the Lodge. This could work. Shower, change into the painted-on jeans I hated but wore because it was
all about the tips, and shove a sandwich into my face as I prayed there were no wrecks on the
highway. Living on the opposite side of town from both of my jobs sucked ass, but it was a
concession I made to be closer to my girl. Normally, I would have gone straight to the bar, but I’d
forgotten my clothes this morning and khakis with a polo wouldn’t cut it behind the bar.
I stopped dead in my tracks as I pushed open the fire door. Had I gotten the day wrong? No, it was
definitely Thursday, and I’d have Willow this weekend, which meant Lisa was a day early.
“What are you doing here?” I tried to sound more excited than pissed off. No matter how annoyed
I was by my ex, I always worked to keep those feelings away from Willow.
“Daddy!” My little girl squealed, squirming to get out of her mother’s arms. “Mommy said I get to
spend tonight with you. Isn’t that awesome?”
“She did, did she?” I glared at my ex as I scooped the one good thing to come out of that
relationship into my arms. She giggled and squirmed some more as I planted kisses all over her
cheeks.
“Yeah. She has to go to a meeting tonight.” How sad was it that my four-year-old was better at
communicating with me than a grown woman?
I wanted to be pissed at Lisa for not even checking with me ahead of time, but as far as she knew,
I spent every night I didn’t have Willow sitting around the house. She didn’t know about the nights I
spent moonlighting at The Lodge. That was my time, my money. When we’d set up the custody
agreement, I hadn’t argued against paying child support even though Willow was with me fifty percent
of the time.
It was a small price to pay to make sure that my baby girl was taken care of. But I wasn’t exactly
making millions at the store, so I got a second job bartending for the tips. And believe me, they were
well worth every night I only got a few hours of sleep.
I shifted Willow to my opposite hip so I could dig out my keys and unlock the door. “Why don’t
you head into your bedroom for a few minutes, sweetheart?”
I set her on the floor, and she took off without a single word. Lisa accused me of spoiling Willow,
but I preferred to look at it as allowing her to explore everything she was interested in. Her bedroom
was an eclectic mix of toys and art supplies, and I rotated toys in and out of the room, so she never
grew bored. I liked to think that was why Willow always told me she liked her room at my house
