LITMIR.BIZ

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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 had worn thin. As had those stupid air-kisses she insisted on giving to everyone. Even as he thought it, she bent down and made a popping sound beside Molly’s cheek that never made contact. Neither did his ex attempt to embrace her daughter.

      His molars ground together.

      No wonder Molly had such a difficult time bonding with her. His parents were all about hugs and real, down-to-earth kisses.

      When he stood, though, Lizza made no effort to lean into his cheek as she normally did. Probably because she was now looking at Tessa.

      He wasn’t going to get out of introducing them, evidently. Perfect. He glanced at his watch. And now he was five minutes late for his shift. “Lizza, this is an old friend from medical school, Tessa.”

      Tessa murmured that she was happy to meet her, while his ex did nothing but reach for Molly’s hand. “Are you ready to go, sweetie? Mommy has some important phone calls to make.”

      His hands curled at his sides, although he tried to rein in his temper. “Are you sure you have time for her this weekend? I could always drop her back off at Mom and Dad’s place.”

      “It’s my weekend.” Said as if Molly were simply one more appointment on an already busy calendar.

      His chest ached. Molly didn’t even have a suitcase, since his ex had a second wardrobe and toys for their daughter at her house. She would launder Molly’s current clothes and return her to him in them. Lizza insisted on keeping their households entirely separate. Shades of Tessa and her unwillingness to accept anything from him.

      Maybe the women were more alike than he’d thought.

      Clay squatted in front of Molly. “I’ll see you Monday morning, chipmunk.”

      One of Lizza’s heels clicked in that way she did when she was annoyed at something. Too damn bad.

      His daughter threw her arms around his neck. “Love you, Daddy. Be good.”

      “Aren’t I always?” He tweaked one of her braids.

      A second later, Lizza and his daughter were headed toward the hospital entrance. A couple of masculine heads turned toward his ex-wife. She was beautiful, he acknowledged, with long blond hair and a delicate bone structure, although he now saw it as a brittle kind of grace that didn’t stand up to pressure.

      When he examined his feelings about other men ogling her, he found he didn’t care. He’d stopped caring when she’d accidentally forwarded texts to his phone from another man. Someone in Italy that she evidently met up with whenever she was there, despite having a young daughter at home. All that money on counseling for nothing.

      The only thing he was grateful to her for was that she’d signed over primary custody of Molly to him without batting an eyelid, saying that with her schedule it was probably for the best.

      He couldn’t agree more.

      Dropping back in his seat, he noticed that Tessa was studying her bowl of oatmeal as if it were fascinating.

      He blew out a breath. “And how has your morning been?”

      The smile he expected didn’t come. Instead, she swirled her spoon through the mixture in her bowl.

      “It must be embarrassing to have her meet me.”

      “It was a little different than introducing two colleagues at a medical conference, I’ll give you that.”

      This time her head came up, eyes flashing, color seeping into her face. “You could have pretended not to know me.”

      “Why would I do…?” He frowned. “You think I’m embarrassed by you?”

      He glanced at his watch for a third time and found that five minutes late had morphed into fifteen. He didn’t have time to hash this out with her right now. Not that it even mattered.

      Tessa had always had a chip on her shoulder about money or anything associated with it—that probably extended to Lizza’s display of expensive clothing.

      It wasn’t as if she was poor, her parents did well enough for themselves, even if his grandmother’s memorial fund had helped pay for her education. Their parents were good friends—they’d worked together for years. When Tessa’s parents had realized they weren’t going to be able to help her achieve her dreams, his mom and dad had quietly stepped in to help. They were generous people—it was what they did.

      In the past, Clay would have tried to smooth things over with her. Right now, however, he was out of both time and patience.

      Standing to his feet, he looked down at her. “I think you’ve got it backward, sweetheart. You always acted like you were the one embarrassed, not me.”

      “I don’t understand.”

      “I don’t suppose you do.” Time to leave. But first there was a little itch he just had to scratch. “Before I forget, I saw the capoeira studio on the list of businesses involved with the festival.”

      She nodded. “They’re putting

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