I should have ended that relationship right then and there, but I tried hard not to dwell on that thought. It wouldn’t get me anywhere. There was no point in looking back with regrets when it was already over and done. I just needed to keep moving forward. Just keep swimming. That Dory really knew her shit.
Shaking off the melancholy that followed that memory, I curled up on Pierce’s big, fluffy sofa and flipped the channels on the television until I got to an episode of Schitt’s Creek.
The last thing I remembered was laughing at David and Alexis before dozing off.
Pierce
I wasn’t sure what in the hell had possessed me to say those things to Marin earlier. I was just thankful I’d managed to swallow down the rest of my sentence before it could tumble out of my mouth, because something told me that if I’d actually said my punishment would consist of me leaving my nice red handprint on her ass, that she’d run screaming in the other direction.
It was completely inappropriate to think, let alone say, but the more time I spent in her presence, the harder it was becoming for me to keep a lid on my more erotic thoughts and feelings.
She made me laugh. She challenged me in a way I’d never been challenged before, not even by Constance. She gave as good as she got, and she never once hesitated to put me in my place if it was warranted. And most of all, Eli adored her.
I actually found myself enjoying the thought of coming home in the evenings and seeing her, because it never failed that she’d say something that would pull me out of my head and into the present, allowing me to enjoy my time with her and Eli instead of being stuck beneath a dark cloud of doubt and misgivings.
Thanks to her, I was able to enjoy . . . being, even for just a short time. I could be a version of myself that only my son was familiar with. A fun, joking version that laughed as easily as he teased.
Marin Grey made life fun. Plain and simple.
My street was dark and quiet by the time I pulled into the driveway shortly after ten o’clock; the downstairs lights glowing through the windows were a welcomed sight. I hadn’t been greeted by the illuminated porch lights since Constance passed. Those lights made it feel like the house was still awake, waiting to greet me after a long, taxing day.
Pulling up beside Marin’s sporty little sedan, I threw my car into park and killed the engine before climbing out and heading up the walkway to the front door. My limbs were heavy with exhaustion, and I was so damn hungry it felt like my stomach was gnawing at my backbone.
Marin had texted earlier that she’d ordered Chinese, and Moo Shu chicken and egg rolls had never sounded so good. I hoped like hell she’d saved me some.
Everything was quiet when I walked in except for the low hum of the TV coming from the living room in the back of the house.
Before heading in that direction, I took the stairs on silent feet and peeked my head into my son’s room. He was dead to the world in his bed, sleeping with the covers half thrown off onto the floor and his pajama shirt creeped up to expose his little belly. I smiled at the sight of him. My boy was a tosser-and-turner in his sleep. Keeping his sheets on his bed was a constant struggle.
Moving into the room, I leaned down and placed a kiss on his brow, hovering over him until he shifted before heading back out.
That was a habit that had formed at his birth and still had a tight grasp on me six years later. I’d had an irrational fear that something would happen to him, and he’d be taken away from me as well, so when he slept, I’d lift and drop his arm or give him a little tickle, anything to get him to move or shift in his sleep. Only then did I feel comfortable that he was fine.
Pulling the door partially closed, I headed for my bedroom at the end of the hall and stripped out of the suit I’d been wearing all day, changing into a comfortable pair of sweats and a threadbare tee before padding on bare feet back down the stairs.
“Marin?” I called out as I rounded the staircase banister and started for the living room. I didn’t get an answer.
The volume on the television was low, a show I’d never seen before playing across the screen, but my attention was solely focused on the woman lying on the couch, spooning my mangy dog in her sleep.
Titan lifted his head and glanced over the back of the couch, giving his tail a thumping wag at the sight of me.
“Uh-uh. Don’t you look at me like that. You know you aren’t allowed on the furniture.” He thumped his tail again, and I shook my head. “Nope. Down, boy. You know better.”
He let out a huff that sounded so disgruntled that I knew, if he had the capability of speech, he’d cuss me out. He all but threw himself off the couch and collapsed onto his side on the floor right in front of it with a pathetic groan, and I went back to perusing every inch of Marin’s face as she slept, like a creeper.
The long fan of her lashes lay on her sharp cheekbones when her eyes were closed, creating dark feathered crescent moons against the soft pink of her smooth skin. Her button nose was crinkled and those full, bee-stung lips were slightly pursed, causing the quietest, most adorable little snore to whistle through.
Even in sleep she managed to be beautiful, curled up on her side with her hands folded in prayer position beneath her cheek and her knees drawn up toward her belly.
The rational part of my brain said I should have woken her so she could head home and sleep in her own bed, but instead, I stayed quiet as I moved into the kitchen, following the smell of Chinese food, and being extra careful not to wake her.
Because as much as the thought scared the hell out of me, I liked the idea of her being here too much to make her go.
14
Pierce
I sat at the kitchen island, dividing my attention between the television across the room and the food I was devouring like a man who hadn’t eaten in days. I didn’t have the first damn clue what the show was that Marin had tuned into, but whatever it was, it was funny as hell, and I’d caught myself several times having to tamp down my laughter so I wouldn’t wake the sleeping angel on my couch.
Once I was comfortably full, I cleaned up the rest of the leftovers and moved toward the French doors that led out into the backyard. I hung on the deck, leaning my elbows against the railing as Titan wandered the shadows, looking for a place to do his business.
My curiosity as to why Marin and Frank had broken up had been gnawing at me for days, and I’d finally reached the breaking point.
Pulling me cell out of my pocket, I scrolled through my contacts until I got to my mother’s name. It would have been way too late to call anyone else, but my mother had always been a bit of a night owl, so I didn’t hesitate to press Call and lift the phone to my ear.
“Hey, sweetie,” she answered after just two rings. “It’s kind of late. Everything all right?”
“Hey, Mom. Yeah, it’s good. I was just calling to see how you’ve been. It’s been a bit since we’ve talked.” I left out the part where I intended to prod her for information.
“Oh, well aren’t you sweet? Everything’s good here. Same old, same old.”
“So I take it you haven’t talked to Frank?”
It was obvious from the carefree tone of her voice that Frank hadn’t called her, asking for a handout like he had with me. Knowing my brother, he’d wait to tell our mother about his latest dilemma until he couldn’t possibly hide it anymore. That was his usual MO: bury his head in the sand and pretend nothing happened until he couldn’t any longer.