Page 78 of More Than Nothing
“I could not get my head around you dating that prick. I’m so glad to hear you’re not delusional, because I really like you.” Florence’s smile was tentative. “Plus, now we don’t hate you, we can eat your cake.” She jumped up to gather some plates from one of the cupboards. Luke gave a dry chuckle.
“I was dying to say something after the gala dinner, but it was so hard to pick out what I could and couldn’t mention that I thought I’d best keep quiet about the whole thing!” Thea put her hands to her temples and shook her head. “Caitlyn nearly exploded from the pressure of keeping her mouth shut that night.”
Elenie gave a weak smile.
While the cake was being sliced and handed around, Roman looked across the table at his mother. Ava’s open face was deeply concerned.
“I don’t like this at all.” She gave a tiny shake of her head.
He felt every muscle in Elenie’s body go rigid next to him. “I’m so sorry,” she said stiffly. “I hate to involve you all in this. It’s bad enough that Roman’s been roped in, but my options are limited. My family is messed-up.”
Ava pushed back her chair. “That’s why I don’t like the sound of this, mija.” She bustled around the table to sweep Elenie up in her arms. “It breaks my heart to hear what you’ve been dealing with.” Roman swallowed a lump in his throat as his mother rocked Elenie back and forth in a lavish hug. “We’re here for you in any way you need. All of us. Don’t you worry about that.” When she finally let go, Ava’s eyes were damp and Elenie’s shimmered in a shell-shocked face. “Let’s have some cake. You can tell us more if you want to and we’ll talk about something else if you don’t.”
Elenie’s smile trembled at the edges. “What I’d really like to know is how the watercolor painting is going.”
And with that, his mother was off and running. Ava talked about a class she might join and a new technique that was currently defeating her, leapfrogging effortlessly from art to fitness to relatives he barely remembered to childhood memories in the way only his family could. Roman leaned back and let the conversation roll over him.
A lightness settled on Elenie’s face, banishing the blankness he hated with a passion, as Florence explained how she was responsible for the scar below his jawline.
“I was ten. He was an ass! What can I say? I had no idea the buckle on my schoolbag would turn it into such a deadly weapon.” His sister shrugged, any repentance she might have once had long gone. “I like to think I’ve given his face the character it lacked.”
“You’re blowing my cover.” Roman hushed her without heat. “I’ve been telling people I got that scar in a sword fight.”
Elenie snorted, and he would have taken ten more schoolbags in the face to hear it again. “I heard you saved Mrs. Alberty from a coyote attack. You mean that’s not true?”
He aimed a lazy grin her way. “I’d have left her to it. Those coyotes would rue the day they had the nerve.”
He stretched his arm along the back of her chair and stroked his thumb gently up and down her spine. The memory of her bare skin under his touch flared in his mind. Roman wrenched his thoughts back to the present before he was forced to adjust himself under the table. Luke caught his eye and gave him an imperceptible wink. It seemed he was not as unreadable as he’d been led to believe.
Chapter 37
Elenie
“Guess whose truck is still smokin’ out at Pedlar’s End!” Ty bounced on the balls of his feet in the doorway, scrubbing stubby nails over his buzz cut.
Frank looked up from the television. Elenie closed her book around a finger, grateful beyond measure for the interruption. She’d forced herself to join him in the living room, but twenty minutes of sharing the same space had her climbing out of her skin.
“I’ll give you a clue. It’s a black F-150. And it’s fuckin’ gutted.”
“Martinez?”
Tyson’s grin showed all his teeth. “Got it in one.”
“Devastated to hear that.” The corners of Frank’s eyes crinkled. He stretched out his legs, ankles crossed, and folded his arms behind his head, satisfaction in the ripple of his biceps. “Good job, Ty.”
“Wasn’t me.” Tyson slumped onto the couch.
“Dean?” Frank cocked an eyebrow.
“Nope. He was with me.”
Elenie uncurled her legs and headed for the door. “I thought it’d be harder to get it started but the seats went up really quickly.”
Their faces were comical.
Ty snapped his slack jaw shut. “You’re shittin’ us.Youtorched it?”
“He had it coming.” She pulled the lighter from her jeans pocket and rolled her thumb over the spark wheel a few times. Frank’s eyes followed the movement.
