Page 29 of Dancing With Guilt

“That sounds fun.” Roxie let the moment pass, and brought her bare feet up to rest on the seat. “Will you do any fishing?”

It was nonsense chatter, but it kept them off the subject of Lincoln. That was just fine with Roxie.

“Maybe. I don’t know. I might just go down to the strip and pretend to be a tourist for a little while. We’ll see,” Nick said evenly, his face unreadable now.

“Thanks for bringing breakfast. It saved me making anything.” Roxie changed the subject. Her heart was broken, she was eaten up with guilt, and getting into her feelings about anything right now wasn’t her idea of a good time.

“It was my pleasure. I know how much you love French toast and coffee,” Nick answered, making Roxie smile. He knew so much about her, but at the same time, so very little, she thought.

“Mommy, when is my daddy coming?” Lily asked, coming out to the balcony to stand beside her mother.

“In a little while, sweetie, don’t worry. He’ll be here soon.” Roxie drew her daughter close with an arm around her tiny waist. “Are you excited?”

“I guess.” Lily’s chin was tucked down close to her chest, and she wouldn’t look up. “But I like Nick. He brought me French toast and pancakes.”

“I wasn’t sure which you’d prefer,” Nick answered, and Roxie had to squash a moment of irritation with him. “So, I got you both.”

If he’d bothered to ask Roxie before he invited himself over, she’d have told him which foods Lily preferred. But that was unfair, wasn’t it? Nick was trying to be helpful, not an asshole.

“Thank you, I like them both,” Lily said with a grin that revealed a missing upper right incisor. Roxie almost pulled up her phone’s camera to take a snapshot of her daughter’s smile, to capture it forever, but resisted the urge. Lily hated having her picture taken all the time, and Roxie wanted to respect that. “Will you still be here when my daddy comes?”

Nick’s eyes shot to Roxie, a plea there that she ignored, before they moved back to Lily. “No, that’s special time between you and your dad. I’m going to go in a few minutes. I just need to talk to your mom a little while longer.”

“Cool,” Lily said with a nod that was nearly grownup. “I’m going to play on my tablet, Mom.”

“That’s fine, Lily. Just check the battery life first, will you?” Roxie asked, her hand on Lily’s cheek with a loving smile on her face. “It’s on the charger but it should be done by now.”

“Sure, Mom.” Lily gave a curt nod and went into the condo.

Aunt Katie came out then, interrupting Roxie as she was about to politely point out that Lincoln would be there very soon, and Nick should go. Now.

She really didn’t want to seem ungrateful; Nick had given her a place to crash after all, but her nerves were already shredded. She didn’t need more man-power-grunting-over-woman behavior from him or Lincoln. Lily didn’t deserve that.

“I’m just wondering if you want me to stick around for this, honey? I know it’s a special moment and perhaps some, ahem, privacy is in order?” Aunt Katie stood there, her face impassive, but her left eyebrow up as she faced Nick but didn’t actually look at him.

Score one for the older generation, Roxie thought with an inner grin.

“That sounds good, actually,” Roxie replied, her eyes on the woman who’d almost replaced her mother. Not quite, nobody could really take that place, but Aunt Katie had done a good job of filling in when Roxie needed her most. “It might be better for them both.”

Nick cleared his throat, seeming to take the not-so-subtle hint Aunt Katie gave him. “I guess I should be off too, then.”

Roxie stood up to see him out, thankful that he was on the way out the door now. Maybe she could hurry him along.

“Oh, what if I bring dinner over later?” Nick came to a sudden halt just as he was at the door and Roxie couldn’t keep the glare from her face any longer.

“That won’t be necessary, Nick. And Lincoln might want to take Lily out for dinner, or something else may come up with them. I’ll figure out dinner,” Roxie said with more anger in her voice than she wanted there to be.

But damn, why was he being so annoying? Or was it her, she wondered? Maybe she was just irritable about all of this.

“Of course, you’re right.” Nick went to open the door just as the doorbell rang.

Roxie saw Lincoln’s face turn to stone as he saw Nick walking out of the condo. Luckily, Aunt Katie barged through them both and called out over her shoulder. “Nick, you can drop me off since you’re leaving too. I’ll see you later, Roxie.”

Nick didn’t say anything, he just glared at Lincoln for a moment, then moved on. Roxie breathed a silent sigh of relief and held the door open for Lincoln. “Come in.”

“If you’re sure your boyfriend doesn’t mind,” Lincoln said coldly, and Roxie had to take another deep breath to clamp down on the blunt ‘fuck you’ she was about to give him.

“Lincoln, you’re here to meet our daughter, not comment on my private life. Please don’t make me regret this.” She looked at him, waiting for the moment when he either walked away or gave in and acted like a grownup.