Page 53 of Love You
He stabbed his fork at her. “What’s wrong with you?”
“You look god-awful.”
He tried to catch a reflection of himself in the microwave glass.
“Don’t look,” she said. “I’m serious, you might throw up.”
“That bad, huh?” His mouth slanted up in an obnoxious grin. “How was work? Anything from FlashTag yet?”
“Nope. The day was pretty uneventful.” Until she’d gotten home—then it had blown up. “What about you?”
“Just hung out here.” He started to rewrap the pie. “You need the dish back right away?”
“You can return it when you’re done.” She made room on the couch by pushing more of his crap to the side and sat down.
He looked around as if he was seeing the apartment through her eyes. “I’m gonna buy something soon.”
“So you said.” She wanted to mention that a new place, just like the old, wouldn’t clean itself. “According to town legend, you, Candace, and Dale are involved in a ménage à trois and they had to take Dale away from Old Glory in a stretcher.”
“Oh yeah.” He cocked a hip against the counter. “Glad to know it wasn’t me on that stretcher.”
“How are you feeling?” She examined his eye again from across the room and let her gaze drop to his chest. No injuries there.
“The doctors say I have two weeks to live.” He bent over the fridge to put the pie away and came around the kitchen to sit next to her, tossing all the debris on the floor. “Did you come over to fool around again? Since I’m dying, I might break with my twelve-step program.”
“Don’t get any ideas. The last time, you didn’t live up to the hype.”
He snorted because he was as conceited as he was good-looking. “Could’ve fooled me. But if that’s true a do-over is in order.”
She laughed because how wonderful to be that damned confident in yourself. “My parents are splitting up. My dad just left after breaking the news.”
“Ah, jeez, Darcy, I’m sorry.” He put his hand on her shoulder. “Was this unexpected?”
“Sort of,” she said, and gazed off into the distance. “They weren’t much of a couple but they’d lived that way for so long I’d just assumed that’s how happiness looked to them.”
“You talk to Geneva?”
“Not yet. I will tomorrow. Anyway, that’s not why I came over.”
He gave her a long, slow perusal and she waited for a wisecrack about her not wearing the teddy or some other sexual innuendo.
“You can talk about it if you want,” he said. “It’s gotta suck to have your parents break up, even as an adult. I know I’d be pretty upset.”
Yes, but his parents were the real deal. His mother still had all her children over to the house on Sundays for dinner. And Gray and Mary Garner loved each other. Anyone who looked at them could tell. Hell, Darcy had seen them holding hands while walking down Main Street like a couple of teenagers. If they suddenly announced that their divorce was imminent, planet Earth would stop spinning on its axis.
“It’s not like that with us. The Wallaces are a stoic lot.”
He held her face in his two hands and her gaze with his blue eyes. “You can leave that stoic shit behind when you’re with me. I won’t tell anyone.”
And that’s when a few mortifying tears dripped down her cheeks. He wiped them away with his thumbs. But it was when he took her in his arms that she broke down, crying into that massive chest of his. Big, ugly, racking sobs. His hands moved over her back, rubbing circles, and he rocked her. And it felt so good that she just wanted to stay there, even if it was just for a little while.
It was the last thing she expected of him. Wild, happy-go-lucky playboy Win to give comfort. He was actually good at it, better than anyone she’d ever known, even Nana, who was her best friend.
“I think I’m getting snot on you.” She inched away.
He chuckled and pushed her face back against his chest. “I’m good with bodily fluids. Ah, Darce, I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay. Maybe it’ll be better for everyone concerned, right?”
