Free The Good Provider by Debra Salonen

they were alone again, William asked the question he had no business asking. “Did you get hold of their father?”
    She shook her head. “Not yet. Ever since we split up, I’ve made every effort to keep personal calls between me and Bruce…um, personal. I won’t talk divorce stuff in front of the girls. It’s not always easy, but…”
    His respect for her grew. “If you’d like me to watch after your daughters while you take a walk, I’d be happy to.”
    She looked down. “You’ve already done so much. I don’t want to impose any more.”
    “Mine’s bigger than yours,” Hailey said, skipping ahead of her sister.
    “That’s because yours has white grapes and high-fructose corn syrup in it. Mine is pure juice. So there,” Miranda responded, juggling both a plastic bottle and an ice bucket filled to the brim. “Hi, William.”
    He was glad to see they were friends again. “Hi, Miranda. Might I ask you something?”
    She paused beside her mother. The resemblance was striking, although Miranda’s coloring was much darker, reflecting her Italian heritage. “What?”
    “Would you and your sister be up for a walk in a few minutes? I thought we might scout around the area to pick a place to have dinner. Your mum said you were going to watch a movie, but I have no idea what you prefer to eat so…”
    “Yeah, sure. I’ll go. And Hailey’s dying to play in the snow. Is that okay, Mom?”
    Daria hesitated. He could tell she was reluctant to let the girls out of her sight, and yet they both knew Daria needed a little alone time. “The fresh air would do you good. I’ll call your dad and let him know what’s going on.” She glanced at her watch. “But don’t pick any place too expensive, okay?”
    “Give me ten to check my messages,” William said, turning to leave. He had his own prerequisites for a restaurant, and price wasn’t on the list. But given the fact she’d agreed to entrust him with her daughters, he’d do what he’d offered and let the girls pick the place.
    He had a feeling Daria wasn’t going to have much of an appetite once she got off the phone with her ex.

    E XCEPT FOR THE BLINDING HEADACHE , which was slowly subsiding, dinner had turned out to be a rather pleasant interlude, Daria thought to herself a few hours later.
    The pizza joint was festive, noisy and anonymous. She liked that. For a few moments, she could pretend her life was normal—that the charming man across from her was something other than her conduit to safety, and that she wasn’t mid-jump between the frying pan and the fire.
    “I believe I saw an arcade in the enclave across the room, if anyone’s interested,” William said, magically producing two stacks of tokens and placing one in front of each girl.
    “Cool,” Miranda cried.
    “Yeah, cool,” Hailey echoed. “Can we, Mom?”
    Daria smiled her okay, but the minute they were gone, she looked at William and asked, “Where did you get the tokens?”
    “I bought them when I paid for the pizza. I was hoping to linger over this fine wine with a tiny bit less chatter.” He held up a hand. “Not that your daughters aren’t delightful. They’re most charming and very easy company, considering their ages. But I can only handle so much talk about teen pop stars.”
    Daria laughed for the first time in what felt like eons. “Me, too. Thank you.” She took a sip of wine. “I seem to be saying that an awful lot.”
    He emptied the carafe, topping off each of their glasses. She knew that this sort of wine was not his usual fare, but he’d been a good sport about the kid-friendly place. “Then, let’s make a deal,” he said, lifting his glass to hers. “Gratitude extended and accepted. End of story.”
    She lightly clinked her glass to his, knowing the challenge would be next to impossible to meet. She was thankful—more than he could ever know. Her phone conversation with Bruce had been the most vicious to date. She was beginning to think something