Chapter Ten
Nate was easy to talk to.
And way too easy to look at.
The morning bare chest completely short-circuited her brain.
She expected to walk into the kitchen and find a slightly disheveled man behind a cup of coffee. Instead, she found what some men made a killing on TikTok recording and posting while doing nothing more than cutting logs with an axe or spinning around in a desk chair.
Sure, Nate’s hair was a little out of sorts, and his face showed a day’s worth of stubble. But that only added to the snap she felt when she realized he was in her kitchen half naked.
“Sin and bad decisions” were the words that kept rolling through Luna’s brain. Something her grandmother had said once Luna was old enough to understand the context.
The “walk of shame” wore smeared mascara and smelled faintly of wine and stale cigarettes. But “sin and bad decisions” looked exactly like Nate. Like someone you wanted to jump right back in bed with, damn the consequences.
Only Nate’s bed had been the couch and there was zero romantic involvement between the two of them.
As it should be.
Luna moved between frying the bacon she’d forgotten was in the refrigerator and mixing the pancake batter.
“So, what’s the real reason you left DC?” she asked.
“What do you mean ‘real reason’? I wanted to branch out on my own.”
“Without any clients standing in line?” Who did that? When Luna had taken the risk, she already had a half a dozen lawyers wanting her service.
She saw Nate struggle to answer her question.
“Who was she? A wife?” Luna asked.
“I didn’t say anything about a woman.”
“That’s exactly what someone would say if it was a woman.
You don’t have to tell me. It’s not really my business.
But since you’re barefoot and were half naked in my kitchen, I figured we’re past the ‘none of my business’ part of this friendship.
” And it was a friendship. Any person willing to spend the night and play temporary bodyguard was friend material.
Nate let go of a breath with a laugh and a shake of his head. “How did you know it was a woman?”
“My mother was an expert at fleeing one state for another when things ended. I see the subtle signs others might miss.”
“Like what?” he asked.
“For starters, you said you were still living out of boxes and at the same time suggested that a ‘home’ was a nice change. Which means you don’t feel at home here . . . yet. When you move to a place you’re meant to be, it feels comfortable. Like your favorite pair of jeans.”
“Huh,” he uttered.
“And last night when you were making dinner, you were clearly in your element. Now, I don’t doubt you enjoy cooking, but doing it in front of an audience . . . that was your crack. You like community and probably don’t have a lot here.”
“I still have college friends in the area.”
“But you had more in DC.”
“True.”
“So, moving wasn’t so much of going where you truly wanted to be, but to get away from something that needed distance. Hence . . . a woman.” Luna turned back to the stove and gave Nate the time he needed.
Eventually he said, “She wasn’t my wife.”
“Fiancée?”
“No,” he said quickly.
“Oh.” That changed things. She had more questions, but Nate started asking his own questions.
“What about you? Have you ever been married?”
“Sadly. Once.”
“This I’ve got to hear.”
From the corner of Luna’s eye, she saw Nate lean on his elbows with rapt attention.
“I was young and stupid. He came from a stable family, and the sex was . . . it worked.” Kinda.
Nate laughed. “That’s all it took? A family and mediocre sex?”
She pointed a spatula in his direction. “Earth-shattering sex is for romance novels, and considering how I grew up, a stable family was my nirvana.”
“What happened to this match made in heaven?”
“I was a sophomore in college. He was in his last year. His parents were paying for our apartment. ‘We’ll help you kids get started.’ You know, all that.
What I didn’t know was that he was failing.
When he dropped out, my in-laws were not happy, and they stopped paying our rent.
And then Landon started driving for Uber. ”
“His name was Landon?”
“I thought it sounded aristocratic. The name of a man in an epic romance novel.” What a fool she’d been. Romantasizing a name and not digging deeper before falling in.
Nate laughed. “If you say so.”
“Anyway. He drove a car that his parents had paid for, that was still insured by his parents, and had their credit card that paid for the gas.”
“This guy sounds like a real catch.”
The bar had been low. Find a man who said he loved her with even the slightest bit of ambition . . . “I was killing myself at school and tutoring high schoolers for money. Landon started drinking, eventually couldn’t drive for Uber . . . not that it was a career path, but it did help.”
“You left because he was a loser.” This was less of a question and more of a statement.
She shook her head, flipped the bacon, and stared off, recalling the final straw play out like a film projected on the wall. “No. That would have been too easy. That would have been a reason my mother would have walked away. I didn’t want to be anything like my mother. Still don’t.”
“What happened?” Nate’s voice softened.
Luna touched the side of her jaw. “He hit me. He got drunk one night, said I was the reason his parents had cut him off, and when I put the blame on him, he responded with his fist.”
“Fuck.”
Luna glanced at Nate and snapped away from the memory. “I put everything I owned that could fit into the back of my car and came here. Nana took one look at me and said she was going to kill him. Ash nearly did.”
“Damn, Luna, I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. Well, not okay, but I learned a very valuable lesson super early in life. From more than just Landon if I’m honest. Depend only on yourself and no one else can take that away. My marriage was a one and done.”
Luna oiled up the griddle and poured out the first pancake.
“So that’s it. You gave up on romance?”
“I don’t have to be hit twice,” she said. At least not as an adult.
“Landon isn’t an example of all men.”
“Based upon my upbringing, statistics are very clear on the kind of man I’ll attract. Which I’ve already proven true with my first choice.” Luna started removing the bacon from the pan and turned off the burner. “Numbers don’t lie, Nate. It’s why I like them.”
“A life of celibacy sounds like hell.”
She laughed. “I didn’t say I didn’t have sex. I just don’t invite them in.” She tapped her chest.
“All right, then.” Nate sounded resigned and a little sad.
Something Luna would overanalyze if old painful memories weren’t finding their way to the surface in her brain.
“It’s not all doom and gloom,” she told him. “I’m happy. I have a great job, my own home . . . great friends, a brother and sister that care about me. The obligatory cat for a single woman.” She laughed.
“You don’t want more?”
“Like what?” she asked, looking over her shoulder.
“The fairy-tale ending? Do you need me to quote divorce statistics? Think about it, between Nana and my mother there were at least ten marriages and divorces. The men my mother invited into her life were mean, and before you ask, yes . . . violent. I married my abuser. Statistically, I’d do that again.
That or become them. Something Harper, Ash, and I have all managed to avoid.
And if I have one mantra to live by in my life, it’s that I don’t want to be like my mother. ”
They were both quiet for a moment.
Luna flipped the pancake and added another one to the griddle.
“Shit,” Luna said quickly. “The eggs.”
Nate pushed back from the counter. “Let me.”
“But—”
“It’s my crack, remember?”
Their eyes met and Luna retreated. “Fine.”
A half an hour later, Luna and Nate had cleaned their plates and were on a second cup of coffee before Miley stumbled into the kitchen in a bathrobe and fuzzy slippers.
“Someone slept in,” Luna teased.
“Someone paced in their room all night,” Miley said accusingly.
“I did not. And even if I did, I’m all the way down the hall.”
Miley glanced at Nate.
“Don’t blame me. I slept great.”
“Liar,” Luna said.
“Bullshit,” said Miley.
“Hey!” Nate protested . . . but he was smiling.
“No one sleeps great on a couch in someone else’s house unless they’re pass-out drunk,” Luna said.
“Another statistic?” Nate asked.
“Math,” she said as if it was the answer to everything.
The sound of a motorcycle penetrated the peace outside.
Miley moaned and Luna smiled.
“Ash.”
“I haven’t even had my coffee yet,” Miley protested.
Luna ignored her friend and went outside to greet her brother.
Ash drove his police issued motorcycle. Not something he did very often, and almost never when out of uniform.
He’d already hopped off his bike and was in the process of removing his helmet when Luna spotted him.
An overwhelming sense of warmth and peace filled her every fiber.
For a brief moment, vulnerability pooled behind her eyes.
He was there for her. To make sure she was looked after.
Luna was convinced that if it wasn’t for Ash, she might have craved a man’s loyalty enough to fall prey to a second lousy marriage.
Ash looked up, saw her, and opened his arms.
Luna fell into them. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“Are you okay?” he asked softly.
“I am.”
He hugged her like he needed to.
Ash pulled away, looked her in the eyes. He was searching for the truth through the unspoken words of siblings. “Good,” he said.
Luna drew back and glanced at the bike. “You didn’t have to bring that.”
Ash removed a pack and the shotgun strapped to the side. “Nothing deters criminals more than the sight of the po-po,” he teased.
“I suppose that’s true.”
He nodded toward Nate’s car. “Is that your friend’s?”
“Yeah. We were just finishing breakfast.”
Ash swung the pack over his shoulder. “Who is this guy?”
“I told you. A colleague.”
“That’s it?” Ash gave her the side-eye.