Page 37 of Dichotomy

Adrian pulled out a seat for me, then ushered his mom into her own seat and took over serving. He placed the pot pie on the table and gathered wineglasses out of the cabinet. Pouring us each a glass, he carried them over to the table and started serving.

“This smells divine, Melissa,” I said, holding a bite up to my face and inhaling the delicious smells. I blew on the fork carefully before running out of patience.

“Wait for it to cool—” Adrian stopped as I popped the forkful in my mouth.

An explosion of flavor hit my tongue, even as the heat burned. He sighed and got up, getting me a glass of water from the fridge.

I grinned at him. “Sorry, it was too good.”

He rolled his eyes but dropped a kiss on my forehead before he returned to his own seat. Melissa watched us fondly, her green eyes, so like Adrian’s, warm and slightly misty. Oh no, tears. I didn’t do well with tears.

“So…” I searched for a subject, racking my brain for what I remembered about her from her file. “Are you still teaching?”

Melissa’s face brightened, and the misty-eyed look faded as she launched into her teaching stories. She was teaching third grade currently and told us story after story about the mischief a pack of twenty-plus eight-year-olds could get into.

“They remind me a lot of you, actually,” she told Adrian after a story about a group of boys playing King of the Mountain on the playground. We had long finished with dinner, and Adrian was at the sink washing the dishes.

“Ooo, baby Adrian stories?” I leaned forward and rested my chin on my hand. “Do tell.”

“Well, there was this one time…” Melissa leaned forward.

“Okay, that’s enough,” Adrian cut in, but his eyes were sparkling and his smile soft as he rested his hand on his mom’s shoulder. “You can’t scare her away just yet.”

Melissa smiled, but her eyes were sad. “I think Evelyn’s already seen the darkest part of this family, son.”

Adrian’s smile dimmed, and his eyes grew stormy. We sat in somber silence for a few moments before he spoke. “I should have done more to protect you.” His voice was full of self-loathing. My heart ached for him, and I wanted to hold him.

Melissa covered his hand on her shoulder with one of her own and shook her head. “No, it wasn’t your job to protect me. It was my job as your parent to protect you.” Her smile was soft and sad as she looked up at him.

I swallowed hard at her simple words. It felt like a knife to the gut the way she looked at him. Had my own parents ever looked at me like that? They certainly hadn’t protected me or even tried to. I hadn’t spoken to them in at least ten years, ever since I left for college. I wasn’t even sure if they lived in the same house. Danny kept in touch with his parents, so I could have asked him to find out, but there didn’t seem to be a point to it. They’d made their choice. And I had to live with it.

A soft touch on my shoulder jolted me back to the present. Both Adrian and Melissa were watching me carefully. Melissa’s eyes were sad and knowing, and I wondered how much Adrian had shared with her about my backstory.

“Well…” Melissa clapped her hands lightly. “Enough of the heavy topics. I made cookies for dessert.”

The cookies were salted caramel chocolate chips, and I’m sure they were amazing, but I barely tasted them. I felt raw and exposed, and suddenly the cheerful walls of the kitchen seemed like they were closing in. Adrian rested his hand on my leg, and that was the only thing that kept me from floating away. Thankfully, Melissa seemed to forgive my rudeness and carried on a conversation with Adrian as we finished dessert.

As we were leaving, she hugged me tightly. “You’re welcome back any time,” she said, pulling back so she could see my face. “You’re family now.”

I smiled tightly, swallowing against the lump in my throat. Tears pricked the back of my eyes. I barely remembered getting into the car.

I jumped when Adrian spoke. “Are you okay?”

His green eyes were worried, but I couldn’t muster up the words to describe the seething, writhing mess in my head, so I just shrugged. There was no way I was going to be able to tell him without breaking down that I couldn’t remember if my parents ever loved me the way his mom loved him. And it didn’t seem fair to tell him any of that when he and his mom suffered at the hands of his father. My parents had never beaten me; they were just…neglectful. But neglect could leave just as sharp of wounds.

Thankfully, he didn’t press me any further. He just reached over and took my hand, the weight of his palm against mine, warm and steady. He held my hand tightly all the way home.

CHAPTER 18

MARCUS

Ding.

Adrian:Did you ask her yet?

I groaned, rubbing my eyes. No, I had not asked her yet. How did you ask the woman you had spent the last couple of months being an ass to on a date? There was no way she was going to say yes, was she? Sure, we had that moment in the kitchen a few weeks ago, but could she really see past that to give me a chance? See past my fear and moronic overprotective behavior when she revealed her double identity and say yes?

Adrian:Man up and DO IT!