23. Classic Jealousy

23

CLASSIC JEALOUSY

D ane pulled into his parents’ driveway on Thursday after work to pick the kids up.

The daycare closed at five thirty and it was hit or miss to get there on time. He knew he wasn’t going to make it and hated to call his mother but had no choice.

He parked and got out, walked to the front door and opened it.

“Hey,” he said loudly. “Come on, kids.”

“In the back,” his father shouted.

He smelled dinner cooking and knew he’d get stuck here when he wanted to get home and get the kids settled so he could talk to them about Sloane.

Mel had called him two days ago and then texted him yesterday asking when the kids would find out.

He wasn’t sure what the hurry was and almost told her to back off, but if she was willing to help out, then he was going to allow it.

But that meant he had to speak to them first and found he was nervous about this .

Hell, his mother didn’t even know and he realized that was his first mistake.

Shit.

When did things start to get so complicated?

He moved to the back of the house and saw his mother stirring a pot of sauce and the water not boiling yet on the stove for the pasta.

He could take the kids and leave, but he saw them playing a game with his father and knew it wasn’t worth risking them getting in a bad mood.

“Why don’t you stay for dinner,” his mother said. “Now that Tiffani knows what I had planned she’s going to give you a hard time if you leave early.”

“I figured as much,” he said. “It will give us a minute to talk.”

“Everything okay?” his mother asked quietly, matching his tone.

“Yes. Can we go in the front quickly?”

“Dad, don’t leave,” Tiffani said when he started to walk out. “I want to stay for dinner.”

“We are,” he said. “I’ve got to show Grandma Doreen something.”

His daughter went back to the game they were playing without asking what was going on. She didn’t always do that.

“What’s wrong?” his mother asked. “Did you have a fight with Melanie?”

It just made him laugh when he heard everyone call her Melanie and not Mel even to his face.

He wasn’t sure why that thought popped into his head either.

“No,” he said. “But I should tell you something I’m going to tell the kids tonight. I’m dating someone. ”

“Ohhhh,” his mother said, her face softening. “I’m so happy for you. Not happy you are only telling me now when if you’re willing to tell the kids it’s got to have been going on for a bit.”

“Yeah,” he said. “A few months. Sorry. Chloe knows and I guess it slipped my mind.”

It was the best he could come up with.

“Don’t lie to me,” his mother said. “I get it. You’re private and you don’t want to be judged. Or have a million questions come your way. If you’re telling the kids tonight, why don’t you do it here? I can be some support for you. It might help.”

He wanted to say no and then realized that he might need it.

His parents gave him a lot of support over the years but not when it came to this. He’d never needed it.

He had no idea how his kids were going to react and maybe it was better to not be alone.

“It’s probably a good idea.”

“Does Melanie know?” his mother asked.

“She found out on Sunday by mistake.” He told his mother about the festival.

“I’m not surprised she acted the way she did,” his mother said. “I always suspected that she wanted to stay with you and this is classic jealousy.”

“No,” he said. “She chose to leave.”

“She did,” his mother said. “Because she wasn’t happy, but she wasn’t willing to work anything out. She knew what things were going to be like and thought it’d be fine. Sometimes that happens to people in life. They think they can handle it and they can’t.”

He knew that might be a shot toward his biological parents .

No, not a shot. Just a statement.

His parents had never said anything negative about the mothers that birthed him and Chloe.

“Don’t you want to know anything about who I’m dating?” he asked. He was surprised that she didn’t ask that first.

“Of course I do,” his mother said. “But I know enough not to press you. I learned my lesson with Chloe. As you know, I found out about Royce and Willow at the same time.”

He smiled. “It’s nothing like that. You’ve actually met her.”

“I have?” his mother said. “Now I’m really curious.”

“It’s Sloane Redding. She’s the owner of Sloane’s Spa. You went there to get pedicures with Chloe and Tiffani and then got my gift card there.”

“I did meet Sloane the day of the pedicure,” his mother said. “Not the day I got the gift card. She seemed like a lovely woman. A little young maybe?”

“She’s twenty-eight,” he said. “Soon to be twenty-nine. She’s got her own successful business so she’s not a silly person like some in her generation.”

“It doesn’t seem it,” his mother said. “I’d like to know more, but I’ll have to wait. Chloe knows her; she gets massages there regularly. Am I allowed to talk to your sister about this and ask some questions? I know Chloe will know more, but you two don’t always say everything to me.”

“It’s fine,” he said. “You can talk to Chloe and I’ll let her know it’s okay. We’ll talk another night about it when the kids aren’t around. Why don’t I help you get dinner?”

“I’ll let you,” his mother said. There was almost a bounce to his mother’s step and he was trying not to roll his eyes over her reaction .

Twenty minutes later dinner was on the table and everyone had their plates made.

His mother cleared her throat and he knew it was time to open his mouth.

“Kids, I’ve got something I wanted to talk to you about,” he said.

Both of them looked up from their plates. Tyler had his mouth full, Tiffani twirling her spaghetti on a fork. “What, Dad?”

“You know how Mom is dating Ethan, right?” he asked.

Tyler nodded. “How come you don’t date anyone?” Tyler asked.

He looked at Tiffani to see her reaction. “Yeah, Dad, how come?”

This might be going better than he thought it would.

“Actually,” he said. “I am.”

Tiffani’s face fell. He wasn’t sure why he didn’t expect that.

“You are?” Tiffani asked.

“I am,” he said. “This is the first time I have since Mommy and I split.”

“Your father has put you kids first in his life, but I think it’s time he goes out and has a little bit of fun and has some friends too, don’t you think?” his mother asked.

“So it’s a friend?” Tiffani asked. “Not someone that spends the night like Ethan or kisses you like Ethan does Mom?”

He looked at his mother. This wasn’t what he wanted the conversation to turn into.

“Yes,” he said. “She’s a friend, but she’s more. We go to dinner together. We do other activities. She’s nice and funny.”

“Do you kiss her?” Tyler asked .

His father laughed. “I think if your father kisses this woman that is between him and her. But that just tells me he cares for her. He’s telling you about it now so you can warm up to the idea before you meet her.”

“Do we have to meet her?” Tiffani asked.

“I’d like you to,” Dane said. “When you’re ready. I don’t want to rush anything. She knows I’m talking to you about her tonight. She’d like to meet you too, but she won’t do anything until you both want to do it.”

“I’m not sure,” Tiffani said.

“Then we’ll take our time.”

“Tiffani, remember when we got our pedicures, how much fun we had?” his mother asked.

“I do,” Tiffani said. “Can we go back again?”

“We can,” his mother said. “But do you remember the woman who owned the place? Her name was Sloane. She was very pretty and tall. You even commented on how tall she was.”

He hadn’t known that.

“I do,” Tiffani said. “She was nice and Aunt Chloe was there joking about the massages and that is when Aunt Chloe said Sloane made her feel so good and relaxed and was her savior at times. I wanted Dad to have that. That is why I said he needed to get a massage too.”

His mother turned to look at him with her eyebrows raised.

He supposed he owed her big for that great lead in.

“How would you feel if I said that Sloane is who I’m dating? That she makes me feel really good and relaxed about life and not just a massage.”

“Did she paint your nails like she did Tiffani’s?” Tyler asked.

He coughed on his bite of food. “No,” he said .

“Will she paint mine?” Tiffani asked.

“I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe. But that’s not what she does at her business.”

He wasn’t volunteering those things of his girlfriend just to get his kids to like her. It was not how he did things or who he was.

“Aunt Chloe likes her,” Tiffani said.

“She does,” he said. “I think you’d like Sloane too but only when you’re ready to see her again and meet her as someone other than who owns her business.”

“Does it have to be right away?” Tiffani asked.

“I don’t care,” Tyler said, shrugging. “As long as she doesn’t touch my nails or give me a massage. I’m ticklish.”

“She won’t,” he said, smiling. No obstacle there, but he wasn’t surprised either.

Tyler didn’t care for Ethan much because Ethan didn’t like to play video games or basketball or kick a soccer ball around as Dane did with his son. Tyler wouldn’t look at Sloane as a threat.

Tiffani, on the other hand… That might be more of an issue, though he could see she was torn.

“Does she have any kids?” Tiffani asked. “Someone I could play with?”

“No,” he said. “She doesn’t. But she likes kids. You said she was nice when you saw her. But she’s really busy like me so we don’t see much of each other. And she understands I only see you guys four days a week and the last thing she wants to do is take time away from that.”

“Okay,” Tiffani said. “Maybe we can meet soon. But not yet.”

“Not yet,” he said. “You tell me when you’re ready. Is it okay if I talk about her though? If you want to know anything you just have to ask. ”

“I can ask anything?” Tiffani asked.

“You can,” he said. “I’ll try to answer as best as I can.”

“Does she cook for you?” Tiffani asked.

“She does,” he said. “But I cook for her too. We share those things.”

“Mom does everything for Ethan,” Tyler said. “All he does is take her out to eat at times, but he never cooks or helps to clean up. We have to do it after dinner. How come he doesn’t?”

“It’s not the time to talk about that,” his mother said. “This is about your father and him having someone else in his life. Like Aunt Chloe and Uncle Royce have each other too.”

“Are you going to get married like them?” Tiffani asked.

“No,” he said. “We are dating. We have been for a few months. I’d never want to bring anyone into your life that I didn’t think would be around for a while, but that doesn’t mean anything more than what it is right now.”

Tiffani put her head down and continued to eat. When she didn’t ask anything else, he did the same and then Tyler started to talk about school and he knew that was the end of it.

“How did it go?” Sloane asked him hours later. The kids were both in bed and sleeping and he’d snuck downstairs to call her now that he knew she was home from work.

“Better than I thought it would. I guess fate played a part in it with my mother picking them up for me.”

He told her how it went and his mother’s words about her.

“That was nice of her,” she said. “A good way to bring me into it.”

“I wouldn’t have thought to do that. I think Tiffani was torn. She knows who you are and she knows Chloe likes you. That went a long way.”

“It’s almost like I’m not a complete stranger.”

“Exactly,” he said. “She’s going to let me know when she’s ready. I’m not sure when it will be.”

“Take your time, Dane. This is on you and not me. I’m good with whatever you’re good with.”

“Thanks for that,” he said. “I can’t tell you how happy that makes me feel. I think you and Tiffani will get along well, but I want her to be able to take those steps.”

He talked for a few more minutes and hung up.

When he turned, Tiffani was standing there. He hadn’t heard her come down the stairs.

“Does Sloane really make you happy?” Tiffani asked.

“She does,” he said.

“You’re smiling,” Tiffani said, sniffling a little. He wasn’t sure what was going on and thought maybe they’d get to the drama part of the night.

“I didn’t know I was. Why are you upset?”

“Because you only smile like that when you talk to me. Mom says it all the time. That you never smiled at her like that.”

What shitty petty words to put on a child.

He hadn’t realized any of that. “I’ll always smile like that around you.” He wouldn’t address Mel's words.

“I want you happy, but I don’t want to not have you be there for me.”

A tear rolled down Tiffani’s cheek. “Come here, honey.” He opened his arms and Tiffani ran into them. “I’ll always be there for you and you know it. Mommy is there for you and she has a boyfriend. Adults need to have companionship too. Just like you’ve got friends and when you’re thirty you’ll have your first boyfriend. ”

His daughter giggled. “Not that long.”

“Maybe twenty,” he said.

“I want you to be happy,” Tiffani said. “But I want you for me too.”

“I want to be happy just like I want you to be too. Sometimes things in life can be hard, but you work through it. We can work through this too.”

He picked her up and carried her to bed with her head on his shoulder. He knew that they’d get there and his worries could lessen some.