Page 24 of Shadows of You

I should’ve averted my gaze and put my mask back in place. But I couldn’t. Something in those dark blue depths called to me. A pain that spoke to mine. I found that a part of me wanted to tell Roan Hartley all my secrets. And that made him lethal.

* * *

“Thank you so much for dinner,”I said as I donned my jacket.

Kerry pulled me into a warm embrace. “Please come again next week. We’d love to have you.”

Cady danced around me. “Yes, yes, yes! Please, Mama?”

My insides twisted. I wanted to give her this. Cady deserved to have raucous family dinners and to be surrounded by people who loved her. But the idea of exposing myself to Roan’s scrutiny each and every week had me on edge.

“Let me check my work schedule. Hopefully, we can make it.”

Lawson gave me a warm smile. “I know it’ll make Charlie happy.”

“Can we have a sleepover, Dad?” he asked.

Lawson’s lips twitched. “It’s a school night, buddy.”

“We’ll go to sleep early,” Charlie promised.

Lawson chuckled. “Likely story.”

His oldest son slunk by, heading for the door to the basement. Lawson clapped Luke on the shoulder. “Say goodbye to Ms. Barlow and Cady. They’re leaving.”

Luke looked at me briefly, and I didn’t miss the shadows in his eyes. “Bye.”

“So verbose,” Lawson muttered with a shake of his head.

Luke just grunted and disappeared into the basement.

I sent Lawson a reassuring smile. “I don’t think the teenage years are easy on any parent.”

“I’ve got one who’s going to be breaking hearts left and right and another who won’t say more than two words to me.”

I winced. “That’s quite the combo.”

Nathan came up and thumped his son on the back. “This might be payback for what you and your siblings put us through.”

“We were angels,” Nash called from the living room.

Nathan snorted and then grinned at me. “If we haven’t scared you off, please come again next week.”

“I’m made of stronger stuff than letting Hartley chaos run me off.”

He laughed. “I knew I liked you.”

There was a warmth to Nathan that made my chest ache. I couldn’t imagine what it must have been like growing up with him as a dad instead of one who took off when I was less than a month old.

Cady waved to him. “See you next week.”

Nathan smiled at her. “I’m counting on it. I want a rematch in Go Fish.”

Cady beamed. “You might want to practice.”

Kerry choked on a laugh. “I’ll try to get him up to snuff, Cady.”

I hated that I looked for him as we left. Roan had disappeared without a word after dinner as if he’d hit his threshold for people time. Now, he was nowhere to be found.

---