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“I don’t know,” she admits, nibbling at her bottom lip. “It doesn’t seem his style. He’s less subtle.”
“It just seems odd that he was hurting you a few days before, then the shop is trashed.”
She thinks about this for a moment. “I’ll mention it to the lead detective working on the case, but I don’t think it was Thomas, and I’m not just saying that. I really don’t think it was him.”
“Okay, Nee. If you say it wasn’t him, it wasn’t him.”
“Let’s not talk about Thomas. I don’t want him ruining our night.”
She’s right, so I drop it and move on to telling her stories about Cooper. By the time we reach the restaurant, we’re both laughing at the crazy antics my son gets up to. I’m happy she’s cool with Coop because he’s a non-negotiable part of my life.
I park the car in the restaurant’s parking lot, then climb out. Nia does the same, rounding the back of the vehicle to meet me. I hold my hand out to her, unsure if she’ll take it, but she does, and hand-in-hand we walk inside.
The hostess meets us as soon as we step through the doors and seats us in a little nook in the window. Once we’re both sitting, I hand her a menu and take one for myself.
“What’s good here?”
“Everything,” is my candid answer. “But I’m partial to the steak.”
“Then I’ll try that.”
We chatter as we wait for the waitress to take our order and I can’t help but smile at her as she talks. How Thomas could hurt this woman doesn’t compute with me. She’s a kind, generous, funny soul, and I love listening to her stories. It’s clear she’s passionate about anything old or historical, and I get the impression she collects things unintentionally at times.
The thought makes me smile.
“So, how did you end up with the garage?” she asks after we talked about the antiques store for a while.
My stomach churns. I don’t want to bring up my past, not with her sitting across from me, but I can’t dance around my history any more than she can.
“After Robyn died, I was a bit of a mess.”
“Understandable.” She reaches across the table and snags my hand, giving me silent support.
“Beanie and Slider moved here to get me back on track. I guess, I was spiraling pretty hard. I bought the garage to keep my head busy and asked them both to work with me. It was the least I could do after they hauled their asses across state lines for me.”
“Do you enjoy it?”
“Being a mechanic is all I’ve ever known. It’s what I did in the Army, what I’ve done since I got out too. I don’t think I know how to be anything else.”
“It’s the same with me and collecting. I can’t walk past something old without picking it up,” she says, confirming my earlier suspicion.
“It’s hard. I want my son to know his mother, but talking about Robyn brings up a lot of shitty memories.”
“It should also bring up good ones, Jared. You must have loved her very much to marry her and have a child with her.”
“I did. I still do.” I frown. “Does that make you feel weird?”
“No. It’s natural that you’d still feel deeply for her.” Her response surprises me.
“Really?”
“Really. She’s always going to be in your life. She was the mother of your son. That doesn’t get erased because she’s gone.”
Who is this woman? I worried there would be jealousy there, but there doesn’t seem to be.
“Thank you, for saying that, for thinking that.”
“Our pasts don’t disappear because we start something new.”
