Page 91 of Digging Up Love
“Hawksburg. We’ll be going back tomorrow for another three weeks.”
“Gotcha. Pretty cool. Tre’s been keeping me updated, and I saw you on WGN.” Tre groaned, but his wife ignored him. “How’re things with the woman you met? Alisha, right?”
“They broke up,” Tre chimed in from the peanut gallery. “He dumped her preemptively so she wouldn’t leave him like Mercedes did.”
Quentin nearly inhaled a bite of cheese. “What? No.” He glared at his friend. “Tre, that is not what I said. And way to throw me under the bus.”
Tre opened his mouth, but Radhika lifted a hand, and he closed it.Amazing.Quentin needed to learn that trick.
“I didn’t break up with her; we had a fight. She plans to move here soon but hasn’t told anyone in her family! Including her grandfather, and she manages his restaurant.”
“So you’re worried she’s going to desert her family the way Mercedes deserted you?” Radhika took a sip of water.
“Okay, really, Radhika? I’m not one of your patients. I came to hang out with my friends, not be psychoanalyzed.”
“Man, Q, will you listen to yourself?” Tre wiped his mouth with a paper napkin, but some crumbs remained in his mustache. “Defensive much? She’s just trying to help. As yourfriend.”
“Yeah, well, it feels more like an ambush.”
Radhika speared a bite of pizza and spoke around it. “It’s just dinner.”
Her attitude pissed him off. “Sorry. But come on. Is it so crazy that I don’t want to see someone get hurt the way I did? Should I feel bad for wanting to protect her sister and her grandparents?”
“Are you sure it’s them you’re trying to protect?”
Quentin ground his teeth. “Okay, and what if itisme I’m trying to protect?” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I can’t go through that again. I ...” His breath hitched.
Radhika put down her fork. “What you went through with your wedding? It sucked. And no one blames you for putting up your defenses. But does Alisha even know about Mercedes?”
He nodded hard, once. Reached across with his knuckle to wipe at the corner of his eye. His vision swam, stomach shifting at the sight of congealing cheese layered under a solid slab of sausage and thick, tomato-filled sauce.
“Have you told her how similar this situation feels to you?”
He raised his eyes then, regarding her through the blur. “No. But I don’t think Alisha’s anything like Mercedes; I really don’t. What’s between us is so much more, so much better. But what if I’m wrong?”
“If you’re wrong, you’ll wind up hurt.” Radhika scrunched up her napkin in her fist. “But it sounds like you already are hurting. So let her in, Quentin. She might surprise you.”
Alisha had surprised him since day one, in good and scary and wonderful ways. And here he sat, wanting more. Wanting all of her, forever.
Watching him, Tre said, “Shoot, Q. It’s like that, huh?” He fetched the half-empty wine bottle off the counter.
“Like what?”
“I guess I should’ve known.” He poured another glass, the deep-red liquid glugging out of the spout, and slid it toward Quentin. “You don’t do anything by halves.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You’re in love with this farm woman.”
Despite an involuntary groan, Quentin couldn’t keep the smile off his face. “She’d kill you for calling her that. Alisha is not a fan of country life.”
“The man does not even deny it.” Tre clipped each word out, then chuckled. “Why am I not surprised?”
“Whatever. I owe you one for helping me get my head straight.” Quentin lifted his glass, grinning, and yes, not denying his friend’s assertion one iota.
“Yup, you sure do.” Tre clinked his glass with Quentin’s. “Just remember this when we call you asking for free babysitting.”
“Mm-hmm, sure.” Quentin lifted his wine. Then he paused, glass halfway to his lips. Flicked his eyes toward Radhika and her tumbler of ice water. “Babysitting?”
