Walter’s expression radiated frustration, but to his credit he hadn’t just picked her up or tried to rush her. Maybe he’d already discovered that was a sure way to get her to throw a tantrum.
Sarah met his gaze. “I wasn’t expecting to see you here,” she said, trying to gauge his mood.
“I wasn’t expecting to find you working in a place like this, either,” he said as he settled Libby in the booth next to Tommy. “I think we should talk about that.”
“Not while I’m working,” she said firmly, keeping her expression cheerful but unyielding. “What can I get you to drink?”
“Coffee for me,” he said. “Milk for the kids, I guess. Tommy, you said you want pancakes, right?”
“This many,” Tommy confirmed, holding up two fingers.
“How about one, and then we’ll see,” Sarah said. “Libby, you want a pancake, too?”
“She’ll make a mess of it,” Walter immediately protested.
“Not if you give it to her in little pieces,” Sarah said. “I’ll be back in a minute with your drinks.” She escaped to the kitchen before she asked him why he’d brought them here if he was so worried about any messes they might make. She already knew the answer, anyway. Lecturing her was evidently his top priority.
When she returned with her ex’s coffee and milk for the kids, he frowned at her. “Sit down so we can talk, okay? There’s nobody in here.”
“There will be soon, and I need to have the tables set up,” she said. “Once I’m finished with that, if there’s time, we can talk.”
Just then Grace emerged from the kitchen, recognized Tommy and Libby and apparently guessed the identity of the man with them. “Honey, you go ahead and take a break,” she told Sarah. “I can finish up with the booths, and I’ll bring those pancakes out when they’re ready.”
“You don’t need to do that,” Sarah protested. “You’ve been on your feet all morning. You’re the one who should be taking a break.”
“It’s okay. I’ve had a lifetime to get used to that. I’ll bring you a glass of sweet tea, too,” Grace insisted.
Sarah sighed and sat down, crowding into the booth next to her ex-husband. There wasn’t nearly enough room to keep as much space between them as she’d like to. Reluctantly, she met his stormy gaze. She could barely recall what it had been like to have those bright blue eyes light with pleasure at the sight of her.
“You wanted to talk,” she said mildly. “Now’s your chance.”
“Okay, then, what I want to know is if you’re working here just to embarrass me?” Walter inquired in a strident tone that carried all the way to Grace, who was placing setups on the counter. She whirled around and gave him a hard look.
Aghast by Walter’s rudeness, Sarah regarded him incredulously. “You’re the only one embarrassing you,” she said in a low voice. “What I do in Serenity is no reflection on you or your family. We’re not married anymore.”
“But it suggests I’m not paying you enough in alimony and child support,” he said.
She had to try hard not to laugh at his twisted but all-too-typical logic. “No, it suggests that I want to work and contribute to my own family’s well-being.”
Walter was clearly exasperated by her reply. “Then why not teach? Isn’t that what you were always claiming you wanted while we were married? Day in and day out, I heard about how you were wasting your college degree.”
“In case you haven’t checked a calendar, it’s almost the end of the school year,” she said, clinging to her patience by a thread. “I’ve put in an application for next year, but it’s too soon to know if there will be a position open.”
“Well, you could wait until you hear before taking a job like this.”
Sarah shook her head at his demeaning tone. “Do you happen to remember what I was doing when you and I met at college?”
“Waiting tables,” he admitted grudgingly. “But we were kids then.”
“And it’s still a perfectly respectable job,” she said. “You weren’t such a snob back then, Walter. In fact, you seemed happy enough when I could give you a free burger and fries. Has living in the shadow of your family turned you into the kind of man who can’t appreciate hard work, no matter what it is?”
She already knew the answer. Working for his father and living close to his family had changed him from the independent, fun-loving man she’d fallen for into someone she no longer even recognized. Every time he opened his mouth to criticize her, the words she heard were an echo of something either his mother or father had said about her. And nothing they’d ever said had been good.
He winced at her accusation, but for once he didn’t bother trying to defend himself. “Okay, okay, I just hate to see you wearing yourself out when you don’t need to. You couldn’t keep up with the kids when you were home all the time. Now they’re probably running wild because you’re too exhausted to chase after them.”
She doubted this had anything to do with consideration for her, but she pretended he was sincere. “Thanks for worrying, but I’m managing just fine.”
“Well, you look like hell.”
“Thanks so much,” she said wryly, then forced a smile. She refused to rise to the bait of one dig after another. She’d finally learned it wasn’t worth arguing with Walter, especially in front of the kids. She turned her attention to Tommy. “So, what do you have planned with your dad for today?”
“Daddy and me are gonna play catch,” Tommy said eagerly. “Right, Daddy?”
“Right,” Walter said, his eyes lighting up as he looked at his son. There was no mistaking his love for the little boy who looked just like him, with the same blue eyes and sun-streaked brown hair.
Their crooked smiles were exactly alike, too. Every time Sarah saw that smile on her Tommy’s face, she thought about the man she’d fallen in love with, the one it seemed no longer existed.
“And Libby?” Sarah prodded.
“Play, too,” Libby insisted, her adoring gaze on her daddy, who plainly was less than thrilled with the idea.
“That’ll be fun,” Sarah enthused.
“Yeah, it’ll be a barrel of laughs,” Walter said.
Sarah regarded him with dismay, and he had the grace to look sheepish. He ruffled Libby’s golden curls. “Who knows, you could turn out to be the first girl to play in the majors.”
Over my dead body, Sarah thought, but kept the thought to herself. If the outrageous idea gave Walter a rare moment of rapport with his daughter, who was she to ruin it?
Just as Grace brought the pancakes for the kids, a few of the Saturday regulars started straggling in.
“I have to get back to work,” Sarah said, leaving Walter looking flustered as
