“We’re riding bikes on the weekend, right? With Josh?”
Ethan nodded.
“What else are we going to do?”
It was then Ethan realized he’d only ever had his son four or five hours at a time. Blocks that were easy to fill. Suddenly the weekend seemed like an endless parade of empty hours. They mocked him and made him think he should have opened a bottle of wine with dinner. Or a case.
“We’ll have to come up with some ideas,” he said, leaning back in his chair.
“We could go hiking. Or out on the lake. Or swimming. Maybe Abby can come with us. She’s really cool, for a girl. Or the park…”
Tyler kept talking. A steady buzz of ideas and questions and statements. Ethan watched his son and wondered how on earth Liz had done it by herself. He didn’t know that he would have managed, let alone done as good a job. The hell of it was, loving Tyler didn’t guarantee getting it right. Having someone like Liz to watch his back would make all the difference.
She hadn’t had anyone. Because he’d never bothered to go after her. Hurt pride had kept him from following her. Hurt pride had cost him more than he could ever recover.
“TO THE STUPIDITY OF MEN,” Dakota said, raising a glass. “And my brother, who is their king.”
“To Ethan,” Montana said.
Liz, Nevada and Denise also raised their margaritas and toasted.
After a dinner of delicious Mexican food, Melissa had gone to a friend’s house for a sleepover and Abby had danced off to watch the latest Hannah Montana movie out on DVD. Liz and the Hendrix women were in the backyard, sprawled on lawn chairs, slowly getting drunk.
Word had quickly spread through the family and to Liz’s surprise, Ethan’s sisters had rallied around her as much as Denise had. They’d been appalled at the proposal, insulted by his refusal to declare his love and disappointed by her physical restraint in not at least throwing something at his head.
“He’s having a tough time with Tyler,” Denise informed, leaning back and staring up at the stars. “His phone messages are getting more and more desperate. Apparently he tried to make lasagna.” She giggled. “It didn’t go well.”
“Lasagna? That’s a lot of work.”
“His first message was something about pasta and sauce and how it wouldn’t be that hard. The second one was to ask what a lasagna pan looked like. Then there was something about did he really have to cook the pasta noodles first. The last message said they were eating out.”
Liz tried to laugh with everyone else, but she mostly felt sad. Having Tyler gone was getting harder, not easier.
Dakota turned to her. “He’s asking about you. Today he came into my office and wanted to call you. I know he misses you.”
“I hope so.” She desperately wanted to talk to her son, but knew the plan was the best way to go. Ethan would return Tyler to her Sunday night. Then they would talk. The three of them.
In the meantime, she had women she could depend on. Friends, and that felt nice.
It was close to ten when everyone left. She rinsed out the glasses and put them on the counter. Washing could wait until morning. While she was enjoying her pleasant margarita-induced buzz, she didn’t think that it was a good match for a soap-slicked glass.
She turned off the lights in the kitchen and walked back into the living room. Abby sat on the bottom stair.
“I thought you were going to bed,” Liz said. “Is everything all right?”
Abby shook her head.
Liz pointed to the sofa. “Want to have a seat?”
“Okay.”
The preteen got up and walked to the sofa. Liz settled next to her, put an arm around her and kissed the top of Abby’s head.
“Tell me what’s going on,” she coaxed gently. “You feeling all right?”
“I’m okay.” The girl snuggled close. “Don’t be mad, but I don’t want to go.”
Go? As in… “You don’t want to move to San Francisco?”
Abby nodded. “Can’t we stay here? I like it here. I feel safe. I have friends and Melissa has friends. Tyler likes it, too. Everybody wants to stay here but you.”
Talk about a kick in the stomach.
The worst of it was, Abby told the truth. Everyone
But staying meant facing Ethan and now that she was willing to accept what seemed like her fate, she could also be honest. At first leaving had been about not belonging, but later she’d wanted to go to get away from him. Being around him when she loved him was like living with an open wound.
“We’ll be really, really good,” Abby promised.
Liz wrapped her other arm around the girl. “You’re already that. I know it would mean a lot to both of you if we stayed here. I guess…” She drew in a breath. “I guess we can do that.”
Abby sat up and beamed at her. “Really?”
Liz nodded.
“I can’t believe it. Are we going to live in this house? If we do, you need a real bed and we need another bedroom. Or do you want me and Melissa to share? We can. She won’t like it, but I don’t mind.”
Liz hadn’t gotten that far. Given the choice, she would prefer a house without so many memories. “Moving might be easier.”
“We can move. We’ll help pack.” Abby threw both her arms around Liz and hung on. “Thank you so much, Liz. I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
Abby rose and spun in a circle, her bright red hair flying around her face. “I’m so happy! We’re staying. We’re staying!”
Liz reached for her cell phone and handed it to the girl. “Why don’t you text your sister and tell her?”
“Can I? Thanks. I will. This is the best.”
Liz wondered how long it would take Abby to wind down enough to sleep. Staying in Fool’s Gold. Who would have thought? When Ethan returned Tyler, she would tell them both. Then Ethan could take back his stupid, thoughtless, practical proposal. The town was small enough that she and Ethan could co-parent their son. He could spend equal time with each of them. That should satisfy Ethan and the judge.
It was, she told herself, the right thing to do.
ETHAN STOOD IN TYLER’S ROOM at his house and watched his son sleep. After a morning of bike riding and afternoon of failing to get peanut butter cookies to bake right and an evening of watching the first two Harry Potter movies back to back, Tyler had fallen asleep on the sofa.
Now, as he stared at his son, he felt a warmth in his chest. Love was there. Real love, born of time and frustration and a sense of being a complete failure as a dad, but still wanting to get it right. Tyler was everything he’d wanted his son to be-and he wasn’t easy. He got the latter from his mother.
Ethan stepped out of the room and went downstairs. In the quiet living room, he sank onto the couch and tried to figure out what he was going to do next.
He missed Liz.
He hadn’t realized how much he’d gotten used to having her in his life until she was gone. He missed talking to her, seeing her, having her smile at him. He missed her in his bed, but that was the least of it. While he would want her until the day he died, the ache inside him wasn’t just about getting laid. It was about having a conversation, hearing her laugh, watching her with Tyler and Melissa and Abby.
He wanted her in his life. He wanted her to be his family.
He wasn’t the only one. Tyler had gone from being mad at his mom to talking about her all the time. Today he’d
