Crap. Rena pasted a smile on her face and turned to see the latest in her mother’s long, never-ending string of loser men. She would have felt bad about putting him in the loser column, except she caught the once-over he gave her. And with her standing right freakin’ next to her own mother.
So, yes, Rena had been putting off her biweekly dinners with her mother because she’d heard from Del that Aunt Caroline had a new boyfriend. According to Del, this guy might be worse than the last one, who’d stolen a few hundred bucks from her mom on his way out the door. Del couldn’t read the guy; he was slick.
“Hi, Rena.” Dave came out to shake her hand then wrapped an arm around her mother and gave her a big, wet kiss.
Gross.“Hi. Nice to meet you.”
Caroline smiled at her new beau, a tall, muscular man with good looks and dark-brown skin. Just the way her mother liked them. Even better, this one wore an expensive-looking watch, nice slacks, and a button-up shirt. His hair looked styled, and he wore glasses. Rena thought he probably had money. Interesting. Because her mother usually liked them pretty, broke, and dysfunctional.
Dave looked from Caroline to Rena and shook his head. “Damn if you don’t look more like sisters.”
Caroline beamed.
Rena knew they looked alike, though she’d always considered her mother beautiful and herself just cute. Caroline had gotten pregnant at fifteen, and twenty-four-year-old Martin Bennett hadn’t stuck around to help raise his baby. Hell, Rena had only two photos of a handsome man with skin a shade darker than hers to remind her she’d actually had a father.
But, hey, at least he’d been smart enough not to stick around and face possible statutory rape charges. That was if her deadbeat grandparents would have pressed any.
Just thinking about all the problems in her mother’s past threatened to ruin the evening…if Dave didn’t do it first. Rena caught him still looking at her, and when he saw her notice, he winked.
She hastened into the house, her mother and Dave behind her. To her relief, she found Uncle Liam and Sophie sitting in the living room.
“Well now, there she is.” Her uncle beamed at her, his bright-gray eyes shining. “Our small-business owner and hair ar-teest.” He stood to enfold her in a hug.
Sophie grinned. “You have such a way with words, Liam.” Petite compared to Liam’s overwhelming strength—the man had muscles as big as J.T.’s and looked decades younger than his early sixties—Sophie Aster looked his youthful equal, her black hair streaked with minimal gray, her green eyes full of life. “How is work treating you, Rena?” Sophie stood and gently tugged Liam away to hug her.
Rena hugged her back, pleased for the moral support. “Work is great. It’s only been a few days, but I know this business is going to do well.”
“That’s the spirit.” Uncle Liam gave her a playful tap to the arm.
“It’s been more than a few days,” her mother corrected her from the dining room. “You started last month, right, honey?”
“True, but now I’m down to just one paycheck. The salon is it.” She turned with Sophie and Liam and joined her mother and Dave in the dining room. The table had been set, glasses filled with water, and a green glass bottle sat in a wine bucket.
“Your mom was telling me about your business,” Dave was saying as he sat, not offering to help her mother with anything.
“Mom, you need any help?” Rena mentally castigated her mother’s new man. Aside from being good-looking and likely wealthy, Dave didn’t seem to have any socially redeeming qualities. But Rena told herself to give him a chance. She’d just met him. Axel would probably look as bad upon first greeting. A big man who said little and stared at everyone around him as if contemplating how to kill and bury the bodies.
And why am I thinking of Axel now?
“I’m good, sweetie,” her mother called from the kitchen. “You talk to Dave and your uncle and Sophie.”
Dave kicked back, his arms behind his head. “Yep. I tried helping and got told if I didn’t stay out of her kitchen, she’d pop me on the behind with a wooden spoon.”
Liam laughed. “She’s done that to me before.”
“Well, I’m learning my lesson from you two,” Sophie said.
Rena grudgingly admitted to herself she might have misjudged Dave. Maybe.
“It’s great to finally meet you,” he was saying. “Caroline has been telling me how proud she is of you.”
“That’s nice.” She did her best to pretend to be enthused. “How did you and Mom meet?”
“At the hospital. I’m a government contractor and retired Army. Went in for a checkup and ran into the prettiest lady I’ve ever seen.” He turned to Sophie. “Well, I hadn’t seen you yet, Sophie.”
Sophie chuckled. “Oh, you’re smooth, Dave. I’ll give you that.”
Liam snorted. “Like a pig in grease.”
