Page 83 of Movers and Shakers

A laugh escaped me. “I wish the news didn’t even affect me. I thought I wrote off everyone.”

“You rightfully wrote off the man who you thought was your father. What about the one that is?”

I blinked. “I-I know nothing about him.”

“Do you want to?”

“I fucking do,” I muttered.

“Then you have your answer.”

I looked back at her. I knew she wasn’t Lila, but I had shared things with her as if she were.

And I didn’t regret it.

“I thought I would be alone forever.”

“Being alone might work for some people, but it also means missing out on some of the best parts of life,” she said. “Like people you care about. And sure, maybe you haven’t met anyone youwantto care about yet, but you will. They’re out there. Maybe they’re even in this bar.”

My heart skipped a beat.Or maybe they were once in this bar.She was right about most of it, but wrong about one thing.

I’d met someone I cared aboutverymuch.

But I pushed her away. And while I wanted Lila, she wasn’t here.

Rose was.

“So, what, I go meet my dad with someone?”

“Yes. Is there anyone you trust?”

Lila.But was it even possible for her to go out into the country to meet my dad? Probably not.

“I don’t have many people in that category.” Glancing back at Rose, I noticed she was absentmindedly touching her hair, lips pursed.

“I know we’ve only met a few times,” Rose said, “but I would love to be someone you trust. I could go with you.”

“You’d do that?”

She shrugged, gazing down. “Yeah. I would. I’d need your number first.”

“I think I can make that work.”

She pulled out a phone. “Shit,” she said and immediately put it away. “Wrong one.”

“Wrong phone?”

“I have one for work. I don’t let them overlap. Things get complicated when I do. I have another one at my hotel.”

“Hotel? You’re not from here?”

“I visit. For work and sometimes pleasure. But I’ll make time to be here. I kind of like it in this town.”

“Oh, that’s right. You’ve told me that before.”

She gave me another one of her smiles and my heart skipped a beat. How could I have forgotten when she said she wasn’t from here? I still couldn’t rememberwhereshe said she was from. I needed to do better by her and listen when she talked. She had a beautiful voice, after all.

If we stayed here, I might have told her more. I might have gotten lost in her hazel, almost golden eyes and it felt like a betrayal for a woman that wasn’t truly mine.

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