Page 25 of Bad Mother

She cleared her throat, turning her gaze. “Anyway, it went over about as well as you can imagine it did with my bosses,” she said. “They might have been satisfied with a reprimand or time off without pay, andI might have taken either, because otherwise it would have been spun that there wasn’t enough evidence and that I went rogue, libeled a man, disregarded procedure, et cetera. But the mayor called in, and he was irate. The story of his campaign worker’s arrest blew up, and it was all over the news. I was just waiting to be fired.”

“And then?”

“And then one of my bosses called me in and told me he could offer me a transfer to Nevada. That Ingrid, the lead detective here in Reno, was willing to take me on despite the controversy.”

“Ingrid.That’s quite a name.”

“She’s quite a woman, believe me.”

Gavin smiled. “So you snapped it up despite the fact that you had vowed never to return to this dustbin of hell.”

Sienna couldn’t help the laugh. “Basically.”

He smiled at her. “You did the right thing, Si.”Si.The nickname was pronounced likesea, and that was how hearing it from his lips made her stomach feel—like a turbulent ocean rolled and churned inside. His tone was gentle, and their gazes lingered. She broke eye contact, looking away. She had the strange urge to reach for something and hold on, but there was nothing there. She was sitting on a box filled with the few things she’d packed up and put in the back of her car before she’d headed away from her life and back toward the Biggest Little City in the World.

“So what’s he like?” Gavin asked. “This ‘main squeeze.’”

“Ha.” Sienna tilted her head, picturing Brandon. Why in the world was she having trouble conjuring his face? She felt herself frowning and relaxed her brow. “He’s a lawyer.”

“That’s his defining quality?”

Sienna rolled her eyes. “No, that’s not his defining quality. What do you want to hear? His name’s not Main Squeeze; it’s Brandon Guthrie. He’s kind. He’s handsome. He’s well liked. He’s a go-getter. He’s supportive.”Mostly.So he hadn’t exactly wanted her to move here and takethe opportunity presented to save her career. Could she blame him? He loved her, and he wanted to start their life together, not put it on hold for an unexpected long-distance relationship.

“What about you?” she asked, attempting to strike a flippant tone and suspecting she’d missed the target. “You never married?”

He paused for a beat, his gaze moving over her features, cataloging something. “No.”

“Ever get close?” she asked.

“Yeah, once,” he said. “A long time ago.”

A prickle took up in her rib cage, and then she realized he was referring to her, and that prickle sprouted thorns. “Not funny,” she said.

He gave the barest of wry smiles, but his tone was gentle when he answered, “I know.” He paused for a beat. “But no, I’ve never gotten close.”

“Why not?” It was difficult for her to believe that a man like him—gorgeous, rich, successful—didn’t have a bevy of women surrounding him. And maybe he did. Maybe he just wasn’t interested in marrying any of them. Maybe he’d discovered long ago—on the very day she’d waited in a chapel filled with plastic flowers—that the single life was the life for him and stuck with it.

Maybe that meant she shouldn’t have taken it personally. It wasn’ther. It was every woman on earth. And why did the thought ofthat daystill make her feel bitter and sad, even now?

In answer to her question, Gavin shrugged, and she suddenly realized how large he looked sitting on the small box and that he was probably uncomfortable. It was sort of comical but sort of not, and God, there was such a clashing, rolling mix of emotions happening inside her. Or maybe it was simply exhaustion. “I was on the road for years, and then I threw myself into this job. And then there’s that I just never met the right person.”

“Hmm,” she said, refusing to let her emotions take hold of her thoughts as they’d done a moment before.Shut it down, Sienna.Shetook another sip of water, and he watched her for a moment and then glanced around the room.

“This is what it would have been like at first if we’d moved into that house,” he said quietly, causing her body to go still.

That house.

The one she hadn’t thought about in a long time and yet was suddenly as clear as day in her mind. Oh, she knew what house he was talking about. “Gavin,” she warned.

Something sparked in his eyes. “You never thought about it? Imagined it?”

“No,” she said. “Or if I did, I can’t remember.” She pulled off flippant better that time, or at least she thought she did.

But when she looked at Gavin, she second-guessed that assumption. He was watching her, a small smile on his lips as though he knew very well she was lying. And of course, he probably did. He knew faces. Not just hers. But Sienna was well aware that she had a hundred tells, and if he still remembered anything about her at all, he’d pick up at least one of them.

It made her feel weak and exposed where it’d made her feel loved and known before. A long time ago.

Gavin glanced away, and she had the weird feeling he was giving her some privacy. “I told Mirabelle you’re back in town,” he said.

---