Page 78 of Reckless With You

And then I felt something else. I wanted to reach out to the woman in tears. I wanted to make sure she was okay.

All of those thoughts ran through my head at the same time, turning and tumbling together, disappearing into a vast expanse of nothingness.

I couldn’t help but wonder why Tucker wasn’t saying anything, why he didn’t seem to be feeling anything. And why his eyes looked so blank.

The woman cleared her throat and backed away.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you had company.”

I did my best to smile and not raise my brows or react in any kind of jealous way. I shouldn’t be jealous. Tucker wasn’t mine. “I guess I could say the same. I’m sorry.”

“No, I am. I’m Melinda. I just needed to talk to Tucker for a bit.” She reached out her hand. I looked at it for a moment before taking it and giving it a shake.

“Amelia.”

“Nice to meet you.” She smiled, but there was such deep sadness in her eyes that I wanted to reach out and hug her, as well.

What had been going on here?

She looked at Tucker. “You have my number. Please, call me. Soon.”

She gave me a watery smile and then walked out, leaving Tucker and me alone.

Tucker looked at me for a minute, and neither of us said anything.

It wasn’t like he was cheating. You couldn’t cheat on something we didn’t have.

Right?

“It’s not what you think,” he said, and I blinked.

That wasn’t at all what I’d expected him to say.

“It’s okay,” I said quickly. “We made no promises.”

That hadn’t been the right thing to say, and I knew it. Not with the way his eyes filled with anger. Then his expression went back to that one of darkness that didn’t really say anything at all.

“You’re right,” he said, letting out an angry laugh.

“Tucker.”

“No, you’re right. We didn’t make any promises. Other than the fact that I said I didn’t cheat. Ever. But I’m not Tobey. I’m not going to keep secrets from you. So, don’t be like that, okay?”

There was such anger in his tone, a biting bark, that I took a step back, not even realizing that I had done it until his eyes narrowed.

I knew he didn’t cheat. He was a good man.

But the whole thing threw me off balance. And, yes, maybe I had put some of my own feelings about Tobey in the middle of it all, but that didn’t mean I was in the wrong here. There was no wrong here. Right?

“What’s wrong, Tucker? Who is Melinda, and why was she here?”

“She’s here because her son is sick.”

I frowned, shaking my head. “Sick?”

His words didn’t really make sense to me, and I felt like I was three steps behind, trying to catch up even though there wasn’t really anything to catch up to.

“Sick as in cancer. Leukemia. The kid needs a bone marrow transplant.”