“A lot of guys like sports.”
“No, no.This was a sex analogy.He wanted to know if he was going to hit a homerun before hewastedmoney on dinner.He’s telling me this while he’s sayingwink, wink.Can you believe that?”
“Wasted money…?He said that?”
“Yes, like if he paid for the food, it was my duty to go back to his place and give him nookie.”
“That sucks,” I say.
“I know.Now I have to find a new place to get coffee.”
“Where are Lear and Princeton?”
“Lear took him to the park,” she says.“He’s letting him run off some energy before our grandparents come to visit this weekend.”
“Your family will visit?”They usually stay here when they do and last time, to give them room, I stayed at a hotel.
“It’s a surprise thing.I don’t know why they suddenly decided to do that.”
I suddenly have a longing to see my own family.“Then I’ll take a trip out of town to visit my parents.”
“Bring me back some of your mom’s chocolate chip cookies,” she says, then glances at the clock.“Ooh…it’s time for my show.I think the girl the hero invited to ride on his salami wagon with is actually his ex’s sister.Oh, the drama.It’s delicious.”She grabs the remote and turns on the TV.“Anyway, so the hero—”
“Wait.”I stare at the TV where an ad for DB Jewelry is playing.A model is wearing the jewelry I designed.The design I poured my heart into.
Trusting the wrong man shattered that dream.But then again, Doug was always selfish only I couldn’t see that then.
Locke isn’t Doug.True, he’s richer and more powerful but he also has a good heart.He’s a man worth my love.A man worth trusting.
Chapter Twelve
Locke
Iwatchthemanclimbingout of an old work truck that’s laden down with construction materials.It’s him.Larry Middleton.Salem’s father.His gait is slow and his hair is threaded with strands of gray.He straightens with a wince and puts a hand against his back.
He’s the contractor that found me in that abandoned house and rescued me.I have a memory flash of being scared as he approached me then.I thought that man had returned.
But Larry had dropped to his knees with a cry of alarm and freed me.He’d carried me from the dark house into the daylight.Patting my back the whole time.Telling me I was safe and he would help me.
I grip my phone tightly.Oliver had sent me all the information last night and I saw it this morning.
This man…my throat feels tight.He carried me to safety physically and now his daughter carries my heart.This is fate.
According to the report from Oliver, Larry is in late sixties and works six days a week trying to dig his family out of the financial hole Doug and his family forced them into.
That’s about to end.I’ve already put things in motion to right the wrongs done to this family.
Pushing open the door of my car, I step out onto the street.
Larry looks at me, then ambles over.“Hello there,” he says, his face kind and cheerful.
I’m so full of emotion I can barely speak, and it takes me a minute to pull myself together.“I’m that boy,” I say.
“The boy?”
“The one you saved from that abandoned house.”
His eyes widen.“Really?I wondered what happened to him.You, I mean.”He claps me on the shoulder and his voice is choked up as he continues, “I tried a few times to find out if you were okay, but the police wouldn’t give me any information.”
