Page 135 of Smitten with the Single Dad

They never had addressed the fact that she said she loved him and he said nothing in return. And it seemed stupid, petty, and pointless to bring it up now, considering everything that they’d been through. She needed to accept the fact that Wyatt just didn’t feel the same way about her as she did about him. He cared for her, but he didn’t love her. He didn’t allow himself to be blinded by their growing connection, or amazing sex, and believe there was more between them than there was. He saved her, but he knew this was temporary and never wavered from that.

Even though they celebrated with hugs and kisses, fractures began to form along her heart.

“How do we look?” Griffon asked, coming to the top of the stairs with Jake.

They both wore dressy, gray shorts and matching plaid short-sleeve shirts with blue bow ties. “Uncle Jagger said bowties are coming back,” Jake added.

“I didn’t know they went anywhere,” Wyatt said. “You two look very dapper.”

“Do we have to cry at this?” Griffon asked, wrinkling his nose. “Because I don’t know if I can make real tears. I can make the crying sounds, but I can’t promise you real tears.” Then he turned to his brother. “You could punch me in the face—”

“Nobody is punching anybody in the face. And no. You do not have to cry at this. We are just paying our respects to Ginny, her family, and remembering her. Nobodyhasto cry.”

Griffon looked relieved and it was the comic relief Vica desperately needed. She held out a hand and Griffon bounded down the stairs and took it while Jake sidled up next to Wyatt. Then they headed out the door like a big, happy,temporaryfamily.

Ginny’s service was lovely, albeit tremendously sad. She had indeed suffered from generalized anxiety disorder, which she took medication for, but it was part of the reason why she came off so skittish, and why everyone just assumed she was the mole.

It gave a lot of them something to think about. That you really can’t judge a book by its cover. Nobody suspected Nadine because she was calm, poised, bubbly, and knew all the right things to say.

Both Dom and Wyatt gave short speeches, as well as a couple of the front of house staff who struggled to get their words out through the tears.

But it was watching Ginny’s family, her parents and three younger siblings—two sisters and a brother—that really eviscerated Vica’s soul.

Such a senseless death. And even though she knew deep down that it wasn’t her fault, she still felt guilty. She still felt inadvertently responsible.

Sitting on a chair just inside the restaurant, Griffon came over. “It was sad,” he said, climbing onto her lap without even bothering to ask if he could. She liked that he felt comfortable enough with her that he knew he was always welcome. “I didn’t know Ginny, but I am sad for her family and friends.”

Vica’s throat grew tight, and she kissed the side of his head. “It is a very sad day, yes.”

“Maybe like … my dad, and Uncle Dom, and stuff, could put money in a jar for Ginny’s sisters and brother. So that when they go to school, they have some help. Because that’s why Ginny was working here. Right? To make money for college?”

Vica nodded. “Yes, that’s right.”

“So, like a piggybank for her sisters and brothers? They’re younger. It might be a while until they go to school. Maybe they could save like fifty or a hundred dollars by then.”

Oh, this little boy was putting Band-Aids all over her heart and he didn’t even know it. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed his head. “Oh,lupetto,I think that is a wonderful idea. You should definitely bring it up to your dad after the service.

Wyatt was standing off in the corner, a drink in his hand, as he spoke softly with Ginny’s parents. He caught her eye and smiled, lifting his glass slightly.

She nodded, but that lump in her throat grew even bigger and tears stung the back of her eyes.

The guillotine poised over her neck had officially been removed. She had a job offer in San Francisco, which would come with a work visa. She no longer needed Wyatt’s protection, or his citizenship. Their arrangement was effectively over, and as much as she didn’t want to leave, she knew that she needed to. Staying any longer would just prolong the agony and take larger, more irreparable, chunks out of her heart.

Griffon snuggled tighter and deeper into her, yawning and closing her eyes. “I love you, Vica.”

Dammit, she tried so hard to keep the tears at bay, but these wonderful little boys just had a way of pulling them out of her. She rearranged her arms around him and kissed the crown of his head. “Ti amo, lupetto.”

Not bothering to open his eyes, he gave a little howl like a wolf pup that added another Band-Aid to Vica’s heart and made her laugh, hugging him tighter.

By the time they returned to the house, after cleaning up after the service andsaying goodbye to the last of the guests, the boys were exhausted.

“I just want to have a shower and go to bed,” Griffon said, ripping off his clip-on bowtie and trudging up the stairs like his socks were full of concrete.

Jake nodded. “I’ll read a chapter or two of my book, then go to bed.” He followed Griffon up the stairs, his eyelids heavy and hanging halfway across his blue-hazel eyes.

Once the boys disappeared, Wyatt approached Vica. “You okay?”

Could he not see that her heart was a tattered mess and covered in bandages? That she was holding on by mere threads? “I, um … I think maybe I should leave.”

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