Training, Daddy (Inner Harbor 2)

“Right through the credits.”

“Hey, if she put on an action movie, I swear it wasn’t me.”

Diana laughs shaking her head. “No. You’re all good. I’m going to put her in her bed Piper keeps for her.”

Diana takes Maisy and I get up from the couch to help her if needed. I watch her tuck in her daughter and wonder if I have a place in their lives. I want to have a place. I want to rank somewhere up there as someone important to Diana.

“Exhausting isn’t it?” I comment as she shuts the light off slipping out of the room.

She looks up at me and whispers, “But so worth it.”

I agree with her. She’s worth it.

I trail after her into the kitchen when she checks her cellphone.

“Anything good?” I open the fridge for a bottled water.

“Milo says Piper calmed down after three glasses of wine and to not wait up.” She scrolls through messages as I chug my water.

I toss the empty into the recycling. “Only three?”

“She is so getting pregnant again.” She murmurs.

“We should make a bet on it. Twenty bucks?”

“Deal.” She puts her phone down on the counter but I feel like the change in room temperature isn’t from the air conditioning that’s kicked on.

“What is it, Di?”

Her lips purse in a sour face. “Nothing.”

“Don’t start that.” I press her. I can’t begin something with her if she’s not honest with me about where her head is at or what she wants.

With a heavy sigh she flips her phone over and slides it toward me. What I find is troubling and unexpected. It’s a text message from some asshole named Allen demanding to see her and come to the house.

“Who is he?”

“That is my ex-husband who doesn’t understand what divorce constitutes.”

I’m not sure how I feel about that. I know about him. Obviously, she has a child with him. I don’t like it, but I can’t do anything about it, only how I chose to handle it. I slide the phone back to her. “Okay.”

“What do you mean, okay?”

“Well, what do you want to do about it?” I ask. It changes everything if she’s harboring some long lost love for him.

“I want him to go away, but two years hasn’t resonated with him and my boss Natalie has been helping me with court motions when I needed them.”

“Well then, just that. Okay.” I’ll support her in any way that I can and let her take the lead on this although I hate everything about it.

Diana wrinkles her forehead. “Meaning what?”

“We all have a past, Diana. Clearly yours is a bottom feeding loser who won’t leave you alone. I don’t like it, but it has nothing to do with this.”

“This?” Her head tilts and she licks her lips.

I clarify what I mean in no uncertain negotiable terms. “Us.”

She wrings her hands nervously like she doesn’t know what to do with that statement. Heck, I don’t know what to do with it, but I’d like to.