Page 61 of Stealing Home

“Yeah, but it’s not easy,” he replies. The look on his face tells me he’s in pain just sitting in the booth.

“Are you sure you want to stay here right now? There’s the stairs to the apartment and then again up to the loft.”

“My room at my house is upstairs too. Don’t worry about it,” he tries to comfort me.

“The sofa pulls out into a bed. Why don’t you go help him settle in. Take the afternoon off even,” Griffin says.

Scott shakes his head. “Don’t do that. I’m going to sleep for a while. I was in too much pain last night.”

“I’ll come back to work, but I’m helping you get comfortable first,” I insist.

“All right, Low, lead the way.”

* * *

After a quiet dinnerat home with a homemade cake, Scott heads out for the bar. Griffin and Wren pick me up shortly after so we aren’t seen arriving together. Sneaking around is less sexy than books and movies make it seem. I’ll say one thing for it though, Scott and I have had a chance to spend a lot of quality time together without the outside world distracting us.

It’s hard to ignore Scott when we arrive, but I force myself to go greet Donovan and Bess and not acknowledge the group of rowdy baseball players holding court in the back of the bar.

“Hey!” one of the guys shouts. “Isn’t that the coach’s wife?”

Scott’s face is thunderous. He hates any reference to me being married. We don’t really even talk about my divorce.

I cringe. I’ve met them all, of course, but I really didn’t think they’d notice me.

Wren pulls me toward a booth in the opposite corner of the bar. We can still see the guys from there, but we can carry on a conversation without them hearing us. “Pay them no mind. Scott is clearly an exception, the rest of them are idiots.”

Griffin grunts. “Most men are idiots, age doesn’t matter. Ask Charlie. He was an idiot until Hattie straightened his ass out.”

“What did Hattie do?” Charlie asks as he comes around the booth.

“Made you less of a dumbass,” Griffin replies without shame.

Charlie nods. “It’s true. What the hell was I thinking chasing tail into my forties? It’s not like you were any better though,” he shoots back at Griffin.

Griff looks at Wren. “I wanted someone I couldn’t have, what was your excuse?”

Charlie smirks. “Maybe I’ll tell you someday.”

“I’m not sure I want to know now that you’re my uncle,” Wren mumbles.

I laugh, and I find I’m actually having a good time. I haven’t been out with friends in ages. Hell, I haven’t had friends in years. “The ties in this family are like one big jumbled knot.”

“You laugh now. Wait until you have kids and they marry into this family,” Charlie laughs at his own joke.

My face falls. “Yeah, I’m not sure about that.”

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize you couldn’t have kids. I just assumed you didn’t want them with that fuckhead,” Charlie apologizes.

“I can have kids, but I’m thirty-three.” I shrug. Surely they can see how the math there is against me.

Griffin looks back across the room at Scott, then back at me. “He hasn’t taken his eyes off of you. That’s a man who would give you the world if you ask for it.”

I nod. “I know, but he deserves to be young. I’m not going to push him to do things he should still have years to get ready for.”

He shrugs. “I’ve seen situations that seem more impossible than yours work out.”

A group of girls enters the bar, led by Katrina. I stiffen seeing her, knowing she wants to be with Scott. It’s harder than I imagined it would be watching girls come up and flirt with him. He doesn’t pay any attention to them, and avoids letting them touch him, but I hate it all the same.

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