Page 123 of Sweet Thing

An evil chuckle sounded from some point to my left.

“Definitely broken,” the doc confirmed. “You did this?” That question was for the other person in the exam room.

“Some of my best work.”

The doc raised one straggly eyebrow. “Hold this ice pack on it. I’ll be back in fifteen minutes to assess once the swelling’s gone down.”

I did as I was told while the doctor left the room.

“You still here?” I couldn’t be mad at Theo over what happened. He had every right to go there. I just wished he wasn’t sticking around to keep an eye on me, like his captain instincts trumped his paternal ones.

“Where else am I gonna go?” We looked up at the monitor. The Rebels were a goal down and we were a few minutes into the break. No one other than the doc had come to see us, and I wasn’t sure how to interpret that.

“How about to the locker room to inspire the troops?”

“O’Malley will have to do it.”

“Can’t believe that guy’s gonna wear the band when you’re gone.”

We both chuckled at the familiar absurdity, knowing we were merely biding time until we could revisit our grievance. Adjusting the ice pack, I winced and waded in.

“I’m sorry.”

“For?”

“Lying to you.”

He stuck his tongue in his cheek and assessed me. “But you’re not sorry for starting this thing with my Adeline, are you?”

I shook my head. Slowly, because my head hurt along with most every other part of my body. In the immortal words of Danny Glover inLethal Weapon, I was too old for this shit.

“What you said out there, did you mean it? Or were you just trying to stop the beatdown of the century?”

“‘The century’? Maybe the decade.” He offered a grim smile, which lifted my spirits a tad. “I’d have let you continue even though you just broke my nose and I’m fairly certain a couple of teeth might be loose. Theo, you could break every bone in my body, but it wouldn’t change how I feel. I love your daughter.”

He stared at me for a good ten seconds, which was an eternity in Theo-time.

“You saw your baby’s mother?”

“She showed up when I left your place yesterday. A surprise drop-in.”

“What did she have to say for herself?”

I blew out a breath. “She’s been on a cruise trying to save her marriage, which apparently didn’t work. She brought gifts for Mabel.”

Theo looked horrified. “And she just expects you to forgive her?”

“We’re going to work out a custody arrangement but to be honest, I don’t want to switch off with her in a city five hours away. She’s talking about moving to Chicago.”

I suspected that would set him off. It might even have been why I mentioned it.

“She doesn’t deserve a second of Button’s time! And now she expects you to upend your entire life to suit her? And maybe slither back to you? I hope you told her where to go.” He pointed at me. “Right, you didn’t. You just took some happy family photos and let her post them online.”

“T, I let her have some time with her kid, who she obviously missed. We’re not playing at happy families. We’re just trying to adapt to a shitty situation.” But I hated that Adeline might have seen that, right after she showed at my place with Vicki’s car parked out front. “I won’t be spending any time with Vicki beyond what’s necessary to create a loving environment for my kid. Mabel’s my primary focus here and I’m going to fight like hell to keep her in my life. My little girl means everything to me.”

Theo sat with that for a moment. “Okay, that was the undercard. Time for the main event, killer. Why did you break my daughter’s heart?”

It felt like he’d whacked me in the chest with a stick.

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