He bit back a sad smile. Already, the kid knew him too well. "Fine," he lied. "Listen, Eli's studying late at a friend's, and you and I both have the night off from The Fix. Want to grab dinner with me?"
"You're not working tonight?"
"Nope." He justified the lie by reminding himself that he'd tell Reece to take over and walk out that door the minute she agreed to meet him.
"Um, Daddy?"
"Yeah?"
"Turn around."
Shit. He did, then found himself facing his daughter, who sat having a drink at one of the tables in the far corner of the main room, with Amanda, Nolan, and Shelby sitting beside her.
"Well, what do you know," he said. "Looks like we both hang out at the same place on our day off."
Even across the room, he could see her roll her eyes. Then she said something to the others, stood up, and very deliberately walked over to him, ending the call in the process.
"So, I'm guessing this is a yes for dinner?"
She crossed her arms and cocked her head. "You know I'm not the one you want to be having dinner with. Call her."
He shook his head, then sighed. "She has her life out there."
"Yeah. But she doesn't have you."
"Have you talked to her?"
"Well, duh. She's my mom."
"And?"
"And you already know. She loves you. She's not the problem here. I thought she was before she took off, but we've talked some more and I've thought a lot about it. And she's right. You're the one who needs to kick his own ass."
He fought back a bitter laugh. Wasn't that the truth?
She leaned in and kissed his cheek. "I'm sorry, Daddy, but I've already got dinner plans. And honestly? I think you need to sit down and do some serious thinking. You're throwing away happiness and thinking it makes you a martyr. It doesn't. It just makes you stupid."
"That's harsh," he said.
She lifted a shoulder. "Maybe. But it sure looks like truth from where I'm standing."
* * *
Tyree was dozing on the couch when Eli walked in. He did a lot of that lately. Either slept or buried himself in work. There really wasn't much of a middle ground.
"You're home," Eli said as Tyree scrubbed his face with his palms, trying to wake up. His beard, which he usually kept trimmed, had grown wild. Right at the moment, he really didn't care.
Eli plunked down on the coffee table right in front of h
im. "You look like crap."
"And a warm welcome to you, too, son."
"At least you've got your sense of humor."
Tyree didn't answer. He wasn't sure he had any sense of humor left, actually.
"Elena picked me up after school today," he said. "We went to Starbucks."