“No, not half.” I already feel like an idiot about this whole thing, but I refuse to walk away from this conversation with my tail between my legs. “I deserve to be happy. Dani deserves to be happy too. Right now, Kate is making me happy and I want to bring her and her kid to Thanksgiving, and I expect everyone to be nice to them.”
“Alex—”
“Mom, listen…can you please call Amanda and tell her and Josh and also let Dad know?”
“Okay, fine,” she says in a low voice.
We say goodbye and I’m somewhat relieved that the first step is out of the way. I gather my stuff and head to the house.
Dani is rinsing off the driveway when I pull up, so I park on the street. “What happened?” I ask as I get out of the car.
“Louie Louie puked in the driveway after I took him for a run.” It’s still funny to me that we named our chocolate Lab Louie Louie and Dani is the only person who calls him by his full name. I think she just likes saying it. She looks so thin right now, it seems concerning that she’s running.
“Why are you running?”
“Because I’m training for the Olympics,” she says, while shutting the hose off and coiling it up.
When she stands up, I block her from going inside. “Funny, Dani, but seriously, you’re so thin.”
“This is how I was when we got married. I’ve been so stressed lately, fatigue from work and writing. I’m not trying to lose any more weight, I just want to get back in shape.”
“Okay.”
There’s a long pause. She looks around as if to say,Why are you still standing in my way?
“Can I talk to you?” I ask.
“I’m all ears.”
“Can we sit down?”
“Are you serious, Alex? No, just tell me. What, do you have a girlfriend or something?”
How does she always know things? It’s a sixth sense. “Yeah, I do.”
“Okay. And?”
“I’m going to tell the boys tonight. She has a son who is six. I’m going to take the boys to meet her and her son at Applebee’s so they can all get to know each other.”
Dani winces. “Applebee’s?”
“Is that really all you have to say?” I ask her.
“No, actually I do have a few questions. Let’s go inside. The boys are upstairs.”
I sit down at the breakfast bar in the kitchen and watch Dani wash her hands. She comes over and stands across from me.
“Who is it?”
“It’s Kate.”
She looks to the ceiling like she’s searching her mind. “The teenage temp?”
“She’s thirty.”
“Well, come on, Alex, do I have to pry this crap out of you? What is she like? You’re obviously serious if the boys are going to meet her. So, she has a kid? Are you prepared to be a stepfather? Have you thought this through?”
“Quit talking down to me, Dani. We’re not married anymore, you don’t have a right to treat me like a child. You didn’t then and you don’t now. And no one said I’m going to marry her anyway.”
