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My gaze dips to the movement before I give myself a sharp mental slap and refocus my attention.
“What?” I search his eyes for clues as to what he’s thinking. “What does that mean?” Even talking about Pamela makes me twitchy.
“Guess I’m just surprised. Dad mentioned they got together for dinner a couple weeks ago.”
My nose scrunches at that bit of unexpected news. “They did?”
He watches me closely. “Yup.”
“She never mentioned it,” I mutter.
“You know Dad. He’s always happy to spend time with her.”
That hard truth makes the corners of my lips wilt. Poor Crawford. Even after the shit she pulled, he’s still under her spell. Sometimes, I want to smack him upside the head and hope it knocks some sense into him where Pamela is concerned.
I’m almost afraid to ask but I have to know…
“Did he mention anything else?”
“Nope.” He pops the P at the end of the word.
“Good.” Relief radiates through me as the fist clenching my heart loosens just a bit.
Ford smirks. “Not interested in being steps again, huh?”
“Hell, no.”
But it’s way more than that. Crawford was devastated when Mom took off. For months, I lived in fear that my freshly ditched stepfather would announce that I was no longer welcome in his home.
Thankfully, that never happened.
But it’s always been a concern.
One I can never quite banish.
Especially with the way she pops in and out of his life.
“Aww,” Ford says. “Now you’ve gone and hurt my tender feelings.”
I can’t help but snort. “Tender feelings my ass.”
He grins, one hand drifting to the middle of his chest, pulling my attention along with it. “What? It’s true. I’m incredibly sensitive.”
I roll my eyes.
If there’s one thing I can say about Ford, it’s that he’s always been able to make me laugh. No matter what was going on in my life. It’s one of the things that first attracted me to him. He has an easy-going personality that people automatically gravitate toward. Guys want to be friends with him, and girls want to belong to him.
For a night, a week, or longer.
I’ve watched that particular scenario play out hundreds of times before.
When he gave me his full attention, I felt special. Like he saw something in me that others couldn’t possibly see. We’d hang out, talk, play games…
It’s another reason why him icing me out had been so painful. I’d thought we were friends.
More than friends.
I’d thought it had been the beginning—
