“You’re sleeping on my couch,” she shot back.
A different server brought their drinks and a basket of bread. Thomas held out his palm while Kenzie promptly divested the first piece of its crust. She discarded it in his hand and shoved the insides into her mouth, eyes narrowed on her brother. Thomas picked at the crust, dropping it on the small plate in front of him. For as estranged as he was from his kids, he didn’t want them to use their relationship with him just when they needed something and he had the sneaking suspicion that was exactly what was about to happen.
“That bad?” he asked, not ready to jump to conclusions, even though he knew better.
“No.” Dakota scratched at a spot behind his ear. “Besides, it’s not like you’ve never slept on the couch before.”
He sighed, taking a long breath to stop himself from saying something regrettable.
“That was rude,” Kenzie said softly.
Thomas looked at her, surprised by her defense.
“It’s true,” Dakota protested, gesturing flippantly at him. “He was horrible to Mom and I caught him on the couch more than once. You don’t remember because you’re younger.”
“I wish you wouldn’t presume to know the inner workings of your mother’s and my marriage,” he said.
There had been many occasions he’d slept on the couch, but mostly because they were nights he had to get up early for work and didn’t want to wake her earlier than her alarm. Or times when he’d come home late, and sometimes the occasional event when he’d drank too much and fallen asleep to theLate Showbecause anything was better than crawling into a bed covered with another man’s sweat. But the latter scenario was toward the end of things, long after Dakota had gotten married and moved out.
“Oh, come on.” Dakota rolled his eyes. “You’re not over here winning any husband of the year awards.”
“Are you?” Kenzie accused.
“Kenzie, I appreciate it, but it’s done,” he told his daughter.
“It’s not.” She reached for another slice of bread, furiously ripping the crust away. “It’s not. You know what I’m in school for and the more I learn, the more I notice the stuff the two of you think you’re hiding.”
Thomas rubbed at the bridge of his nose and stared down as she tossed another crust onto his plate. He hadn’t even touched the first one yet and he didn’t know if he would. His appetite had vanished as soon as Dakota sat down and opened his mouth. Thomas felt horrible for thinking it, but the sinking tension in his stomach was hard to ignore. What was wrong…what had he done wrong to feel so uncomfortable around one of his own children?
What about unconditional love?
“Kenzie,” he warned. “There’s plenty that you don’t know.”
“You want to try me?”
Dakota countered with a derisive snort of a laugh. “Yeah, let’s hear it.”
His phone vibrated in his pocket, and he knew it was Ben, but he also knew he couldn’t look. Not in the middle of the most awkward meal of his entire life. His mind raced with worry over whatever observations Kenzie thought she’d made over the years, and the impending realization that he needed to talk to Jennifer. Sooner rather than later. They’d mis-stepped by not being honest with the kids, and even though he’d agreed to protect their relationship with her, it was grossly unfair for him to have to bear the brunt of their misdirected anger.
“Well, to start with, since you brought it up.” Kenzie leveled a glare at her brother. “You’re an asshole. You treat Trent like shit.”
“Excuse me?”
“I’ve heard you on the phone with him the past two nights and you are so fucking manipulative.”
“Fuck you, Kenzie,” Dakota snapped.
“Hey.” He held up his hand. “Don’t talk to your sister like that.”
“Are you going to tell her not to talk tomelike that?” Dakota asked, the vitriol in his voice a near carbon copy of Jennifer’s.
“I think it’s unfair you want me to unload on Dad, but you can’t take it yourself,” she lobbed back at him.
“Are we going to talk about your holier-than-thou attitude and all the pretentiousness?”
“If you even knew what that word meant, you would know it’s the wrong one.”
“Kids,” he interrupted, but they were too far gone, bickering as bad as they had when they were teenagers. This wasn’t the brunch he’d expected and it was almost as awful as the one he’d feared.
