Page 47 of Until I Have You

Theo goes red.“Yes, well…”

With our ice cream and coffee, we decide to walk through the neighborhood, down the cobblestoned streets.

Bonnie walks a few feet ahead, peering into the windows of stores with colorful clothes and shoes.

“Things went okay, then?”Theo asks me when Bonnie’s enough out of earshot.

“Oh, yeah.She was great.”

Theo raises an eyebrow.“Be honest, Abigail.”

There’s a gravel to his tone that zaps me right in my chest.

What the hell?

“I’m being completely honest.She was great.You’re surprised your daughter was well-behaved?”

“No, no, she’s a good kid.”Theo looks forward with a sigh, watching Bonnie as she hops from stone to stone.“Things haven’t been easy for her, though, and sometimes things go sideways, you know?”

“That’s all kids, I think,” I say.“But I’m not a parent, so I don’t know what I’m talking about.”

“You’re right, you’re right, just…” He takes a sip of his coffee, and I wonder if he’s going to finish that sentence.“Her life has changed a lot.That’s all.”

Bonnie whips around suddenly.“Daddy, can we go into the bookstore?”

“After you finish your ice cream.”

She looks at the cone in her hand, at the ice cream that’s dripped onto her skin, and then jams the cone into her mouth.

Theo sighs and stops in his tracks, turning toward me.

I follow suit, my heart pumping harder than I anticipate.

“There really wasn’t another way after everything my brother did.”

I am taken aback by his words.“You mean… Your wife?”

Theo winces.

“Ex-wife.I mean, Bonnie’s mom, right?”The words tumble from my mouth like vomit.

“Well, yes, but I wasn’t referring to that, I was…” He runs a hand through his hair.“Bonnie’s the one having to pay for me letting my brother off scot-free all these years for his stupid business decisions.”

“I don’t follow…”

Theo looks askance.Is he nervous?“Of course you don’t, I mean, I can’t imagine you bother yourself with this sort of thing.”

“Business?”

“Not that you couldn’t, of course you could, look, I’m just talking in circles, let me…” Theo waves his hand through the hair and starts to step toward Bonnie who is down to the nub of her cone.

My body feels out of my control as I reach out and grab onto the sleeve of his coat, tugging him back.“Tell me.”

Theo looks at me like I’m crazy, and maybe I am for grabbing onto him like this.

He’s my elder, my father’s friend.That demands some respect.

I release his sleeve.“Sorry, I–”

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