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She shook her head. “I wasn’t saying she was...” Actually, she was doing just that whether she wanted to acknowledge it or not.
“Speaking of family,” Darren said through clenched teeth, “how’s my uncle?”
Reese didn’t mean to suck in a breath even though she did. “I wouldn’t know. I haven’t worked for him in five years.”
“You mean the two of you aren’t dating anymore?”
Taking in a slow breath did little to stem the pain from what felt like daggers straight to her heart. The relationship with his uncle hadn’t been something she’d planned. Looking back, the man knew what he was doing, though. He’d seduced her in a matter of months, made her believe she was special and then laughed when she’d confronted him about the others he’d been seducing, too. He’d casually said there’d been no mention of commitment. True enough, the words had never been spoken, only assumed. At least, on her part. And he’d never explicitly said he was seeing other people, not even in so many words. All those late nights at the office, when he’d sent her home alone with work, hadn’t registered as him cheating. Then again, he’d made a good point. He couldn’t cheat on a relationship that didn’t exist in the first place. “No. We aren’t.”
Rather than stand there and continue this conversation, she moved to the patio doors. Tears welled in her eyes as she realized just how much she’d hurt Darren by leaving and how foolish she’d been to believe a much older, more experienced man when he said words she never would believe from someone her own age. Just like she’d always suspected, true love equaled devastation and misery. To find proof, all she had to do was take a look in Darren’s eyes.
DARRENFIXEDApot of coffee. Since he’d already checked on the babies, there wasn’t much else he could do there. Being busy had become a way of life since the pregnancy, forget once the twins were born. Six months was too young to lose their mother and he’d had no idea how he was going to bring up the babies on his own. Then, Stacie had shown up, ready and willing to pitch in. His in-laws came next and he started to think he might actually pull this whole thing off and bring up healthy young women.
Seeing Reese again reminded him of what could happen if he messed up the job.
Kids needed parents. Preferably both, even if they lived under separate roofs, which was where he and his wife had been headed before the twins had been conceived.
Darren shook off the memories. Thinking about the past was about as productive as trying to milk a bee. Besides, walking down memory lane made him relive all the hurt he’d experienced when Reese had walked out. How foolish had he been at eighteen to believe he’d found the love of his life?
Right now, his heart only had room for two girls—Ivy and Iris.
Reese didn’t turn to look at him. “She likes you,” she finally said after staring out the doors for a few minutes.
“We’re family,” he said, reaching for a mug.
“No,” she said without hesitation. “Shelikesyou.”
“Stacie?” he asked. “She’s just concerned about the twins, trying to make sure I’m doing a good enough job now that her sister is gone.”
“I’m sorry,” Reese said quietly. “It must be hard to lose the love of your life and the person you decided to build a family with.”
Darren didn’t know how to respond, considering he had lost the love of his life once. She should have been the mother of his children, but wasn’t. The smart thing to do would be to keep a safe distance between him and Reese, in case any of those old feelings decided to rear their ugly heads and come back to bite him in the backside.
“It’s never easy to lose someone,” he said, deciding not to go into more detail than that. First loves had a way of gutting a person, making it hard to go all-in with the next one no matter how great they might be. What he’d felt for Hazel was good. He’d loved her as much as he could love anyone after having his heart stomped on. None of which was Hazel’s fault. She’d loved him in her own way, too.
“I can’t imagine,” she said, but an emotion crossed her features that said she had some idea. Was it his uncle that she missed?
Darren couldn’t let himself go there without anger boiling. Since getting mad wouldn’t change the past, he shifted focus. Besides, anger never fixed anything. In fact, it usually led to someone popping off at the mouth and making the situation a whole lot worse.
“I’ll check on the sheriff,” he said, figuring the abduction was a whole lot safer subject. He retrieved his cell phone and checked the screen. He’d missed two calls from Stacie. “I need to make a call.”
Reese nodded.
“Coffee is ready if you’d like a cup,” he said. “Mugs are on the counter.”
Receiving two calls from Stacie back-to-back set his nerves on edge. He walked over to the front window and returned the call.
“Is everything all right with the girls?” he immediately asked, concerned Stacie had information his former in-laws didn’t want to deliver. He’d checked on them a little while ago but little kids were unpredictable and he’d learned the hard way were a danger to themselves half the time.
“Yes,” Stacie said. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to worry you. I just didn’t like the way we left things earlier and wanted to make sure everything was okay between us.”
Darren let out a sigh of relief.
“We’re good,” he said, trying to will his racing pulse to calm the hell down.
“Are you sure?” she asked. There was a quality to her voice that was different. Jealous? Was Reese right about Stacie wishing there could be more between them? He’d met her first, before Hazel. They’d gone out once but nothing happened because they’d gone to the restaurant where her sister worked as a waitress. As it turned out, Stacie was the practical sister. She studied and not much else. They’d run out of things to say to each other before the appetizers arrived. Hazel was the untamed sister. She was like a tornado who blew threw his life, turning everything upside down. Conversation with her had been easy. Sex had been fiery, but he found out later that there wasn’t as much love between them as there was friendship. It was what he missed about her most despite her betrayal.
Hazel had asked her sister for his number, she’d given it, so he’d assumed she’d been just as bored on their date as he’d been. “I’d tell you if we weren’t.”
