Page 20 of Loss and Damages
I can’t hold them in, and tears run down my cheeks. I set my wineglass near the popcorn bowl and hide my face in my hands. I’m embarrassed to cry in front of Dominic, in front of a man Leo said was barely a brother.
“It’s not your fault. The police think it was a deer.”
“I know.” I wipe my palms on my dress. “I watched the news. That’s what the reporter said.”
“I’m sorry you found out that way.”
“Thanks.” I gulp the rest of my wine. “Excuse me, I need more.” I grab the bottle where I left it on the counter and bring it outside. I fill my glass and offer to top off his.
“Thank you.”
Between the two of us we’ve already finished the bottle. Luckily, I buy it by the case.
“You said before you weren’t dating, but youwereseeing each other.”
“Oh, no.” That’s not what Leo and I did. He drove out and we painted and we talked and he dozed in my bed until he roused himself enough to go home. We never went to the movies. Occasionally I ordered pizza, and sometimes we went to a restaurant in town, but that’s the closest thing we’d ever come to being on a date. “I didn’t think of it as seeing each other, either. You know.”
He frowns. I guess he doesn’t know. “You were happy with that?”
It’s my turn to frown. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“You didn’t ask to go into the city to see a play? You didn’t want him to take you shopping?”
I understand what he’s getting at, and I’m pissed. “Leo camehere.To get out of the city. He enjoyed the peace and quiet. Why would I ask him to take me shopping? I have family who lives in St. Charlotte, Mr. Milano. I shop with my sister-in-law when I have an afternoon free. I didn’t need or want to do that kind of thing with him.”
Calling me a gold digger while drinking my wine. Classy.
“He was going to ask you to go to a fundraiser benefitting the homeless. Did he?”
“Yes. He talked about it, but I hadn’t accepted. I wasn’t sure if it was something I wanted to attend.”
“Why not?”
I drink more wine to soften the rough edges of our conversation. “You don’t understand. That’s not the kind of relationship we had. He should’ve asked a woman from the city. Someone who would have fit in.”
“But he wanted to go with you.”
“There was no reason for it.”
Dominic grunts in frustration. “He never brought a date to anything like that. If he supported a cause, he did it alone. That he even mentioned he might bring you tells me he thought very highly of you, and I have no doubt that no matter how casual you think your relationship was, he had feelings for you.”
“I cared about him, too.”
I’m done. I’m tired and talking about Leo hurts. Holding my wineglass, I stand from the rocking chair and step past him. “It’s been a long day. I need...” I don’t know what I need, but it’s not sitting on my porch talking to Dominic Milano.
He catches my hand, and it looks so tiny in his, our fingers tangled together.
I stiffen.
Something ominous, dangerous, burns down my back, mingling with the pain Leo’s absence caused that never eases, and I know he feels it too, his black eyes blazing hot like coal.
I can’t break the connection, and I stand frozen on the porch, a bee flying around my wineglass, intrigued by the sweet scent.
No other man on this earth could be further away from what I need.
“Mr. Milano.” His name comes out in a whisper, almost a plea.Let me go. No, don’t. Come inside and let’s drown our pain with more than wine.
“My name is Dominic.”
