Page 9 of Secret Love

I chuckle under my breath and head back to the small conference room we meet in to avoid interruptions and eavesdroppers. The traffic in Luminary has picked up drastically since we started meeting here, but it’s good for Clara’s business, and most of the customers are respectful of our time.

When I walk in, the guys are laughing their heads off about something. Caleb is on the floor, playing with a dump truck, andwhen he sees me, he rushes toward me, his arms in the air for me to pick him up.

“Unca Hen!” he yells.

“Hey, buddy.” I pick him up and hold him high in the air. He waits in anticipation and I toss him just high enough to give him a little thrill…and not so high that it makes Weston nervous.

“Do you feed him snacks on the down-low or something,” Penn asks. “He loves me, but not like that.”

“He loves all of you,” Weston says. He pauses for dramatic effect. “Just Henley a little more...” He laughs when Rhodes and Penn both sock him in the shoulder.

“I mean, I love Henley a little more too,” Rhodes says, shrugging. “That goes for you too.” He points at Bowie and Bowie winks. We all laugh at Weston and Penn’s expressions.

“He’s messing with you guys. You know we’ve welcomed you into the inner fu—effing sanctum…” I correct myself for Caleb just in time. “It doesn’t get more loving than that. How’s everyone doing?”

I set Caleb on his feet, holding on until he has his balance. He picks up the dump truck and toddles toward me with it. I take the little car out of the back of it and make it ride on top of the dump truck.

“Question is, how are you?” Bowie asks.

“That’s right,” Rhodes says. “Did the pretty boy get it right?” He nods toward Penn, who grins up at me.

I roll my eyes. “No, he couldn’t be more wrong.”

Penn’s smile drops, and he nods sagely. “You’d look a lot happier if you’d gotten laid.”

“Wouldn’t we all, wouldn’t we all…” Rhodes says.

“I did something so stupid.” I groan. “This morning at the grocery store I met someone beautiful, attractive in every way. She was smart, sexy…my game was on point.”

One of the guys makes an exaggerated gasp and I look around to see all of them staring at me in shock.

“What?” I frown.

“Just processing the fact that we’ve never heard you talk about a woman like this ever,” Rhodes says, pounding the table when he saysever.

“Well, just wait. It’s all downhill from here. When I got home, Cassidy told me about her teacher, Mrs. Carboni, and how she told her she was wasting her time…”

"No, who would say that?" Rhodes scowls. “Let me at that teacher."

"I know, I know. I was pissed too. I went over to the school and guess who's there? Guess who's the teacher in her class?"

"No, it wasn't her, was it?" Bowie says.

"You're kidding,” Rhodes says.

“Yep, she’s there in her sexy librarian getup and I went off on her. All the while, so sad that this woman that I was so attracted to this morning is the very one who's told my daughter she's wasting her time. She tells me in no uncertain terms that she understands my feelings….that she would probably feel the same if she had kids, but then in her polite way, she basically told me to fuck off. Get this—she wasn’t Mrs. Carboni. She’s the sub.”

I take a deep breath.

“So I felt like the biggest prick, and I’m still regretting everything I said. Not to mention, it was wasted on the wrong person and that beautiful woman thinks I’m an ass.”

"That's nothing a pretty bouquet of flowers won't fix,” Penn says.

Weston looks at him like he's crazy. "You clearly don’t know women."

“What? They love flowers! I’ve never given anyone but my mom flowers, and she loves them, but…I just think he should puthimself out there.” Penn lifts a shoulder. “Let her know he feels bad."

Everyone stares at him.

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