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Ainsley nodded and leaned back, apparently satisfied for now.
“I know you want to help this woman,” Santiago said, growing serious. “But please, don’t do anything to antagonize Steve. If he sees you as a threat, he might lash out and hurt you.”
Ainsley flapped her hand in the air, dismissing his concern. “I’m not afraid of him. I can take care of myself.”
“I’m not suggesting otherwise,” Santiago replied, digging deep for patience. “I just don’t want you to take any unnecessary chances.”
Ainsley narrowed her eyes. “I’m not going to turn my back on this woman on the off chance her husband might lose his temper with me. She needs a friend.”
“I agree with you.” Santiago decided to try a different tack. “But if he’s half as bad as we think, he’s liable to take his anger out on her.”
Ainsley’s expression softened. “Yeah, I’m worried about that, too. I told him I wouldn’t initiate a conversation with her, but if she talks to me first I’m not going to ignore her.”
He could tell her mind was made up. Recognizing the futility of further argument, Santiago nodded. “That seems reasonable.” Privately though, he was still worried. It wasn’t in Ainsley’s nature to walk away from a problem. He could imagine any number of scenarios where she reached out to Jenny, then took the blame if her husband found out they were talking. As far as he knew, Ainsley had never been touched in anger. It seemed as though she simply didn’t think it was possible that a man would attack her for speaking to his wife. Unfortunately, thanks to his line of work as a defense attorney, Santiago knew differently.
He watched her now, saw the wheels turning as she tried to figure out a way to help Jenny without tipping off her husband. Admiration filled his chest, but he couldn’t shake the twinge of fear for her safety. Ainsley wasn’t a rash person—he knew she wouldn’t do anything impulsive. But he also understood she wasn’t going to stop worrying about Jenny and her situation.
In a way, he was glad she had something to focus on. All the people in his group were unrepentant jerks who lacked the self-awareness of a goldfish. Sitting around listening to these people deny, deflect and blame others for their bad behavior was enough to make him want to tear his hair out. At least Ainsley seemed to have some good people in her group, even though their plights tugged on her heartstrings. At this point, he wasn’t sure which scenario was worse: his hating everyone, or her guilt over not being able to save the others.
“What?”
Her question pulled him out of his reverie, and he focused on her again. “I’m sorry?” he asked.
“You have a strange look on your face. What’s going on?” she said.
He shook his head to clear his thoughts. “I was just thinking,” he said.
She took another sip of coffee. “Penny for your thoughts.”
Santiago debated on what to tell her. If he confessed he was worried about her, she’d shrug off his concern and tell him he was overreacting. And perhaps he was. He certainly hoped that was the case. Still, it was probably better he not mention it.
“The baby,” he said instead. “I feel bad for their child. I know what it’s like to grow up in a home with that kind of tension.”
Ainsley’s face softened with understanding. “It can’t have been easy for you or Gabriela.”
He’d told her a little about his family when they’d been dating. It wasn’t a topic he liked to discuss, so he tried not to bring it up. But he could tell Ainsley was curious.
“It was tough,” he admitted. “I’m lucky, though—I had my sister, so I wasn’t totally alone.”
“Did you ever learn why your parents hated each other so much?”
Santiago shook his head. “No. And at some point, I stopped caring about the reason. Either figure it out, or split up, you know? Stop torturing the rest of us.”
“I bet you couldn’t wait to move out.”
“As soon as I could,” he confirmed. “I tried to take Gabriela with me, but...” he trailed off, remembering the fight. “They told her if she moved in with me, they’d cut us both off financially. At that point, they were paying for my college, and they’d promised to do the same for her. I was willing to go it on my own, but Gabby was afraid. She told me to leave her, that she’d be fine.”
Ainsley reached across the table and placed her hand on his own. “How many years did she have until graduation?”
Her touch was soft and warm, and Santiago wanted to flip his hand over and thread his fingers through hers. But that seemed like too intimate a gesture, so he didn’t move. Instead, he squinted, searching his memory. “At that point she was a sophomore in high school, so it was two years until she could get out.”
“Man.” Ainsley shook her head in sympathy. “I can’t imagine being so vindictive toward someone I loved.”
He laughed, but there was no humor in it. “Oh, that was the tip of the iceberg, believe me.”
“Do you think if your parents had done something like this—I mean a real marriage retreat, not this fake garbage—that it would have made a difference in their relationship?”
Santiago considered her question. He’d wondered the same thing from time to time, but had never really come up with an answer. “Probably not,” he said. “I think they’re determined to hate each other, and nothing is going to change that. I’ve learned that some people are only happy when they’re unhappy, if that makes any sense. I think my parents are like that.”
