Grabbing a bagel, JJ went to work adding strawberry cream cheese to it, waiting for Cindy to join them at the table again.
“Where would you like to start?” Cindy asked when she took a seat.
Since JJ had just taken a bite, she couldn’t respond, but she suspected Cindy had planned it that way because her eyes shifted to Baz. “I take it Reese has told you about my history with Toby.”
The woman was very soft-spoken and ridiculously polite, but JJ noticed a fire banked in her eyes.
“High-level details only,” Baz answered, shifting in his seat.
JJ wiped her mouth with a napkin, took a sip of black coffee. “Reese gets flustered when we bring it up.”
Cindy’s face brightened, her eyes shining as though that pleased her to some degree. JJ knew Reese had a good relationship with his mother and her boyfriend, so it wasn’t that Cindy preferred her son to be uncomfortable. More than likely, she approved of the fact that Reese cared enough to let his discomfort with the situation shine through.
“I can only imagine.”
“There’s a story there,” JJ accused with a grin. “And I wanna know what it is.”
“JJ,” Baz admonished.
“It’s fine. Really.” Cindy sipped from her own cup. “It’s not as bad as you’re probably imagining. Reese walked in on Toby and me kissing once.”
“Do tell,” JJ encouraged.
“God, it was years ago,” she reflected with a smile. “Reese had just come home on leave, and Toby was on the tail end of one of his visits.” Her gaze swept over JJ and Baz. “He would come to see Thomas and me on occasion, usually when whatever he was doing brought him to the Austin area.”
“So he moved out of Coyote Ridge?” Baz asked.
“As soon as he could. Toby’s always been the wanderin’ sort. That’s why it doesn’t surprise me that he’s in this mess.”
“Y’all were close?” JJ asked, wanting to get Cindy back on topic because this was too juicy not to. Baz might not care to hear the story of Cindy’s romance with Toby, but JJ did, despite what she’d promised Reese.
“You could say that.” Her eyes took on a faraway look, as though she was lost in a memory.
“And Reese’s dad was … close to him as well?”
JJ felt Baz bristle beside him. Thankfully, he didn’t speak up.
Cindy’s eyes locked on JJ’s face and a smile pulled at her mouth. “He was, yes.”
JJ cocked an eyebrow, hoping Cindy could translate the expression to mean she wanted more details without having to say it.
For the first time since Cindy had started talking about her previous relationship, the woman’s cheeks turned a rosy red. “They … experimented. I guess that’s the right word for it.”
Wanting to ensure she understood correctly, JJ said, “With each other?”
“Only when I was with them, but yes, they were intimate.”
“Reese doesn’t know this.”
Cindy chuckled. “I don’t know if his heart can handle information like that.”
“I’d agree with that assessment,” Baz muttered over his coffee mug.
A laugh bubbled up from JJ’s center. “No. No, it most certainly can’t. But mine can.”
Another blush infused Cindy’s face. “Let’s just say, if Reese had come home a couple of hours earlier than he did that day, he would’ve been horrified for an entirely different reason. Luckily, his timing only allowed him to find Toby and me kissing. Thomas had gone to the store to pick up a couple of things for lunch, left us there alone.”
“Knowing what might happen?”
