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“All right. He’s not sharing much until the check clears. I told him to keep me in the loop. He’ll have to get Peter’s permission but as Peter begged me to take care of his wife, I don’t see him saying no.”
She hoped her voice didn’t sound bitter. She didn’t have feelings for Peter—not anymore. It was just...everything. Yes, she was successful and proud of herself and mostly pretty happy, but she had never been anyone’s great love, nor was she likely to be. Yet Allison had inspired two men to love her. Peter had committed crimes for her—not exactly a recommendation of his character, but it was more than he’d done for her.
Erica paused as she rinsed strawberries. Not that she wanted Peter to have committed crimes in her name. It wasn’t what she meant. It was just—
“You have scrunchy face. What are you thinking?”
“Allison was married before. We went to lunch after we saw the lawyer and she told me. Levi was her high school sweetheart.”
She put the berries in a bowl, then returned to the island while he finished the omelet. “She and Levi were waiting to have kids until they could buy a house. Then he got leukemia and died.” She did the math in her head. “I guess she met Peter about a year later.”
“When he rescued her,” Killion said as he cut the omelet in two and slid half onto each plate. He joined her at the island.
“She hasn’t had it easy. I had no idea about the first husband.”
“You don’t know a lot about her.”
“That’s true.” She took a bite. “Delicious as always.”
“Thank you.”
“The whole falling-in-love-in-high-school thing is interesting.”
“Not for you,” he offered.
She smiled. “I wasn’t interested in anything permanent back then.” She paused. “Or impermanent. I had big plans.” She looked at him. “You’ve been married.”
“Yes.”
“We don’t talk about your family much.”
“I didn’t think you wanted to.”
He was right—she’d resisted sharing too much. But now she was curious. “You have an ex-wife?”
“I do. She’s remarried.”
“Just the one?”
He raised his eyebrows. “Yes, one ex-wife, no current wife. You’re the only woman in my life.”
“You have two daughters, right? They’re grown?”
He nodded. “My oldest is a software engineer. Married, two children. A boy and a girl. They live here.” His expression softened. “Her kids are five and three, close to Jackson’s age.”
That explained why he was so good with the toddler. “And the youngest?”
“She works for a venture capital firm in San Francisco. She’s determined to buy me out in ten years. I’m resisting her plan.”
“I never thought of you as a grandfather.”
He chuckled. “Does that make me less sexy?”
“Could anything do that?”
“I like to think not but one never knows.”
She smiled. “You’re as sexy as you were the day I met you.”
