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“No, sir.”
“Anyway, my daughter says I can turn a knock-knock joke into the Declaration of Independence, so I’ll try to sum up and keep it brief this time. Leah didn’t like the change of plans and took off one day, leaving a Dear John letter in her place. One of those postcards arrived in the mail every year, always blank, until Gia’s eighteenth birthday.” He tossed the remaining postcard in his hand on the top of the pile. It wasn’t blank like all the others. I glanced down at it and back to Tony.
“Go ahead. Give it a read, son.”Dear Tony,
This is the last postcard you’ll receive. I’ve spent the last eighteen years traveling from place to place, looking for someone or something that I could never seem to find. Today it hit me. I’ve been looking for someone to replace you and Gia. I looked for pieces of you in every relationship I had. And in the end, nothing compared to the original. You’ve stayed in my heart far longer than you were in my life.
Our daughter is a woman today. I hope she’s like you. Strong enough to have the courage to deal with the unexpected and not run away when life turns out different than planned. Take it from me, you can run away from people, but you can’t run away from what’s in your heart.
Always, Leah“Don’t let eighteen years pass before you stop running, Rush.”Tony had left me even more fucked up than I’d been before he showed up. Only I wasn’t angry anymore; I just felt down. Like I’d lost my best friend, quit smoking, and someone had run over my fucking dog—all in the same morning. He’d obviously brought me Gia’s mother’s postcards to show me that cutting the person out of your life doesn’t always let you move on. But the thing was, unlike Gia’s mother, I didn’t think there was anything better out there for me that I needed to search for. Gia was better than I even deserved.
Unable to focus, I got tired of sitting in my office. For three days, I’d had Gia on the brain, and it was only getting worse. I needed to see her, even if it was the asshole thing to do when I couldn’t give her what she wanted.
I stopped by the kitchen and had the chef make a bunch of her favorite dishes, and decided to drop in and check on her unannounced.
Twenty minutes later she opened the door, and I stood staring at her, completely forgetting what my excuse for coming by had even been. God, she looked hot as fuck in that bikini.
“Rush? Is everything okay?” Her brows drew down with concern.
I remembered the guise I’d come under. Holding up the bag, I said, “Thought you could use dinner. Did I interrupt you going for a swim or something?”
“No. I just sort of wear bathing suits around the house now because my clothes are too tight.” She fingered the edge of her bikini bottom that was pushed down under her beautiful, plump stomach. “It’s like walking around in my underwear, but socially more acceptable.”
I’d forgotten what her curves did to me. Seeing her bare stomach with a little more fullness to it, her tits really filling out the top, I wondered if stopping by had been such a good idea after all.
Gia licked her lips. “I’m starving. Any chance there’s eggplant in there?”
“Sure is.”
She practically ripped the bag out of my hand and left me standing in the doorway as she walked away. I started to chuckle, but then got a look at her from the rear.
Damn. Not funny.
Maybe I should be like a deliveryman and bolt. The little T&A show was enough of a tip.
Gia yelled from somewhere in the house. “Rush? Where are you?”
I looked up at the sky and cursed myself for thinking this was a good idea before I walked in.
She had a fork out and two containers open by the time I walked the few feet to the kitchen.
“Hungry?” I raised a brow.
She stabbed her fork into a mini eggplant rollatini and shoveled it into her mouth. Closing her eyes, she practically moaned. “Mmmmm...this is so, so good.”
I swallowed. “Yeah. Good.”
Like a fucking perv, I stood there leering at her, thoroughly turned on from the noises she made while she devoured half a plate of eggplant. At one point, some sauce dripped onto her cleavage. She used a finger to swipe it away, then sucked on the damn finger.
Clearing my throat, I said, “Why don’t you get some clothes on? A cover-up or something?”
She pouted and put down the eggplant. “Why? Because I’m fat?”
“Just the opposite, because you’re killing me in that bathing suit.”
Gia looked down at herself. “Oh.” She seemed to get my point and retreated to her bedroom to put on a robe.
