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One day at a time. I’d tell him everything. Eventually.
Brent needed my help in the office for a minute, and I was glad to have the conversation interrupted. I let Carl know that anything Todd and Lisa ordered was on the house.
Then I went to help Brent and guiltily hoped that by the time I was free again, Todd and Lisa would be gone.
* * *
I opened the door to Lana, glad that the day was finally drawing to a close. She’d gone home from work and changed into more casual clothes. A duffel bag was slung over her shoulder.
“Planning on taking a trip?” I teased. “Going to rough it in the park?”
“Nope, going to live in the lap of luxury in your bed,” she said, but her usual teasing and cheeriness seemed a little forced.
“You can rough it in my bed too, if you want. If that’s how you like it,” I said, trying to draw either a smile or a heated smirk from her.
Instead, she dumped the duffel inside the doorway, and as soon as I sat on the couch, she let me pull her into my lap.
“You okay?”
“I’ve felt a little off since I saw Todd earlier, if I’m honest.” She licked her upper lip. “Just worrying about what he’d think if he knew.”
I tucked a few blonde strands behind her ear. “What did he say to you? You looked uncomfortable.”
“He said he was surprised to see me.Happyto see me. Then he wanted to know what I was doing there. I figured honesty was the best policy—at least for that. And when he found out we were working together, he didn’t really have anything to say after that. Just that he was surprised.” She sighed and leaned her forehead against my temple. “I don’t think he took it very well.”
“Maybe it was just shock at seeing you. I should have told him about the Berman account and you running it.” I kissed her softly. “It just seemed like bringing you up might not be a great idea.”
“Judging from his reaction, I think you were right.” She picked at the buttons on my shirt. “Do you really think he’s doing okay?”
“I do. But I think he’s still fragile. It’s almost like he needs everything in him to fight his addiction, so he doesn’t have much left to deal with other things, you know?”
Lana nodded. “That makes sense. But we can’t sneak around forever. He’s going to find out about us one of these days. Maybe it would be better if he heard it from us, privately. Where we can handle his reaction and reassure him if he doesn’t take it well.”
“You’re so sweet,” I said, brushing my lips against her cheek.
After the way Todd treated her, nobody would blame her if she didn’t really worry or care about him and his reactions. But there she was, trying to make sure he was going to be okay about something that truly wasn’t any of his business in the first place.
“I think he should hear it from us, or one of us. Probably me. But I think he needs some time to come to grips with us working together first. I don’t want to throw too many surprises at him and have him fall apart again.”
“You’re right,” Lana agreed. “It’s only right to give him some time. I’d hate for him to get reckless and upset and jeopardize his new relationship. What was her name again?”
“Lisa.”
“She’s beautiful. I noticed she had a nice smile too, because she smiled at Todd like he hung the moon.” Lana kissed my forehead and sighed. “I hope it works out for him. I really do.”
“I know you do.” I took her face in my hands and kissed her deeply. “I think deep down Todd would be happy to know that you still care about him.”
He really would be. But part of me still worried he carried a flame for Lana, despite the new girlfriend and all his claims that he’d moved on.
As flustered as he’d been earlier that day when he saw Lana, it was easy to believe that he still pined for her, at least from time to time.
“He’s going to be okay,” I assured Lana.
She nodded. “I’m sure he will be.”
Once we had that out in the open, I was ready to move to a different topic.
“Hey, I heard a rumor about somebody roughing it in my bed. Know anything about that?”
