“Steven,” I said, drawing his attention back to me. “Vero will be with me all week. If it will make you feel better, I promise to keep a close eye on her.”
“Wait,” he said with a confused shake of his head, “she’ll be with you?”
“Yes, sheliveshere, Steven. Inmyhome. Why do you look so surprised?”
“It’s just that you were so eager to let me take the kids, and you and Nick were spending a lot of time together before I left for Philly. I guess I just assumed—”
“I’m not seeing anyone,” I said curtly.
“Not even that lawyer kid in the Jeep?”
“Julian’s twenty-four. That hardly makes him a kid.”
“So you are seeing him?”
“No!” I sputtered. “We broke up. Why am I even explaining myself to you?”
Steven’s shoulders sagged. He smoothed back his hair, relief naked on his face. “It’s just that I had a lot of time to think while I was gone, about you and Delia and Zach… about how we never really tried to fix things between us.”
“Fix things?”
“You know, like seeing a marriage counselor.”
I laughed at the absurdity of the suggestion. “We didn’t see a marriage counselor because you told me you wanted to be married to someone else!”
“I know,” he said, his ears reddening with his temper. He took a slow breath and lowered his voice. “I know. And proposing to Theresa was a huge mistake, but now that all of that is behind us, and since you’re not dating anybody, maybe there’s a chance that we could talk to someone. We owe it to Delia and Zach to clear the air between us and try to make a fresh start, and it’d be a lot easier without a third wheel in the house.” He didn’t bother to lower his voice as Vero openedthe door behind him. “I can sleep in the guest room while we figure things out.”
Vero clapped a hand on Steven’s shoulder. She shoved Zach’s nap blanket in his arms and turned my ex-husband toward the street. “It’s definitely time for you to be going,” she said, holding the front door wide. “Don’t let anything hit you on the way out. You know… doors, frying pans, a restraining order.”
Steven growled at her. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
Her smile was devious. “You have no idea.”
The muscles in his face worked as if it was taking all their strength to hold him back. He turned to me. “Where’s Zach?”
“Probably hiding.” At his puzzled look, I explained, “It’s a phase he’s going through. Whatever you do, don’t let him out of your sight in the men’s room.” I grabbed a bag of Goldfish crackers from the pantry and dangled it below the dining room table. Zach giggled and crawled out from under it. I caught him as he reached for it with a squeal.
“I’ll call you tonight,” Steven said, stepping in close to take Zach from my arms. I froze at the cool shock of his lips against my cheek, at their distantly familiar bristle, keenly aware that it had been almost two years since those lips had touched me. I rubbed the strange itch they left behind as I watched him carry our son to his truck.
CHAPTER 5
“What was that whole business with Steven today?” Vero asked me later that night as we climbed into my minivan and drove to Ramón’s garage. It was almost eleven thirty, long after the garage closed. We had arranged to meet Javi there at midnight.
“What business?” I asked as I pulled out of the neighborhood.
“Steven kissed you.”
“So?”
“And he was about to ask you to go out with him.”
“You can’t possibly know that.”
“He said he had a lot of time to think about you while he was gone.”
“He said he’d been thinking about me and thekids.”
“Finlay,” she said as if I was being obtuse. “I hate to say it, but his ex-girlfriend was right. He’s definitely still in love with you.”
