2. Este
ESTE
My heart bursts when he calls me out, “And I couldn’t have come in first place today amongst all these incredible teams without my lovely partner, Este. So, thanks to her.” He holds up a beer. “Uh, cheers. Thank you for coming out to support us today. It means a lot.”
He’s met with loud applause as he exits the stage, weaving through the dispersing crowd to get to me.
I give him a mock glare with my hands on my hips. “When were you going to tell me that you did all of this?”
“With the help of an entire team of volunteers. I know how to ask nicely for things,” Dom grins. “Speaking of asks, will you let me take you out to dinner?”
I bite my lip between my teeth. Reed has been alone all day, and while she’s a great kid, she’s still a teenager who barely knows how to fry an egg.
“I’ve, uh, got someone at home,” I mumble with a slight grimace, holding my hand up to block the sun from beating down on my face. I don’t miss the disappointed expression that crosses Dom’s face.
“Oh, okay. No harm, no foul. He’s a lucky man.” Dom draws the wrong conclusion, and I hate the frown that pulls down the corners of his lips, so I rush to correct him.
“No, no. No man at home. I’m a mom. I have a daughter.
She’s great, but not much of a cook, and grocery day is tomorrow.
Another time?” I survey Dom’s facial expressions to see how he reacts to the news that I’m a mother.
While I don’t expect him to respond well, he turns sunny again and is quick to smile.
“I totally understand that. Well, I’ll, uh, give ya my card. It’s got my cell on there. I’d love for you to call or text.” He digs in his wallet and produces a business card, which I slide into my shorts pocket without breaking his gaze.
“Really, um, thank you, Dom. I had a great time with you today. I feel like I hogged you and your athletic abilities. Couldn’t help but notice the jealous glances my way.
You seem to be quite popular.” Even now, there’s a female volunteer in a blue shirt with big brunette hair gawking at us, her glare shooting daggers.
“Who’s that?” I whisper, nodding over to ‘80s Hair.
“Ah, that’s Annette. She does my hair, and she volunteered to help today. She looks jealous?” Dom couldn’t be more oblivious if he tried. I burst into laughter, nodding.
“She looks like she’s fixin’ to tar and feather me,” I tell him with an eye roll. “And with that hair, I’d say she’s awfully close to Jesus.”
Dom laughs. “Hey, now. Do unto others and all that.”
“That woman would stampede over my half-dead body if it meant getting to you faster. Trust me.” Annette finally looks away, and I give a long sigh as I realize it’s time for me to get home.
“Let me take you home.” Dom seems to read my mind, and Mallory finds me right then with her rebound guy in tow.
“We’re heading out. You good?” Mallory asks me quietly, confirming my suspicions. The way she looks at Jamie with heart-emoji eyes tells me they’re headed for one of their places, and they’re about to have way more fun than I’ve had in years. For the first time in forever, I’m the jealous one.
Sometimes I think I would love to live a lifestyle that lends itself to flirty fun at the drop of a hat. Instead, I ended up pregnant after prom, and now I have a precious responsibility at home, and she’s probably starving.
“Oh, I’m fine,” I whisper back to her before Jamie introduces himself and makes polite small talk with us for several minutes. He seems like a good guy, and he’s clearly enamored with my bestie. Hopefully, he treats her right.
They veer off together toward Jamie’s truck in the lot, and I beam an amused smile to Dom, who just raises his eyebrows and winks, which makes my stomach flutter.
I feel Dom’s hand on the small of my back, and I melt into it.
“Well, I better duck out as quick as I can so I don’t have to say a thousand goodbyes.
” Dom’s fingers caress me through my thin tank, sending butterflies whirling around my stomach.
I can’t remember the last time I felt this way.
Then, it all comes crashing back to me at once.
The moment I laid eyes on Colin Coleson at fifteen.
I’d looked up at the doorway he was hovering in and realized, even so young, that he was going to play a significant role in my life. And boy, had he.
I blink away tears that spring to my eyes, unbidden.
Some days, I think I’ve healed from my late husband’s untimely death, but it’s moments like these I realize I have a ways to go.
The way I figure it is, if grief is the price of love, it’s a tax I’ll be paying the rest of my life in varying amounts.
Thankfully, I’m walking ahead of Dom to the lot, and he can’t see the sheen of tears I blink away.
“It’s the green Jeep SUV,” he tells me, moving beside me and crossing in front of me to open the passenger side door.
The Jeep is lifted, but I’m 5’9, so, with a bit of help from a strategically placed handle, I’m up on the hot leather seat.
It’s only when Dom slides in next to me and starts the car that I have my first inkling of doubt.
“You could be a serial killer,” I suddenly realize, shocked that I haven’t considered this possibility yet.
Some killers are charming, right? Even attractive.
Who the heck was the hot one? Was he the one who ate people?
Or the one who buried bodies in the walls?
My mind churns as I try to jog my memory after years of obsessively watching true crime. It relaxes me, what can I say?
I’m met with laughter as Dom’s hand reaches over and squeezes my knee.
“I’m just a gentleman giving a lady a ride home.” His voice is gentle and reassuring. “Besides, I’m a doctor. Not exactly the murdering type. I promise you have nothing to worry about.”
“What kind of doctor?” I can’t believe this is the first time our professions have come up today. We’ve been having so much fun playing games and engaging in light-hearted chatter that we neglected to have any of the more serious ‘get to know you’ conversations.
“Psychiatrist, but please don’t hold that against me.” Dom winces, appearing genuinely worried I might.
“You’re a young psychiatrist.” I realize I don’t yet know his age, but aside from some gorgeous crinkles around his eyes, he seems youthful.
He certainly takes good care of himself, I can’t help but notice and appreciate.
I eyeball him and the way his T-shirt stretches over his generously sized biceps.
“I was when I completed my residency. I started college at sixteen, got fully licensed at thirty, and it’s been twelve years since then.” The easy math tells me he’s forty-two, older than I would’ve thought given his appearance.
“Wow.” I can’t think of anything brilliant to say because I’m so impressed by Dom.
I have a lot of respect for psychiatrists because both Reed and I needed the help of a very understanding one over the past few years.
We still check in with our family therapist every month, and we see a psychiatrist every three months to keep up with Reed’s antidepressant.
“I can’t invite you in with my daughter at home.” I point at the intersection and tell him to take a right at the light.
“Of course, I wouldn’t ask to intrude on y’all’s evening. And I’ve got so much respect for single moms. My sister Gwen is one of them, raising three girls on her own. Not for the faint of heart.” Dom pats my knee again as we wait at the stoplight. “So, how old is your little one?”
I chortle. “Sixteen. Thinks she’s about thirty, and she’s been through enough in her life that I give her a lot of leverage.
Wish I could protect her from the world, shield her somehow, but the harder I try, the more I fail.
Just today, she got her hands on a series of novels I wrote years back for a more mature audience, and I’m mortified.
Thankfully, she’s not dating yet. Thinks boys her age are, and I quote, ‘twits.’” I can’t hide my smile.
Dom throws his head back in laughter before he maneuvers the turn. “I couldn’t agree more with her. My niece is fifteen and has a crush on the boy next door. My sister has no idea what she’s in for.”
“Ah, a tale as old as time.” I grin as I remember my own youth. “They’ll be sneaking into each other’s bedroom windows before you know it.”
“I will nail them shut.” Dom retorts so quickly it’s clear he’s already thought of the idea. His tone of voice is firm and protective, and I kind of love it.
I giggle incorrigibly. “Like anything would have stopped us at that age! My father could have booby-trapped the entire property, and Cole still would’ve found a way.
Hell, he would have enjoyed the challenge.
” And now I’m misty-eyed again, this time with laughter as memories roll over me like waves.
My parents eventually leaned into the idea of Cole because, try as he may, my father could never scare him off.
And he was a gentleman despite his youth.
When I got pregnant after the prom, they accepted Cole into our family and didn’t pressure us to get married until we were ready a few years later.
I was twenty-one. Even then, I’d been reluctant to marry him, because times were hard back then, and I kept my maiden name.
“Penny for your thoughts?”
I blink rapidly and anchor myself to the present moment. “Oh, just thinking about the past. I had Reed nine months after my prom, so I know what kids are doing, but I can’t imagine my life any other way. You know? Oh, go left here.”
We go squealing around the bend, and I point out my two-story modern farmhouse-style home. Dom pulls into the driveway, puts the Jeep in park, and turns to me.
“Well, thank you for the ride and the wonderful day. It was so much fun. I didn’t mind the constant winning!
” I look into his green eyes and find myself transfixed somehow.
God, it’s been ages since I’ve felt this way.
There are sparks flying through the air between us, and no part of me wants to leave this Jeep.
He reaches out and cups his hand around my lower cheek and chin, and his thumb strokes my cheekbone.
“Happy I met you, Este,” Dom drawls with his Texas accent.
I place my hand over his and squeeze warmly.
“Me too. I’m glad you raised money for such an important cause.” I don’t mention how near and dear the cause truly is to me, because leading with talk about my late husband doesn’t seem like the right way to start whatever this is.
“It’ll go a long way. Will I hear from you?”
I bite my lip, lean over, and peck his cheek. I can’t make any promises—not when I still find grief waiting for me around every corner.
“Nice meeting you, Dom.” With that, I open the door and swing myself down to the ground, waving when I reach the door. Like a gentleman, he waits in the driveway until I close my front door.
Part of me isn’t prepared to be this excited about a man who isn’t Cole. It feels foreign as I whisper, “Dom,” a few times in my dark foyer. “Cole” and “Dom” sound nothing alike, and his name is still strange on my lips, but I like the way it sounds.
“Mom, who are you talking to?” Reed is at the top of the stairs, staring down at me like I’m the dumbest person to ever walk the earth, in the way only a teenager can.
I shrug, trying to push thoughts of Dom out of my mind. “Hungry?”
“Starving.” Reed materializes at my side and gives me a rare hug. “Can we order fish fry?”
I should know by now that the hugs only precede requests.