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“Are you really scared that Stella will get attached?” Darius asks. “Or maybe, you’re more scared to get your own heart broken?”
I groan, my ex-wife flashing before my eyes. I’ve been married before. I’ve had a kind of heartbreak that my brothers will never know. At least, I hope they don’t. No one deserves that kind of pain. My marriage failed, and that’s that. Love’s just not in the cards for a single father like me.
“Look, this conversation is over. I’m done being psychoanalyzed by a sickly half-wit with boogers in his nose.” I huff.
Darius self-consciously blows his lungs out into a wad of tissues. “I do not have boogers in my nose.”
He doesn’t. “Do, too,” I taunt him anyway. Because that’s what brothers are for.
“Fuck you.” He grabs his water bottle and rises from his seat. “And fuck those ladybugs on your fingernails, too.”
Ugh. I’ve been meaning to ask Inez to help me with that. I can’t seem to get this stupid nail polish off.
I ball my hands into fists, hiding them under my desk. “If you know so much about relationships, why don’t you have the love of your life?”
“Most women bore me,” he says casually with a shrug. “I’d rather just make more money. To each their own, though.” He sneezes into the air with wild abandon and I have a feeling I’m going to need to disinfect every surface of this bar when he’s gone.
“Right.” I snort.
Before he steps out the door, he smirks over his shoulder. “Like I said, life’s short, Nolan. Do what makes you happy. Buy the fucking car. And bang the hot bartender.” He winks.
His footsteps carry down the hallway and with one final sneeze, I hear the back door slam shut.
20
INEZ
“Which one’s your favorite?” Stella asks, her eyes roaming over the different booths as we stroll hand in hand through the farmer’s market.
“Oh, definitely the one over there. Rainbow’s produce stand,” I answer.
She hops around a puddle. “That’s my daddy’s favorite stand, too!”
I grin. Of course it is. Rainbow is freaking awesome. Everybody loves her.
Nolan’s got a sore throat today and he’s been sneezing his butt off. He claims that he got a bug from Darius. So I offered to get Stella off his hands for a few hours.
He’s been working so hard to keep her entertained now that school is out. They already picked up a new dance class a few days ago. She’s joined a morning library group. The park is now a twice a day routine for them. But today, he’s not feeling well so I want to help him out. Because we’re friends, of course.
Little adventurer that she is, Stella was buzzing to get out of the house. And since I wanted to get my mind off of things, I was happy to head into town.
We already walked around Moon Trail Road and did some window shopping at Daphne’s store. Now we’re browsing the farmer’s market together.
I’ve mostly avoided the farmer’s market since that awkward incident from a little while back. But this is one of my favorite spots in town. I won’t let the haters chase me away from this place.
“Look at that! Two of my favorite girls!” Rainbow waves us over when she catches sight of us approaching.
Stella leans close to me and whispers. “She says that to everybody.”
I laugh. “Hey Rainbow.”
“What brings you lovely ladies by today?” the older woman asks, walking over to us from where she was standing around, speaking with a few of her merchant friends.
“Well, Nolan woke up with the sniffles this morning, so I was thinking that I’d try to make him his favorite soup.”
Rainbow’s friends stand nearby, giving me judgmental looks when I say that. But she shoots them a menacing side-eye and they don’t dare open their mouths.
Stella spots a puppeteer nearby. I let her watch the performance but make sure she only steps a few feet away.
