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Kristoff looked down at the little girl, his brows furrowed. “Why do you walk around with a tin can? Don’t they give you proper toys?”
Mary rolled her eyes. “That’s the swear jar.”
“That’s not a jar.”
“I can’t have her running around with glass all day,” Mary muttered.
“Ah, mybratandoes like to swear, doesn’t he?”
Zoe held the jar under his nose. “That will be one dollar, please.”
Kristoff took out a stack of bills and riffled through them. “I don’t have a one-dollar bill.”
Zoe peeked at his hand. “But you have money?” She looked disappointed, clearly not happy with a grown-up not abiding by grown-up rules.
“Those are hundred-dollar bills, cupcake,” Mary explained.
“I can wait so you can change,” Zoe offered, not ready to let her uncle off the hook.
There was a stare-off between the two. Then Kristoff cocked a brow and put a hundred-dollar bill in the jar.
Zoe beamed. “Thank you, Uncle Kris.” She turned to Mary. “Will you count how much I have now? Do you think it’s enough for a Wii?” She sounded so hopeful.
“I’m sensing a scam here,” Kristoff said dryly.
“No scam,” Mary assured him. “Why don’t you take the jar to Hector, cupcake, so he can count for you? I have something to discuss with your uncle.”
Zoe left with the swear jar safely tucked in her hands.
“Discuss with me? Sounds ominous.”
“Not at all.” Her gaze followed Zoe who had reached Hector. He was patiently listening to her as she bounced around him. “You should talk to him, you know. Explain.”
“Explain what?”
“Why you sent him away.”
“He has told you.” He sounded surprised.
“Yes. After, um, much debate.” And an intro of a night she would forever remember.
“There is nothing to tell that would make a difference. We are what we are.”
“I don’t believe that. See, if you didn’t care about him, you wouldn’t have kept yourself in his life.” When he cocked an eyebrow, she continued, “Hector seems to think that you decided to become friends with Gio because you two are made out of the same cloth. And while that may be true, it’s still strange. Why would a man who wants nothing to do with his brother become friends with his brother’s best friend? It doesn’t make sense. It would have been more logical if you would have stayed away from the Dettas, and thus away from Hector. But you didn’t. In fact, I’d bet you proposed to co-own a club with Gio to stay entangled in Hector’s life.”
He took another swig from his drink. “It appears my brother has married you not only for your beauty, but your brains as well.”
“Hector doesn’t see it, because his emotions cloud his judgment, but I do. And I don’t like seeing him unhappy. He might not show it, but I think you hurt him really bad all those years ago, and that wound hasn’t healed.”
Kristoff looked at Hector, who was putting patties on the grill while trying to keep Zoe away from the fire.
“What if some wounds never heal?”
“I don’t believe that to be true. Being too afraid or too proud to right a wrong is a weakness. I would think that a man like you wouldn’t want to live with such a flaw.”
“A man like me?”
She nodded. “Strong, independent, king of his world. Surely you aren’t afraid to tell Hector the real reason why you sent him away?”