.” Thomas pulled Kenzie’s discarded bread out of the basket and began to pick at it. She smiled at him and rolled her eyes.
“Tell me about your apartment,” she said.
He relaxed, the tension in his shoulders unwinding just enough for him to become fully aware of how painful the patio chairs at the restaurant were.
“It’s walkable from here.” He pointed toward the direction of his building. “Obviously smaller than the house, but it’s just me.”
“You should get a cat.”
“I hate cats.”
“You hated Mom.” Kenzie smirked.
“Kenzie!” Thomas admonished his smug daughter, even though the sentiment was close enough to the truth to pass. “You mom and I…we just outgrew each other. It happens sometimes.”
“I know.” She sighed.
