Page 50 of Single Dad's Second Chance

“What’swrongwith you?” She shook her head, stomping up to me. “Thank God Jason had his headphones on. We came up after Ann, and I heard it all. I kept Jason aside and debated leaving, but I’d be damned if I’d let you act like a moron.” She swatted my shoulder, furious but reining in her temper to not strike me harder. “How dare you talk about Mia like that!”

“I—”

She swatted at my other arm. “YouknowMia.”

“I thought I did!”

Her eyes narrowed. “You know who she is and what kind of a person she is. Why would one piece of old information about her past change your views of her?” She turned away, flinging her arms to the side in frustration, then circled back to glare at me. “She’s never given you a single sign not to trust her, not to confide in her and count on her. Has she?”

I opened and closed my mouth. She hadn’t. Mia had been friendly and kind, funny and warm. Since the day I met her, weclicked, and she’d never given me a clue that could warn me from trusting her.

Under Laura’s scathing scolding, I wondered if I was wrong, if I’d erred in judging her too quickly. Dunn Enterprises had countless programs to help juveniles and delinquents to get back on their feet. I never held anyone else’s past against them like I did with Mia, but so much of my reaction felt like instinct. The impulse was quick to reject what Ann said. I couldn’t have helped it to shout back so passionately.

As I replayed the scene in my mind, though, I felt increasingly worse. I felt terrible for how I'd acted, but still, I couldn’t make sense of it.

“How dare you talk so harshly about Mia,” Laura repeated.

“But it just sounded so ludicrous!” I exploded. “Ann was pissing me off, talking such bullshit about Mia, suggesting she could’ve been unlawful.” I watched her, waiting for her to argue. She didn’t. She merely stared me down.

She knows. She knew.Laura wasn’t surprised about this. She was aware that Mia had a criminal background.

“And how should I know what secrets Mia’s keeping from me?” I shook my head, angry that there were still some mysteries about the woman I wanted for the rest of my life. “She’s always staying out late and acting like she’s sleep deprived in the morning.”

Noticing Jen and another office worker peeking around the corner, I pointed at them. “And don’t tell me it’s because she stays up late reading.”

I scoffed at Laura. “Who knows what she’s doing all night.”

Laura set her hands on her hips. “I’d like to think she’d wizened up to the fact that you’ll never care about her as more than an employee. Maybe she’s been busier than usual at night because she’s found a man who can treat her nicely.”

Fuck.She punched where it hurt. I’d just been worrying about Mia finding someone else. Hearing Laura say it like a taunt stung.

I thought back to how well I’d treated Mia during our one night we shared together. How sweet she looked when she came. How tender she was when she pleasured me.

I loathed the idea of Mia showing another man that side of her. I hated the thought of someone else being rewarded with her smiles and orgasms. Pushing back the instant jealousy, I faced Laura, determined to find out what she knew, how she could stand up for Mia in the face of her own admission of wrong-doing, confessed via her silence.

“Mia is not up to no good at night,” Laura declared, calm and unwavering.

“How do you know? What aren’t you telling me about her?” I felt hurt all over again that my neighbor, the woman who babysat my son, would be privy to more personal details about Mia than I was.

Laura scoffed, looking away as she shook her head. “That’s not my story to tell. You’d have to ask her. Not that I expect she’ll give you the time of day now.”

I doubted she would either, and already, the absence of her felt so dark and heavy.

20

MIA

The first week after quitting my job at Dunn Enterprises felt like a month of agony. Every night, I went to sleep thinking back on how I could’ve been so wrong about Henry, to ever think that he could be a man who loved me. Each morning, I woke up crushed with the reminder that I wouldn’t get to see him.

Missing him became a rite of life. I missed Jason too. Even Eddie. Laura. Jen. All the people at the office. They’d been my acquaintances, stand-ins for the family members I never had.

Now all I had was Gina. She’d taken pity on me when I showed up crying and telling her how I’d quit. She knew about my past, and she’d never judged. Lots of the people who worked at Danger had pasts.

Because I felt so lonely and upset at home, she suggested that I stay with her at her place. It helped a little, having someone to talk to, to hear in the background, because if I had to travel across town every night and head home to my lonely little place, I’d cry until I was dehydrated.

Dancing was my only solace. It made me more money, too, picking up nightly shifts instead of just a few to supplement my secretary wage. I still could lose myself to the music andstay with the rhythm. It helped me to go numb and stay inside a shell, guarding myself from the constant battery of emotions that plagued me.

My heart ached. My head hurt. My soul was crushed. But I put myself out there to dance and keep on carrying on.

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