“The whole town’s gonna know.”
He thought she’d like that, getting her own back against her asshole husband, getting in his face by moving on, publicly, to an old flame after only two months separation.
“But –”
“You done with him?” Layne asked and her face grew sharp.
“Obviously.” Her voice was sharp too.
“Then what do you care?”
Her eyes narrowed. “What about Jasper, Tripp… Gabrielle?”
Shit.
He hadn’t thought of that.
He looked over head.
“Layne,” she called and he looked back at her.
“The boys’ll be in on it.”
Her body went so solid, when it did it, it bucked. “They can’t –”
“Not everything, Roc, just enough. They’ll be cool and they’ll keep their mouths shut. They’re good kids.”
“I don’t think –”
“They’ll be cool.”
“And Gabrielle?”
He stared at her face and it hit him that she was hiding something. Looking closer, he saw it was pain.
What the fuck?
“Rocky –” he started to ask.
“She won’t be cool.” Her voice was inching toward anger, using that as a shield for the pain she was failing to hide behind her eyes. “She’s your wife.”
Definitely anger. Each word came out clipped.
But what she said made him angry too, enough to forget what he read in her eyes.
“Hasn’t been that in a long time, sweetcheeks,” he clipped back.
“But –”
“Don’t worry about Gabrielle.”
“Layne, I’m not sure.”
“You got five seconds to give me a better idea.”
She glared at him and he saw her mind working.
He counted to five.
Then he gave her ten.
Then he declared, “No? Then the deal’s done.”
“Layne –”
He jackknifed off her but grabbed her hand and yanked her to her feet in front of him.
“Mimi’s,” he stated, “coffee.”
“Layne.”
“Coffee, sweetcheeks.”
She tugged at her hand but he dragged her to the door.
“Layne!”
He turned and pulled her hand so she fell into his body.
She tipped her head back and looked at him.
“Coffee.”
She glared. Then she did it some more. They went into stare down and he held it intent to do it for as long as it took.
She read that and gave in first.
“All right,” she snapped, “coffee. But I need my purse.”
He turned in order to hide his grin, opened the door, muttered, “No you don’t, sweetcheeks, I’m buyin’,” and he took Rocky to Mimi’s.
Chapter Five
Imagination is a Powerful Thing
Layne made sure he was home when his boys got home because Rocky was showing at six o’clock. He wanted enough time to tell them what he had to tell them and not enough time for them to have any to think on it.
They came in with hair wet from their after practice showers and workout bags with their backpacks slung over their shoulders.
Laundry time.
Layne hated laundry. Luckily, his boys both primped as only high school boys did. They felt it a moral imperative to look good at all times and therefore not wear reeking clothes, and since their old man didn’t do laundry until it was either that or go shopping for new clothes (shopping something Layne hated worse than laundry), they did their own.
“Bags down boys, we gotta talk,” he announced.
“Hey!” Tripp shouted, dropping his bags in the middle of the kitchen and petting an excited Blondie who was giving them a welcome home as if they’d been at sea for twelve months rather than at school for ten hours, at the same time he reached a hand to some groceries on the counter that Layne had not yet put away. “You got oatmeal!” Tripp finished, waving a box.
Layne grinned at him. “Sustained energy, Pal.”
Tripp grinned back.
“Shit, Dad, why’d you buy Blondie five bowls?” Jasper asked. He’d dumped his bags too and he was fiddling with the stack of bowls Layne bought Blondie before he went grocery shopping.
“Blondie’s dish goes in the dishwasher every night. She gets a new one in the morning,” Layne explained and both boys turned to him.
“What?” Jasper asked then asked another question before Layne could answer, “Why?”
“She just does.” Layne blew it off. “Now sit.”
Tripp and Jasper looked at each other. Then they sat at the island.
When they did, Layne moved to stand across from them. Then he laid it out for them and he didn’t pretty it up.
“I talked with Rocky today and found out there’s another reason why she came over yesterday,” he declared and both their faces went from mildly baffled direct to openly curious. Layne continued. “I told you that me gettin’ shot tweaked somethin’ in Rocky and I wasn’t wrong. Now, there’s things I can’t fully explain to you, not now, maybe when this is done but, in the meantime, because of what happened to me, me and Rocky are gonna pretend we’re an item.”
“What!” Jasper shouted.
“That’s so cool!” Tripp yelled, that hope Layne had seen that morning washing full on through his face.
Layne couldn’t focus on Tripp’s hope that Layne would hook up with his ex-flame who happened to be the school’s coolest teacher. He had to focus on Jasper whose reactions were usually more hostile and even volatile.
Therefore, Layne’s eyes locked on Jas. “Calm down, Jas.”
“What the fuck, Dad! She’s a teacher. At my school!” Jasper was still shouting and now he was in a squat, heels to the bar at the bottom of the stool, ready to go ballistic.
“I said, calm down, boy,” Layne ordered low.
Jasper stared at him. He knew Layne’s tone, a tone he didn’t use with him often but he used it when he meant it and Jasper knew what he meant so he moved his ass back to his seat. When he settled, Layne carried on.
“I was workin’ a case when that happened, I got too close too soon. Now, Rocky and me have made a deal and she’s workin’ the case with me.”