Michael frowned as though he’d never even had the thought. “I wouldn’t want you to stay away. Nina and JT are your friends. At least I hope they still are.”
She sighed. “Of course. It’s just weird that we still work in the same office and run in the same circles. And I heard you took my mom to lunch two weeks ago.”
“No, I didn’t. We happened to be at Mario’s at the same time, and we were both alone,” Michael corrected. “The place was crowded, like it always is, and it made sense to share a table. I like your mom.”
She’d heard all about how nice Michael was and how her mom wished it could have worked out. And shouldn’t she try again? After all, Michael wasn’t seeing anyone. “She likes you, too.”
“If it helps, my mom talks about you all the time.” Michael took a drag off his beer. “I’m constantly being reminded that my brother’s kids are growing up without cousins, and you could have solved that problem. She firmly believes I could be happy right now if I hadn’t screwed things up.”
He hadn’t screwed anything up. “Should I talk to her?”
He shook his head. “No. Not at all. And I promise the next time I see your mom I will be a bastard and make her thrilled we broke it off.”
Maybe she needed to stop worrying about how other people might view their situation. “Don’t. I’m glad you had lunch with her. My brothers are all busy, and I’ve been on assignment. She’s lonely. She’s been missing my dad lately, and I think having someone to talk to made her feel good. And you think you catch hell from your mother about your single status? Try being the only daughter with three brothers who married young and started their own football teams. You would think my mother would be happy with eight grandchildren, but I swear until I pop one out she won’t feel like she’s done her job.”
“I sometimes wonder how she keeps up with all the names,” Michael mused.
“Years of teaching high school.” That was her mom’s secret. She’d had to learn roughly a hundred names every year.
“Well, I’m glad I only have to deal with JT’s two.” Michael frowned suddenly. “Speaking of. I should stop Jasper from climbing up that banister. They’re going to kill me.”
Michael ran off to save his toddler nephew from himself, and Tessa looked around the beautifully decorated room. It was filled with people from JT and Nina’s lives. Tessa recognized a few people from the office. Ian and Charlotte Taggart were talking to Ava Malone. A couple of guys from Tessa’s unit seemed to be working security.
She made the rounds, saying hello to the people she knew and awkwardly explaining to some of them that she was no longer engaged to Michael. It was a lot, and dinner was still thirty minutes off. She found herself making her way to the bathroom to take a break from all the small talk.
She would eat dinner, stay for the toast, and then get home as fast as she could because there was a bath and a book waiting for her. Like there was every single night.
It was a good thing, though. She’d decided to take some me time after the breakup. Some work-on-herself time. No dating. No hook-ups. Just time to reflect on where she was in life.
Tessa stared at herself in the bathroom mirror. She was thirty-four and took bullets for other people for a living. And even that was getting a little boring. She hadn’t actually been shot at in a long time. Her last assignment had been watching over the queen of Loa Mali and her two daughters. There had been sun and sand, and an odd amount of science talk she hadn’t been able to completely follow. Those girls were smart.
Was it time to try again?
From the expression she’d made in the mirror, absolutely not. A genuinely horrified look had come over her face when she’d thought about putting herself out there.
Perhaps it was time to accept the fact that there wasn’t some magic person out there for her, that what her parents had was rare. They’d been soul mates, and even after her dad had died, her mom kept his memory alive, still smiled every time she said his name. She was practical enough to know that didn’t happen for everyone.
She straightened her blouse, smoothed down her hair, and braced herself for a couple of hours of talking about how great she was doing and answering awkward questions and watching happy couples being happy.
She could do this. Tomorrow she would ask for the most brutal assignment her boss could find and maybe lose herself in it. If she was dodging bullets, she wouldn’t be thinking about her nonexistent love life or listening to her mom casually mention how long a woman’s eggs were viable.
Tessa walked out of the bathroom in time to see Charlotte Taggart exiting the private party room. Charlotte, who had set her up with Michael. Charlotte, who now wanted to make amends by setting her up with someone else.
She was such a coward, but she ducked into the bar to avoid that conversation. She was sure Charlotte had some guy in mind and he was the nicest man and they would look so cute together.
Nope. Wasn’t going there again.
Tessa eased onto the barstool with the most coverage. It was in the corner, behind a pillar. Charlotte would have to actually walk into the bar to see her.
“What can I get for you?” A slender woman in a white collared shirt slid a coaster in front of Tessa.
Maybe she could hang here until dinner. The tables had place cards, and she was sitting at a table with Simon Weston and his wife Chelsea. They wouldn’t be hard to deal with and totally knew what subjects would be weird for her. She just had to hide until she could slip into her seat at dinner. “I’ll take an old-fashioned.”
The bartender nodded.
“Hey, it’s going to be okay.” The man beside her was talking, his voice hushed, but then the place was kind of quiet, so she could hear him. “You know you’re never going to please those girls, right? There’s a reason they’re called mean girls.”
There was a loud sniffle and a feminine voice saying something Tessa couldn’t quite make out.
“I know it hurts, and I’m ready to talk to you anytime you want. I need you to understand that you haven’t done anything wrong. I don’t care what anyone else says. You’re allowed to love who you want to love, date who you want to date. Shame is a weapon, and they’ll use that to try to hurt you. Don’t let them because there’s no shame here. You stand tall and know that your family is behind you all the way. So are your real friends.”
Another big sniffle and the girl slid off her barstool. Tessa got a glimpse of auburn hair and a youthful face. She hugged the man and walked away, saying good-bye.
“You’re good with her. Is she your daughter?” She wasn’t sure why she’d asked the question. She hadn’t even gotten a good look at the man beside her. He had a stack of books and a notepad in front of him. And a beer.
Something about the way he’d spoken to the teen had made her heart twist. She remembered asshole high school girls and how they could drag someone down. Her brothers had told her to try harder to fit in. Her dad had told her maybe if she acted more feminine they would all get along.
She loved her father and brothers. It had been a different time, but she admired how this man had handled the situation.
“Only if I had her when I was…oh, god. Nineteen. I could be her dad. No. She’s my sister. And thanks. I try. I’ll be honest, I didn’t spend much time with teenaged girls when I was a teen. I had a brother and chess club. It did not make me an expert at dealing with this kind of thing.” The man beside her had golden brown hair that was slightly shaggy and warm hazel eyes.