He stopped in the middle of the kitchen with the corkscrew in hand. “You don’t drink wine?”
“I do—”
“Then the bottle stays here, Smythe. Go with the flow, and enjoy your food.”
I couldn’t argue with that, so I didn’t.
Renna’s made New York-style pizza, and the slices were huge. Unlike my sister I took one slice and settled at the square dinette table.
Punc sat next to me, and I couldn’t ignore the way his knee brushed mine under the table. It was nothing. I should have been able to push it out of my mind, especially since he was wearing jeans so we weren’t even touching skin to skin. Yet, the random touches felt like everything. Good and wrong, hopeful and ultimately right. I took a deep breath to stop my wayward thoughts. With the table butting up against a kitchen window, and a pile of mail on the only other open spot, he’d been forced to sit next to me. I was reading too much into it.
Like he said, this was just pizza.
We ate in silence.
“You were chatty as hell last night. Do I make you nervous being here?” he asked after a few minutes.
To keep from choking, I swallowed hard and coughed. Once I had myself under control, I said, “No. Not nervous, but this is out of the ordinary.”
He stared across the kitchen for a beat. “I don’t think so. We’re going to be co-workers. Of a sort. During our phone convo last night, I realized I want to know more about who you are now.”
I gave him a small dose of side-eye. “Thought you said this is just pizza?”
A muscle in his jaw ticked. “I say, let’s not over-analyze this shit. What’s the last thing you watched on TV?”
Whatwasthe last thing I watched on TV?
Punc gave a short laugh. I loved listening to him laugh, though, I wished I’d actually done something funny.
“It’s a simple question, Savannah.”
I twisted my hands up over the table. “I can’t say there’s anything I’ve been watching unless it’s something Catalina wants to watch. During the days, if I’m home, I put it on as background noise while I clear out Mom’s stuff. If it’s just me at night, having it on reminds me of her - it’s crazy—”
He put his hand over mine on the table. “It’s not crazy. Forget I asked.”
To steer us out of this heaviness, I asked, “What haveyoubeen watching lately?”
He chuckled. “Almost hate to admit this, but I’ve fallen into a rabbit hole streaming true crime shows.”
I swallowed a bite of pizza. “Alanis loves those shows, why would you hate to admit it?”
His grin made my breath catch. “She does love them, but Tundra and a couple other brothers give me a ton of shit because they think I’m watching the modern-day equivalent of a chick flick.”
I shook my head. “If anything, I’d think all of you would want to know how cops think and stuff, being bikers and all.”
He pressed his lips together. “Plenty of the brothers know how the cops think already.”
There was a big fat dose of reality crashing in…we were such opposites.
“I suppose you’re right. When she isn’t studying as much, Catalina loves watching true crime. I can’t stomach it. I think they remind me too much of Dad - not that he’s a killer, but he’s probably spent time around those types of people.”
While he wiped a napkin around his stubbled lips, he nodded slowly. “Where is your dad? Has he been coming around to check on you and Catalina?”
My head tipped up and I stopped myself from staring at the ceiling since that would give too much away. I met Punc’s blue-eyed gaze. “He was at the funeral. And the next day he went behind my back to Mom’s lawyer.” I hesitated. “Seeing as there was no money or property being left to him, he left the law office in a snit, and we haven’t heard from him since then.”
“How do you know he left the office pissed?” Punc asked.
My head tipped to the side, as I thought about it. “The receptionist called me that day. I suppose she wasn’t supposed to tell me, but when I’d been there prior to the funeral, she’d taken pity on me.” I sipped my wine and set it on the table. “Let’s not talk about my dad. Especially, since you have a much better relationship with yours.”
