“Wonderful, Daddy, but it would have been better if I could have spent some time with you.” She smirked at her mother.

“Darlin’, I would have liked that, too, but Victoria had plans for us to spend the holiday in the beach condo. It’s just not big enough to fit us all,” Wyatt said.

Lily fought the urge to roll her eyes. Wyatt could weave a lie so sweetly the angels in heaven would believe him. Why didn’t he just tell the kids the truth? He liked his new, rich lifestyle with his second wife, and she didn’t want to share him with children.

“Mama’s bein’ a bitch, so me and Braden are going to come and live with you,” Holly said.

“Add riding the bus to school for the whole semester for calling me a bitch to your punishment,” Lily said.

“No!” Braden yelled. “Daddy, she really is being a bitch.”

“That puts you on the bus with your sister,” Lily said.

“Only geeks ride the bus!” Holly whined. “You can come get us tomorrow morning at seven, Daddy.”

The silence that filled the room was so heavy that it seemed to suck out every bit of the oxygen. Even though Lily was still angry with her children, she felt sorry for them. If she’d been paying more attention to them, maybe none of this would’ve happened.

“Are you still there, Daddy?”

Lily knew what Wyatt was about to say to them and that it would almost literally break their hearts. Poor Holly’s tone was so desperate that Lily wanted to hug her, but right then tough love was the only way to get through to her children. If it kept those two out of trouble and out of jail, it would all be worthwhile.

“Honey, I’m real sorry,” Wyatt said. “But you can’t live with me. Victoria and I made an agreement about children when we married. I’ll come see you real soon, and we’ll have a day all to ourselves. Maybe in July we can even have a whole weekend while Victoria is in California on one of her business trips. If free time comes up between now and then, I’ll call you for sure.”

“Daaa-deee.” Holly dragged the word out into several syllables. “Mama is moving us to Comfort. I don’t want to live in that Podunk town,” she whined. “You just have to come and get us. I’ll die in that place. You just have to go to court and get custody of us.”

“Me, too,” Braden yelled from across the room.

“You have to understand. I simply cannot have you kids living with me and Victoria. It wouldn’t work, and you’d be more miserable here than in Comfort.” Wyatt was beginning to sound frustrated. “Put your mother on the phone, and take it off speaker.”