Page 7 of Stay Away from Him

“We weren’tcanoodling.”

“You absolutely were,” Toby said. His arms flexed as hescrubbed at a stainless steel pot in the island sink. “You were also gone downstairs alongtime.”

“Hey!” Melissa said, feigning insult. “Traitor. And after I offered to help you with the dishes.”

“Don’t be mad, I’m all for it,” Toby said, flashing a smirk. “Lawrence met Thomas years ago at a neighborhood running club, and I swear he’s had a crush on him ever since. You’d be doing me a favor by taking him off the market. Then I won’t have to worry about this guy leaving me for the hot neighborhood doctor.” He flicked Lawrence playfully with the end of his half-wetted dish towel, then swung it back over his shoulder.

“Oh, you’re terrible,” Melissa said, even as she thought of Thomas in a running club and remembered just how fit he’d looked, his chest and shoulders broad, his stomach trim, his thighs thick as fence posts.

“Come on, just tell us,” Lawrence said. “What’s the story with you two?”

Melissa shrugged. “There’s no story. I just like him.”

“And?”

“Well, we didn’t have a quickie in the basement, if that’s what you’re asking.” She gazed off to the side, a smile coming to her lips as she thought about what had really happened. “It was sweet, actually. He helped put Bradley to bed. Really put him at ease. He’s good with kids. I can tell he must be a good—”

She cut herself off before she said it, but it was too late. Lawrence and Toby knew.

“A gooddad?” Toby offered. “Oh, honey. You’ve got it bad.”

Melissa covered her face with her hands, shook her head, then cracked her fingers just enough to peer out. “I don’t know what the hell I’m doing. I just got out of a horrible marriage. I’m not ready for this.”

“There’s no law that says you can’t flirt with a good-looking guy a little bit.”

“It’s worse than that, Lawrence. He asked for my number. And I gave it to him.”

Lawrence shrugged. “There’s no law against that either. Go on a date with him, if that’s what’s going to make you happy.” Lawrence paused, poked at the tines of a fork on the counter. “Though there is one thing you should know, before you hear it from someone else.”

An odd note had crept into Lawrence’s voice, and suddenly he wasn’t meeting Melissa’s eye.

“Lawrence. What?”

“It’s nothing, really. Thomas is a great guy, he’s a friend of ours, a respected pediatrician—everyone who knows him loves him. I swear, Melissa, he’s great.”

“But?”

Lawrence winced, sucked air through his teeth. “He told you his wife died, right?”

Melissa nodded. “Yes. That doesn’t bother me.”

“Did he tell you how she died?”

Her mind raced ahead, trying to anticipate what Lawrence could possibly be trying to tell her. Car accident, cancer, brain aneurysm—she couldn’t guess how Thomas Danver’s wife had died or why it should make any difference.

“He didn’t say anything about that. And I didn’t pry.”

“Rose—that was Thomas’s wife’s name, Rose. She was murdered.”

Her hand came back up to her mouth. “Oh my God,” she said.

“There’s more,” Lawrence said. “Thomas was the one who got charged for it.”

“Got charged…” Melissa said, catching on slowly. “You mean—”

“I mean the guy you just gave your number to was accused of murdering his wife.”

Rose

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