Page 87 of Henley

We talked for a little longer, and then I spent the rest of the afternoon dwelling over what I could do.

* * *

A week later,I still didn’t have any idea of how to fix things. It was my last day on shift at the firehouse in Plattsville, and Brett and I had stopped for lunch at a local Mexican restaurant. Because we were in the ambulance, we parked on the street and had to walk around the corner. As we passed the small parking lot, I noticed someone and came up short.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Brett said softly as I grabbed my cellphone out of my pocket and turned on my camera.

“I know, right?” I snapped a couple of pictures and then beat feet toward the two people.

“Susan, how you feeling?” I called out as I got closer, abruptly ending the kiss between her and Roman.

She didn’t seem as concerned as Roman did, and his startled gaze was flitting back and forth between Brett and me.

“I’m better, thank you,” she replied.

“That’s good, and how is the baby?”

She paled in front of my eyes, and Roman’s head almost made the exorcist move as it spun around. “What baby?”

She shot him a nervous glance before directing her words to me. “Fine, thank you.”

“You’re pregnant?” Roman said, shock evident in his voice. “Who is the father?”

She glared at him. “You are, Roman. I just found out a week ago, and I hadn’t found the right time to tell you.”

Brett was chuckling behind me as I responded. “Well, you all have a nice day; sorry for spilling the beans. Your sister is going to be really excited to hear she’s going to be an aunt.” I held up my phone. “I’ll be sure to send her the pictures I just took so she knows how much you care about one another.”

I started to walk away and heard heavy footsteps rushing toward me. I prepared myself to be grabbed and punched, but while Roman did grab my arm, when I turned, prepared to fight back, I saw fear in his eyes.

“Don’t tell her, not that like. Shit, man, please don’t tell her.”

“Why the hell not? You took pics of me while I was working and made it look like I was doing something wrong. You hurt her, and you hurt me. I love your sister, Roman, and she loves me, and I’d like to beat the shit out of you for doing that to us both. Why shouldn’t I send her pictures that actually show the truth? Huh?”

“What pictures did you send?” Susan asked from behind him, and he winced.

I laughed. “I think you have some explaining to do to your baby-momma.” I started to walk away again.

“I’m sorry,” he shouted. “Jesus, I’m sorry. I’ll tell her the truth. I’ll tell her I made it up just to come between you two.”

I spun around on him. “You promise that?”

“Yes. I swear. I know it hurt her, and I hated doing it. When I saw how upset she was, I knew I had screwed up.”

“That you did, asshole.”

He sighed. “Look, I’ll tell her the truth. I promise. Just don’t tell her about Susan and me, not yet.”

I studied him and looked over his shoulder at Susan as she stepped forward, speaking. “Please don’t say anything. I know Rox will be really upset when she finds out we’ve been seeing each other for months.”

“Months?” I asked.

“Yes, about seven months now.”

Suddenly a thought dawned on me, and I stepped forward into Roman’s personal space. “You’re the one. You’ve been telling Susan all about your sister’s clients. That’s how she was able to poach them.”

He winced again, and this time I didn’t hesitate. I clocked him a good one, and he banked to the side, holding his jaw. When he looked up at me, there was a shitstorm in his eyes, but Susan jumped in front of him. “No! You deserved that Roman. That’s enough.”

“She’s right, I did deserve that, but if you ever punch me again, I will put you in the ground.”

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