Tony sits back on the edge of the couch, his body rigid with anger.
“How about your business?”
I shake my head slowly. I don’t care about the money. It’s the business that breaks my heart.
“I can’t fulfil my orders. He’s taken all my goods, I guess to sell off cheaply somewhere. I’ve shut down the website already, but there are a lot of angry customers with stuff on backorder that I can’t fulfil. I kept hoping he’d turn up, that he’d see sense, but now I’ve realized that’s not going to happen.” I give a long sigh and slump back on the couch. Thinking about letting my customers down makes my chest sore. “I have to shut the business, Tony. All those years of hard work... But I can’t go on like this with no product and no capital.”
Tony gets off the couch and paces the room, his fists clenched and his neck red with anger.
“I’m sorry this has happened to you, Caro. I know how hard you worked.”
I shrug. Now that I’ve had a good cry, I feel strangely optimistic.
“LA didn’t suit me anyway. I’d much rather be here.”
He turns and kneels before me, his gaze intense and angry. He’s angry on my behalf, and that comforts me, having someone to share my hurt. “I’d much rather you were here too. But you worked hard for that business, and fuck if I’m going to let that asshole take it away from you.”
“Tony…” I’ve seen that wild look in his eyes before, and it doesn’t mean anything good. “Don’t do anything stupid.”
His hands rest on my thighs, and he brings his head close to mine.
“The only stupid thing I did was letting you get involved with that scumbag.”
“It wasn’t your decision, Tony.”
“I know. But I vowed to love and protect you as long as we both shall live, and I let you down.”
He bows his head, and I press my forehead against his.
I can feel the heat from where our skin is touching. His familiar scent engulfs me, and for the first time in months, I feel safe. I feel accepted.
“No, you never let me down, Tony. I let us down.”
A wave of sadness washes over me when I think about how hasty I was to end our marriage. How I couldn’t handle the lonely days when Tony was deployed. How I yearned for him to be back. But when he came home, he wasn’t the youthful boy I’d fallen in love with. He was a man, with hurt inside of him and a distance that I couldn’t bridge.
I wanted to share his hurt, share his darkness, but he wanted to shield me from it. I wanted to know why he had nightmares and called out in his sleep. He didn’t want to talk about it.
Now, he cups my chin in his palm and tilts my head up so I’m looking into his deep brown eyes. A shiver runs through my body and curling heat travels down my spine.
“I’ve always loved you, Caroline, and I always will. You didn’t let us down. You did what you had to do, and I don’t blame you. I was a miserable bastard most of the time when I came back. I put up barriers because I didn’t want you to see what the military had done to me. But I should have let you in. I should have laughed with you. I should have taken you out dancing. I should have been a better husband.”
I search my heart and find no resentment there, only sadness for what could have been. Whatever Tony did in his military years, I’ve forgiven him.
“We were kids when we got married. We didn’t know what we were doing.”
“I know what I’m doing now.”
His lips press into mine. The feeling is so familiar I almost cry. It’s like we’re kids again, kissing for the first time behind a storage shed at school.
Tony’s hands slip to my waist, and I let him pull me toward him until our bodies are pressed together, fitting together in a familiar pattern.
A sigh escapes me because it feels so right. It feels like coming home.
8
TONY
The black van with tinted windows pulls up outside a warehouse on the outskirts of LA.
