Page 5 of Fierce-Dane

“I doubt it,” he said. “They’ve got bigger things to think about. They are over there talking to Elise now. Probably trying to figure out who to set her up with.”

“How much longer, Dad?” Tyler asked, running over to him. “I want to get out of this suit.”

“I don’t blame you,” he said, pulling his son close to him and under his arm. “I want to get out of mine too.”

“But you wear a tie all the time. These are horrible.” Tyler was grabbing his tie that was loose on his neck and pretending to hang himself with it in a silly fashion like his kids always were.

He grinned and winked at his mother. “They are prettybad. The wedding is winding down. Let’s go gather your sister.”

“Can we get pizza, please? I didn’t like dinner.”

He knew his kids wouldn’t eat much of the wedding food. Though he felt they ate well, it was a little rich and fancy for their liking.

“I suppose we could stop and get pizza on the way home. I can order it now.”

“Yes!” Tyler said, doing a fist pump and running out to get his sister.

“You’re a good dad,” his mother said.

“I try to be.”

“You don’t need to try,” his mother said. “It’s in your blood and don’t ever let anyone take that away from you.”

He sighed. “Mom, no one has.”

“That’s right,” his mother said. “No one could say you weren’t a great father.”

“Just a lousy husband,” he added.

“You weren’t that either. Melanie wanted something no one could give her. Why do you think after two years she and her last boyfriend broke up? This one won’t last either. Tiffani doesn’t like Ethan.”

This was news to him. “Why doesn’t she like Ethan? What did she say?”

“Just that Melanie would rather spend time with Ethan than them. Or more like Ethan always tells them to go find something else to do in their rooms.”

He let out another sigh. “She’s seven,” he said. “She still thinks we need to spend every minute entertaining her. Tiffani does that with me too.”

“And you do that with her,” his mother argued.

“No,” he said. “I don’t. She has to learn, unlike her mother,that life is about division and priorities. They are with me half the time and Mel and I talked about this. Neither one of us is going to spoil them. They are given the same rules at both houses and somewhat the same attention.”

His mother rolled her eyes. “You’re too nice of a guy, but I understand. And you know as well as I do you spend plenty of time with the kids.”

“I do,” he said. “Because the times I’ve got them when I’m on call I can’t. But I don’t want them to expect every time they are with me it’s a free for all.”

“Rules,” his mother said. “We know. We’ve got it.”

“Tyler said we are having pizza,” Tiffani said. “I want spaghetti. Can I order that instead?”

He looked at his mother’s grin. “I can cook us spaghetti at home if that is what you want, but I already told Tyler he could have pizza.”

“But I want to buy spaghetti,” Tiffani said. “Mom doesn’t cook it often. I get it out.”

He shrugged. “You can have it the way I make it. It makes no sense to buy that when I’ve got it at home for you.” Because she wanted to eat it all the time and he made sure he always had it on hand.

Tiffani batted her eyelashes at him and he kept his expression the same. She knew he didn’t give in often and wouldn’t now. “Fine,” she said. “I’ll eat pizza. Mom normally lets me have my way though.”

“I’m not Mom,” he said. “But you can pick toppings on one side for you and Tyler can on the other side.”

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