“Took my nephew and nieces to a movie.”
Being a good uncle. “Lucky them,” she said. Did that sound like some kind of double entendre? “To have such a nice uncle,” she added.
Would he date a woman with a kid? Not that it mattered. The last thing she needed was to jump into another relationship when she was still limping along emotionally.
Her cell phone chimed with an old Linda Ronstadt song, “You’re No Good.” Wyatt’s ring tone.Oh, go away.
“Looks like you got a call coming in,” Alden said.
She frowned. “My ex.”
“Guess you need to take that.”
What did Wyatt want now? She’d as soon ignore him but there was Alden, being all polite, expecting her to be polite. “Yeah, I guess so.”
“I’ll see you later,” he said. Calling to Buster, he started across the lawn back to his house.
Of all the crummy timing. Arianna took the call with a sharp, “What?”
“Yeah, nice to talk to you, too,” Wyatt said.
“I don’t know why you’re calling. You don’t have Sophie till next week.” Of course, that was why. “Don’t tell me, let me guess, you’re not going to be able to see her.”
“No, of course I can see her. But I’m gonna be late with the child support.”
“What?”
“Hey, lighten up. Stuff happens.”
Stuff happened a lot with Wyatt. “You shit!” Okay, the whole neighborhood had to have heard that. She lowered her voice. “Why?”
“Like I just said, some stuff came up.”
“What kind of stuff?” she asked suspiciously. Blonde or brunette?
“Just stuff. Shit, Ari, give me a break.”
“I’d like to,” she muttered. Right around his kneecap.
“I won’t be that late with it. I just wanted to give you a heads-up.”
She heaved a sigh. They’d be okay. She had some money left in savings and, although she’d insisted on giving her mom something every month, it wasn’t like she was going to get evicted if she came up short.
“Okay. Thanks for letting me know.” There, how was that for mature and polite? “But you can’t make a habit of this,” she added. “You don’t owe me anything, but you do owe your daughter.”
“You don’t need to lecture me. I know.”
She didn’t want to lecture him, but it appeared someone needed to. She took a calming breath.
“Do you want to talk to Sophie? We went ice-skating and I know she’ll want to tell you all about it.”
“I’ll pick her up next Saturday. She can tell me then.”
“I thought you’d be getting her on Friday.”
“Can’t. I’ve got a date.”
Wyatt was turning out to be as subpar a father as he’d been a husband. How could someone who had seemed so charming and fun to be with have turned out to be everything she never wanted? She’d been captivated by his sense of humor and his easygoing attitude. That attitude had turned out to be more irresponsible than easygoing, and it had covered over a thick vein of selfishness. She’d thought he was so wonderful when they first got together, had been so sure when he said, “I do,” To those vows that he’d meant it as much as she had. He’d fooled her for seven years.
