He got a better grip on the ramp and they hoisted it into the truck, which bought him a minute. “We’ve gone out afew times. That’s it.” He felt his face getting warm. This was way embarrassing, his daughter interrogating him about his girlfriend.Wait.Was Cassie his girlfriend?He hadn’t thought of her that way until now, when the word suddenly popped into his head. When did someone become a girlfriend, was there a requisite number of dates? He wasn’t even sure she’d be around much longer.
“I like her,” Lilah said. “I mean I don’t know her that well, but she seems nice.” She stopped to rub Charlie behind the ears. “And she liked Charlie.”
Glenn chuckled. “Everyone likes Charlie.” He opened the back door for the dog to hop in. He would put him in the house before they left but let him believe he was going somewhere for now. “Want to get in?” he said to Lilah.
She climbed into the passenger seat, and he started it up.
“So it’s good you’re seeing someone,” she said.
He had his foot on the brake, about to back up, but he turned to look at her. “What do you mean?”
“I just mean, it’s nice, you know.” She seemed flustered all of a sudden. “You won’t be lonely.”
He gestured to all the crap in the back of the truck. “Do I look like I have time to be lonely? What are you now, worrier-in-chief? That’s my job.”
“I just—” She buckled her seat belt, then threw it off. She looked overheated.
He glanced at her, concerned. “What’s the matter, you okay?”
She squirmed for a second, then blurted it out. “Mom asked me to spend the summer in Colorado.”
He put the truck in park. “The whole summer?” he said faintly.
She looked at him anxiously. “Right after school gets out.”
His chest felt uncomfortably tight. “The whole summer’s a long time. Why don’t you go for a week or two?” Sophie wasnotoriously unreliable and had no concept about parenting. How could he hand Lilah off to her for the whole summer? He wouldn’t see her from the time school got out until it started in the fall. He felt bereft just thinking about it.
She twisted the zipper on her jacket. “I was worried you might be lonely but now you won’t be, right?”
“What does this have to do with me being lonely?” His irritation sparked. All this helpfulness had just been positioning for Colorado. No doubt cooked up by Sophie.
“Because of Cassie. You’re seeing Cassie now.”
He took a breath. “Look, I’m glad you’re concerned about me, but let’s slow down. You spent four days with your mom, and now you want to go for the whole summer? I don’t think this is such a good idea.”
“Why not? You said you were happy I went to Vermont. You told me that. What’s the difference if I go to Colorado?”
“The difference is that this is the whole summer, and Colorado is halfway across the country.” And fucking Sophie hadn’t even bothered to consult him. That galled him more than anything. Putting a twelve-year-old up to it.
“It’s only two hours earlier. I can talk to you all the time.”
The tightness in his chest had traveled up into his shoulders and neck and created a hard knot. “It’s not the time difference. I didn’t even know about this until this minute.”
Her voice faltered. “Mom said she was going to call you.”
“Well, she didn’t. Your mom has a lot of big plans, but half the time she doesn’t even callyouback.”
Her face fell and he immediately regretted it.Shit.He’d broken his rule about not badmouthing Sophie. But she’d gone behind his back—not even the courtesy of a phone call!—and dangled this tantalizing plum of a summer in Colorado without consulting him.
He plowed on perversely. “What are you going to do when you get there, and she’s too busy to spend time with you? Have you thought about that?”
Lilah blinked back tears. “You just don’t want me to be with her because you hate her. You’ve always hated her! Youwantme to be disappointed, don’t you?”
“Why would I want you to be disappointed?” His gut churned unhappily. Now he was fighting with his daughter, the last thing he wanted to do. How had he made such a mess of this? “Listen—” He reached for her, but she jerked away. “I’m sorry. It came out wrong what I said about your mom. I don’t hate her, I know she’s trying. It’s just that a weekend in Vermont is a lot different than the whole summer.”
“You didn’t even want me to go to Vermont! You acted all fake happy that I had a good time.”
“What?That’s not true. I wasnotfake happy. I’m glad you had a good time.” But even as he said it his face warmed like she’d caught him out.Washe glad she had a good time or had he secretly hoped she’d come back with tales of Sophie’s neglect. How she’d traipsed off to her art show and left Lilah with an ailing grandmother she hardly knew. But apparently that hadn’t happened. Sophie had acted more or less like a grownup.
