Page 101 of Bad Decisions & Back Roads

Her expression tightened further at that.“Why her?”

I exhaled slowly, searching for words that wouldn’t humiliate her.“Amanda, you and I were never going to work.”

“That’s not what you acted like.”

I had tried to be nice tonight.“I do appreciate you giving this a shot,” I said.“And I enjoyed talking with you tonight.”That last part was generous enough to qualify as fiction, but I needed this to hurt less for her.

Then I looked back through the glass again.Gia was stuffing fries into her mouth like she hadn’t eaten all day, and possibly she hadn’t.She pointed at her chest and said something to the hostess.This time it was the teenager who burst out laughing.

God help me, I loved that woman.

I looked back at Amanda.“I’m sorry,” I said quietly.“You’re beautiful.You’re talented.There’s a man out there who is going to think he won the lottery with you.”I smiled at her sadly.“It just can’t be me.”

* * *

It tookme over an hour to get Sofia to sleep.By the time her breathing finally evened out and her little hand loosened from my shirt, I figured Gia had given up on me and gone home.

Instead, I found her sunk neck-deep in my bathtub.Steam curled through the room.Her head rested against the rim, eyes wide open, damp hair clinging to her skin while the water lapped softly against her collarbones with every slow breath she took.She’d put the lights on dim.

“Got room in there?”

I stripped out of my clothes and climbed in behind her.Water surged over the edge and splashed onto the tile.Normally, that would’ve made me twitch.

I couldn’t have cared less if the whole bathroom flooded.Gia melted back against me automatically, like her body already knew mine.The faint smell of her shampoo wrapped around me until the rest of the day finally started slipping off my shoulders.

“How’d your date end?”she murmured.

I slid my mouth against the curve of her neck, lingering there for a second longer than necessary.“Pretty sure I failed at erasing her hate for you.”

That earned me a quiet laugh, soft and rough from exhaustion.

I whispered, “I liked your shirt, by the way.”

“Swear it wasn’t on purpose.”She paused and swallowed hard.“I have bad news.”

Something in the way she said it made my stomach tighten.“What kind of bad news?”

“I’m on call.”

I huffed a laugh, trying to pull us back toward normal.“Then we better get out of this tub and move straight to the better parts of the night before anything comes up.”

She smiled faintly, but it vanished too fast.

After I helped her out and pulled the drain, I wrapped a towel around her and dried the water from her skin.She stood there quietly, letting me take care of her until suddenly her arms locked around me.

Tight.Too tight.

It was the same kind of hug she’d given me years ago—the one before she disappeared.Ice flooded my chest.

No.No, no, no.“Gia,” I said carefully, my hands sliding up her back.“What’s going on?”

“He’s going to do something.”The words barely made it out.“He texted.He’s going to do something bad.”

“Who?Jimmy McClary?”

She nodded against me.

I felt the tremor running through her.Like her body had been vibrating with fear so long she didn’t know how to stop anymore.