Page 167 of Avenging Angel

I downed a spoonful of bubble gum gelato and said, “I’ve never done yardwork. But I get that. Yardwork sucks.”

He chuckled.

This sound ended abruptly before he said cautiously, “Remember Brittany?”

Yes.

I remembered Brittany.

She was Deb’s daughter.

Macy’s friend.

“I remember Brittany,” I said quietly.

“She got engaged last month. She’s too young, and the guy’s a clown.” A pause and then, “Deb and I are both hoping she’ll wake up before Rich and Deb have to put any deposits down.”

Rich was Deb’s ex.

If memory served, he was kind of an ass.

I was glad she shook him loose.

“We ran into each other at a grocery store,” he went on, moving us into the meatier stuff. “I hadn’t seen her in years. I didn’t want to see her then, because of the memories. But she told me she’d been worried about me…aboutus, all this time, and she asked if I wanted to have a cup of coffee and catch up. To this day, I don’t know why I said yes. But I’m glad I did.”

“The way you are, I’m glad you did too,” I replied.

He shot me a look that was now dripping with relief, then shared sheepishly, “She told me she had a crush on me, back in the day before Macy.”

I nodded.

I could see that. My dad was good-looking.

“She thought it was just a thing, not important,” he continued. “You don’t stop being a woman, or a man, even if you’re married. Though, she realized it was more later, because in some part of her, she knew Rich and her weren’t going to make it. He could be a serious ass.”

See?

“I kinda remember that about him.”

This time, he nodded before he continued sharing. “She didn’t ask me to have coffee because of that. Fifteen years had gone by. She thought she was over it.” His eyes twinkled. “And I wasn’t the hot number in the neighborhood anymore.”

He had definitely been that, tall, blond, blue-eyed, funny and loving.

He still had that now, I saw.

Deb had brought it back to him.

“I don’t know.” He shook his head, then shrugged. “Somehow, being with her, I tapped into a part of me I forgot was there. A spark ignited and…here we are.”

“I’m so happy you two are there,” I said it and meant it.

“I am too,” he replied. “And that you’re happy about it as well.”

He went back to his pistachio gelato.

“I remember Mom yelling at you,” I whispered.

Dad looked at me.

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