“Why is that? Is everything alright with you and Tod?”
“Just parenthood, I guess. Mathew and Drew keep crawling into bed with us and it’s ruining the mood quite a bit.”
“Maybe shove them off to Dad for an afternoon. And when I come visit, you can have as much alone time as you like.”
“He’s taking them next weekend actually.”
“The light at the end of the tunnel.”
Laira laughed. “Yeah. Now tell me at least if this ominous man was handsome?”
“He was.”
“Good, what a waste of money it would’ve been if he wasn’t.”
Flake jumped into her lap, and Eveline combed her fingers through his white fur. “It was anything but a waste.”
“But you’re not thinking of doing it again are you?”
Eveline sighed. “No.”
“You’ll find the right one, soon enough.”
“I know. I just needed a little pick me up until he shows up.” Then her cheeks flushed. “Quite literally: he picked me up and carried me to the bathtub.”
“He’d better have, you paid good money to be treated like a queen.”
They laughed, spending the night talking about their weeks, venting about their frustrations and sharing the small and big victories.
Renley
At the gas station, Renley opened the envelope to find that Eveline had given him more than they’d agreed on. When he turned the bills into his hand, a handwritten note fell from between them.
Thank you,
You deserve it all.
He simply stared down at it, feeling undeserving. He hadn’t done anything out of the ordinary for him—she would’ve been treated the same even if she weren’t paying him for it. Shaking away the thoughts, he filled his truck and hightailed it back to Shannon’s. He’d been one of the only friends who’d stuck around after he was released from jail. Not that he’d had a large circle beforehand. Gambling had taken that away from him.
He sighed, trudging into the apartment, where Shannon sat on the couch watching TV. Renley held out a few bills, and his friend’s brow furrowed. “What the fuck is that?”
“The money I owe you.”
“I see that. Where the hell did you get it from?”
“Fucking take it, Shan.”
“Not unless you tell me where your broke ass got it from. And you better tell the truth cause if I don’t believe you, you’re back to sleeping in your truck.”
Renley clenched his jaw and ground his teeth.
“That was the deal, Renley,” Shannon continued. “You stay away from shady shit, and you can stay here as long as you need to.”
He collapsed onto the couch next to his friend, scrubbing a hand over his face. “A woman paid me to keep her company for a few hours.”
Shannon muted the TV and—ever so slowly—turned to face him. “Youwhat?”
“I’m not proud of it, don’t make me repeat it.”
