32. New Dynamic

32

NEW DYNAMIC

“ B ut you said she didn’t have any kids,” Tiffani said, pouting. “You lied to me.”

He let out a sigh. “I didn’t lie to you. She doesn’t have kids. This is her sister. And I told you what is going on and why Shiloh now lives with Sloane.”

He’d wanted his kids to spend some time with Sloane after he’d heard how well it went when Tiffani got her pedicure three weeks ago, but this was the first Saturday he had them.

Shiloh seemed to be struggling to make friends and he thought it’d be nice if his kids could talk to her. Maybe get her to relax a little around them. Give her a confidence boost she might need that neither he nor Sloane could manage.

“Has she been here before?” Tiffani asked.

They were at his house and Sloane and Shiloh were planning on coming over a little before lunch. He’d order pizza since his kids would love that and he hoped Shiloh did too.

Sloane had told him that her sister was eating great. Maybe more than she should be, but she could stand to put some weight on and as long as she wasn’t making herself ill she’d need time to know and understand that the food would always be there.

“She has,” he said. “I normally go to Sloane’s house because it’s easier, but Sloane has come here a few times with Shiloh for dinner or for us to spend some time together.”

He’d wanted Shiloh to get used to seeing his house, as he knew it was so far removed from anything she’d been in before. He also wanted to be honest with his kids that Shiloh had spent the night too.

“Mom told me to check my toys yesterday and now I know why,” Tiffani said, a tear rolling down her cheek. “She’s been playing with my stuff, hasn’t she? You’re spending time with another kid and letting her use my things!”

He ground his teeth over Mel saying that to Tiffani. How dare his ex set this up for failure? And why would she?

“Your mother shouldn’t have said that to you. Shiloh has not been in your room nor played with your toys. She brings her own.”

“You’re not lying to me?” Tiffani asked. “Just like you did about another kid?”

“Enough,” he said firmly. “I’ve never lied to you and I’m not sure why you think that.”

“You said we’d always be a family and we aren’t anymore,” Tiffani said. “That’s a lie.”

“We are a family,” he argued. “Being a family means a lot of things. It doesn’t mean a mother and father stay together for that to happen. How many of your friends’ parents are still married to each other? ”

Tiffani sniffled a little and wiped her nose on her sleeve. “Some.”

“That’s right,” he said. “Do any of them have stepparents?”

“Yes,” Tiffani said. “Does that mean you’re going to marry Sloane?”

“No,” he said. “It doesn’t mean anything other than Sloane and I are dating. You liked her weeks ago and told me as much. You’ve been asking all sorts of questions about her and said you were ready to meet her and now all of sudden you’re changing your mind because she has a little sister to take care of? That’s kind of selfish, don’t you think? I thought I raised you better than that. To have compassion for the fact that Shiloh is Tyler’s age and lost her mother. The only family she has is Sloane. That’s what being a family is about too.”

Tiffani was crying harder and he hated the words he was saying, but this was a life lesson his daughter was going to have to learn and get over quickly.

“Shiloh can play with my toys,” Tyler said. “I don’t care. Does she like cars and Legos?”

“Thank you, Tyler,” he said to his son. Tyler had been sitting there quietly during this like normal. “I don’t know if she does. You can ask her that when she gets here. I expect you both to be on your best behavior and treat her the same as you’d want to be treated if your mother dated someone who had a child and you were going to meet them for the first time. Is that understood?”

“Yes,” Tyler said.

Tiffani nodded her head. “Do I have to like her?”

He knew this was just hurt feelings and some jealousy coming out and was trying to be patient. “You don’t know her yet. This is like any other child you would meet at school. You have to learn more about her to decide.”

He’d never force his kids to do anything, but he expected them to at least behave and not be mean.

“Okay,” Tiffani said. “When are they going to be here?”

He looked at his watch. It wasn’t even ten yet. He’d wanted to tell the kids last night but didn’t until he knew for sure that Sloane would be here.

She wasn’t working on clients on Sundays and bringing Shiloh with her to the spa.

After school care was taken care of, but nights and weekends the little girl was used to spending some time in Sloane’s office playing or watching TV. He’d actually taken Shiloh a few hours and kept an eye on her at Sloane’s to give her a break.

Never once had Sloane asked, he’d just offered.

If his kids knew about Shiloh and it worked out, he could do it a bit more, but never would all the time. No way would Tiffani be on board with that and he wouldn’t upset his daughter any more than was necessary until she could get a handle on this new dynamic.

“In a few hours. I thought we’d order pizza for lunch and then you and Tyler can get to know Sloane a bit more. Ask her anything you want. You know she’s nice, Tiffani. You’ve said it before.”

“I have,” Tiffani said.

“Then I ask you to keep an open mind and be mature about this. Set a good example for others. Be a good big sister.”

“You’d take care of me if no one else was around, right?” Tyler asked Tiffani.

“If I had to,” Tiffani said. “But Mom and Dad are around. ”

“We are,” he said, “but if we weren’t you’d still do it.”

“I would,” Tiffani said. “Because it’s the right thing to do.”

“That’s right,” he said. “So keep that in mind. Now why don’t you two go play and I’ll let you know when they are on their way.”

He felt like he got through that as best as he could.

He wanted to call Mel and blast her for what she’d said to Tiffani but wouldn’t. He didn’t need to get any more worked up and he wondered if for some reason Mel was hoping this would cause a rift between him and the kids and make him back away from Sloane.

None of that was going to happen. He’d deal with things as they came just like he’d always done.

Hours later, everyone was in the family room. Shiloh wasn’t really talking, and Tiffani was trying, he’d give her that much.

“What do you guys want on your pizza?” he asked. Might as well order it now.

“I like peppers and olives,” Tiffani said. “You know that, Dad.”

“I do know that. And Tyler likes sausage. How about you, Shiloh? Do you like any of those things?”

Shiloh was pretty open with him. Or more open than most, but she was acting shy. “I’ve never had pizza before. I don’t know.”

“You’ve never had pizza?” Tiffani asked. “How is that possible?”

“Tiffani,” he warned. He understood she’d said that without thought.

“Sorry,” Tiffani said. “It’s really good. It’s bread and sauce and cheese. Do you like bread and cheese? ”

“I do,” Shiloh said. “I like spaghetti but not much sauce. I like butter and cheese better than sauce.”

“How about we get a pizza with no sauce,” he said.

“Shiloh ate peppers and mushrooms the other day when I made stir-fried chicken,” Sloane said. “You said you liked it.”

“I did,” Shiloh said.

“Then we should get a white pizza with peppers and mushrooms and Tiffani can try something new too. What do you think?”

“I’ll try it,” Tiffani said.

“I’m not,” Tyler said. “No way. Does this mean I don’t get sausage?”

He laughed at the appalled look on his son’s face. “We can get one of those too. Don’t worry. We’ll get a small sausage and a small with peppers and olives like Tiffani wanted and then we’ll do one that Shiloh might like. That way all three of you get to pick a pizza.”

“Okay,” Tiffani said.

“Why don’t you three go play upstairs while we wait for the pizza?” he suggested. “Maybe show Shiloh some of your toys?”

“Let’s go, Shiloh,” Tiffani said, grabbing the younger girl’s hand and leading her up the stairs.

“Well, this is going better than I thought it would,” Sloane said.

“You don’t know the half of what happened earlier.”

“Tell me,” she said, moving closer and rubbing his shoulders. “You’re tense. I can see it. Don’t be afraid and hold back because you think I’ll be upset or hurt. This is a lot for everyone, but we need to get this first time done.”

He told her what happened. “It really bothers me Mel set her up that way. ”

“I’m not surprised,” she said. “I don’t know your ex, but I told you I thought she was jealous. It feels to me like it’s one of those ‘I don’t want you but no one else can have you’ in either situation.”

“I’m starting to feel that way too, but I’m not letting it get to me. I’ll deal with it after the kids are back home. No reason to call her now and get into an argument.”

He pulled Sloane into his arms for a hug and a kiss. He didn’t want to do that when she first walked in and upset his kids. They needed to see this in small doses.

Then he heard Tiffani yell and come stomping down the stairs.

He ran in that direction and met her halfway. “You bought her a stuffed animal too!” Tiffani screamed. “She just told me that you bought her a lamb when you gave me the horse.”

He’d forgotten about that. He didn’t even think it was a big deal.

Tyler and Shiloh came down the stairs and into the living room where he was with Tiffani as she sobbed.

“I’m sorry,” Shiloh said quietly. “I didn’t mean to make her cry. I’ll go stand in the corner.”

He turned his head speechless as Shiloh walked to a corner and faced the wall all but trying to squeeze into it to make herself invisible.

“Shit!”

“Dad, you swore,” Tyler said. “You never swear.”

This day was going to hell faster than lightning speed.

“My mother used to do that to us,” Sloane said, running over to get Shiloh and pull her away from the corner and calm her.

“Tiffani, that was wrong and rude. What did we talk about? ”

Tiffani was balling her eyes out while she hugged his waist. He had to remind himself his daughter was seven and she’d been struggling with wanting more of his attention since Ethan came into the picture.

He was rubbing her back and pulled her to the couch and Sloane had Shiloh in the kitchen talking to her.

“You’re giving her things like you do us. We are your children.”

“Tiffani,” he said, lowering his voice. Yelling, scolding or punishing wasn’t going to accomplish anything. “We talked about this. I told you what happened to Shiloh. She was scared and didn’t know us and she’d just lost her mother. I know how much comfort Stanley gives you. Wouldn’t you have wanted someone to give you Stanley if you were in that position?”

“Yes,” Tiffani said, nodding her head against his waist.

“Well, Shiloh didn’t have a stuffed animal. She didn’t have a lot of anything. I knew what helped my little girl and I thought maybe it’d help her. I saw the horse and thought of you and the pig for Tyler. Even while we were there for Shiloh you were still on my mind. I’m not sure how much more I can explain that to you.”

“I don’t want to lose you,” Tiffani said, hugging him tighter. “If Shiloh lost her mother I could lose you.”

Why hadn’t he thought this might come up too? “We can’t control everything in life,” he said. “You know that. We have to make the best of what we can. Shiloh is younger than you and has such a hard life. She’s struggling to adapt just like you and Tyler had to do when your mother and I split. Remember how hard that was?”

“But I still saw you,” Tiffani said.

“That’s right, you did. And you still do. You know I’m here anytime you want to call and talk to me too. ”

“But Shiloh can’t ever see or talk to her mother anymore,” Tiffani said.

“No,” he said. “She can’t. So please keep that in mind. I know you’re young yet and don’t understand it all, but I want you to think of what she is going through too.”

“Why did she go stand in the corner?” Tiffani said. “She didn’t do anything. I was mad at you.”

“Because she thought she was the one that made you cry and was going to get in trouble. That must have been her punishment before. It’s not nice to be punished for something you didn’t do, is it?”

“No,” Tiffani said. “I’ll say I’m sorry.”

“I expect that you will.” He hugged his daughter and squatted down. “Let’s go over and do it now. You tell her what you told me. You weren’t mad at her but mad at me.”

The two of them walked to the kitchen where Shiloh was standing with Sloane and getting a drink, her tears dried up.

“I’m sorry,” Tiffani said. “It’s not your fault I’m crying. I was mad at my father. I thought he loved you more than me.”

His heart cracked some hearing that.

“Dane is nice to me,” Shiloh said. “But he’s your Dad, not mine. I don’t have a father.”

“I’m sorry you lost your mother,” Tiffani said. “I’m sorry I’m being a brat too. That is wrong of me.”

He took a deep breath and let it out. “We are all learning as we go,” he said.

“Sloane brought nail polish,” Shiloh said. “I’ve never had my nails painted, but she said she’d do yours and mine together. She said you liked blue so I picked out three shades of blue. ”

Jesus. This child was trying so hard and was the stranger here. He hoped to hell his daughter saw that.

“What color do you like?” Tiffani said.

“Purple,” Shiloh said. “But we just brought blue.”

“I’ve got purple nail polish upstairs you can use,” Tiffani said. “Then we can each get the color we like.”

“I don’t want my nails done,” Tyler said. “No one is going to make me do it, are they?”

His son had another appalled look on his face.

“No,” he said. “You and I can go play soccer in the yard when the girls are getting their nails done.”

“I like to kick the ball,” Shiloh said.

“Then why don’t you two go do that while we wait for lunch? Tiffani needs to get cleaned up. After we eat you can do your nails.”

Shiloh and Tyler ran out the backdoor to the fenced-in yard and he looked at Tiffani. Before his daughter could clean her face up, she turned to his girlfriend. “I’m sorry. I know I’m not behaving nice. It’s just, I’ve never seen my father with anyone other than my mother and he pays attention to me. Now he has someone else.”

His shoulders dropped over that honest statement that had to be so hard for a seven-year-old to make.

Sloane squatted down in front of Tiffani. “I’m not taking your Dad away from you,” Sloane said. “I’d never do that. He’s always going to be your father. He’s always going to be there for you first and foremost. I’m never going to try to be your mother or interfere with your parents. I’d just like us to be friends.”

“I told Daddy I liked you before.”

“Nothing has changed with Sloane,” he said. “Other than you found out about her sister. Not her child. But her sister. ”

“I didn’t mean to be bad today,” Tiffani said.

“You’re hurt and sad,” Sloane said. “We all feel it at times. That’s natural. I want you to be able to tell your father how you feel. I think that’s very mature of you.”

“You do?” Tiffani asked.

“I do,” she said. “Just like it’s mature of you to apologize, but you don’t need to.”

“I do,” Tiffani said. “Dad says if you do something wrong you have to make it right. I’ll try harder.”

He couldn’t ask for anything else.

“You’re a good kid, Tiffani,” Sloane said. “Do you think I could have a friendship hug so that we know everything is okay between us?”

Tiffani hugged his girlfriend. He looked out the window and saw Shiloh running and laughing with Tyler and told himself everything might just be okay.