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I frowned. "No. I just didn't feel tired yet. You have trouble sleeping?"
She nodded, running her hand through her hair. I barely held back from reaching out and wrapping my fingers in it. I'd been close to her all day, and now it felt unnatural to push down my interest.
It's all for show, I reminded myself.
"I've had trouble sleeping since I was a little girl," she said. "It started after we lost Mom. I kept searching for her in the evening.”
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
She was quiet for a beat before adding, “Thanks. I don’t know why I brought that up.”
“I don’t mind.” I was interested in her story. Reese was a beautiful woman with a huge heart, and I’d never met anybody like her.
“Anyway, I tried a lot of therapists over the years. I even have a sleep schedule. I try to avoid screen time for a few hours before I go to bed. I couldn’t resist reading, though. But they’ve all told me that if I can’t sleep, I shouldn’t stay in bed. If possible, I should get out of the room, walk a bit. I saw this place earlier today and wanted to enjoy it by myself.”
"That makes two of us," I replied. "Want us to just sit quietly?"
She laughed softly. "We can try."
For a few minutes, neither of us spoke, and it was perfect. This moment was just what I needed, and I thought it was exactly what she wanted too.
"Thank you for today," she said eventually.
"What do you mean?"
"The show you put on was very helpful and very convincing."
"Oh, yeah.” The fucking show. I was starting to wonder if any of it had been for show at all. I'd used every opportunity to be close to her, and I had zero regrets.
"You still have feelings for him?" I blurted. It was none of my business, but I needed to know.
"That's a loaded question. I want to slap the shit out of him every time I see him. Does that count as a feeling?"
I chuckled. "Hell yes."
"But it also hurts every time I see him with her, so maybe somewhere deep down, I do still have feelings for him. Even my therapist hasn't been able to work that one out."
Fuck, that stung. But why? I wasn’t looking for a relationship. Hell, I just got out of a nightmare of a marriage, for God's sake.
"But I couldn't ever see myself getting back with him," she continued. "He's hurt me and my family so much over the years."
"What do you mean? He physically...?" I was going to punch that moron.
"No, no." She shook her head. "But as I told you, he tried to cause a lot of trouble with lawsuits, general harassment. But my cousin Declan, the lawyer, put the fear of God in him. At least that's what I thought. Malcolm moved away from Chicago for a bit after that, and I don't like that he's back."
"Want me to find out why he’s here?"
"Don't worry. I'm sure my cousins are already on it. Even though I didn't tell them a word about him."
"Then how would they know he’s in Chicago again?" I asked.
"They know everything."
"And you don't mind?"
"No, not one bit. They've always been protective of me and my sister. Anyway, it's been a while since we had to deal with Malcolm. I hope he won't cause any trouble. Maybe he just wanted to come back to Chicago because it's where he's from." She seemed to be talking more to herself than to me.
"How long ago did you two split up?"
