We broke it up, but not before several more kisses, and by the time we made it to the kitchen, nearly all the best slices were gone. I didn’t care because I had Craig, kisses, and love.
However, the peace was short-lived. Midway through a joke Jackson was cracking about his work partner, Craig’s phone vibrated harshly against the kitchen countertop. He excused himself with a tight smile and stepped into the yard to take the call. I tried to focus on the joke, but part of me was tuned to the muffled cadence of Craig’s voice drifting through the slightly open door, the tone tight and worried.
Craig’s expression was stiff, his face drawn, the earlier ease gone, replaced by a tension in him that knotted his shoulders. I caught the weight of Oli’s stare, and we exchanged shrugs before I excused myself, following Craig outside.
“Craig?” I kept my voice low, but it was laced with concern, as I reached out to touch his arm. He turned to me, his expression taut, a forced smile not quite reaching his eyes. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing I can’t handle,” he finally said, though his voice betrayed the strain of whatever news the call had brought. I knew better than to push. I really did, but I loved him, and I didn’t want to see him so sad.
“A problem shared…” I prompted and took his hands in mine. “Is it the team?” My heart sank. “Are you being traded?” What if he was traded somewhere miles from here, away from Oli and the girls? What would I choose? Where would I go?
Why was I being asked to decide this when being in love with Craig was so new?
“No, it’s not the team.”
“Then what?”
He closed his eyes and rested his forehead on mine. “I have no idea where to start.”
Chapter Sixteen
Craig
If I could behonest with anyone, it was with Jamie.
Still, even knowing that, it took me several minutes to force the secrets that I’d kept bottled up inside me to spill. They leaked out in a small dribble at first, both of us seated on the swings of the redwood play fort in the backyard.
“I’m sorry,” I said for the twelfth time in forty seconds. My thoughts were a jumbled word gumbo, and I felt like a toddler trying to pick out the letters to spell garbage from his bowl of alphabet soup. Because if any descriptor of things right now in my life fit it was garbage. Maybe terror. “I just…” I blew out a breath, rubbed my face with my palms, and then locked my legs to stop the swing from moving. “My sister had a phone call from my ex.”
I peeked to the side to see Jamie trying to connect the dots and failing. “Why would he call your sister?”
And here it was. The place where all the refuse tumbled out onto the street for the world to step over, or kick into the sea.
“She has Bruno.”
Jamie also stopped swinging. “Is Bruno your son?” His voice was shaky now.
“No, no, Bruno is my dog.”
His exhalation was legendary. “Okay, well, that’s a completely different scenario. I didn’t know you owned a dog. So, tell me about Bruno and why Leon the Horror is callingyoursister aboutyourdog.”
I swallowed down the worry. “Leon gave me Bruno as a gift for our first anniversary. He was the cutest little puppy. He has to wear little sweaters because he’s a Chinese Crested. He’s the hairless variety and gets cold easily. He’s a smart dog but excitable and gets anxious when he senses upset in his people. Leon said he was a sound investment and would give me something to talk about when we were among his colleagues. Guess I was too stupid to talk about anything other than a dog.”
“I loathe your ex increasingly with every passing hour,” Jamie mumbled while maneuvering to the right to rub my bowed back. “It sounds like you love Bruno a lot.”
“I do, and he got me through some really terrible times. When I left I took Bruno with me. He was mine, and I honestly didn’t trust Leon alone with the dog. I was scared he would take out his anger on him. One kick would probably kill him, he’s just a little dog.” A shudder ran through me just thinking of it. “When I left, I went home to Michigan and stayed with Claudia in her small apartment. Bruno was a wreck, nerved up, scared of this new house and this woman he barely knew. Leon found us right off, began calling all the time, both Claudia and me, begging at first, imploring me to come home to him. We’d work things out, he said. When I said no he started texting me instead of calling. I changed my number several times. Claudia moved to a new house with a yard that I helped her finance. Leon never stopped texting me, somehow he always found my number and where I lived no matter how often I moved.”
Jamie pulled me into his side, the chains on the swings creaking under our weight. “God what a controlling bastard he is. We both really did shit the bed on our previous choices, didn’t we?”
“Yeah, you could say that. Every month, at least twice, he texts me asking me to reconsider. Telling me that if I’d only stop being so hysterical, I’d see we were destined to be together. I used to reply to the texts, but that only brought more lies, so I just ignore them now. I keep them on my phone, though. Is that weird?”
“No—”
“I’m scared, and that’s stupid, right?”
Someone cleared their throat, and we both whirled to find Jackson at the back door. “Sorry, I wasn’t listening in, but uhm… I’m tuned into these conversations, and I was in the kitchen, and I could hear you and, jeez…” He dipped his head in embarrassment. “Why are you scared of your ex?”
I lifted my chin. He wouldn’t be the first person who said I was a grown man and shouldn’t fear Leon. Hell, I thought the same thing myself.
