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“Looks like they’re coming over,” he said. “Want me to intercept?”
“No.” I lifted my chin. “I’ll handle it and be right back.”
I weaved my way around tables seated with patrons, dodging people hovering around them hoping to snag a free seat.
“Addy,” Miranda said when I reached them.
I wasn’t surprised she acknowledged me first. Collin’s silver gaze was majorly unfocused. Otherwise, I would have told him how sorry I was about him losing his parents.
“Hi, Miranda.”
I tried not to look at Collin overly long. It hurt, not because I was in love with him anymore. Those feelings weren’t gone, but they were a shadow of what they’d once been. Seeing him now, I felt sad for him, and sorry for Miranda because of the condition he was in. He was rail thin, his clothes hanging on his skeletal frame.
“Welcome to Footit’s Place,” I said as I forced a smile.
“It’s wonderful. Congratulations.” She held out her hand, but I pushed it aside to hug her instead.
“Thank you for helping me that day,” I whispered in her ear. I didn’t know what Collin knew about the state I’d been in when she’d found me in Martin’s apartment, but if he didn’t know, I wanted to keep it that way.
“I didn’t do all that much.” She stepped away from Collin, asking him, “Could you get me a drink, baby?”
“Yeah.” His deep voice was rough like it used to be whenever he smoked and drank too much. He swept his gaze over me as if only then noting me. “Addy. You look good.”
As her husband moved away, Miranda sighed. “He doesn’t look good, I know.”
Her gaze followed him as he staggered toward the bar. There was a dullness within them, a resigned sadness I recognized, because it was like looking at my own eyes in the mirror.
Collin’s addiction was well known. There was nothing to be done. He was as far gone as my mother had been. If he wanted to get better, he had to make the choice himself and do the hard work. Miranda couldn’t do it for him.
“Do you ever see her?” I choked out, my voice raspy. But I had to know about her. “How is Ella?”
“She’s wonderful. So happy. So smart.” Miranda placed her hands on both my arms as if she needed me for balance, not the other way around. “But I only got to see her once.”
“Why only once?” I asked.
“I’m not welcome to visit my parents anymore. They won’t even open the gate.” Her eyes narrowed as she pressed her lips together. “They don’t approve of my marriage. They wanted me to leave him. They insisted on it right after Kyle was born.”
“Kyle is your baby.” I knew she’d had her baby, but not the name of her child.
“Yes.” She nodded. “He’s all that keeps me moving forward some days. Collin is ...” She trailed off, and I noted what she did, that her husband was returning with two drinks. One looked like a double. “I’m sorry for everything my brother put you through, and my parents and me.”
“I accept your apology.” I wouldn’t say it was okay. It wasn’t okay. Words would never make it okay. I wasn’t sure anything could.
“Thank you, Addy.” Miranda seemed to wilt right before my eyes, or maybe she’d already been sagging, but my accepting her apology seemed to make her shoulders drop even more.
“I’d better return to my sister.” I passed my gaze over the couple, having the strangest feeling that I might never see either of them again. “Good night.”
“I’ll come with you,” Collin said. After passing Miranda her drink, he downed his in one gulp.
“No, that’s okay.” I turned and was a couple of steps away when he grabbed my arm. Furious, I shrugged free of his grip. “No, Collin. You don’t have permission to touch me. Go back to your wife.”
“I want you, Addy. If you would only—”
“Is everything okay?”
When Daniel suddenly appeared, I exhaled my relief. I had a hero and wasn’t completely alone to defend myself.
“We’re fine,” Collin said, slurring his words. I had a feeling he’d been drinking long before he came into my club. “Addy and I were having a discussion. Get lost.”
