“What’s wrong with him?” Meghan asked in ahushed voice.
Kinsey looked at her, and her smile changed.“He had a heart attack, honey.”
“Oh,” she said, and looked up to me. “LikeGrandpa, right?”
“Yep,” I nodded, watching Kinsey’s face fallwith the mention of Da.
“Your dad?”
“Yeah, a few years ago. He’s fine now, though.You’d never know it happened.”
She nodded, a shred of warmth lighting her darkeyes. “Good.”
“Are you going away again?” Meghan changed thesubject for us, steering the conversation back to more useful topics.
“Um, well, my dad’s notgonnabe able to go back to work, so I’m moving back to take over his store.”
My stomach fluttered with a sudden onset ofjittery nerves, and I spoke before Meghan had a chance to continue herinterrogation. “Wait. You’re back?”
She nodded reluctantly, dropping her eyes tothe floor. “Yeah.”
“For good?”
“Yes, Patrick. For good.” She forced a smile.
That was all I needed to know.
“Well,ehm, Meghan,your mother’sgonnabeexpectin’yahome for dinner.” I began to walk backward,steering my daughter along with me. My eyes caught Kinsey’s, her lips partedwith the confirmation that I still held a shred of control over her, and Ismiled. “I will beseein’ you very soon, Kinsey.”
It was a promise.
?
Later that night, I went up to Christine’s roomand knocked on the door. I shook my head at the sheer concept of needing toknock on the door that should’ve been my bedroom. The sight of Kinsey hadreminded me of just how absurd my life had been all those years. Of how good itcould have been, had she not left me stranded.
“Ugh, it’s you.” My wife groaned at the sightof me, never resisting the urge to roll her eyes.
“Hello to you too.”
“What do you want?”
“I need to talk to you for a second.” I pushedmy way past her and into the room before she could reply, and I demanded,“Close the door.”
“Are you here for sex? Because I am not—”
I snorted. “When have I everwantedthat from you?”
“I can think—”
“Christine, just close the damn door, please.”
With another famed eye roll, she pushed thedoor shut and turned around, crossing her arms over her chest. Her featuressoftened for a moment. “Is Meghan okay?”
At the mention of the one thing in our lives weboth cared about, I assured her with a single nod. “She’s fine,” I said, myvoice matching her expression.
“Good,” and she went hard again, scowling at mefor disturbing her peace. “What do you want then?”
“A divorce.”
