“Practice ran late, then we had a team meeting. I wasn’t even home when you called. Still driving there now, actually. I have my own life, Emma. Jesus, you know I’m not about to just ignore Charlie on purpose. I have things going on.” One freckled reporter drifted through his mind. He could still smell her clean, fresh scent. If he placed his hand over the passenger seat, it’d still be warm. “Stuff’s piling up. You know my life gets more hectic toward the end of the season. I called back as soon as I could.”
She sighed. “If you’re losing interest—”
“Don’t,” he said harshly. “Stop right now before you say something we’re both going to regret. Charlie deserves better than either of us throwing around stupid accusations and fighting over nothing.” He reached up and pulled at his hair while paused at a red light. Co-parenting was truly the evil of all evils.
He heard the lecture coming by the tone of her voice. That I’m older than you so I know better way she spoke was like driving spikes through his head. Yes, she was nearly ten years older, but they were both first-time parents. It didn’t make her an expert any more than him. “He’s missing you so badly, and you did blow him off last weekend. Now you’re ignoring his calls.”
“I didn’t blow him off,” Killian said through his teeth. “Is he in another room?”
“Of course he is.” He’d assumed, but had to know. “You know I wouldn’t speak about important things in front of him. He’s watching a movie in the living room.”
Killian thought of Emma’s simple three-bedroom ranch home, and the warmth and life she’d infused through the walls. Stark contrast to his bland two-bedroom apartment. The apartment he lived in so his son could have that three-bedroom home and a mother without any money worries.
“Is something else going on, Emma?”
There was a slight pause, then a cautious, “No.”
“Because you’ve never had a problem with my schedule before. In fact, you’ve usually bent over backward during the last few weeks and play-offs, giving me a lot of leeway and not crawling up my ass because I didn’t answer on the first ring.”
“Language,” she said primly, which was a joke given the way she’d answered the phone.
“What’s changed, Emma?”
“Nothing,” she said sharply.
“I’ll come out there as soon as the season’s over. I always do.”
“You also always let him come to away games if we can manage it.” Emma was starting to get hotter, he could hear it. He imagined her porcelain skin flushing with anger and frustration, her blonde hair slowly escaping whatever prissy updo she’d pulled it into that morning. “You come out here more often. You let him visit you over long weekends. Where have those visits been?”
“I’m not doing this right now. Hand the phone to Charlie, and I’ll talk now.”
“He’s watching a—”
“Now, Emma.”
He heard her huff, then her muffled voice as she called for their son to come to the phone. While he had a moment, he let out a groan of frustration and hit his hand once against the steering wheel.
Five minutes later, his heart rate back down to a normal speed, he felt refreshed from his chat with Charlie. Hearing about his son’s day always made him smile, even at the worst of times. And he wished again, just for a minute, he and Emma could have made a more conventional parenting pair for their awesome kid.
But some things just didn’t work out the way they were meant to. He breathed deeply, caught a lingering whiff of clean linen from Aileen, and thought about the feisty freckled reporter once more.
Yeah, some things just didn’t work out.
* * *
Aileen felt like an idiot. She’d put on makeup. Makeup, for God’s sake, to go to bowling league. Fortunately, two of her three teammates seemed indifferent to the change. Cindy had said she’d looked nice, in an offhand manner, before going back to looking up new team shirts on her phone. Al hadn’t noticed at all. But Ernie was watching her with an eagle eye, as if waiting for any sign of weakness or desire to spill her guts, so he could pounce on it.
And to top it all off, she was bowling like crap. She finished her round, disgusted with the two pins she’d left behind, and walked back to the seating area to flop down by Ernie.
“Kid, you couldn’t bowl worse if you were blindfolded.”
“Thanks, Ernie. Your pep talks are always treasured.” She reached down and fiddled with the lace of her bowling shoe. Yeah. As if that were her problem tonight.
“Want me to get you some kiddie bumpers?”