“I believe you. When you set your mind on something,” she ran her fingers along his forearm, “you see it through.”
That. Right. There. Her touch was causing that same creepy feeling. He actually looked down where her hand was to see if there were spiders, or ants, or some sort of logical explanation. She wasn’t even touching him in a flirty way. “I do my best,” speculation was in his voice. Did she hear it?
Lisa withdrew her hand. He was suspicious, she could tell. What the hell changed? Did Mitch inform him of what happened when he was there? She redirected, “Where were you?” His eyes lit up and she actually recoiled. My God, he was in love!
“With my fiancée,” he confirmed with a huge grin on his face.
“What? When did this happen?” She faked elation so well Cole bought it and began to bounce up and down.
“What’s goin’ on, Mama? Uncle Tar?” he squeaked.
He swept the little boy into his arms. “I’m getting married, Partner.”
“Is she pretty?” he trilled.
“She’s absolutely beautiful,” Tar crooned.
“I wanna meeeeeet her,” Cole sang.
Lisa interrupted, “Soon, honey.”
“Really!” he clapped and jumped down. “Imma make her a picture.” And he raced to the table, dumping his crayons and markers.
“I’m very happy for you,” Lisa pretended while once more placing her hand on Tar.
He fought the odd sensations dancing along his arm where she held on. Warning bells going off like crazy in his mind. “Thank you.”
Cole called out, “What’s my new auntie’s name?”
Tar chuckled at that. “Keeley.”
“Oh!” he exclaimed. “Pretty name.”
“Yes, I agree,” Tar replied.
“Have you set a date?” Lisa inquired, sounding interested while inside she began plotting how to stop this wedding.
Tar shook his head. “If I could marry her today, I would.”
“Wow! What’s the rush?”
Tar turned to face her so they weren’t right next to each other. “We’re in love. Why wait?”
“Fair point. When can we meet her?”
“I’ll work something out with Mitch.”
Her eyes widened. “You were with her last night.”
Something told Tar to tread carefully like there was a live mine waiting for him to step on. He shrugged it off, neither confirming nor denying, and changed direction of the conversation, “You guys did okay without me.”
“We missed you. Didn’t we, Cole?”
His little head popped up from where he was concentrating. “Yeah!” he shouted out.
Tar laughed at his enthusiasm. He couldn’t wait for Keeley to meet Cole, so they could take him to a park for the day. Visions of what it’d be like to have nieces and nephews fill their home with laughter and joy consumed him. Didn’t matter if they never had kids of their own, they would have children to love all around them.
Lisa pulled him from his happy musings, “Does this mean you’re not going to stay on this case?”
He sobered instantly. “I’m absolutely staying. My brother isn’t home. I won’t rest until he is.”
Cole cried out, “Daddy! You’re going to bring my daddy home.”
Fuck. “We’re doing our best to make that happen, Buddy.”
“‘Kay, Uncle Tar,” he said as he went back to coloring.
Lisa leveled a look at Tar. “You shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep,” she whispered low.
“Excuse me,” Tar stood and left the room. He planned on keeping that promise and realized it was best for him to no longer be around Lisa. Broke his heart to leave Cole but this really was starting to raise all kinds of alarms in him. She played the role of loving sister-in-law, but something about her screamed jealous lover. He was pretty sure Mitch would agree, considering how much he didn’t care for the woman, especially when he conveyed what just happened.
Chapter Twenty-One
Lacey crawled into the car in front of their parent’s home and glanced over at Keeley. “Okay, you were right. How do we help Mom?”
Keeley exhaled loudly. “She’s stubborn.”
“Hello!” Lacey quirked a brow when she had Keeley’s attention “Pretty sure you live in that same glass house.”
“Fuck you,” she said without heat, pulling away from the house that held so many bad memories.
“You alright?” Lacey didn’t miss how uncomfortable her sister was the entire time they visited their mother. She knew it wasn’t Mom. They really had come to a point of understanding and forgiveness.