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Lachlan rolled his eyes at me.
“What’s a fag?” Manuel asked.
After giving me a sad smile, Lachlan returning his attention to Manuel. “It’s a silly grown-up word that means making a fool of yourself. Which you are not. Remember that. You like dancing. Your grandma thinks you’re great, and that’s all that counts.”
“Is Belen my grandma?” he asked.
Lachlan squeezed my hand. He was out of his depth. “She’s like a grandmother to you. Think of her like that.”
Sherry returned, looking a little shaken. At the same time, Tamara came back in and poured another glass of wine. Since it was four in the afternoon, I assumed she was a heavy drinker.
“A word,” she said to Lachlan.
He touched my hand. “Back in a minute.”
Tamara left the room, and Lachlan said to Sherry, “Don’t let her get to you. Did she threaten you?”
“She told me that Manuel’s not to attend the dance classes. I don’t know what to do. He’ll be gutted.” Her eyes had a watery film.
“He’s going, all right. I’ll see to it. You’re important to Manuel. And I want you here.”
A line formed between her eyebrows. “I just don’t know what to do about her.”
“Don’t worry. Leave it up to me,” he said.
Lachlan’s heart seemed to shine. When called for, he could balance the weight of the world on his very big, manly shoulders.
He left the room, then after preparing Manuel a sandwich, Sherry also departed with the young boy following at her heels, as she’d promised to let him watch cartoons.
I remained in the kitchen, snacking, and I heard Lachlan in the adjacent room say, “You’ve got no fucking proof.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. I have your T-shirt with my blood all over it.”
“Do your worst.”
“You know what you need to do,” she said and clip-clopped away.
Lachlan stepped back into the kitchen, raking his hair roughly. He took a deep breath. “I need to go visit my father. While we were out, I got a call. He’s not doing too well.”
I nodded. “Sure. I can go home.” I was dying to ask him about the T-shirt and what Tamara meant by it but decided not to. Lachlan’s mood had darkened, and he appeared distracted.
“Don’t worry about Tamara. We can stay at the apartment if you like,” he said as we made our way to the car. He turned to me and asked, “Will you come with me?”
“To the hospital?”
Lachlan took my hand. “I just want your company. For the drive. Do you want to come?”
It took me a moment to gather my thoughts. “Yeah. Sure. I thought I might get in the way. I mean, don’t you need to talk to him about Tamara?”
“You heard?” He opened the door for me.
“It was hard not to hear. You were both talking loudly.”
I got in the car, then Lachlan slid behind the wheel and turned to me.
“Yelling, you mean.” He huffed. “She’s a fucking piece of work. Tamara wants me to convince my dad to rescind the prenup. She wants the house.”
“Can’t you buy her out?” I asked.
