And as for their affair?
Neither one of them had been looking for anything permanent. Foolishly, he’d started thinking that maybe they had a chance for something more, but then Charlie told him Jazzy turned down the job offer from Traveling Nurses. He couldn’t be the reason she gave up on her dreams. He’d always thought she was too young to settle down. He couldn’t be the thing that stood in her way.
“When’s Jazzy coming over to bake cookies?”Trinity asked from her car seat as they drove home from their outing.
“The contest is over, Doodlebug. Jazzy’s not going to come by anymore.”
“No Jazzy?” Trinity’s little voice rose.
“I’m afraid not.”
The back seat went silent and then he heard sniffles. He looked in the rearview mirror to see Trinity wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.
“Doodlebug? What’s wrong?”
“No more, Jazzy,” she wailed.
Aww, shit. He’d waited too long to break things off. His daughter had gotten invested in Jazzy. Damn his hide. He shouldn’t have brought a temporary love affair into his home. What had he been thinking?
Answer: he hadn’t been. He’d been too wrapped up in feeling good. He had to talk to her tonight.
He spun the truck around and headed for Rio’s house. Five minutes later, he was knocking on his sister’s door, Trinity in tow. Rio answered wearing her welding helmet pushed back on her head.
“What’s up?”
“Can you watch Trinity for a couple of hours?”
“Sure, but you look...” Rio paused, eyed him up and down. “Wrecked.”
“I’ve got to go break up with Jazzy.” He kept his voice low for his daughter’s sake.
“What’d she do?”
“Nothing. That’s the problem.”
Rio opened her door wide. “Come on in, Doodlebug. I have cookies in the cookie jar.”
“You baked cookies?”
Rio snorted. “Oreos.”
“Oreos!” Trinity cheered and went running to Rio’s kitchen.
“Okay, now that the kid is out of earshot...” Rio glanced over her shoulder to make sure. “Why are you breaking up with a perfectly good girlfriend?”
“It was never meant to be more than temporary.”
“Things change. Why can’t your relationship?”
“Trinity is getting too attached to Jazzy.”
“But you two really work as a couple. I like Jazzy a lot and she’s good for you.”
“I know all that.”
“So let me get this straight. Things are going really well, so you’re gonna blow it up. Sounds like something I would do, but okay.”
Was that what he was doing? A flicker of hope caught in his chest.