Page 39 of Fighter
“We happen to really like Sera,” I added, but didn't know why thewein that phrase felt so important.
Serafina stiffened.
“Serafina's pretty awesome that way,” Gary said with a wink at Janeen. “Like her Mom. Natural skill with kids. Looks like the two of you are here for lunch? Pull up a chair and you can join us.”
Talmage tensed. The temptation to accept was almost too great to bearjustto see him squirm a little bit more. Sera's eyes had widened with worry, however. Reading women wasn't my forte, but I could have sworn I saw a sense of pleading in there.
To spare her the stress of my antagonism toward her brother, I said, “No, thank you. That's a very kind offer but we don't want to interrupt any family time, and we're on a daddy-daughter date,” I added when I saw the building reply in Janeen’s kind eyes. “It was great to meet you. Ava, let's go.”
Serafina reluctantly let Ava go, but there was a wash of relief in her parting smile. “Thanks for letting me see her,” she said. “It was good to see you too. Good luck with that list.”
When I put my hands on Ava's shoulders and steered her to another booth, I felt the burn of Serafina's gaze on my back. Maybe her brother would feel mine.
13
Serafina
Once Benjamin retreated to his own corner of the restaurant, thankfully out of sight because of the tall booths, I let out a long breath. Mom reached down and put a hand on my knee. Dad was talking to Talmage about one of his friends from home after he had fallen quiet.
“Wow.” Mom's eyes were wide. She let out a low whistle. “Hello fighter, indeed. You didn't tell me he was such a hunk.”
A weak smile was my only response at first. Thoughts of the way my stomach curled and my heart raced the moment I saw him swamped my mind. Rarely did I get to see Benjamin with Ava. His affection for her was obvious. And that smile? That honest, true, wide smile? The first I'd ever seen it, and that warmth couldn't be denied. Had the bottom dropped out from under me the moment that smile appeared? Because my heart had fallen and it still flopped around down there.
“Made me a bit breathless,” Mom murmured. “Seems like a great father, too. Look how Ava has already gotten attached to you! They're both adorable.” Mom set her jaw in her hand. “You've done good.”
“Not helping,” I sang.
She laughed. “I know! It's so fun to be a Mom.”
Talmage, who remained mostly quiet during lunch, darted his gaze toward me again, then back to his plate. He tended to stare at the bruise, and I wondered if he remembered any of it. The brief thought that he didn’t bring Amber registered in my mind, then I almost laughed. Amber would never slink out of her hole to come here.
We'd already been here almost an hour. Our plates were picked clean, but Dad had insisted on pie and Mom agreed. Me? I'd rather go back home. But the loft wasn’t really home yet, was it? Benjamin's house rose through my mind. I pictured myself curling up on his couch, a blanket around me, and falling asleep without rib pain. Benjamin in the kitchen, or mowing the lawn, with Ava singing a dramatic cartoon song at the top of her voice.
Then I shoved that away.
Nope.
Wasn't home. But maybe I wanted it to be.
But why wouldn't it be? my traitorous heart whispered. Even if my mind refused to acknowledge it, my heart had seen the fire in Benjamin's eyes when he saw Talmage. Heard the coiled threat in his voice as he stared my brother down. My heart was the one that wanted to curl up inside Benjamin and never leave. Today's protective display only made it worse.
My declaration to stay distant and friendly felt pathetic against the waves of adoration and affection that crashed on me now.
Part of me hated seeing Benjamin react that way to my brother, even with justifiable cause. Hated to see Talmage reduced to the miserable state he was currently in. Hated the way I tried hard not to watch Talmage carefully. Remembered the rage that flashed in his gaze. The sound of his shouts. His hands shook as he sat at the table now. One of them was on the table in a fist so tight his knuckles had turned white.
They were two different men, Mr. Hyde Talmage and my brother. The one here at the restaurant was pale, a shadow of the old Talmage. The skin slightly sallow. When someone spoke unexpectedly, he twitched. But he tried hard. When my parents picked me up after I'd checked out of the hotel, they had all my stuff from his house in their trunk. I silently appreciated not having to go back there. Talmage was sitting in the front with dad when I carefully maneuvered into the back.
He laid eyes on me and said, “Sera, I'm so sorry.”
I'd nodded and said, “Let's get you better.”
The stoic tears in his eyes had faded into silence while Mom and Dad picked up the chatter, and now we sat here in the slightly awkward booth and tried to act like everything was going to be all right. That was fine. I didn't want to harp on Talmage. Didn't want to shame him. Poke him. Prod him. At some point, we all had to move forward into something better.
But would it?
My parents were trying to help Talmage with his obvious pain medication addiction, but it had to be beyond that. His shady girlfriend, and the way he screamed at me, spoke to something else. Amber had brought more into his life than just pain meds. I had few doubts that Talmage had moved into different reprieves. This was so much bigger.
No, Talmage was moving into a different sphere. For some reason, I didn't think my parents saw that fully yet.
