Page 60 of Break Your Fall

“You ever try chocolate and cheese?” I ask through nagging curiosity, the smile lighting up my face as I think about Reyna, but it drops as soon as Banks smiles, too, thinking it’s a gesture back at me.

“Yes.That’s a good one. So, what do you want?”

“Nothing anymore,” I lament, my appetite forgotten, as I escape to the bathroom for a shower.

Reyna

Nothing is going to keep me from a hot shower and my last giant bowl of Fruity Pebbles. It’s not the best meal for a hangover, but this one isn’t the worst I’ve had.

I’m still telling myself that nothing is going to stand in the way of my morning plans when I halt my mission at the kitchen entrance. Aspen’s behind the bar, sifting around our things like he’s in his own home. His fingerprints are mixing with ours, his scent already becoming a staple in our space, a spice in the air that doesn’t belong to me or my mother.

My heart skips a warning beat:Intruder.

I tell myself to calm, because Aspen isn’t like the other men. He’s a good one. He keeps his hands to himself, his eyes not tinged with desire when they find me in a room. He’s clean, he has a son he cares for, he doesn’t seem obsessed with alcohol, and he likes my mother.

“Doing the walk of shame?”

My eyes snap up to his, seeing the playful nature on his face, hearing it in his words. Despite the tease, I run a self-conscious hand through my hair.Do Ilooklike I’m doing the walk of shame?But I let my hand fall when I remember he’s dating a woman who acts like she invented the phrase.

“I’m kidding,” he assures me, his laugh uneasy. “Bad joke.”

“I’ll give you another chance,” I say as a slight tease back, but I hold in a chuckle, unsure if I want to commit to letting him endear himself to me. My guard isn’t being erased today. “Where’s my mom?”

He motions to the hall. “In the bathroom.”

I note the absence of his son. “Where’s Riley?”

“On his way.”

Now I chuckle, my fingers rubbing at the side of my dress. “Do you ever give more than three-word answers to questions?”

“Sometimes,” he says, dragging out the word to end with a smile and two more. “I do.”

I turn on my heel toward the hall, my body anxious for an escape as a small awkward smile pulls my lips. “I’m gonna check on my mom.”

“I really like her,” he tells me, halting my steps. I face him again and his stare is unwavering, hoping to satisfy questions I haven’t asked. “A lot more than I thought I could after. . .”

Riley said he might be falling for me.

“Yeah, I’m sorry about your wife,” I say through genuine sympathy before I give him a test. “You must be really lonely.”

“I was,” he admits, emphasizing the past tense, like meeting my mom has made all the difference. “I was lost for a while.”

Until you found yourself in my mother.

I don’t say the thought and I don’t make a joke of my own words.

“What does Riley think of her?” I ask instead.

“He likes her, too. She’s good with him.” He’s smiling again, his stare reflective like he’s been living a dream after experiencing a nightmare, while I’ve been waiting to wake up for eighteen years. The three of them are just one big happy family in his mind. My mothergoodwith someone else’s kid. My mother giving her love and care away to someone who isn’t me, someone more worth her effort than I am.

“Have you seen her wine collection?” I say, a snap in my voice. “It’s pretty impressive.”

“I know who your mom is, Reyna.” He’s so confident, so sure of my mother, because she’s showing him he can be, allowing him to say my name now like he knows me, too.

“You don’t know anything.”

“Come with us,” he rushes out, sounding almost desperate now when I turn away from him again. “Give me the chance to know more.”

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