“I’ll tell you later.” He leaned forward and pressed a light kiss against her lips.
She nodded and continued to move through the door. He walked along with her, looping his arm through hers.
“We’ll talk after dinner,” he said.
She had a sinking feeling in her stomach that conversation wasn’t going to go in favor of either of them.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Eli’s restaurant?” Sadie asked.
“I thought it might be a nice treat,” Roman replied, opening the door to Eats Grille.
They were meeting with Roman’s new friend and his wife for an early dinner before they all went to some Broadway revival at the Buell Theater downtown. Then, she and Roman would have the Chicago talk. She’d done her best to push it to the back of her mind, but it lodged at the forefront of her thoughts the whole way over.
Roman was now on a personal mission to prove to her that a couple could come back from the brink and still be in love. Still make it work.
That’s what it seemed like anyway.
“Rex hasn’t been here before. I figured two birds, one stone.”
“Rex?” Sadie asked, her stomach starting to clench. “Your friend’s name is Rex?”
Little warning chimes were dinging in her skull while the low hum of the restaurant filled the air around her. Tonya’s not-so-ex-husband’s name was Rex.
How many men in Denver had that name?
Every time they’d talked about him, Roman had always referred to him as his buddy or the bar guy. Sadie had never asked his real name and hadn’t had a reason to. Until now.
Dread snaked through Sadie like she’d entered a real house of horror as Roman strode across the busy restaurant and shook hands with the man standing to Tonya’s left.
Tonya.
With a guy named Rex.
That snake of dread cinched tight.
Tonya and Rex followed Roman’s finger point to where it ended on Sadie. Two sets of round orbs settled on her. Rex’s expression darkened as one might expect when the woman who showed up for a friendly dinner represented his wife in what had become a fairly nasty custody dispute over aquatic children.
Tonya said something to Roman, and he froze, not even blinking.
Sadie started what felt oddly like a walk of shame toward them.
Tonya said something to the guys and broke away, hurrying toward Sadie.
“Hi…” Tonya didn’t sound like herself. More distant.
“Is everything all right?” Sadie asked, staying as neutral as she could and refusing to show any kind of surprise.
Come to think of it, she’d gone three full business days without any panicked calls from Tonya. Tucked tight with Roman, she’d lost her focus. Hadn’t realized what was happening until—
“Actually, everything is great.” Tonya tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.
Great was good. Sadie loved it when her clients were great.
“Rex and I…we decided to try again.”
Or perhaps, Sadie hadn’t done her job. The ax was falling quickly on Denver.
