Doreen crossed her arms. “Really? Then why have you been escorting Yvette Bates all over town?”
“I was trying to make you jealous.” Leonard moved his hand dismissively.
Alonzo interrupted them. “Does Yvette know that?”
Leonard’s expression darkened. “Why don’t you shut up and mind your own business?”
Alonzo held his ground. “Doreen is my business.”
“No, she’s not.” Leonard pointed a finger past Doreen toward Alonzo’s face. “You came back to Trinity Falls too late. I got to her first.”
“You don’t deserve Doreen.” Alonzo fisted his hands.
“And you do?” Leonard stepped forward, causing Doreen to stumble against Alonzo.
“Stop it!” Doreen threw up her hands.
Alonzo steadied her before moving her out of harm’s way. “You played with Yvette just to hurt Doreen. You don’t deserve either woman.”
“I said stop it!” Doreen shouted to get their attention. “Get out of my house. Both of you!” They stared at her, frozen in surprise. Doreen marched to the door and ripped it open. “Out!”
Leonard jerked his head toward Alonzo. “I’m not leaving unless he does.”
“Get! Out!” Doreen shook with fury.
Leonard recovered first. He stomped across the entryway and through the open door. “This isn’t over.”
Doreen met Alonzo’s eyes from across the distance. Her voice was muted. “I want you to leave.”
Alonzo held her gaze as he walked to her. “Forty-two years ago, I walked away without a fight. I’ll be damned if I step aside now for Leo.”
Doreen flinched at the way he sneered the other man’s name. “I’m not a toy for the two of you to fight over.”
“I’m not fighting over you, Doreen. I’m fighting for you. I can’t lose you again. And I won’t lose you to someone like Leo, who can’t appreciate what he has with you.” The yearning in his eyes weakened her knees.
Alonzo turned and walked to his car, parked at the curb in front of her house. Doreen locked her front door. Pride had demanded her show of strength to Leonard and Alonzo. They couldn’t fight over her as though she were disputed property. She would decide who she wanted to be with—if she wanted to be with either of them.
“Does Noah know I’m coming?” Darius called to the woman waiting for him Thursday evening in the doorway at the end of the path. He still wasn’t sure he was doing the right thing.
He felt like limp lettuce as he walked the short, curving path to the little wood-and-stone cottage in Sequoia, Ohio, a town neighboring Trinity Falls. Was it the heat, the strain of the coming visit, or both?
“He knows.” June Cale let Darius into her home. “He’ll be home from work soon.”
The cozy little cottage reminded Darius of Doreen Fever’s home. It was full of natural light, bright colors, and fat, fluffy furniture. Some of Darius’s tension drained as he walked farther into the Cale home.
Darius glanced at June over his shoulder. At thirty-eight, she still looked like a college coed. Her short dark brown curls exploded around her makeup-free oval face. Her almond-shaped bright brown eyes lent an exotic look to her brown sugar features.
He shoved his hands into the front pockets of his gray Dockers. “Did you talk with him?”
“I wanted to wait for you.” June gestured toward the foam green love seat, inviting Darius to sit. She took the armchair, leaving the matching sofa empty between them.
Darius’s gaze circled the room again. It housed so many Cale family memories. Photos of Noah spilled across the fireplace mantel and clung to the pale yellow walls. They tracked his life from birth to young adulthood: first steps, first bike, prekindergarten graduation, First Communion, Confirmation, football. What was it like growing up in a home in which you knew you were loved, cherished even?
June interrupted his thoughts. “Can I get you something to drink?”
“No, thanks.” Darius curled his fingers into his left palm to keep from drumming them against the armrest.
Their conversation hadn’t been this stilted since Darius had formally met June and her son, Noah, five years earlier. But perhaps discussing the weather, their day, and preparations for Trinity Falls’s upcoming sesquicentennial would calm June’s nervousness, too.