plate.
His parents had been stoic all during his divorce, although they must have been disappointed in him for not working harder to make things work. He’d tried. Hell, he’d never expected his marriage to end in divorce any more than they had. But nothing he’d tried had worked. He’d compromised on where he’d practiced medicine to be closer to the house. He’d taken on the bulk of Molly’s care when she’d been a baby. He’d even gone to marriage counseling.
And yet here he sat.
His biggest failures in life, it seemed, had to do with women.
One thing his mom and dad had been overjoyed about had been getting the chance to be deeply involved in their granddaughter’s life. And it seemed yesterday had been no exception—with the trio heading out to Central Park for a walk with their Dalmatian, Jack.
He glanced at his watch, his impatience growing. Lizza was almost a half hour late, and he was supposed to be at work in a few more minutes. He’d been hoping to have a little time to get to know the ropes before jumping right into his morning rounds. But it looked as if that wasn’t going to happen.
Out of the corner of his eye he spied a familiar figure at the checkout counter. Only it wasn’t Lizza. He groaned out loud.
“What is it, Daddy?”
He pulled his attention back to his daughter’s blue eyes. “Nothing. I was just thinking about work.”
“Oh. Okay. Do I have to go to Mommy’s?”
The same question had been repeated for the past two visits. Clay didn’t know what to do about it. Lizza traveled for weeks at a time, visiting European fashion houses in search of ideas for new designs. Molly hadn’t spent more than a handful of weekends with her mom in the past year. And Lizza didn’t help by being so fastidious about her house and furniture. Molly wasn’t even three and a half yet. She needed to be a kid. But he’d learned to keep his mouth shut, as long as his ex didn’t do anything to damage their daughter’s self-esteem.
So he settled for a response that he hoped was conciliatory. “Mommy would be sad if you didn’t.”
“I know.” Said with a sigh that made his gut clench.
If someone had told him four years ago that after his breakup with Tessa he’d have rebound sex that would result in a pregnancy and marriage, he’d have said that person was out of their gourd. And yet here he was. Only he was crazy about his daughter. So were his parents. It made all the crap he’d put up with from Lizza bearable.
He looked back toward the checkout area just as Tessa turned around, scanning the place for a spot to sit. It was breakfast time and the place was packed with medical personnel, all scarfing down a quick bite before facing a new day.
Her glance skidded past his and then stopped for a long second, her green eyes closing for a brief instant before reopening and sliding back his way again. She gave him a quick nod and then kept looking for someplace to sit.
Only there wasn’t any.
Come on, Lizza. Hurry up.
In the meantime, he couldn’t leave Tessa standing there, so he motioned her over. He could have sworn her mouth gave a pained grimace before she moved in their direction. He had no doubt if there had been any other person in the place that she knew, she would have gone to sit with them instead.
He was her last choice.
Well, some things never changed.
She set her tray next to Molly’s, her brows coming together slightly, although she didn’t ask the question he knew had to be swirling around her head.
His daughter had no such inhibitions. “I’m Molly. Who are you?”
Tessa blinked. “I’m Dr. Camara. How are you?”
“I’m waiting on my mommy.”
His stomach tightened again. Left with no other choice, he made the introductions. “Tessa, this is my daughter.”
“Is she your friend?” Molly asked.
“An old friend, yes.” He looked at Tessa and dared her to correct him. She didn’t, dropping into the chair across from him instead.
“That’s right. Your dad and I knew each other a long time ago when we were both in school.”
“Oh. Did you know Mommy, too?”
Tessa’s teeth came down on her lower lip for a minute. “No. I didn’t. Is your mom a doctor?”
“No, she makes pretty dresses and fancy clothes.”
Tessa’s body language changed, fingers clenching on her tray for a second before finally letting go and picking up her glass of juice. “How lucky for you. You must have all kinds of wonderful outfits.”
Only she didn’t make it sound as if Molly was lucky at all. There was an edge of sadness that made him look at her a little bit closer. He didn’t voice the question in his head, however. “You look like you’re in a hurry.”
“I have a Mohs procedure to assist with today.”
Interesting.
“Mohs? Are you specializing in plastic surgery?” The famed technique, named after its inventor, was used on skin lesions. Lesions that were normally cancerous.
She took a sip of her drink and then shook her head. “Dermatologic surgery. But I hope to do a fellowship in Mohs.”
He’d thought her plans had been to go into craniofacial surgery. “That’s quite a jump, isn’t it?”
“Things change.”
“They absolutely do.” He couldn’t hold back the sardonic note to his voice.
He and Tessa stared across the table at each other for several seconds as the atmosphere around them began to crackle with tension.
No. It wasn’t tension. It was the distinctive clickety-clack of a pair of high heels moving quickly across the space.
“Mommy’s coming.” His daughter’s whispered words had a fatalistic sound to them.
He swiveled around in his chair to find that Lizza was indeed headed their way, her perfectly made-up face a huge contrast to Tessa’s unadorned freckles and simple style. Tessa wasn’t the only one who’d made a huge leap from one specialty to another. The difference between his two exes could give a psychologist enough material to fill a volume or two.
Lizza stopped beside their table, brows lifting slightly in question, while Tessa looked as if she wanted to drop off the face of the earth.
Join the club, honey.
“Hello, Clayton.”
She’d always used his full name, rather than the shortened version. He’d liked it at first, because it had been yet another thing that had unlinked him from Tessa, but after a while her formality
