She shook her head. “Nah. Go on. I know you got your baby girl to get home to.”
“I know. But I won’t take advantage of you.”
She barked a single laugh. “Girl, you’re not the kind of person to take advantage of anyone or anything!”
Now, that sounded like a compliment, and it was one I liked. Even if I had to learn how to be tougher and scrappy without Fitz to provide for me or defend me, I preferred to hang on to some softness in my heart.
“Daria’s good to watch Maisie for another hour yet,” I reminded her, referencing the college student I’d lucked out to find in our apartment building. She was a smart and patient young woman, and I appreciated how well Maisie took to her babysitter.
“Go on.” Rosa shooed me out. “Go on. I’ve got this.”
I hugged her and accepted her offer to handle the rest of the night.
Outside on the sidewalk, I glanced around me. Scoping my surroundings was a habit I picked up as soon as I learned I was pregnant with Maisie. The city could always become a dangerous setting in the blink of the eye. Being responsible for her life, even before she was born, was the prompt for me to always be awareof any threats or concerns. Because her safety was onme, not Fitz.
I sighed in despair at how often he was creeping into my thoughts tonight. He’d been gone for one year now, and still, time wasn’t healing “all”.
Tightening my coat around me, sure that no one would pop out and bother me on my walk home, I wondered when the loss of my husband would fade so I could be happy again. When I would gain enough street smarts that I wouldn’t always be so tense.
It’s just because of those two men tonight. That’s all.
Seeing those drunk creeps helping themselves behind the bar had left me unsettled. That was why I was so uptight now with lingering nervousness.
If that man hadn’t been seated there…
I shook my head as I walked, regretting how I froze and clammed up. Rosa would’ve turned around eventually and gotten them away from me. She would’ve called for Peter to come kick those idiots out.
But that man…
He saved me.
I had no clue who the man was, but the haunted look of anger and frustration that he’d shown me when I was cornered clung to me.
Even now, as I thought back to how he’d stood up and gotten those men to back off, I was shaken by the violence he was so clearly capable of. The ease and fluid athleticism he’dproven when he cranked that man’s arm the wrong way. The indifference to having to resort to pain to get his message across.
And all for me.
I huffed a weak laugh of incredulous wonder that he’d cared enough to step in.
With my gaze lowered a bit, I almost reacted too late for when he stepped in front of me.
Here, on the sidewalk.
I gasped, jumping back before we actually collided on this square of the path. “Whoa!”
He didn’t flinch like I did, but the surprise registered on his face too as he looked up, almost as if he hadn’t been watching where he walked near the alley at the corner. “Oh.”
Catching myself from stumbling back too far, I brushed my hair from my face and peered up at him. Without the dimness of the bar and the stink of alcohol, sweat, perfume, and weed, he seemed so much clearer now. I could smell the spice of his cologne, clean and distinct. I could see the details of shadows from his lean face. And without backing up again, I could feel the heat radiating from his big body.
Whoa, indeed.I stepped back again, unnerved by how much I noticed so many details about him. Looking down, I frowned at the wet stains on his dark shoes.Blood?
“I’m sorry to startle you,” he said in that rich baritone. Something else that hit me crisply. Unlike the loudness in the bar, this mild night allowed me to hear him clearly.
“No. No.” I shook my head. “It’s okay. I’m okay.” Hoisting my purse strap higher on my shoulder, I hated that I had the urge to fidget under his intense stare. “If anyone should be apologizing, it’s me. I’m sorry those men bothered you at the bar and?—”
He smirked, laughing once. “They were bothering you,” he corrected. “And I hate that you had to put up with that at all.”
A slow smile stretched over my face. “On that note, thank you.”
