“Which is the best age to learn proper behavior in public.”
Penny looked from one to the other, her eyes wide. But she stopped kicking the table leg.
“She’s four years old,” Josh said.
“And as I mentioned after the doorbells, we obviously need to discuss discipline. Children need rules and boundaries. How do you expect her to learn proper behavior if you don’t guide her?”
“She’s fine. We don’t go out much.”
“Oh, that’s a great answer. What if you need to go out, do you want a child no one else wants around?”
Penny’s eyes filled with tears.
“Daddy?” she said. “I don't like her.”
“I’m beginning to side with you, kid,” he said glaring at Michelle. “You're starting to sound like Penny’s grandmother.”
Michelle raised an eyebrow. “My sympathies are with the woman.”
“Well they shouldn’t be. She ruined her daughter and would ruin Penny if I gave her the chance. Penny’s just a kid. Time enough to learn things later.”
“When?” Michelle asked.
“I don’t know, later.”
She shook her head, took a sip of latte and sighed.
It wouldn’t work. She had no need to worry about how she’d relate to the father, if she couldn’t even relate to the child.
Looking around the restaurant, she noticed other children with their parents. Happy islands in the impersonal public place. A woman laughed at something her son said, while her husband beamed indulgently.
A twinge of envy struck. Michelle would love to be part of a happy family like that. To have a husband who loved her and their children. Who would find time to spend with his family on inconsequential outings like this. A family to build memories with and to reassure their children they were loved.
“Penny, go play in the kiddie section,” Josh said.
“I’m not done.” She’d eaten most of one doughnut, Michelle noticed when she looked at her. Or at least decimated the doughnut. It was a toss-up how much was inside and how much smeared on her hands and face. Josh calmly wiped up as much of the jelly as he could, and sent her to the kiddie area blocked off in one corner of the yard of the restaurant.
Tossing the sticky napkins on the table he narrowed his gaze at her.
“Tell me what makes you such an expert on rearing kids. If my information is correct, you have never married, never had children, never even been exposed to children.”
“What information?” she asked, diverted.
He looked guilty for half a second. “A cursory investigation.”
“You had me investigated?” Dumbfounded, she could only stare at him.
“I didn’t have you investigated, I did it myself. You’re twenty-five years old, have an older sister named Caroline who is married to Brandon Madison. A younger sister named Abby, who’s a nurse at St. Joseph’s. You were valedictorian at your high school but for some reason elected not to proceed to college but instead got a job at Acme Insurance company where you’ve worked your way up to a supervisory position with lots of responsibility and a certain amount of prestige in the company. Impressive for one so young.”
“Is that all?” she asked outraged he’d do such a thing.
Yet also intrigued he’d found out so much in only a day.
“No current boyfriend,” he said slowly. “Of course it was only a quick and dirty look-see, but I don’t find information about any boyfriends.”
Heat flushed through her cheeks. Except for one boy in high school, he wouldn’t find any serious ones over the years.
“Maybe I ought to hire an investigator to look into your background,” she snapped.
“You’re changing the subject. I’m asking about your experience with children.”
“Discipline is the word you're looking for, Josh O’Malley. And it appears to be sadly lacking in Penny’s life.”
“You were raised by your grandmother—some starched-up society dame in Baton Rouge. You probably went to deportment class,” he returned.
Michelle almost nodded, but it was none of his business. She was not advocating Penny be raised as strictly as she and her sisters had been. But there was a happy medium between her deportment lessons and Penny’s free-for-all.
“At least I know how to behave in public,” she said as he kept his gaze steadily on her.
“What?”
“Come on, Josh, use some common sense. Haven’t you been in restaurants where an obnoxious child has ruined the pleasure of dining for you? Ever been at the movies where a rambunctious child talked, spilled his drink or kicked your seat back—ruining your enjoyment of the show?”
Slowly he nodded. “But Penny—”
“It has little to do with Penny and more to do with her father and his permitting her to behave that way,” she interrupted.
Leaning back in his chair, he scowled at her.
“She’s just a little girl,” he said again.
“Get over it, Josh. She’s tiny compared to you, but then most people will be, you’re so tall. I'm not saying act harshly toward her, just show her the right way to behave.”
“Her mother and I didn’t get on at the end. Hell, we didn't get on from the day we returned from the honeymoon, I think. We divorced right after Penny was born and Sylvia got custody. So I didn’t see much of her until last year when her mother died and she came to live with me. And with her mother gone, I’m trying to make it up to her.”
“She’s your daughter. She needs to know you love her.”
For a moment, Michelle’s anger spiked so strongly that she wish her father had felt the same, had defied her grandmother, stayed to fight and been there for her while she was growing up.
“And part of that caring is raising her to know how to behave. You’ll do more harm if she doesn’t have any acceptable manners. No one expects a four year old to behave like an adult, but expectations are that children gradually learn and get better as they grow.’’
“I won’t tolerate interference with how I raise my daughter,” he said.
Michelle nodded. “I’ve had time to think this over and it was a dumb idea in the first place.
