Alice frowned at him in censure for the prevarication. “You know what I mean. You really like her.”
He shrugged and tried to change the subject. “What do
you want for dinner tonight? I was thinking maybe we could go out, if you want. You’d probably like a good old American burger or Arkansas barbecue after all that fancy European food.”
Alice refused to be sidetracked from her interrogation. “Are you going to have dinner with her again? Just the two of you, I mean. A date.”
He sighed. “What did I tell you about matchmaking? Meagan and I are just friends, Alice.”
“But you would be more, wouldn’t you? If it weren’t for me, I mean.” Looking troubled, she rested a hand absently on Waldo’s head when the dog pushed against her for more attention. “You don’t have a personal life when I’m here because you think you have to be here all the time for me.”
Scowling, he took a step toward her. “I spend time with you because I choose to, Alice. I don’t consider it a sacrifice to be with my daughter. If your mother said anything to you—”
“She didn’t,” Alice assured him a little too quickly. “I mean, maybe I mentioned that we’d met Meagan and that you and Meagan seemed to hit it off—and maybe Mom said it’s got to be tough for a single dad with a busy schedule to find time to date—but she wasn’t criticizing. She said some really nice things about you, in fact. She said she’s happy you’re such a good father. She said she wishes she were more like you—you know, content to stay here in Arkansas and lead a settled sort of life with your daughter.”
A settled sort of life. He could almost hear Colleen saying the words—and they weren’t quite the compliment Alice took them to be.
“Your mom doesn’t really know what’s going on in my life,” he said carefully, trying to keep any measure of censure from his tone. “I’m very happy to have you back home again. Don’t ever doubt that.”
“I don’t. I just want you to know you don’t have to spend every minute with me. I’m thirteen years old. I have a life, myself, you know. Tiff wants to have a sleepover party next weekend and I’m going to be pretty busy this week catching up with my swim team and telling all my friends about my trip and everything. I thought maybe I could have Casey over one evening? Her grandma would bring her. I want to show her all my pictures and souvenirs and stuff.”
“Casey’s welcome to come over. And you can spend the night at Tiff’s as long as at least one of her parents will be there to supervise,” he said automatically. “And don’t worry about me, kiddo. I can entertain myself for a few hours when you have other plans. You don’t have to take care of me, either,” he added in an attempt at levity.
She didn’t smile. “Mom said you might be worried that if you start seeing someone seriously, I’d get upset if it didn’t work out. When I bought the scarf for Meagan, she warned me not to get too upset if you and Meagan were to get together and then break up or something because most relationships don’t work out, anyway. Especially when both people have busy careers, like you and mom did, or you and Meagan do now. So if you’re worried about that, don’t, Dad. I mean, I wouldn’t want you to get hurt or anything, but sometimes these things do work out, you know? Tiff’s parents are still together, and they both have careers. Her mom owns a boutique and she’s there like seven days a week, and her dad does something at a bank, I think.”
“Alice—” It sounded to him as though his daughter and his ex-wife had done entirely too much talking about his personal life.
He didn’t want to fuss at Alice, really, because it was only natural for her to talk about her life during the month she’d spent with her mom, but Colleen shouldn’t have encouraged talk about things that were really none of her business, no matter how helpful she’d considered herself being. Had it made her feel less culpable about their failed marriage to predict that he wouldn’t be able to sustain a relationship with anyone else, either?
He had no intention of letting his ex find out that his most recent attempt had crashed and burned, too. He would never let either Alice or Colleen know that the sting of this failure could stay with him for a while, making him very unlikely to try again anytime soon. He had allowed himself to fall too hard for Meagan. Let himself start believing in things he’d given up on a long time ago. And it had hurt to watch those renewed fantasies disintegrate around him, especially since he wasn’t entirely sure what he’d done wrong this time. He should have just stuck to his resolve to date only rarely, and then on a strictly casual and temporary basis.
“Just saying, Dad.”
“Thanks,” he said wryly, “but let’s just leave things as they are for now, shall we? You and Meagan can still be friends, when you both have time to get together, but that’s something the two of you started before I even met her, remember? So go ahead and call her, if you want, to see if she’s home. I’ve got a few emails to return and then we can go out to dinner whenever you’re ready.”
She sighed, but seemed to get the message that he didn’t want to talk about this any more for now. He started to turn back toward the house, then paused. “Oh, and Alice? Do not mention anything along these lines to Meagan, got it? No hinting that she and I should go out or anything like that. Nothing you and your mother talked about concerning me and relationships. Just tell her about your trip and leave me out of it.”
His daughter rolled her eyes and that was one gesture that hadn’t changed in the least while she was away. “Geez, Dad, give me some credit, will you?”
“Just saying.”
Shaking her head in response to his repetition of her, she turned away. “Go answer your email. I’ll give Waldo some fresh water before I come in to call Meagan.”
Hoping this topic was behind them now, though he wouldn’t be surprised if it cropped up again occasionally, he went inside, leaving his daughter pouting behind him.
“Alice, this scarf is lovely. I’ll treasure it—but you really didn’t have to bring me anything from your trip.”
The girl seemed pleased by Meagan’s reaction to the gift. “I didn’t spend a lot for it,” she said with the artless candor Meagan had come to expect from her. “But I thought it looked like something you’d like. I’ve seen you wear that color green before.”
“It’s one of my favorite colors,” Meagan assured her, running the silky fabric through her fingers. “Thank you.”
“Well, you’ve been so nice to us. Rescuing Waldo and helping us with Nina and helping us find Jacqui and all. I wanted to do something nice for you, too.”
Touched, Meagan set the scarf aside and reached out to give the girl a quick hug. “This was a very nice gesture. I’ll wear it proudly.”
“I’m glad you like it.”
Meagan motioned toward the little red netbook computer Alice had set on the table. “I can’t wait to see all your pictures. I’m glad you brought them with you.”