“Very funny.”
Jay walked back over to pick up another ball and took another shot at the hoop. Then he tossed a second one right at Tino. “I’m talking you look like three-day-old roadkill.”
The man definitely had a talent for apt descriptions. Tino felt like three-day-old roadkill. That didn’t mean he needed his face rubbed in it. “Jay, not now.”
Another ball went flying through the air. “The last time I saw someone look that bad, he’d had two root canals, and the pain medicine wasn’t working.”
Well, shit, this wasn’t helping Tino’s mood one bit. Earlier, his mother had dropped by the annex to let him know she’d been happy to finally meet Natalie. It hadn’t taken her three seconds to zero in on the fact that something had gone seriously wrong between the two of them while she’d been at the doctor’s office. Marlene asked him one simple question—who was at fault? When he’d admitted that it was undoubtedly his, his mother hadn’t demanded details. She’d simply said he was old enough to clean up his own messes and left him to figure out how to do it. Unfortunately, he hadn’t come up with a single idea on how to start.
The bottom line was that he didn’t need Jay busting his chops over the situation. Tino snagged one of the balls off the rack and heaved it at the other man. “You’re the one who’s going to be needing a dose of pain medicine if you don’t stop.”
Jay dodged the ball, grinning as he held his hands up in surrender. “Sorry, Tino. I’ll say one more thing and then shut my trap. In my experience, the only thing that leaves a guy looking that much like death warmed over is woman trouble. I recommend some big-time groveling and then pray like hell for forgiveness.”
Tino would be only too glad to do exactly that. Unfortunately, his text messages and phone calls had gone unanswered. When he’d stopped by the computer lab on his way into the building, Natalie had taken one look at him and turned her back. Rather than admit that she was currently pretending he was invisible, Tino said, “You can’t grovel if the woman in question won’t let you near her and won’t answer the phone. Besides, what makes you an expert on woman troubles?”
“We don’t have nearly enough time for that particular story right now.” Jay’s smile slowly faded. “But if it’s really too late for groveling to work, after practice is over, we can always hit the local watering hole to drown your sorrows in a fifth of scotch. Who knows, after a couple of shots, I might even regale you with my own tale of woe, which can only make you feel better about your own situation.”
The kids came charging into the gym. Tino took a deep breath and pasted a smile on his face, hoping they wouldn’t be able to tell it was fake. As he and Jay crossed the room to greet them, he whispered to his fellow coach, “I haven’t given up yet, but it may come to that.”
Although he hoped like hell it wouldn’t. The thought of never again knowing the spicy taste of Natalie’s kiss or the sweet slide of her skin against his made him physically ill.
Jay nodded. “I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you.”
“Thanks.”
As they got the kids started on their warm-up run, Tino added, “If I have screwed things up beyond repair, I may just take you up on that drink. I’ll even buy.”
Jay patted him on the shoulder. “Just so you know, you’ll be springing for the good stuff. If I’m going to kill my liver over the demise of your love life, I’ll want it to go out in style.”
For the first time since Natalie had driven away that morning, Tino laughed and meant it.
—
Maybe she should bang her head on the wall and be done with it. The class had been a total disaster since the first moment she had greeted her students. Sighing, Natalie studied her notes again and finally set the papers aside. It was too late to salvage the situation.
“I apologize, everyone. It’s just been one of those days for me, but that’s no excuse. Let’s call it a night. I promise that I’ll do better next time.”
Her students packed up their stuff and gradually shuffled toward the door. A few stopped by her desk on their way out to ask some quick questions. She did her best to answer them, hoping that none of them picked up on how much she wished they’d just leave. The fact that her life had gone off the rails that morning wasn’t their fault, and they deserved her best effort.
Maybe her grandfather was right. She did have a lot on her plate and should find another volunteer to teach the evening classes.
One last girl filed by her desk. “Good night, Ms. Kennigan. I hope you feel better soon.”
“Thank you, Haley. I’m sure a couple of aspirin and a good night’s sleep will fix me right up.”
Okay, that was a lie. There was no cure for a broken heart except time. Some distance might help, too, but that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. Not with Tino coaching basketball right down the hall several nights a week for the foreseeable future.
Earlier, when she’d stepped out in the hall before class, she could hear the deep rumble of his voice mixed in with the team’s laughter coming from the gym. How could he be so good with those kids and such a dumbass when it came to her? Clearly, he’d figured she’d look down on him for living right by his mom’s house. Where would he have gotten that idiot idea? If he’d only given her a chance, he would’ve found out she actually thought it was rather sweet of him.
With the huge television and assortment of gym equipment, the garage had obviously been made over into a man cave. However, there was nothing shoddy about the workmanship that had gone into its design. From the way he talked about his parents and his brothers, she bet there had also been a lot of love and care involved. Even now, her strongest impression was that the apartment was warm and welcoming.
Nothing at all like its current resident.
The memory of Tino’s anger and hostility right before she’d stormed out of his apartment had left her with a pounding headache that had hung on all day. Granted, he’d looked far different when he’d appeared in the computer lab doorway earlier, maybe even apologetic. She’d forced herself to look away before she did something stupid—like crying or, worse yet, running straight toward him in the hopes his arms would be open and waiting.
It took half an hour to shut down the computers and attend to a few other routine chores. When she was done, she stuffed her notes into her briefcase without bothering to keep them separate from the files she’d brought home to work on from the foundation. No doubt she’d regret that later when she had to sort it all out, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. All that mattered right now was getting out of there without having to talk to anyone.
After flipping off the lights, she locked the lab door and headed toward the exit. So far, so good. But then a familiar figure stepped into sight. As tempting as it was to turn around and head right back into the computer lab, that would be cowardly. Besides, Clarence had insisted he should walk her out to her car. She didn’t really want an escort, but apparently there’d been problems in the area lately, a few cars broken into and some vandalism.
