Page 44 of When Morning Comes Around

He shot her a quick smile. She really could be a pain in the ass, but she was a good person, and in the time that he’d worked here for her, she’d become a good friend. He sucked in a deep breath and then exhaled slowly.

“Okay.”

She raised her eyebrows. “You want to talk to me?”

He chuckled. “I’m not sure that I do, but I will.”

She held her hands up. “No. I’m not trying to force you into anything.”

“I know. I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. I think maybe it’ll do me good.”

“Seriously, if you don’t want to… Maybe you should speak to Damon.”

He smiled. “You can’t go backing out on me now. You offered, remember?”

Taryn grinned. “Okay, what do you need to talk about?”

“The woman; her name’s Sadie.”

“Right, she’s Nina and Terry’s friend, she’s back in town to visit her dad. She broke down on her way up the hill on Friday night, and you went to rescue her since Jake was out of town.”

Dominic had to laugh. “Glad to see that you’re up to speed.”

“All I know is the list of events. They’re less important. What I want to know is how you feel.”

He bit the inside of his cheek. That was what he wanted to know, too. In fact, no, that wasn’t true. He knew how he felt – what he didn’t know was what to do about it.

“You like her, but you think you shouldn’t?”

He nodded.

“You know me, I wade in where I shouldn’t. If I go too far, tell me to shut the hell up, okay?”

He nodded again.

“Polly’s been gone a long time, Dom.”

He swallowed.

Taryn came closer and rested her hand on his back. “Do you think she’d want you to spend the rest of your life alone?”

He squeezed his eyes shut.

“After my Nico died, I didn’t want anyone else. I didn’t think Ieverwould. But life goes on – even though you don’t want it to – and if you’re going to stick around for it, you might as well actually live it.”

Dominic nodded, not trusting himself to speak.

Taryn dabbed at her eyes and sniffed. Then, she patted his back as she said, “Slicing lemons is like peeling onions, right? They make your eyes water.”

He chuckled. “I can’t say that I’ve ever heard that one before, but I’ll go with it.”

She met his gaze. “I think that’s what you need to do – just go with it. See where it takes you. It might not go anywhere. Then again, it could be the beginning of a whole new chapter. I can’t speak for you, but I know for me, the years after Nico died were pretty dark.”

She stopped and looked up at the entrance to the restaurant, where Dalton had just appeared.

“You can’t ever tell him that I said this – Dalton and I got together after a fight in the moonlight, but being with him is like living a whole new day.”

Dominic smiled. “You guys are good together.”

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