Outside, the air was cool. Fall would turn into winter in the blink of an eye, that was for sure.
“You know what?” Sammy said. “I need to go to the bathroom. You guys wait here.”
Gard watched her go back into the restaurant. He didn’t buy that for a minute. But he couldn’t exactly call her on it. He looked back at Lia, who was also frowning at Sammy’s retreating form, like shealsoknew what the girl was up to.
But then her gaze met his. Considering. “So, a lawyer, huh?”
He didn’t wince,exactly. “That was the path.” Sometimes, he could see it so clearly—walking in his father’s footsteps, caringmore about how he appeared and what his bank account said than who he was as a man.
Scared the hell out of him, and since he didn’t want to think about that, he turned it around on her. “And what were your plans?”
Lia looked out at the setting sun. She blew out a breath. “I’ve pretty much had two plans in my life,” she said, clearly contemplating. “Escape. Survive.” She didn’t meet his gaze, but she was clearly being honest.
“Sounds rough.”
She shook her head, as if shaking the seriousness away. She smiled. “I guess I’m doing more than survive these days. Just…took me a while to realize it.”
“I get that. Probably not for the same reasons, but when Sammy was little everything felt like just…making it to the next day in one piece.” And even when he hadn’t been in charge of Sammy, he’d worried. So there hadn’t been a reprieve, really.
“She’s very lucky to have you,” Lia said very seriously, making it crystal clear that she’d been a runaway teen because she hadn’t hadanyone.
“Well, I failed her mom pretty big-time, so we’ll call it even if I can get her to graduation in one piece. And not pregnant. God, I’ve just tempted the universe by saying that out loud.”
Some of Lia’s seriousness lifted into humor. “I think you’ll be okay. She’s hurting, but she loves you. She wants to make you proud.”
Gard wasn’t sure that was fully true, but it wasn’t fullyuntrue. More than that, he didn’t want Sammy to worry about makinghimproud. “As long as she’s proud of herself, that’s what matters.”
Lia didn’t say anything to that, but her eyes got kind of shiny, like a person’s did when they were about to cry. And while hedealt with tears at work, with Dani, with Sammy, he wasn’t sure he was in a place to deal withLia’stears.
“Sounds like you two have gotten to be friends,” Gard said, changing the subject. Wanting to see her smile.
“I like to think so.”
“And it sounds like you think I make Sammy happy.”
Lia’s eyes narrowed, like she knew where he was going with this. “You do.”
“So, if I make one of your friends happy… Sounds like you might be forced to like me in spite of my uniform.”
“Hmm,” she said.
But she was messing with him. He could see it in her eyes. And since shewas… “Being a guardian is ninety-nine percent worry, so if I let Sammy go to this sleepover, I’m going to need something to…distract me from thinking about her being at aparty. Withboys.”
Lia studied him. “Maybe you can go to work,” she offered, and he knew she was purposefully ignoring his hint. Messing with him a little bit. Because if she wasuncomfortablewith the hint, she wouldn’t be looking at him with that half smile on her face.
“Maybe. Maybe you could have dinner with me. Get me through the coed portion of the night.”
She didn’t answer right away. He hadn’t really expected her to. Lia was too complicated for a simple yes or no. Something that should probably send him running. Didn’t he have enough complications?
But he could hardly help it if he was drawn to them.
“You know, I once made a promise to myself to never date cops,” she said.
“Sounds like the kind of promise made to be broken.”
This time she did laugh. He liked her laugh. It always started soft, and then she’d lean into it, as if being reminded shedidknow how.
He had the very strong desire to remind her. Over and over.
