Page 34 of Up in Smoke
“I said yes.Of course, I said yes.” Sera closed her eyes briefly. “Then I realized I had no one to tell. No one, no family, to be happy for me.”
Polly saluted her coffee. “Hooray. Mazel. Felicitations.”
Sera ignored Polly and flipped open a menu.
Erin gave the dark-haired hacker a sour look. “If it makes you feel any better, people usually just pretend to be happy for other people. They don’t really mean it.”
“No. That doesn’t make me feel better.”
Erin shrugged. “Worth a shot.”
“So.” Polly gave a heavy sigh, probably annoyed at having been dragged into a conversation. “You have no family?”
Sera shook her head. “None that I can call. No one I would invite to a wedding.” She smiled her thanks at the waitress when she arrived with coffee. They sat quietly for a few minutes before Sera seemed to realize they were both staring at her, waiting for her to continue. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Bowen is a little intense.”
“Yup.”
“Yeah, I picked up on that,” Polly confirmed.
Sera breathed a laugh. “Anyway, he didn’t understand why I was upset. Didn’t understand why I wasn’t thrilled over a city hall wedding tomorrow afternoon.”
Polly leaned forward. “Tomorrow?”
“Yeah.” Sera took a shaky sip of her coffee. “I saw this coming. He needs to know we’re permanent and there’s nothing I can say to reassure him. It has to be everything. Words, papers. Rings. I want that, too. I want him forever. It’s just all so fast and I…I just wish my mother were around to talk it out with.” She frowned. “So strange, since we weren’t even close.”
Erin shook the weird urge to put her arms around Sera. Too risky if she tried to hug her back. Which led to thoughts of Connor. Of his reaction when she tried to move out. How he’d begged her to come home tonight. She understood his passionate nature, because it existed inside her as well. What was he doing right now? Was he staring at the door waiting for her to walk through it? Thinking of him made every part of her ache, so she focused on Sera. “Your family isn’t the one marrying him. You are.” When Sera looked at her thoughtfully, Erin shifted on the plastic seat. “Who’s going to be the witness?”
“Connor.” Sera watched her closely. “Bowen asked him this morning.”
“Oh.”
Sera nodded toward Polly, but kept her eyes trained on Erin. “She implied you have man troubles, too. I guess I’ve been distracted by Bowen and the new job. Is it Connor?”
Uncomfortable with the turn the conversation had taken, straight into girl chat, Erin shrugged. “He buys me orange juice.”
Polly snorted. “Don’t make himworkfor it or anything.”
“Oh, he’s working for it,” she muttered. “Believe me.”
Sera stirred another packet of sugar into her coffee. “We spent some time together back in Brooklyn. When I was undercover.”
Every muscle in Erin’s body went stiff, her pulse skittering. Jealousy. Thick and humid, like the lick of a flame. “What do you mean by time?”
“He was shot while I was undercover. His crew wouldn’t take him to the hospital, knowing it would draw attention.” She sighed after a sip of coffee. “So I nursed him back to health.”
Shot in Brooklyn? Hadn’t he told her he’d gotten the wound overseas? No, she realized. He’d distracted her without giving an actual answer, damn him. Polarized by the image of Connor with blood pouring from his strong body fought against jealousy that still burned hot. She didn’t like the idea of any woman’s hands on him. It should have been her taking care of him. No one else. No one else ever again.
The need to see him whole and powerful made her want to sprint out of Denny’s at full speed, but a dose of anger kept her rooted to the seat. “Who shot him? I’d like to know now-ish, please.”
Sera gave her a sympathetic look. “We don’t know. If it makes you feel better, the bullet was meant for someone else. He just got in the way.”
Rage clawed at her.This is how he feels about my stepfather being out there, walking around free.Dammit. She had no place to channel the anger. It needed somewhere to go. “Did something happen between you two?” The question shot from her mouth like a cannon. Wouldn’t be contained. She’d come to this stupid restaurant to clear her head, but it felt ready to burst now.
“You might want to lie,” Polly said to Sera.
“Nothing ever happened. Ever. He’s like a brother.” Sera shook her head. “It was always Bowen for me. He’s…”
“What?” Erin asked without looking at her.
