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“Should you do that? I mean, since I now work with most of your relatives.”
“It’s okay. We all know it, but no one outside the family knows it. My folks made us pay for our own college, but my mother has had a face-lift, a boob job, and a butt lift.”
Hearing the words spoken out loud for the first time in ages, Tony laughed so hard the baby jumped.
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” he mumbled.
“It’s fine. It’s reflex. So does Patty know?”
“No way. She’d tell her mother and then, pillow talk, the mother would tell the father, who’s my dad’s friend, so we were sworn to secrecy.”
“Why are you telling me, then?”
“I wanted you to know, that’s all. The college thing was difficult for us. My brother Joey worked at In-N-Out Burger to put himself through paramedic school and the fire academy. Mike Junior joined the Army Reserves, and they paid.”
“So you’re blaming Roberta’s plastic surgery for having to pay for your own college?”
Sheepishly, Tony ducked his head. “Yeah, I guess I am.”
“Not everyone gets a free ride to college. If you’re motivated to do something with your life, you’ll do it. You proved you could do it.” She looked down at Flynn and her heart swelled. “I just now realized that I want something more for my baby. I don’t know, Tony. Maybe it’s good to force your children to work hard. Sometimes I thought it was ridiculous that I was working at Starbucks in the evening and then going on emergency calls eight hours a day.”
“Why’d you do both?” he asked, concerned.
“I was looking ahead. I didn’t want to live with my parents forever. No offense. It’s fine that you’re living at home. I just mean for me. And then when I suspected I was pregnant, I couldn’t save money fast enough.”
It was the truth. Bridget had focused on two things: finishing training and getting a job that would pay her enough to live independently.
“It’s cool that we’re both savers,” Tony said. “It’s an important trait.”
“Was Patty a saver? I know I keep bringing her name up. I’m trying to understand what went wrong in your relationship.”
“No, Patty was a spender, but because we didn’t live together, it wasn’t an issue for me. Connie told me that the things that stick out in a relationship before marriage are impossible to ignore after. That scared me. Things had just built up so they were unbearable. We were at the place where it was shit or get off the pot. I hope she won’t be an issue for you.”
“She’s not, exactly. I don’t want to be the rebound person.”
“You aren’t. We broke up last December, and I dated someone else for a weekend.”
“Oh, okay,” Bridget said, laughing. “I’ll let her be your transition person.”
“Plus I’m not rebounding exactly. I was in a state of suspended animation for so long that I’m finally coming back to life.”
They didn’t say anything for a bit. “I’ll put him in his crib.”
She went to stand, and Tony had his hand on her back, the support he gave her to stand suddenly a metaphor for what she believed their relationship would be, and she teared up a little bit.
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“Your hand on my back. It made me see that up until now I’ve really been alone. My sisters are great, but this kind of gentle care from a man, well, it’s foreign to me.”
“It feels natural to do it. I want to be with you.”
“Come with me,” she said, nodding toward the bedroom.
He followed her into the little alcove where she’d set up Flynn’s crib, and he watched as she checked his diaper, then laid him down on his back.
“You have it set up nice in there,” Tony said once they were back in the living room.
