Page 132 of Fierce-Dane

“That’s not true,” Mel said. “Ethan isn’t trying to be your father.”

“He’s always trying to tell us what to do,” Tyler said. “Sloane never does. She plays games with us and she cooks. She laughs. She’s fun. Ethan’s boring and doesn’t want us around. Now can we watch the movie?”

He held back his sigh. He was going to argue to give Ethan a chance and then told himself not to. His kids were entitled to their opinions.

“Tyler is right,” Tiffani said. “Ethan always tells us to go do something by ourselves. We’ve asked him to play with us or watch a movie when he’s around, but he ends up on his phone afterward or tells us to go do something else and be quiet.”

“What about Shiloh?” he asked. “Do you feel as if you are being forced into liking her? Both or either of you?”

“No,” Tyler said. “I just don’t like she’s my age and taller than me, but that isn’t anything you can fix. Can you?”

He laughed. “No,” he said. “Sorry.

“I like her,” Tiffani said. “She’s nice. Quiet. She doesn’t like to play dress-up or house much, but she will do it if I ask. We take turns though. She likes to be outside more running around. But she doesn’t like video games either. And she picked this movie last week that we’d never seen and it’s really funny. We wanted to watch it again.”

He turned to look at Mel. “Satisfied?”

“Can we turn it back onnow?” Tyler whined.

“Yes,” he said. “Your mother and I are going back downstairs to finish this conversation.”

He turned and walked out knowing she’d follow.

“Are you happy that you embarrassed me?” Mel snapped at him. That tone she used when she didn’t want to yell but couldn’t hold it all in either.

“I didn’t embarrass you,” he argued. “I could have easily said things like your mother thinks this, or your mother is saying that. But I didn’t. Did you notice that? Did you notice that all I did was ask them a simple question in a nice calm voice? And did you see how easily they answered and how open they were? I didn’t once put the blame on you or let them think that we were fighting over this.”

Maybe he should have done that but didn’t want to make his children choose sides.

He was starting to think his ex had done that enough in their lives.

“You’re hurting me though,” she said. “I think you’re enjoying this.”

He ran his hands through his hair when the tears popped into Mel’s eyes.

There was a time in his life when he’d do anything to get her to stop crying.

Now he knew it didn’t make a difference.

“Hurting,” he said. “Really? What about the hurt I felt when you wanted a divorce? You leftme, Mel. Not the other way around.”

“I didn’t want to,” she said, sobbing.

This made no sense to him. “That’s not what you said. Trust me, I know. I remember it all. How unhappy you were. That it wasn’t whatyouthought it would be. I gave you everything you ever asked for and it wasn’t enough. And when you said you wanted a divorce, I gave you that. You know why? Because I wanted you to be happy and I obviously wasn’t man enough to do it for you. And now you’re going to put it back on my shoulders that giving you what you wanted wasn’t really what you wanted? Do you hear how this all sounds?”

Mel was crying harder now and he was damn close to putting his fist through a wall.

For a man with an abundance of patience, he didn’t have much of it now.

“I thought you’d fight harder to stay. Or that you wouldn’t want to leave me when I said I couldn’t do it anymore.”

“I fought for years, Mel. I was tired. I saw no winning for me or you. That’s the problem. I don’t even think you know what you want. You know what I really think? I think you just don’t want anyone else to have me because you couldn’t get what you wanted and think no one else should get it either.”

“No,” she said. “I’m not that petty.”

“Sounds it to me,” he said. “Let me ask you this. Why am I the only one that calls you Mel? I’ve been asked this a few times. I don’t know the answer to that. But I do know the kids told me you snapped at Ethan not to call you that.”

Mel wiped her eyes and blew her nose.