Page 90 of Worth of Waste

“It’s not about trust,” Dino admitted.

“Then what is it?”

“They’re not a part of this—they’ve never been a part of this. They’re mine, and I won’t ever put them at risk like everything else in my life is, Theo. It’s not about whether or not I trust you. It’s everyone else around us, it’s the people who’ve hurt me and you and Lily over and over again, just because they could. Don’t ask me if it’s because I don’t trust you, when you know the monsters that live inside my head. You live with the same monsters I do, we just deal with them in different ways, Theo.”

Theo stayed silent for a long while, then he leaned forward in the chair and nodded at the phone. “So when is Lily coming home?”

And just like that, the conversation was over.

It was the DeLuca way.

Karen

“HE’S too little to go on any of these rides,” Karen said, looking around the carnival at the Pier.

“Not all,” Dino replied, shifting his son on his hip. “And some he can go on with us.”

“Sure, but—”

“It’s a fun night for him. He’ll be so tired by the time we get him home. He’ll sleep all night and you won’t hear a thing. Maybe you’ll even get to sleep in tomorrow.”

Well, Karen did like the sound of that.

J was an odd child sometimes. He would wake up at the very crack of dawn, ready and revving to go. Sometimes it didn’t seem like it mattered when he went to bed, either. Seven at night, or much later, he still woke up far too early for it to be normal.

Karen’s normal, anyway.

“Not sure that’ll make much of a difference, Dino,” Karen admitted.

“We’ll see. Let’s find something to do. You hungry?”

She nodded, as it was well past supper and Dino’s visit had been a surprise. Not that surprise visits were anything particularly new for him—he did it all the time. That night, however, she had just got home and was about to start cooking something when he walked in the door talking about a date night.

Date night?

Karen and Dino had never been on a proper date, and she didn’t think their occasional late nights with popcorn, wine, and movies on the couch really constituted what was a proper date. She liked those nights with him, sure, she loved them even, but they weren’t actually dates.

And being out and about in a very bustling, public place with Dino felt almost … strange.

“Is everything okay?” Karen asked as they approached a food truck.

The lights of the pier and the carnival lit up the sky, making their son distracted at every little turn. Little J kept trying to climb higher on his father’s shoulders to see more. Dino eventually just shifted the boy around so he was sitting on his father’s shoulders before he turned to answer Karen.

“Everything is fine, sweetheart.” Dino stepped up to order. “What do you want?”

Karen looked over the menu and settled for something that would fill her up, but not make her stomach too heavy. If they were going to take the baby on rides—even child rides—she needed to be careful.

She had never done well with motion sickness.

After she’d given Dino her order, he placed his own, something for the baby, and then paid. They stepped off to the side to wait for their order to be filled.

“Are you sure?” Karen asked. “Nothing’s changed?”

Dino passed Karen a look before he reached out and snagged her by the wrist, drawing her closer into his side. “You’re worrying about nothing. Enjoy the night out. You don’t get to do that much, Karen.”

Fine.

That was true enough.