Page 122 of The Woman Left Behind

“So can I do my job, which I’d do anyway, and worry about my girl, something else I’d do anyway, and eat so many carbs I might throw up?”

“You can do the first two and half of the last one. Throwing up sucks.”

He smiled, moved in to give her a quick kiss, then he left her where she was to turn on the oven.

Since he was in the kitchen, all three dogs came with him.

When he got out stuff to make a salad, Lucy and Linus remained.

But Smokey headed back to his girl.

The next morning, they were walking to Aromacobana when Lillian asked, “Did your dad ever remarry?”

Fuck.

He’d been so busy, he hadn’t gotten in touch with his father or brother yet.

He knew both worried about him, he knew both would be thrilled he was finally getting back to life after losing Winnie.

And he knew they’d be pissed as shit that Lillian was who Lillian was going to be to him, and her parents’ memorial happened, and he hadn’t let them know.

And the memorial was tomorrow.

Shit.

“Is that too personal of a question?” she asked, pulling his attention back to her.

“Not at all,” he assured. “I just realized I haven’t called to tell them I met this great woman, and I need to get on that.”

She smiled up at him.

He returned it and said, “And yes, Dad remarried. A couple of years after Mom died. It didn’t work, mostly because she was a bitch. I wasn’t a big fan. Josh wasn’t either. They were married three years, then divorced. I think it spooked Dad. He did so well the first time, and the second was such a fail, he wasn’t going to go there again. He’s got a lady friend in Arizona. She’d been burned, he’d been burned, so they each have their own places. But they spend a lot of time together, go on cruises, shit like that. I’ve met her. Her name is Caroline. She’s a good one.”

They stopped to wait to cross the street, and once they were over, she mumbled. “I wonder.”

“You wonder what?”

She looked up at him. “If this wicked stepmother might have been another reason you didn’t try to find someone sooner after Winnie.”

Harry had never thought of that, but it made sense.

“It’s not the only reason, sweetheart,” he said. “But yeah. Mom was a hard act to follow. Winnie definitely was too.” He pulled her tighter to his side. “Though, I found her eventually.”

She shot him another smile.

And it was then, Harry realized, the night before, she told no lies.

She wasn’t skipping to the coffee joint and singing Taylor Swift songs, but she seemed lighter, quicker to smile, and the smiles were genuine.

He’d only known her with the cloud hanging over her.

He was looking forward to what he’d get when he got her out from under it.

What he knew was, he was going to like it.

And that was all in their messed-up world that Harry, down to his bones, knew.

However Lillian Rainier came to him, he was going to like it.

---