Page 56 of Broken Vows

“I’m just bad at throwing,” she says.

“Bad is generous.”

She gives me a look, Theo loses it completely, and somehow I end up laughing too.

It catches me off guard.

For a few minutes, the job disappears from my head. Ray. Drew. The doctor. All of it.

There’s just the ball smacking into my hand, Theo laughing across the grass, and Carmen standing barefoot in the yard with flushed cheeks and her hair falling loose around her face.

Then Theo gives Carmen a look. She gives him one back.

I don’t like that.

I know a setup when I see one.

Carmen throws the ball wide to Theo, and while he runs after it, she wanders over to me. Cheeks pink, hair loose around her face, grass stuck to one knee.

I narrow my eyes before she even opens her mouth.

“No.”

She stops in front of me, all wide brown eyes and innocent expression. “I haven’t asked you anything.”

“You were about to.”

Her mouth curves. “Theo really wants a basketball hoop we saw at the store. He’s been talking about it nonstop.”

“No.”

She ignores that completely. “The box is huge. Probably very heavy.”

“Makes no difference to us.”

“I’d love to get it for Theo but I’d need someone strong to carry it.”

“No.”

“And pay for it.”

“Definitely no.”

Her smile doesn’t even flicker. If anything, it gets worse. Softer.

Behind her, Theo suddenly becomes very interested in the ball at his feet.

Carmen steps closer. “Theo said you probably couldn’t carry it anyway. Not with just one arm.”

I look past her at the kid. He looks at the fence now, like it’s the most fascinating thing he’s ever seen.

Carmen tips her head, studying me. “I told him I thought you could.”

“That so?”

“Mmhmm.”

Her hand lands lightly on my good arm.