Page 34 of Walker

“I-We…” I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “We only just went out on our first date, and he didn’t exactly invite me tonight.”

“Truth be told, this is an impromptu party because one of the other chapters paid a surprise visit. If your man is one of the ones back there in their little boy’s club meeting, then he probably hasn’t had time to tell you about it.”

“I guess. Still, what if he didn’t want me here? My friend dragged me along because she heard his ex was going to be here. There’s some bad blood between them because of shit he did. He fully admitted his past to me, and it isn’t pretty, but he isn’t that same man. You know?”

There was a weird twinkle in the woman’s eyes as I spoke. “Did he abuse his ex?”

“No. I’d never be with a man who had a history of that, no matter how much he claimed to have changed.”

“Well, then I don’t think you have anything to worry about. Who did you say you were dating?”

“Walker.”

I waited for her to start throwing warnings at me, but she didn’t. Instead, she smiled warmly at me and nodded her head. “I can see it.”

I leaned back, surprised by her statement. “No warnings about how he’s a cheater and no good for anything more than a one-night stand?”

She shook her head. “Obviously you don’t feel that way about him.”

I shook my head. “No. Honestly, I can’t even picture him being the type of person he had to be when he broke himself and his ex the way he did. He’s been nothing but kind, attentive, and he even brought flowers for my daughter and a toy for my son when he picked me up for our date. That doesn’t scream cheating womanizer to me. Then again, I’ve been fooled before.”

“Your gut is telling you that he’s genuine, though, right?”

“Yeah,” I whispered. “It really is.”

“That’s all that matters. For what it’s worth, I think Walker learned valuable lessons from the past. He’s a good man. He was back then, too. He was just lost for a long while and that wasn’t all his fault.”

“You knew him when he was married before?”

She laughed. “Yeah, kind of hard not to know the person I was married to.”

My eyes rounded out like giant saucers. Holy freaking shit. I sat there waxing poetic about the man who had cheated on her and she smiled and listened like it was the best thing she’d ever heard. “Wow. I don’t know what to say.”

“How about, nice to meet you?”

“Yeah, well obviously. You’re the most normal person here to talk to, and I’m including my best friend in that short list.” I pointed to where Shaina and Wash were in full-on verbal combat on the other side of the room.

“They won’t make it. If I can be so bold,” she offered, and I nodded in response again. “Your friend likes the lifestyle, but she’s not in love with the man. Wash hasn’t grown up yet. He’s still in the early days with the club where he thinks he needs to experience all the perks – that includes the club whores.” Poppy shook her head as if she pitied him. “Damn shame too, because he obviously has feelings for her. He’s going to lose out on your friend because he is too busy listening to his idiot club brothers about not settling down too soon.”

“You got all that from that little argument?”

“I people watch.”

“Me too.” Poppy grinned at my admission.

“I can see that, too. Don’t let my history with Walker overshadow your present. Despite how things ended with us, I want the best for him.”

“Really? Most women who are cheated on want the man to get nothing but the karma they feel he deserves.”

“He has had more than his fair share of karma hit him since we split up. Some of it deserved, some not.” She sighed. “The thing is, I loved that man for a long time. We basically grew into adulthood together. He did something shitty and unforgivable to me, but in his own way, he also set me free to find my true happiness. When you start out loving someone, it takes a lot longer to clue in to the fact that maybe you weren’t meant to be a forever couple. We weren’t. We were meant to be a steppingstone to better things. I already found my better man. It’s Walker’s turn to find his perfect match too.” She winked at me as my stomach flipped.

“I do know a little something about starting out one way and ending up realizing there needs to be an end.”

“I figured, since you mentioned having kids. How old?”

“My girl is 15 and my boy is 4.”

“Oh wow, that’s quite the gap.”

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