I can’t hear her reply, but they both smile before Jared runs into the restaurant yelling something about hugs.
“I didn’t know he loved hugs that much,” I say. “I’ll have to be sure to hug him more.” I take a deep breath and turn to face Tina. I can’t put this off any longer. I’ll tell her about the kids, then give her some privacy. I’m sure she won’t mind if I leaveJared here to eat dinner, even though I’m sure she won’t want me around after I tell her my news. “We need to talk.”
Her face drops, and I instinctively know why. No one likes to hear those words. Nothing good ever comes after someone says “we need to talk” and this is no different. She’s about to say something when her phone rings and she holds up a finger, telling me to wait.
I only hear one side of the conversation, and it sounds like she’s getting bad news that’s maybe also good news. Or good news that’s also bad news. I’m still trying to figure out which it is, when she gets off the phone and turns back to me, the tears welling in her eyes confirming that it’s more bad news than good. Whatever she learned in that phone call, it distracted her enough that she seems surprised to see I’m still there.
“Come upstairs. We can talk there,” she says, pulling keys from her pocket and leading me back around the side of the building.
“Nice to see you’re locking your door,” I say, attempting to lighten the mood. “I bet your underwear drawer is relieved.”
She grants me a small huff of a laugh as she lets us inside, but that’s it.
“Well?” She stands near her couch, face turned down to the floor, hands on her hips as she waits for me to talk. I hate that she’s not looking at me.
Suddenly, the last thing in the world I want is to have this conversation that ends whatever it is we have before it starts. My heart screams at me to put it off a little while longer. To take a few more minutes to enjoy the possibility before throwing it away for the good of the boys. I step forward into her space and pull her into my arms, dipping my head down and breathing in the scent of her hair, a mixture of coconut shampoo and fresh bread.Is there a better smell in the world?
I hold her a moment before she relents and wraps her arms around my waist, melting against me, her breath hot as she presses her cheek to my chest.I don’t want to let go. I don’t want to give her up.I blow out a breath and unwind my arms from around her, allowing her to step back. “Want to tell me what’s wrong?” I ask. “It might help to talk about it.”
She backs up until her legs hit the couch, then flops down and tucks her legs beneath her. “It’s been a long day, Nick. A long shit-show of a day.”
I walk around the coffee table and lower myself onto the couch next to her. “What happened?”
She exhales, the sound a long-suffering sigh, and drops her head to the back of the couch, letting her knees flop to the sides before crossing her legs criss-cross applesauce style. “Well, my family showed up to surprise me, for one.” She raises a finger in the air, then lets her arm drop back to her side. “And that’s an issue for Wade.”
“Why is that an issue for Wade?” The real estate agent has always been a bit of a question mark in my mind, but it’s obvious how much he cares for Tina. And how much he means to her.Shit.Is there something…morethan friendship there?
She glances at me without turning her head. “You’ve heard the rumors? About Wade, I mean.”
I nod, unsure where she’s heading with this.
“Well, my family knows who he wasbeforehe was Wade.” My eyes widen in shock.Holy shit.WasWadereallyin the mob? That guy is so lucky he only got thrown in the dumpster last night. “And I usually warn him before they visit, so he can make himself scarce. I didn’t get the chance to do that today, though. And I feel like shit about it.”
“He can’t possibly expect you to keep his secret forever? You’ve done it until now, haven’t you?”
“Everyoneneeds to keep his secret. I’m pretty sure he’s in witness protection.” She glares at me. “You better not say anything.”
“What the hell? What did he do?”
She shrugs. “The guy peoplemistakehim for,” she says, emphasizing the wordmistake,narrowing her eyes at me until I nod to let her know I get her meaning,“may have taken down a sex trafficking ring and saved a bunch of kids. And sent a bunch of very dangerous people to jail in the process.”
“Jesus.”
“Yeah.”
She narrows her eyes at me again.
“My lips are sealed.”
“Good.”
We sit in silence for a couple of minutes before she speaks again. “I also found out I’ve been selling my dad short my whole life. I thought he was some kind of deadbeat husband around the house, and even though I loved him, it colored the way I thought about men. Turns out he’s an early riser who does all his household chores when everyone else is still asleep. That man cleaned the bathrooms in the dead of night the entire time I was growing up, and I never knew a thing about it.”
“That must’ve been quite the eye opener.” I chuckle, picturing an older man in two-piece pajamas scrubbing toilets in the dark.
She huffs a laugh. “You have no idea. I was so sure that he was helpless because I’d never seen him clean a thing, never mind cook a meal.” She lets out a full laugh, the smile finally reaching her eyes. “But it’s not that he didn’t know how to cook. It’s that my mom banned him from the kitchen because she thought he was a danger to himself and she didn’t want to bring him to the hospital with a plastic baggie full of his own fingers.”
I snort a laugh at that. “I wouldn’t want to do that either. It doesn’t sound like a good time.”
