Page 76 of Lorcan
I winced. “Do I want to know?”
“I can’t believe I didn’t make the connection. He’s Sunshine Dixon’s ex-husband. Her asshole ex-husband.” He hung up my coat and closed the closet door. “Although she married and divorced not one, but two outstanding human beings.”
No missing the sarcasm.
“Oh?” I opened my lunch bag and started sorting the containers to put in the dishwasher.
Cody scrolled on his phone. “Yeah. Her first marriage was to a guy who was nice enough. He was with the Canadian Armed Forces. He saw something while overseas.” He shrugged. “Idon’t know what. And while I’m completely empathetic to PTSD, hitting someone isnotokay. Nor is not getting help when you clearly need it.”
“Ouch.” A bit of sauce had spilled, so I wiped out the bag. “So that marriage ended?”
“Yep. Tell me what you want.” Cody handed me the phone.
I handed it right back. “I’m not allergic to anything, but I’m not certain I could eat anything right now anyway.”
He put the phone on the bar and held out his arms.
I fell into them.
His hug was about the best thing ever, and it almost—almost—soothed my jangled nerves. He rubbed my back. “I’ll order comfort foods—mushroom egg fu young, spring rolls, beef and broccoli, and maybe sweet and sour chicken balls.”
“And fried shrimp?”
He kissed my forehead. “Of course, fried shrimp.”
I pressed my ear against his beating heart. “Thank you.”
“My pleasure.” He snagged his phone.
Reluctantly, I released him.
He pressed himself against me even as he typed, scrolled, and typed again. “I have an order with them that I make all the time. I’m adding fried shrimp…” He frowned. Then grinned triumphantly. “Forty-five minutes.”
“How often do you order from them?”
He grinned. “Not often because I go with the one on First Avenue.”
“Ah.” The most expensive of the several.
“Aunt Genessa takes me there as a treat. I have an affinity for their spring rolls.” He feathered my hair. “Tonight’s special.”
“Because I’m not spending the night in a cell?” I deadpanned.
He laughed.
I hadn’t expected that.
His eyes softened. “If you’d been spending a night in the cell, then I’d have brought a toothbrush for you and a pillow and blanket for myself. That bench in the waiting room didn’t look comfortable.”
“Don’t joke, Cody. This is serious.”
“So am I.”
“We’ve known each other a couple of weeks.”
He cocked his head. “So you’re thinking that I might not know the real you? The generous and considerate man who tries to pull off tough? The man who has shown me—over and over—how he can be vulnerable and yet loving at the same time? You’d have every right to be cynical and finished with the world. The world that hasn’t been so good to you in the last few years. But you haven’t. You took your second chance, and look what you’ve done with it.”
I frowned.
