Page 40 of That One Heartbreak

He took that to mean him. Which was kind of laughable, considering he’d been blending into the background for the last two years when it came to Kate and her family.

“I need you to babysit,” Kate pointed out.

And that’s when a grin spread over Shana’s lips. “That’s okay, Marley can babysit. I’ll sit in the corner wherever you go. Simple.”

Kate caught his eye.

“Would you be willing to do that?” she asked him.

He blinked. Hell no. “Yeah, I guess.” The words just came out. Because somebody needed to be there. And he wanted to make sure she got home safely. That’s all it was. Not because it was killing him to think about her with somebody else.

She looked at him for a moment. Like she was trying to work him out. And then she pulled her gaze away.

“Okay then. I guess this is really happening.”

“So let me get this straight.” Pres smirked at him as the two of them sat on a wall at the construction site they were working on. “You’re babysitting three kids on a Saturday night so that the woman you have the hots for can go on a date with another guy.”

Marley lifted his bottle of water to his lips, swallowing half of it in one go. The weather was hot today. No clouds in the sky, the sun beating down relentlessly. He’d taken his shirt off an hour ago but he still felt overheated.

“I don’t have the hots for her.”

“Of course you fucking do.” Pres shook his head. “What the hell are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking that a friend needs some help and I can provide it. It’s not like watching the kids is gonna be hard. James is fifteen. The other two will be in bed. I’ll just watch a movie and wait for her to come home.”

Pres narrowed his eyes. Like Marley’s, his pants were covered in dust. They were putting up the drywall today, and no matter how much you tried, you couldn’t avoid getting dust covered yourself. “I’m not even gonna go into what an idiot statement that is. Because kids are not easy. You know that from watching me wrangle mine whenever we’re together. But answer me this: what are you gonna do if she gets along with this guy?”

“What do you mean?” A rivulet of sweat was making its way down his brow. He reached up to wipe it away. They’d taken their hard hats off for the break, but as soon as they started work again they’d have to put them back on. He wasn’t looking forward to that.

“I mean what if she likes this guy? What if she brings him home for coffee? You gonna be okay with that?”

“Kate won’t bring him home for coffee on a first date. Her kids are there.”

Pres shook his head. “You don’t get it. She might not bring him home this time. But she will at some point. With some guy. For likely more than coffee, too. Are you ready for that?”

Marley frowned. “It’s not up to me to be ready. It’s on Kate.” And yeah, he didn’t like that thought. Not one bit. But fuck, what was he supposed to do? Tell her she couldn’t date as if he was her father?

Frustration clouded Pres’ eyes. “That’s not what I’m asking and you know it. And you also know that I’m only saying to you the same things you said to me when I found it hard to move on.”

“And I was right,” Marley pointed out. He knew how hard his brother had found dating again after losing his first wife,Delilah’s mom. Pres had fought against his attraction to Cassie every step of the way. Until he finally couldn’t help himself.

And now the two of them were married with two more kids, and neither of them could be happier.

Not that Pres looked happy right now.

“Yes you were,” Pres agreed. “So maybe you can also agree that I might be right about you and Kate.”

“There is nomeand Kate.” Marley’s throat felt scratchy. Like he’d swallowed something too big and he couldn’t cough it out. “There can’t be. She was married to Paul. Nothing could ever happen between us. You know what it would be like. The gossip throughout town would kill her.”

“And?” Pres gave him a pointed stare. Sometimes he liked to play the big brother, even though they were born only minutes apart.

“What do you mean ‘And’?” Marley asked him. “There is noand. It’s just a statement of truth. The woman deserves some peace after what she’s been through.”

“So you’re refusing to tell her how you feel because you’re afraid of a little gossip.” Pres shook his head. “I thought better of you.”

Marley frowned. “It’s not about me, it’s about her. And the fact she was married to my buddy.”

“You’re lying to yourself. Yes, this town likes gossip. But it also likes new things. The gossip moves along and we keep moving along. I know everybody gossiped about me and Cass when we first started dating. But I also know that we were yesterday’s news within about a week. So don’t use protecting Kate from gossip as some kind of shield. You won’t put yourself out there because you’re scared. It’s as simple as that.”

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