Page 20 of Rowdy Hearts

Raffi waved a hand through the air. “Honestly, you’ll be doing me a favor if you stay here. This house gets really empty aroundhere on game days and, since my youngest left for college, I have to admit, it gets lonely. My grown children don’t exactly visit as much as I’d like.”

“Don’t let her fool you with the ‘woe is me’ routine.” Rowdy’s voice made a shiver snake up my spine. And not a creepy shiver. No, this shiver was definitelynotcreepy. “When Rocky left, I’m pretty sure she and my dad drank a bottle of wine and danced all night.”

Raffi gave her son the side eye. “When you drop your last baby at college, then you can tell me how to act. Until then, your mother gets to have her feelings, and you don’t get to comment on them. Of course, that may never happen, since you don’t seem in any way ready to settle down and give me grandchildren.”

Rowdy laughed under his breath, but the look he gave his mom was filled with so much love, it made my heart ache. This was the relationship I wanted to have with Krista. Loving, teasing, understanding. Functional. I wanted so badly to give my daughter one functional parent. She’d never had a father, probably never would if my track record with men was any indication.

And I’d never actually had decent role models growing up, except for the fake ones.

That’s pretty damn pitiful.

“You can stay in the same room you stayed in last night,” Raffi continued. “It has its own private entrance and two bedrooms. We renovated it for my mom, but she lives in Florida now and won’t even think about coming back up here to stay for more than a few months. Especially not during hockey season. You and Krista can have your privacy, for as long as you like.”

Were these people for real? They were opening their home to complete strangers. Krista and I could be grifters or serial killers or … or just awful people. Or maybe the Lawrences took people in off the streets all the time and those people just disappeared. Happened all the time in the city.

But I knew that wasn’t what was happening here. Raffi was just a decent person.

It’s the perfect place to lay low. Just for a few days.

“Mommy, please?”

Krista stared at me with so much anticipation, I was answering before I realized I was going to.

“If you’re sure we’re not intruding?—”

“Not at all.” Raffi’s smile widened, eyes twinkling with the same light I’d seen in Rowdy’s. Not that I’d been looking. Nope. Not looking.

“Does that mean I can go with Miss Raffi to do the errands?”

Leaving me alone with Rowdy.

I swallowed hard and smiled at Krista. “Sure. If Miss Raffi really doesn’t mind?—”

“I absolutely don’t mind.” Raffi looked thrilled, actually. “I’ve got a lot to do today, so would it be okay if we had lunch while we’re out?”

“Sure, but she’s kind of a picky eater…”

Which was putting it mildly. My daughter was used to living in a city where she’d acquired a taste for authentic Thai and Indian food. Krista had become a real food snob.

“Is there anything she can’t have?” Raffi asked. “Any allergies?”

“No, no. Nothing like that.” This woman was almost too good to be true. “Thank you again for… everything. I’m so grateful?—”

“Oh, now, none of that.” Raffi waved her hand like she could make worry and distrust disappear just by willing it so. And who knows, maybe she could. “Come on, Krista, let’s get you dressed and then we’ll get started our errands.”

Krista hopped off her chair like she’d had a fire lit under her butt. I wondered if I should be worried about how fast my daughter wanted to get away from me. Then again, maybe I should just be happy she didn’t seem to be traumatized by last night’s shitshow.

“We’ll be back by four. Rowdy, don’t burn Tressy’s breakfast.”

Behind me, I heard Rowdy mutter, “Shit,” and when I turned around, he was sliding perfectly browned pancakes off the griddle and onto a plate.

Setting the plate on the island, he added a fork and knife and a napkin, then got a bowl of fruit out of the fridge. Strawberries, grapes, melon.

“OJ or coffee?”

It took my brain a second to process his question, because I was still a little shocked by the sight of this big man with the long wavy hair and the muscles in his arms on full display, who looked like he’d just come in from a hard day of building houses or maybe wrestling cows or something stupidly masculine like that.

He didn’t look like he should be asking me whether I wanted coffee or juice after he’d just made me breakfast.

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