“I still don’t get it,” Thad said.
“Have you ever watched the video that went viral?” Ashanti asked. “It is the very definition of adorable.”
“I guess I just find it weird how some people can treat pets better than they treat actual people,” he said. “Case in point.” He nodded toward the woman walking a medium-size dog. Its pristine white fur was trimmed to perfection and it had on a hot pink coat with matching hot pink boots. “She probably paid more for that dog’s outfit than some people pay for their entire wardrobe.”
“Not unless it’s couture,” Ashanti said. “I’m kidding.”Then she shook her head. “I take that back. I’ve seen some dresses that run in the four figures.”
“Anyone paying four figures for a dog’s dress needs to have their credit card taken away,” Thad said. He looked over at her, not sure if he wanted to know the answer to his next question. “Please tell me Duchess doesn’t have clothes that cost a thousand dollars?”
Her easy laugh melded with the sounds of the city traffic.
“There is no way I would spend over forty dollars for any piece of clothing for my dog.” She held up a finger. “And just to be clear, I’ve only spent forty dollars once, to support a client who has a doggy clothing shop on Etsy. I have my own business to grow and twin sisters who will be starting college in a couple of years. I have to watch my money.”
“Twins? You mean there’s a clone of the one who wanted to chop off my head for leaving Puddin’ locked in my truck?”
“Sure is. Kara and Kendra. They’re identical twins, but their personalities could not be further apart. Kendra would have walked past your truck and shrugged at the sight of Puddin’ in there.”
It was none of his business, but he still asked, “And you’re raising them on your own?”
She nodded, slipping another fry in her mouth. After taking a sip from the bottle of water she’d brought with her from the hotel, she said, “My parents died six years ago.”
Thad winced. “I’m sorry. Car accident?”
That was usually the case when a couple died together. That, or a fire. Or a murder suicide. Shit, he hoped it wasn’t a murder suicide.
“I wish it was that simple,” Ashanti said. She glanced overat him. “It’s kind of a long story. Actually, it’s not that long, just… complex.”
Definitely murder suicide. Damn.
“You see, my daddiddie in a car accident,” she said. “On the same day that we lost my mom.”
“But not together?”
“Nope.” She wrapped up the other half of her gyro and set it next to her on the fountain ledge. Then she rubbed her balled-up fists against her thighs and stared straight ahead, to the cars rolling along Sixth Avenue.
Her face was impassive, but Thad could sense the unease emanating from her. Her shoulders had gone rigid with a tension he could suddenly feel in his own muscles.
“You don’t have to talk about this if you don’t want to,” he said.
“No, no. I’m good,” Ashanti said. “Okay, I’ll never be good when it comes to talking about losing my parents, but it has gotten better with time.”
Thad remained silent, giving her the time she needed to get comfortable with what she was preparing to share.
“My mom was a mail carrier for the postal service,” Ashanti started. “She was almost at the end of her route when she passed out in the lobby of a building downtown. Turns out she’d had an aneurysm. There was an ambulance just a couple of blocks away, but she was gone before they got her to the hospital.”
“Damn, Ashanti. I’m sorry,” he said again.
Was there another set of words in the English language that sounded more inadequate? But Thad couldn’t think of anything else to say. It took every ounce of restraint hepossessed not to reach for her. A hand on her arm, on her shoulder? Would she reject the gesture, or lean into it?
“What about your dad?” he asked, deciding to keep his hands to himself.
She sucked in a deep, shaky breath. He was about to retract his question, when she continued.
“When he got the call about what had happened from Mom’s supervisor, he dropped everything and went to the hospital.”
She kneaded her thighs again, dragging the heels of her palms up and down. When she spoke, her voice was so soft Thad could barely hear it above the traffic.
“He ran a red light on his way home from the hospital, and there was an accident,” she said. “No one else was hurt, but the medics said my dad died instantly.”
