Page 384 of Romeo

His eyes flicked toward the remains of the table. “Furniture’s a little limited.”

I looked at it too. A laugh slipped out of me.

Angel glanced toward the porch. “Rome’s always been hard on furniture.”

Something in the way he said Jasper’s road name made me look at him. There was familiarity there, the kind that came from knowing someone before the rest of the world knew the version standing in front of them now. “How long have you known Jasper?”

“Fourteen years.”

That was longer than I expected. “Before Diamond Creek?”

“Arkansas.”

I glanced toward the porch again, trying to picture a younger Jasper riding beside the man standing in front of me. “Was he already Romeo then?”

Angel’s mouth curved. “No. I gave him that name.”

“You did?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

For the first time since he walked through the door, Angel looked genuinely amused. “You married him. You really need me to explain?”

I groaned. “Oh.” My eyes widened when his words sank in. “OH. Oh God.”

“Exactly.”

I covered my face with my hands. His laugh was quiet this time, but there was no mistaking it, and something loosened inside me. Not enough to erase everything. Enough to let me look at him again and wonder about the questions I hadn’t let myself ask yet.

Most of what I knew about Angel came from other people, pieces of a life that existed before mine, and suddenly he was standing close enough to answer for himself.

“Can I ask you about my mother?”

Whatever amusement had been in his expression disappeared. “Yeah.”

I hesitated, realizing I didn’t even know where to start. “What was she like?”

Angel looked toward the window, and for a few seconds I thought he might not answer. When he finally did, his voice was quieter. “Smart. Stubborn as hell. Funny when she wasn’t trying to be.” His mouth shifted faintly. “And trouble.”

The last word held something the others hadn’t.

I watched his face. “You knew her well.”

“Yeah.”

There was an entire history inside that answer I knew nothing about. “Were you together?”

His jaw tightened slightly and he closed his eyes. “For a while.”

That explained how I existed. It didn’t explain the way he looked when he talked about her.

“Did you love her?”

His eyes came back to mine.

“With every fucking breath I took.”