I tensed, and my stomach dropped. “Was she okay?”
Glancing around, I stopped on where she was sitting, talking to her friends and sister, and noted that she looked okay from here. But what if she was injured and hiding it?
“Yeah, her brother had fallen down the stairs and gone through a wall. The screaming from him was because he’d impaled his leg on a piece of the frame behind the plasterboard. When he’d started screaming, she’d started, too. It was amusing after it was all over, but as they cut him out of the wall—words I never thought I’d say—we all felt for the guy.”
If that was a hint of the life she led, I’d probably be just as well backing away from her. But I wouldn’t be doing that.
Something about her and Nemi had opened my eyes to what I hadn’t even known I’d wanted in my life. I knew nothing about kids and had never even considered having one, but Nemi had wormed her way in with just a handful of words. If that’s the impact she had in a brief moment, what would it be like over a more extended period? And her mom packed a punch that’d taken my breath away the second I’d seen her. She was prickly because I’d been a dick, but what if I could prove myself to her?
With one came the other. I’d never been interested in a woman who had a kid before, and I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t spent a lot of time thinking over the logistics and wisdom of pursuing her. I not only had to do right by Heidi because she was that kind of woman, but I had to do right by Nemi, too.
And that’s exactly what I was going to do. Realistically speaking, no one knew what the future held, but I knew I wouldn’t mess them around. I felt more serious about them than I had over anything in my life to date.
Chapter Six
Heidi
I’d been confused when all of the men, including Dad, had disappeared, and things weren’t any clearer now that they were back. If Cash had been okay to come, I could have gotten the story from him, but he was still recovering at home after his ‘accident.’
After giving us a quick run down of what the men had done after he’d arrived, Dad was now off again, no doubt avoiding the glares coming from Mom. This seemed to be the typical scenario between couples, but the worst was Bond’s parents. His dad was bleeding and looked like he’d been run over, and every so often, he’d throw an anxious look at his wife, whose eyes narrowed, and lips tightened down to thin lines each time.
In contrast to his dad’s appearance, though, Bond looked delicious. He didn’t have any mud or grass marks on him, and the way he held the bottle of water was making me twitch. No shit—a bottle of water in his hand was doing it for me.
See, the man’s hands were huge, and his long fingers grasping the bottle looked hot. It was all of that and his muscular forearm, covered in artful and intricate tattoos, which had me almost melting.
“Uh, I think your vagina’s sending out smoke signals,” my sister said loudly, pulling my attention away from him and back to the girls.
My sister co-owned the hair and beauty salon in town, Delicious Divas, with two of her best friends. With them and the other friends who’d gathered around us, including my best friend Naomi, whom I’d met online in a parenting group when she’d become her niece’s guardian, we had a decently sized group going on.
And my sister’s bullshit had brought all of their attention onto me. “Shut up.”
“Seriously. You might want to start fanning your vagina before we all choke on the smoke.”
Glaring at her again, I was about to reply when Sayla’s best friend, Jacinda, sighed. “I need to find me a man. Now that Evie’s got Alex and you’ve got Bond—”
“Uh, I don’t ‘have’ Bond.”
Unfazed by the interruption, Jacinda continued, “—I need a bit of entertainment for myself.”
The quietest of the group, Katy raised her hand. “I know someone for you.”
Jacinda looked at her thoughtfully. “It depends if he meets the criteria, girl. Does he have a long list of bed buddies who struggled to walk for a week after a night with him?”
Katy looked at all of us for help, but no one had any advice to give her. “Uh, I don’t know.”
“Shame,” Jacinda sighed. “That’s always a tick in the yes column for me.”
Straightening up, Katy nodded, “I’m sure he does.”
“Does he have issues with commitment?”
“Yes?” Katy answered hesitantly. “He’s never brought a girl home.”
“Is he moody and sullen? The kind that you have to force words out of?”