Page 95 of On the Rocks

My head snapped in his direction. “Shut the hell up!”

Hailey gasped, pointing one accusatory finger at me. “Uncle Aiden! You said a bad word!”

Vivian’s Ice Cream Parlor was a short three-block walk from the office. Hailey clutched Dominic’s hand, skipping by his side as the noon sun beat down, warm and bright. She sang to herself, dreamy-eyed over the promise of multiple scoops of something called Unicorn Dreams.

“You’re sure you don’t want to go for actual food first?” I asked again. “My treat.”

“If there was ever a day that deserved ice cream for lunch, this is the one,” Dominic said, still beaming as we reached the shop. He pulled the door open, and Hailey darted inside.

“Ice cream!” she bellowed as I walked through the door behind her. Luckily, the shop was relatively empty. She raced up to the display counter, peering in through the cold glass at giant tubsof ice cream. “That one,” she said to the woman behind the counter. “No, that one! Ah, I don’t know.”

“I think she’s gonna need a minute to settle on a flavor,” Dominic told the woman who simply laughed and shook her head at Hailey’s antics.

“I don’t know what to say other than congratulations,” I said quietly, nudging Dominic’s shoulder with my own. I couldn’t even imagine how relieved he must be to finally have the custody battle over with.

“Thanks, man.” Dominic chuckled at Hailey as she raced back and forth, trying to narrow down her options. “There’s the Unicorn Dreams,” he said, pointing it out to her.

She gasped. “Yeah, that one!”

“We’ll take one kid’s cone,” Dominic said to the woman.

“Two scoops,” Hailey reminded him.

I snickered. This girl was never going to let him get away with anything.

“Two scoops,” Dominic agreed, paying at the register. Once Hailey had secured her ice cream, she raced over to take a seat at one of the bubblegum pink tables, perfectly content as she clutched her cone with both hands.

“I really am happy for you,” I said as Dominic grabbed a handful of napkins. “Can’t help wondering what you had to give up in return, though.”

“I paid out a lot,” Dominic admitted. “More than even I imagined when this all started.”

I nodded sympathetically. I’d figured as much. There was no way Amanda was going to sign anything without making bank off of it. Yeah, sure, I knew Dom could afford to pay out whatever she’d asked for, but it still didn’t seem fair that Amanda got to cash in on a major payday in return for being a lousy wife, a shitty mother, and a witch of a gold digger.

“But I guess that’s the cost of love,” I said to him. “Too bad you couldn’t just go back in time and avoid Amanda altogether! Then you could save yourself all this trouble.”

Dominic turned to me, a baffled expression on his face, like I’d just said the most absurd thing he’d ever heard. “If I’d avoided her, then there wouldn’t be a Hailey.There’sthe cost of love right there,” he said, gesturing at his daughter, her hands and face now covered in pink and purple swirls of Unicorn Dreams. “And there’s honestly no price I wouldn’t pay for her. I’d have given Amanda the shirt off my back if that’s what it took to keep full custody of Hailey.”

His words took me by surprise. Even though I knew how much Hailey meant to him, I suppose I’d never thought of his divorce in terms of what he mightgainfrom the settlement. I’d only ever focused on everything he had to lose. And I never stopped to consider that Dominic couldn’t regret his dumpster fire of a marriage because even after his love for Amanda had fallen apart, his love for his daughter had made it all worthwhile. My heart lobbed against my chest as I watched Dominic wipe Hailey’s face with a napkin, grinning at her as she giggled.

Loving Hailey had been worth everything.

29

CORA

“Iwant to try Horreb as well,” Jennifer said as we hurried through Midtown to make our restaurant reservation. “They have a spicy balangu that is apparently to die for.”

“Balangu?” I asked, weaving through the crowd of people crossing the street in the opposite direction.

“Basically steak filets seasoned with Afro-Caribbean spices.”

“Oh, that sounds good.” I checked my calendar as we paused for a red light at the next street. NYC Restaurant Week ran until the end of August, and Jennifer and I were determined to squeeze in as many new places as possible. I was mostly just happy to encourage Jennifer’s resurrected enthusiasm for food, seeing as she was still struggling at work. I’d started to secretly suspect Jennifer was planning all these restaurant dates to keep me from wallowing after the breakup with Aiden—which I definitely wasn’t doing.

I was too busy to wallow.

“How’s next weekend looking for you?” I asked.

“I’m off Saturday. That work?

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