“Four months.” He looked so miserable that Allie wanted to put her arms around him and tell him everything would be okay. But it wasn’t going to be okay. It was never going to be okay again.
Tears welled in her eyes. “Do you love her?”
He hesitated, then for the first time tonight, met her gaze square on. “Yeah, I guess a part of me does.”
“A part of you? Let me guess which part. Captain Fucking Crunch, that’s just peachy.”
He flinched. “I don’t blame you for hating me.”
Hate him? She didn’t hate him. She… Oh, God. When she thought about all the things she’d let him do to her. And all the things she’d wanted him to do her. Her face felt like it was on fire. How could she have been so stupid? He was getting married because he’d knocked up Lauren Handy. If the whole thing wasn’t so ridiculous, she would have laughed.
Anger oozed like a river of lava through every vein in her body. She wanted to yell at him. To tell him to go fuck off. But somewhere beneath it all, she could hear Buela’s voice telling her to hold on to her pride.
She straightened back her shoulders. She wasn’t going to ask for any more explanations. And really, what more explanation did she need? He hadn’t wanted to sleep with her, but he had no problem screwing perfect little Lauren.
“Congratulations, Tom.” He started toward her but Allie put up her hand to ward him off, stopping him dead in his tracks. “No really, have a great life. Maybe I’ll see you around sometime.”
*~*~*
And that was the last time she’d seen Tom Donalan. Until last night.
They arrived at the senior center. Mimi parked her van along the side of the road. The parking lot was abuzz with activity. There were all kinds of big machines and lots of men in hard hats milling about, but it was still easy to spot Tom. He wasn’t the tallest or the loudest but there was an air of authority about him that made him stand out.
Allie weaved her way through the parking lot teaming with construction workers.
“Lady!” yelled a guy in a hard hat, “You can’t be here. We’re about to tear down a building.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know, but that’s my car right there.” She pointed to the VW bug parked in the middle of the lot.
He looked her up and down. “So you’re the Flaky Biscuit who broke into the building last night. Boss says I’m supposed to bring you to him when you show up.”
Flaky Biscuit?
Was that Tom’s terminology or Hard Hat’s?
She took a deep breath of the crisp gulf air and tried to stay calm.
You can do this, Allie. Part Three of her Life Plan depended on it.
Hard Hat escorted her to Tom, who was busy talking on the phone. In the bright sunshine Tom’s eyes looked impossibly blue. He wore snug bleached out jeans, a black T-shirt that stretched over his broad shoulders, and ankle high steel toe boots. He couldn’t have looked yummier, even in a tux.
She might be a flaky biscuit, but she had to begrudgingly admit Tom was definitely what she’d call, a tasty biscuit. If you liked tall, handsome, and ridiculously stubborn. Which, thank God, she was immune to in his case.
Tom slipped his phone in the back pocket of his jeans then picked up a clipboard from a nearby makeshift table. “Thanks for coming early.”
“Sure, no problem. I’ve got Kitty Pappas and my sister-in-law here to help me move my car.”
“Great. I appreciate that.” Tom didn’t react to the mention of Kitty’s name, but Allie had to wonder what he thought about the fact that his boss’s wife was here. Or if he even knew that Kitty had tried to intervene on Allie’s behalf by going above his head.
She couldn’t help but think for the umpteenth time how much simpler all this would be if Steve Pappas had just shut things down for one day. But nothing in life worth having was easy.
Tom glanced down at his clipboard, effectively dismissing her.
Okay, she got it. He was a very important person and he had work to do.
But so did she.
A trickle of perspiration ran down her spine. She didn’t have to do this. There had to be some other way to get this story. Unfortunately, she just couldn’t think of one right now.