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“Thelma and my grandma were best friends.” The fondness in Tova’s sultry voice made me wonder what it was like to have an older family member you were close to. Barns’s parents had been as cold as him, and my mama’s parents had passed away when I was a kid.
“More milk is fine,” I said.
Thelma snorted. “I think the words you’re looking for are thank you.”
Shocked, I stared at her but didn’t miss the sway of Tova’s ass in a pair of short shorts as she disappeared into the kitchen.
Thelma’s gray brow arched higher. Busted staring at her “like a daughter.” This day could be going better. “Thank you. For the help and the new glasses of milk.”
She grunted and went in the same direction as Tova.
Ivy slumped over the booth.
“Sit straight, please.” I sounded exactly like Meg when she’d chided Grayson about slouching. I used to tell her to give the kid a little room to be a kid.
Those discussions hadn’t ended well.
Now it was up to me to fill both parenting roles. Until the kids went to live with my in-laws, like my wife had wanted.
Stuffing the dread into the pit of my stomach, I slid into the booth and attacked my cold, overcooked cod. I couldn’t stop the recollection of cunning blue eyes and a smile that could light a room from intruding on my personal glowering, and maybe it was the stress, but I did nothing to stop them.
* * *
Tova
I hovered by the back door of Hummingbird’s, staying far away from the dining room, when I really wanted to peer out and see if that man was as handsome as I thought.
Hadn’t I learned my lesson about good-looking men in impeccably tailored clothing yet? It’d only been two days since I fled Frederick in an Uber.
By god, I had a thing for a man dressed like he was going to make a shitload of money.
The look was catnip to me. The more I sang and danced and wore outrageous costumes until I stripped down to an ensemble that could fit into an envelope, the more I liked the put-together semblance of a man who appeared as if he could command a boardroom and a bedroom.
Frederick hadn’t soured my attraction nearly enough.
But Frederick had eyed me like he had secrets I’d love to know. Like he could be my dream come true.
Stern Daddy out in the seating area eyed me with annoyance, like he’d rather not have seen me today—or ever.
“That stick up his ass runs straight to his hairline, doesn’t it?” I murmured as Thelma approached, smacking a pack of cigarettes against her hand. She’d quit smoking, and she refused to vape, but she’d kept a pack of cigarettes to go through the motions. She was also known to stand outside with an unlit Newport and pace and bring the cigarette to her lips without actually lighting it.
“That stick is sewn into the man’s spine.” She withdrew a long white cigarette and stood with the door propped open, like she was going to take a long drag and blow the smoke out the crack. “He ordered those kids green beans instead of pancakes. Wouldn’t even let them have chocolate milk.”
Thelma believed in grabbing life by the brass ones, but that was what had landed her in the town she’d been born in, serving those green beans and milk instead of hitting the stage.
I secretly thought she was happier here in the tiny town in the middle of the country she’d desperately wanted to get away from. The town where the closest thing she got to being scammed or conned was when the cafe owner tried to pass off half-and-half for cream.
No one messed with Thelma and the cream for her coffee.
I glanced back toward the doorway that led to the seating area. Was he still there? Little Ivy was so precious. She’d asked me if I was Snow White and if birds cleaned my house. “He looks like he’d wither green beans with one stare.”
“Is that how he looks?” Thelma drawled and took a fake drag.
I rolled my eyes and pushed away. “You know I’m not on the market.”
I was hiding from the market. I had no idea if Frederick would come looking for me. I couldn’t imagine why, but my mom’s tragedy stayed with me and made me paranoid. Some guys couldn’t stand being bested by the woman they thought they had power over. The way Mom’s ex had tracked her down had haunted my grandma, and between her and Thelma, I had an escape for every relationship I’d been in. I’d never had to use the plan to the extent I did with Frederick. Usually, Thelma wired me money or hooked me up with a better landlord. One time, before she’d moved home, I caught my blind date slipping something into my drink. I pretended to spill my drink, and a half hour later, she’d picked me up.
So, yeah. A relationship wasn’t in my future. I was done with men’s bullshit.
