Page 62 of Their Stormy Reunion

“No, just contaminating her with that filth. I never wanted that part of my life to touch her.”

Zarek knelt down on the grass and started petting Harley on her stomach. She was in ecstasy. “Do you really think that? Really?”

“Well sure.”

“Think about that. If anyone else said that. Or, spin it around and if it was Fallon thinking that way about her biological parents, would you see it as filth?”

I rubbed the back of my neck, but the muscles were like granite. “I get your point.”

“Do you?”

I shut my eyes. I remembered how Fallon looked at me after I got done telling her about my first memory. The warmth and compassion. The way we’d made love. Scratch that, the way she had made love to me. It had been precious.

“Was she happier that you’d shared? I know I would give my left nut if Chloe would open up to me. I mean really fucking open up to me, so we could clear the smoke and see each other for who we are.”

“Yeah, she was happier,” I admitted. “But that was three days ago. She left in the morning, telling me that until I could tell her more… Tell her everything, that we couldn’t move forward.”

“And meanwhile Sid has her in his sights. You’ve got to be freaked.”

“I’ve been watching their house every night. Ace Alarm Systems will be installing their alarm next week. Bob insisted on paying.”

Zarek snorted. “How much did they quote him?”

“A quarter of the actual cost. I picked up the rest,” I admitted.

“Did you come clean with her parents about why the need for security?”

“Yeah, Fallon and I explained about the notes, but we didn’t tell them about the copperheads.”

“What did they think about this guy being your biological dad?” Zarek asked.

“Bob’s not firing on all cylinders because of the chemo, and Fallon’s mom was relieved and happy that I was taking care of things. Neither one of them asked anything too deep as to why Dad was in prison, or why he was targeting me and mine.”

My friend stood back up and threw the ball again.

“What does Fallon think about you spending the night outside the house?”

“She keeps calling me and telling me to go home, which I don’t. But then we’ll usually talk for an hour or more.”

“So at least the lines of communication are open. Good job.”

I dug my knuckles into the back of my neck. “Not so good of a job. Zarek, I still haven’t figured out what panicked the hell out of me and made me want to get out of my wedding. I mean, one minute it couldn’t come fast enough, and the next minute I wanted Fallon far away from me. I needed her as far away from me as possible.”

“Hmmm,” he rumbled.

I gave him a sharp look. “What.”

“Your wording is odd, that’s all.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“You’re not saying things like, I couldn’t stand the idea of marriage. You’re saying I needed to get Fallon far away from me. Of course, if you felt like that, you could have just left her at the altar. That would have taken care of it.”

I shook my head. “What are you talking about?”

“It’s like you did the worst thing imaginable to get her to hate you. To grind your relationship into the dust. To make sure she would get as far away from you as possible. Why would you do that?”

“Have you not been fucking listening,” I yelled. “I don’t fucking know!”