AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Eduardo acknowledged Fleet’s parents with a smile, then leaned across the bar, extending his hand first to Talia, then to Fleet, whose palm he clasped for a heartbeat longer than he’d had Talia’s. “I’ve certainly heard a lot about you. And I hope that what Bitsy has to impart to you today will put any demons you still have, to rest.”
It was an interesting statement, but one Fleet didn’t have time to question as the bar became busy, and Ed had to go back to work.
“It was nice meeting you,” Fleet said honestly. He could tell that Ed was a very nice, genuine guy.
“Let’s grab our table,” Bitsy stated, and when she turned to lead them in the right direction, he noted that there was a liberal sprinkling of gray in her blonde hair. He wondered if it was hereditary, or if running a restaurant and having children had fomented the change. Whichever it was, it looked good on his friend.
* * *
After being seated,small talk was made, and orders were placed with suggestions having been taken from Bitsy. Fleet had no doubt that whatever was delivered to the table would be delicious.
When a silence of sorts finally descended, Bitsy cleared her throat.
“So, I know you probably have lots of questions for me, like I have for you, Fleet, but let me start by saying I’m extremely happy with my life, and I’m overjoyed that you’ve finally found someone, who if I’m not mistaken, means an awful lot to you.”
Fleet felt no need to play coy or say otherwise. He loved Talia, hands down. And there was a box in his pocket to prove it; one he wasn’t sure he’d have her open tonight, but he’d brought it along, just in case.
“I’m madly in love with her,” Fleet chuckled. “Anyone watching us can see that.”
“You mean because you’ve barely taken your eyes off her since you walked in the door?” Bitsy teased.
“Hey. Now you’re just embarrassing me,” Talia decried. “How about instead of getting all mushy, we slay a few old dragons? I’ll get the ball rolling since I have a feeling Fleet might shuffle around things for a while.” She sent her gaze directly to Bitsy’s. “How is it that you’re in Huntsville with a man whose ethnicity might be a problem to two, asshole cop-cousins I’ve heard so much about?”
Yup.Leave it to Talia. She went straight to the point, clearly wanting all the crap out of the way so nobody would suffer heartburn over food.
Bitsy didn’t seem to mind the direct approach, at all.
“I’ll tell that story,” she agreed. “And I’ll start by saying that when Fleet was framed by my cousins, I was devastated. My parents drew a hard line at that juncture, telling me in no uncertain terms that I was never to see Fleet again. My life felt like it had been turned upside down and inside out. I couldn’t understand any of it. Then when Fleet was eventually acquitted of all charges, Mom and Dad still refused to back down and let me renew our relationship. I became disgusted with their edicts, and barely spoke to them for the rest of senior year.” She turned to Fleet. “I, like you, took the first opportunity I had to leave town after graduation. I was accepted at a highly accredited culinary institute in California, and I left, never looking back.”
“Good for you,” Fleet praised. He could say that now, because she’d obviously parlayed her grief into very good things.
She snorted. “I was actually ready to settle down there, but my parents kept begging me to come back, with me denying and denying it, feeling…conflicted, until I heard about Duke.”
“Who’s Duke?” Talia asked.
“He was one of my cousins who made Fleet’s life a misery.”
“Was?” Fleet picked up on that past tense.
“Yeah. Was. Duke’s dead,” Bitsy confirmed.
Fleet couldn’t feel an ounce of sorrow.
Bitsy explained. “It looks like you weren’t the only one he was trying to frame. He was a bigoted piece of shit, and he kept doing what he’d done to you to a bunch of other people; planting false evidence and giving false testimony against those who he hated because of their skin color or sexual orientation. But he pissed off one too many people.”
“Who did him in?” Talia asked, avidly paying attention.
“Nobody’s certain.” Bitsy shrugged. “His brake-lines were deliberately cut one rainy night. And as he was headed home from a local bar he frequented, he went off the road, slammed into a tree, and was killed instantly.”
Was it wrong that Fleet gave an internal fist-pump? Who gave a fuck. It couldn’t have happened to a better individual.
“And that spurred you to come home?” Fleet’s mother asked, obviously not having heard the story before.
“That, and the fact that after a long inquiry, Beau was kicked off the police force for his part in everything, shortly thereafter.”
Fleet growled. Beau was the second, asshole-cousin who’d been involved with engineering Fleet’s arrest.
Bitsy continued. “By that time, I’d met Eduardo, and told my parents in no uncertain terms that if they wanted a relationship with me; with their future grandchildren, they needed to put their own narrow minds to rest and accept the man I’d fallen for. It wasn’t a slam-dunk, but they eventually came around. Now, they think my hubby hangs the moon and stars, and they dote on our children.”
