Jade stared at him a minute longer before crossing her arms over her chest. “I’m still processing all of this.”
“I’d say that’s the theme for all of us.”
Pursing her lips, she continued to eye him. “Look, I know you’re a great guy, but—”
“Really, Jade?” Tanner shook his head and offered his childhood friend a smile. “We’ve known each other for years. Are you really going to pull out the clichéd warning about hurting your friend?”
Jade blew out a sigh and dropped her hands. “Hell, Tanner, I was. I don’t even know what to say to you or Melanie. You both have been through so much.”
Tanner figured Jade knew everything about Melanie’s marriage, and as much as he wanted to know, he respected Melanie enough to wait. She needed to be the one to tell him.
“I have a feeling she’s been through far worse than I have,” he replied.
“That would be a matter of opinion. You lost a great deal once.” Jade smoothed her hair back from her face and offered him a smile. “Just give her time. She may seem tough and independent, but she’s still healing.”
“I can see that. I just wish she didn’t lump me in with that asshole she was married to.”
Jade reached out and patted his cheek. “Honestly, I don’t think she knows any different. She’s a strong woman, but even strong women have a weak spot. Her dad wasn’t the best, so she’s never had a good man in her life.”
Tanner gritted his teeth. He wanted to hunt down the jerk dad and bastard of an ex and . . . hell, he didn’t know. Every scenario that ran through his mind involved something that would strip him of his badge. Someone like Melanie’s former husband would use his power to get what he wanted. Tanner couldn’t even imagine what she’d endured.
How could anyone treat Melanie, or any woman for that matter, without their due respect?
“I know she’s strong,” he stated. “She wouldn’t be here if she wasn’t. I’m a patient man.”
Jade took a step back and smiled. “I know you are, and you’re exactly what she needs. Maybe you two can heal each other.”
“That’s pretty deep for you, Jade.”
With a slight nod, a flash of a sad smile came and went. “Yeah, well, sometimes I can be sensitive, especially where my friends are concerned. Melanie is special. If you two knew the full backstory about each other, I think you’d understand each other so much more.”
Something curled low in his gut. Trepidation? Maybe. He wasn’t sure where he wanted the personal relationship to go with Mel. He knew he didn’t want her to worry, he knew he was attracted, and he knew he’d never leave her alone to deal with a pregnancy and raising a child. His child.
“I need to get home.”
Jade scrunched her nose, drawing her brows in. “You look like hell. You feeling okay?”
Leave it to Jade to be brutally honest after seconds ago being so sweet and caring. “Just working my ass off. Nothing a good night’s sleep won’t cure.”
That is if he could sleep. Lately he’d been experiencing more and more anxiety. He didn’t have time for that, and he sure as hell couldn’t have anybody picking his brain and telling him to calm down or stop worrying.
He worried about each case he took on undercover. He worried about the kids and the impact on their young lives, he worried about the women who thought they had no choice sometimes but to return to the abuse they’d endured for far too long.
Maybe all of that made him a soft cop, but he couldn’t change who he was. He’d been one of those young kids, he’d seen the damage hurtful words could cause. While he never witnessed his father raise a hand to his mother, he saw how day after day his mom had lost pieces of herself until she was a product of what his father wanted her to be.
“Hey. You alright?”
Tanner blinked Jade back into focus. “Yeah. I’m fine. I’ll see myself out.”
He shot her a slight grin when she continued to stare with those worried brows and frown.
“I’ll see ya.”
With a friendly kiss on her cheek, Tanner let himself out of the house. The cool fall night sent a chill through him as he made his way to his truck. Once he settled in behind the wheel, he glanced up to the second story of the old home and wondered which room Melanie used while she was here.
Then another thought hit him. Was she planning on staying in Haven? She’d never said one way or another. He knew she was here working on the legal side of the airport renovation, and with her blog site that she’d claimed was successful, she could work from anywhere, but had she decided to settle down in Haven?
Tanner thought of his simple one-story bungalow and couldn’t help but wonder if Melanie would want a place like that for their child.