The Love Coupon (Stubborn Hearts 2)

“It’s only three nights.”

“He’s—” She was going to say something inane like he’s your dad, and Tom thankfully cut her off.

“Stone. I don’t remember him being any other way. I always forget how bad he is until there’s someone else around. I can’t imagine Mom marrying him. Gram says he was different when Mom was alive. Not so impenetrable, not such a hard-ass.”

She brought two glasses of milk into the living room and sat on the table facing Tom in his surprisingly comfortable-looking makeshift bed.

“I’m a lot like him.”

He didn’t sound pleased about that. “Physically, yes. The O’Connells are handsome men.” She handed him the glass and he came up on his elbow to take it. In the dark, she couldn’t see his face, but he worried about this in the same way she was worried about not being like Elsie. “You have the same body type and build. You’ll keep your hair.” She would’ve ruffled his but the moment wasn’t right. “There’s a certain rigid, ‘stay away, don’t mess with me’ thing you both have going on. And you got his authority and take-no-shit attitude down.”

“It could be worse, I guess.” He drank the milk and reached over to put the glass on the table. “I get to keep my hair.”

She caught his empty hand in both of hers. “You have your mom’s eyes, I’m betting, because they’re not like your dad’s. His have that soldier’s faraway, seen-a-lot-of-bad-stuff look in them. Yours are always one poke in the side away from mischief. You have a sense of humor, Tom, and that makes all the difference.”

He yanked on her hand and she moved to sit on the sectional by his hip. “When he’s around I fall back into this pattern of acting like him. I don’t like myself that way, but it’s a fight to change. I feel like I’ve been in a war with him my whole life. He wanted me to join up. I’ve been less than he wanted me to be since I chose college and business. He got angry about the promotion before we got to the restaurant, blamed me for not playing the politics. He’s right about that. I should’ve been in Beau Rendel’s ear, making sure there was no back door for Harry. He took one look at you and figured I’d let a woman get in my way.”

A parent who was impossible to please. A woman who was leaving. “Parents have a special talent to make us feel like we don’t measure up.”

“I haven’t grown up enough to stop wanting him to respect me.”

She put her open palm on his chest. Through the sheet and T-shirt he was warm, he smelled like soap and laundry detergent. If she climbed in beside him, they could fool around. “I don’t have any advice for you. My relationship with my folks is all about distrust, guilt and entitlement. I do know you’re a good man, Tom. You are real and honorable and kind, and if you’re sometimes a little frosty and forbidding, it’s because you’re protecting yourself and we all have to do that the best way we know how.”

He rubbed her thigh. “You’re good for my ego, Flick.”

“But not for your sleep pattern. I’m sorry I woke you again.” Not that sorry. She’d gotten him to herself.

“I’d invite you in, but if you get under this sheet with me, I will want to do things to you and there’d be nothing more mortifying than being caught out by Dad. He gets up early.”

“I won’t run away if he’s mean to you. Not like your date.”

He squeezed her thigh. “Yeah you will. You’re going to Washington, aren’t you?”

Ah. This needed to be said. “I am. It’s where I’m supposed to be. It would be a mistake to let the job go. Drew doesn’t need me. I was flattering myself thinking if I stuck around I could make a difference somehow. I’m going to make a difference at Coalition for Humanity. And that’s what Drew needs for me to do, and it’s what I need to do for me. Thank you for the offer of staying longer. I’ll be gone the day after your birthday.”

He pushed upright and now their faces were close. “How do you know what date my birthday is?”

“I have my sources.”

“You didn’t get it from Dad.”

“Wren. Girl is quick on a text response.”

“She’s fired.”

There it was. Anyone who knew Tom knew that was a joke even though it was delivered deadpan. “I hope you’ll get the job or find a great new roommate who doesn’t leave things everywhere or eat you out of house and home.”

“You set a high standard.”

He put his hand to her shoulder, fanned it around the back of her neck. What could they have had if she was staying? She rocked forward and kissed his cheek.

His hand went to the back of her head and he held her there while they found each other’s lips. He should come with her. There was nothing holding him here. They could have more of this, all of this.

“You could come.” He groaned and she realized her mistake. “I mean come with me to Washington.”

Tom’s hand came away. “I have a job and a home here.”

Right. She’d jumped a few steps; they weren’t that kind of a thing. They were roommates who occasionally fucked and mostly because she pushed the issue by getting in his face or falling apart in front of him. Friends who would soon be long-distance. His father thought she was the reason he’d lost out on his promotion. And she’d been the one to initiate sex every time.