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Beau was the best thing that ever happened to me.
We’d figure out a way to tell her family. And if they wouldn’t accept us, mine would.
I hiked my bag over my shoulder as I strode toward the station.
I didn’t want her to lose her family. She loved them. I couldn’t ask her to sacrifice them for me.
It wouldn’t come to that. I wouldn’t let it.
A dark Mercedes rolled to a stop beside me. The window hummed as it lowered.
The car was familiar. I couldn’t place where I’d seen it before, but I had.
A hard face came into view. He wasn’t from around here. What I could see of his suit looked too expensive. And there was just something about him . . . something my instincts said to get the hell away from.
“You’re quite taken with Beau.”
I stopped, all the hairs on the back of my neck raised like they did before I went into a four-alarm fire.
“It’s been good for her to see a different side of life. Why do little girls always want to see if the grass is greener?” he mused as if she were a disobedient child instead of a grown woman.
You called her a little girl when you met her.
But she wasn’t.
I’d meant it as a warning. We’d had no business being together. She was my friend’s sister and from a completely different world.
Turned out we had no business being apart.
I stared at him, silent. What did he want me to say?
“She is destined for great things. Wouldn’t you agree?”
It was like asking if Ma’s cake was the best. Yeah. It was. And yeah, Beau was going to do anything and everything she wanted.
He didn’t wait for a reply. “It’s going to be difficult for her to do that in the Bronx on a fireman’s salary, isn’t it?” He flashed a wry smile. “That is, if she doesn’t grow tired of you. Riding around in that truck is bound to grow tiresome . . . if it hasn’t already.”
Who the hell did this man think he was? And how did he know so much about Beau and me?
And how did he know every single insecurity I had?
“She’s graduated and has an opportunity to pursue abroad.” He appeared regretful. “She’s turned it down. You love her, do you not?”
My jaw tightened. “I don’t see how that’s any of your concern.”
“My daughter is very much my concern.”
No wonder she hardly talked about him. He was terrifying.
“When you care for someone, you have to sacrifice your own happiness for the sake of theirs. You wouldn’t want to hold her back, I’m sure.”
No, I wouldn’t.
“You’re living your dream. Shouldn’t she be able to chase hers?”
The window hummed again as it rolled up. I felt his stare even though I couldn’t see it behind the dark glass. Slowly, the car pulled away.
I was living my dream.
