Page 59 of Broken Vows

“Careful, Carmen. Keep saying things like that and I might start thinking you actually like having me around.”

I should give him a dry, safe answer. Instead, I hold his gaze for a beat too long.

“Maybe I do.”

His smirk fades, then the confidence behind it. For one brief second, he looks almost stunned. Then his gaze drops to my mouth. I push away from the fence before he tries anything stupid in front of Theo.

Theo’s still chasing the ball around the yard, cheeks flushed, hair sticking up in every direction. I walk over and pull him into a hug.

“Thank you for today, sweetheart,” I say, squeezing him. “I had a lot of fun.”

“Me too.” He hugs me back quickly, then wriggles free and shoves the ball into my hands. “Take a shot before you go.”

“I’m terrible.”

“Doesn’t matter.”

I glance toward Levi. He’s still by the fence, watching us with an expression I can’t quite read.

“One shot,” I agree.

I line up the shot. The ball leaves my hands at a hopeless angle, arcs pathetically through the air, and bounces off the rim with a sad clang.

Theo claps anyway.

“I should work on that,” I say, laughing.

I hand him the ball, turn toward my house, and walk away—very aware of Levi’s gaze following me the entire way.

The next few days are strangely quiet.

Levi still appears, but not in the way he used to. There are no crude comments through the door, no flowers, and no attempts to turn every conversation into an invitation. Instead, my trash cans are already on the curb when I wake up. The wobbly porch light is suddenly fixed. The lawn gets mowed while I’m at school, the edges trimmed with the same aggressive precision he applies to everything that annoys him.

Every time I thank him, he gets that same odd look—neck flushing, eyes sliding away, mouth tightening around something gruff and dismissive.

“It’s nothing,” is all he says about it.

It is, unfortunately, very endearing.

By Wednesday night, I’m trying very hard not to think about that.

Diane comes over with wine, and we curl up on the couch with Fifi wedged happily between us to watch another episode of the telenovela we’ve been slowly working our way through. Neither of us speaks Spanish, but the subtitles are enough, and the dramatic facial expressions do most of the heavy lifting.

Fifi sleeps through almost all of it, her warm little body pressed against my thigh. She’s had a big week with Theo, and I swear it’s keeping her young. She just adores him.

Diane asks what I plan to do once I finish my GED. I give her a vague answer about keeping my options open. I don’t mention the dog shelter. Not yet.

Levi’s the only person I’ve told because I knew he wouldn’t ask too many questions. Explaining how I would afford it would mean talking about Maverick, the settlement, and the terrifying possibility that I might get far less than I hope. I’m not ready to say it out loud to Diane until I know it has even the smallest chance of becoming real.

Outside, a basketball starts thumping against the ground.

A moment later, Levi’s voice cuts through the night. “Not at night.”

I try not to smile.

I fail.

Diane notices immediately. “What was that?”