“It’s Thursday.” Friday was our regular pub night.
Toni made puppy eyes. “But it’s my last week. You have to come.”
I messed up her choppy black hair. “Sure.” It’s not like I had other plans. “What are you eating?”
“Cookies,” she said through a mouthful of crumbs. “Chocolate chip. Tim brought them.”
“Tim was here?”
“He left them at the door,” Reeti said.
“Oh, and there’s a note for you,” Toni added.
I snatched it from the coffee table, a crisp white square, neatly folded.For Dee, it said on the outside in a firm, square script. Eagerly, I opened it.Tim.
I turned the paper over, searching for... Something. “That’s it?”
“What do you mean? The man brought you cookies,” Reeti said.
“Which you are eating.”
“They’re really good cookies.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’ll be right back.”
“Take your time,” Toni said, and grabbed another cookie.
I ran downstairs.
Tim answered my knock promptly. “Dee.” He was wearing his Mr.Darcy face, polite and a little stiff.
I grinned. “You were expecting someone else?”
“No.” One word.
I should have kissed him when he opened the door. Too late now. “Thanks for the cookies.”
“You’re very welcome.” He started to say something else. But nope.
“How’s Charles?” I asked.
His jaw squared. “As well as can be expected.”
“Meaning, still a pain in your ass?”
He sighed. “Things are difficult for Charles right now.”
It was really none of my business. I should shut up. But I’d done that before, with Gray, shutting down my feelings, stifling my opinions. I wasn’t going to do that again, not with Tim or any other guy.
“Right now?” I asked. “Or all the time?”
“Charles had a rough go of it before he joined the army. And since he left, he’s lost his way.”
“I’m sorry. Really. But he won’t get anywhere trying to relive the past. He needs to move on.”You need to move on.
“It’s not that easy. Charles was a warrior. A hero. He saved the life of his commanding officer and won the hand of the fair princess, and when he quit the service, he figured he had it made. Except he didn’t. Because he doesn’t live in a fucking family castle, and the princess dumped him at the curb. He’s angry, and he drinks, and the drinking makes him angrier. That’s a deep hole for him to climb out of.” Tim ran his hand through his hair, making it stick up in front. “The least I can do is give him a hand up from time to time.”
“That’s a very masculine narrative.”
