“That’s Sheila.” Jecca was pulling onto the road.
“Looks like she and your dad were fighting. He wrote SUNDAY AT THE LAYTONS.”
“My dad never loses his sense of humor.” She told him about taking Lucy’s photo and sending it that morning and what she’d written. “It looks like it’s getting worse between them.”
“You want to pull over and call him?”
“He would only tell me that everything is fine.”
“What does your brother say about this?”
“Joey is as tough as they come, but he won’t take sides between his wife and his father,” Jecca said. “When Dad and Sheila go at it, Joey runs away.”
“How do you handle an argument?” Tris was looking at her in speculation.
“Trying to find out what I’d do if you and I got into a fight?”
“I want to know anything I can find out about you.”
Jecca glanced in the rearview mirror at Nell.
“She’s asleep. Put her in a moving car and she passes out. Turn left at the next road. How do you argue?”
“Fairly,” she said. “My dad said he didn’t mind a fight just so it was fair. He doesn’t believe in below-the-belt punches, physically or verbally.”
“So if we disagree you won’t bring up something I said three years ago?” Tris had meant it as a joke but it fell flat. In three years Jecca would be living in another state. He tried to recover himself. “Think there’s a solution to the problem with your dad?”
“Not that I see. He’s stubborn, and Sheila is wildly ambitious.”
“She’s fighting for her children’s future.”
“That’s what Lucy said.”
Tris reached to the back to pull a quilt over his niece and Jecca couldn’t help watching him. He would make a magnificent father.
He sat back in the seat, his right hand massaging his left arm. The muscles had weakened. He smiled at Jecca’s profile, pleased that she’d noticed.
“How do you get on with your brother-in-law?” she asked.
“Perfectly. He laughs at me because I don’t know a piston from a transmission, and I get him back by saving his life now and then.”
“That seems to be an equal balance. Does he say thanks?”
“He changes my oil for free, and he lets me have Nell for whole weeks at a time.” He lowered his voice. “This week they’re trying to make a baby.”
“Did you put on the doctor act and tell him how it’s done?”
Tris laughed so loud he glanced back to see if Nell woke up. “That’s exactly what I did. How’d you guess?”
“I grew up in a male household so I know about male rivalry.”
Reaching across the ng " width="gearshift, Tris squeezed her hand. “Tell me about your art training,” he said. “And what’s this about your boss? Kim said she’s a bad one.”
“Andrea is rich, spoiled, selfish, vain, and exasperating.”
“Not your best friend, huh?” Tris tried to hide his smile. He liked hearing that her life in New York wasn’t perfect. He settled back in the seat and listened as Jecca told him about herself, and he asked a lot of questions.
He was glad to hear that she had many acquaintances in New York but no real friends. She saved her confidences and even her complaints for her frequent calls with Kim.