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“The roses are her,” I said. “Got those added after we got married.”
Her fingers, which were cold from the glass, traced the skull that spanned across my knuckles. Then her eyes came up. “I love that.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” She grinned. “I really, really love that. She lit up that darkness you were living in. Roses can’t bloom in the dark. I think this is perfect.”
I stared at her. Jesus. She was serious.
“You like me havin’ somethin’ I gotta look at the rest of my life, knowin’ it reminds me of my ex?”
“Was your ex good to you?”
“Yeah.”
“Then there you go.” Shayla dropped her head to the side and smiled. “I will never have any problem with anyone, Sean, as long as they are good to you. Val gave you love and kindness when no one else did. Plus, those beautiful girls sleeping in there. I like her having a tattoo. I like that she meant something important enough to get one.”
“What about you then?”
She lost her smile. “What about me?”
“Going off that checklist, aside from the kid thing, shouldn’t you have somethin’ on me?”
Her mouth fell open. “Are you serious?”
“Do I look serious?”
“You always look like that.” She gestured at my face. “I don’t know. You tell me, are you?” Her voice jumped.
I grinned, liking how flustered she’d gotten.
Shayla leaned back. “Okay, now you’re smiling, and I have no idea what to think.” She shook her head, then laughed nervously. “If you’re being serious…Wow, uh, are you, though? I still can’t get a read.”
I threw my head back and laughed.
“Sean!”
My hand on her thigh flew to her mouth. “You wanna wake up my girls?” I asked.
She blinked with wide eyes.
I yanked my hand away when I felt her tongue, grimacing, and seeing that, she giggled and fell over into me, spilling some of her water on my leg.
“Oops.”
“You’re not gettin’ a fuckin’ tattoo now,” I said as I wiped at my jeans, but I was laughing with her. I couldn’t fucking help it.
Fuck, I loved being around her.
Shayla’s giggle shook her entire body.
“Come here.” I took her drink and sat it on the end table next to mine, then I threw my arm around her, and getting the invite, Shayla burrowed herself against my side, draping her leg over top of mine and wrapping her arm around my waist.
She sighed and blinked at the TV.
I kept my head down and watched her and nothing else, like I said I would.
“The day you got arrested,” Shayla began, only letting a minute of silence pass. “Did that have something to do with the scar on Fiona’s stomach?”
“How’d you know about that?”
“I saw it when Val was getting the girls ready for their recital.” Shayla shifted back a little, tilted her head up, and looked at me. “And Val mentioned something about some medical bill, and that you were doing something to help pay for it.”
I jerked my chin in answer.
“What were you doing?”
“Stealin’ a car.”
“Really?” Her eyes flickered wider.
“I needed close to eight grand to cover that surgery,” I explained. “I knew how much I’d get if I boosted one. I told Val I was done with that, but I didn’t know what else to fuckin’ do. We couldn’t get the money.”
“What about insurance? They didn’t cover it?”
“Probably would’ve if we had any.”
Shayla frowned.
“I kept fuckin’ up,” I told her. “Couldn’t keep a job, plus Val was in school. Any money we had went to that and what the girls needed after paying rent. We couldn’t afford insurance. That bill came, and Val was stressin’ out about it. She thought we’d lose our apartment. I had to do somethin’.”
“And the girls were in the car with you?”
My jaw clenched as I nodded.
I hated thinking about that.
“Val had a class. I was watchin’ the girls. Bridgett was doing whatever the fuck. She wasn’t home. It was fuckin’ ridiculous—I don’t know what I was thinkin’. It took me thirty fuckin’ minutes putting those damn car seats in. The girls were screaming—the alarm bothered them and I had trouble cuttin’ it ’cause I was dealin’ with the two of them climbin’ all over the place and shit. By the time I got on the road, I made it two fuckin’ miles before I got stopped.”
Shayla placed her hand on my leg and pushed up. “You put their car seats in the vehicle you stole?”
“I wasn’t drivin’ anywhere without them strapped in,” I replied. “What if I got into an accident or somethin’? They could get hurt.”
“Sean.” Shayla grabbed my face and pouted. “Jesus. Even doing something illegal, you’re still only thinking about your girls.”
I brusquely shook my head, which dropped her hands away. “I wasn’t. If I would’ve been thinkin’ about them, I wouldn’t have done it,” I argued. “Now they got that memory of me plus all that time I missed out on, and Val still had to take a loan out to cover that bill, so a lot of fuckin’ good it did. I’ll never make up for that.”
