48.

CLIVE SAT IN THE BACK booth of the diner and watched that girl long past the time he should have left. She was beautiful today. Sun slipped through the window and made that red-brown hair of hers look almost like mahogany silk. She had it braided down her back. It was a bit shorter than it used to be. He’d always thought her hair was a pretty color.

That baby girl was with her again, and he watched. Perci was a natural with the child. Beautiful and easy with the girl in ways Clive hadn’t been with Jay and Clint. Hell, he’d barely spent more than an hour or two each day with Jay when he’d been that age and even less than that with Clint.

But this child, she was now the golden angel of the Masterson clan, no doubt. That was Masterson’s mother right there, doting on that girl as if she was her real grandbaby.

He didn’t even do that with Clint’s baby, and she was his great-niece and stepgrandbaby. He snorted.

That girl would be given every damned thing she wanted. She’d have a mama who loved her. Not to mention one of the richest men in the county for her daddy. She wouldn’t have to want for anything, not like his Jay had. And Clive had had a good job. It just hadn’t been enough.

It had eaten into his time with his boy and Clint. He would never forget how much time he’d lost with Jay because of that job that Masterson had taken from him.

Clive adjusted the tie around his neck to keep from choking to death, just as Rhea Masterson scooped the kid up and grabbed the bag from Perci. It was obvious they were moving on from the diner.

He didn’t know what else to do.

Clive tossed his trash in the basin nearby. And followed them.