The only reason I knew about the party that was going on now was because Reese, Luke’s wife, asked me to come over and hang out with her while the men had their weekly talk about ‘team morale’ with the SWAT team.
A pretty blonde opened the door with a wide smile.
She looked uncannily similar to Reese, so I assumed she must’ve been the sister that Reese was telling me would be here.
“Hi!” She said perkily.
I smiled, although I was sure it didn’t reach my eyes. “Hi.”
“Can I help you?” She asked, still not letting me in.
“Yeah, my name’s Memphis. This is…” She opened the door fully.
“Oh! I’m sorry! My name’s Tru. I was just told to see who it was by Downy. He wasn’t expecting anybody else,” she smiled. “Reese has told me a lot about you.”
Not Downy, but Reese.
Lovely.
I smiled, but I was sure it was more of a grimace, “Thanks.”
I was put off guard when I entered and saw that there was new wood flooring in just ten short days.
There was a new coat paint on the walls as well. A rich, dark brown the color of melted chocolate.
“Looks nice, doesn’t it? Trance, my husband, and I helped paint the walls this past weekend. And he had the floors done just yesterday. It’s coming together quite nicely,” Tru smiled.
My heart sank. “Hmm.”
Why hadn’t he called me to help paint?
I’d been off from the diner that day, as well as yesterday.
I’d only gotten a cursory text from him, too.
I could’ve helped paint!
Trying to not let my anger show, I followed her dutifully into the house, through the living room that looked like it’d received a lot of attention this week, too, and out to the back patio.
Downy was at the grill, while everyone sat on various pieces of outdoor furniture that was also new.
It looked to be something a woman would pick out, though, just based on the color choices.
I knew instantly Downy hadn’t picked it out. He was a brown man. He dealt in shades of brown.
What he didn’t do was choose bright colors like red and white.
Those just weren’t him.
Which was why I never saw him in clothes that had any personality to them. He was a plain black, white, or gray.
There was no branching out, and those cushions were definitely outside of his comfort zone.
He clocked me the moment I stepped outside, and immediately locked down.
His face had been impassive before, but now it was downright blank.
No expression in his eyes. No nothing.
I hesitated when I started walking towards him, which made a flare of anger spark in his eyes.
My escort had left, though, going into the arms of a blonde man off to the side of the yard.
What did happen, though, was a very excited Mocha came up to me and started leaning into me with her big body.
I gave a fleeting smile and bent down to scratch Mocha’s ears.
“Hey, sweet baby. How are you doing?” I asked her.
She licked my face, going to town. “Oh, I know. I missed you, too.”
A clearing throat had me looking up to find Reese and Luke looking down at me, smiling.
“Oh,” I said, standing. “Hey.”
Reese smiled, as did Luke. “Hey! I was hoping you’d be able to come!”
Reese’s declaration made me a little more comfortable about being there, but not enough to totally hide the fact that I could tell that Downy most assuredly did not.
“No problem. I’d do anything to help…when I can, that is. I needed a break from studying anyway,” I admitted, eyes going back to Downy who now had his back to us as he flipped, what looked to be sausage, over on the grill. “Just let me go say hi real quick, and we can get started.”
She nodded and turned into her husband’s arms, smiling up at him.
Which caused my heart to turn over.
I wanted that.
I wanted what they had.
I didn’t want to have to worry that my boyfriend didn’t want to see me when I showed up out of the blue like I was doing now.
I walked up to his back, stopping about two feet from the ride side of him, and said, “Hey.”
He looked up and nodded his head. “Hey.”
My stomach clenched. “Are you okay?”
He shrugged. “I’m doing okay. You?”
Was this even the same person?
“I came over to help with the police department bake sale. That’s okay, right?” I continued when he said nothing more.
He nodded. “Kitchen’s pretty fancy now. You’ll find everything you’ll need in there.”
Not knowing what else to say, I walked into the kitchen and didn’t look back.
I worked with Georgia and Reese until nearly eighteen dozen cookies of all assortments were packaged into tins of twelve.
I’d just met Georgia, Nico’s wife. She was a sweet woman, and had a very interesting job as a social worker for an adoption agency.
She also had two very cute twins who were with their grandparents.
They were the spitting image of Nico, and I had a feeling they’d probably be heartthrobs.
What I didn’t do, though, was enjoy myself.
My mind kept replaying mine and Downy’s relationship.
Had I overthought the entire thing?
Was it just sex?
I mean, sure, it was sex. Good sex at that. But I’d thought it’d been something more.
But he was treating it as if it were a temporary thing.
The moment the wall had gone up, something had changed with him. As if he’d only been scratching an itch for that long because of a circumstance.
It was as if the wall coming down had been the only reason he’d given me the time of day.
Two hours later, feeling left out and alone, I decided now was a good time to leave. Downy wouldn’t even notice. He was too busy carrying on with the same chick that I’d met before.
I didn’t really give a shit that she was Reese’s sister. Nor did I care that she was married.
What I did care about was that he somehow managed to find time for her and not me. The woman who’d been sharing a bed with him…or had before said man had replaced a wall and decided to find other ways to occupy his time.