Page 38 of Truth or More Truth (Throwback RomComs #3)

thirty-five

. . .

“ Y ou have to go to Diego’s resort.” Leslie grins at me from across the booth. “Maybe Bobby will take you someday.”

I shake my head but smile back as I cut a piece off my waffle with my fork. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

Wendy takes a long drag of her shake and doesn’t fully swallow it before saying, “I heard Diego’s already planning your wedding.” She wipes ice cream off her chin with her sweatshirt sleeve.

It’s Saturday morning, and once again, we’re at Pat’s Diner, because apparently Wendy craves it every day.

I’m not sure what she’ll do once she and Randall move up to Evanston in a few weeks.

And even though it’s nine in the morning, she’s drinking a shake with a questionable combination of ice cream flavors.

“That man … actually,” I tilt my head, “since you know about that and I’m assuming it’s via your husband, I should say those men are bigger gossipers than any women I know.”

“Not Ash.” Leslie smiles smugly. “He knows how to keep a secret.”

“Like about how often you two did—or did not —leave your room at the resort last week?” Now Wendy’s the one looking smug.

Leslie’s eyes widen. “He did not!” She huffs. “He’s in for it when I get home tonight. ”

I snort. “Yeah, I’m sure he’s gonna be real scared.”

“Plus, I was kidding.” Wendy wiggles her shoulders. “You’re the one who just let that cat out of the bag, you little minx.”

Leslie groans before allowing a smile to take over her face. “It was pretty great, though.”

“I bet it was.” Wendy sighs and stares dreamily off into the distance. “If he’s anything like?—”

I hold up both hands to cut her off. “Stop! I don’t need the details about what the Hamilton boys get up to with their wives behind closed doors.”

Wendy giggles. “Who says we close our door?”

I laugh loudly enough to draw stares while Leslie says, “Pretty soon you’re going to need to both close and lock your door. Don’t want to accidentally scar Sonya for life.”

“Or your mother-in-law. You sure you want to move?” I tease.

“I’m actually looking forward to it, if you can believe that.

” Wendy slurps up the last of her shake and sets her empty glass down.

“If you’d told me one year ago that right now I’d be married to Randall, pregnant, and about to move into a wing of my mother-in-law’s gigantic house that’s bigger than my childhood home—which was not tiny, mind you—I’d have told you to just say no to drugs. ”

Leslie shoots her a wry grin. “You probably also wouldn’t believe you’d be sitting in a diner wearing a stained sweatsuit while drinking a nasty-looking shake.”

Wendy glares at her but knows she’s right. Our friend is nothing if not fashionable at almost all times. Pregnancy is affecting her in unexpected ways.

“All while catching up with the two best friends a girl could ever ask for.” I hold my hands up for them to both give me a high five.

Leslie immediately slaps my hand. Wendy wipes some mustard off her hand before slapping the other one.

I’m not even sure where the mustard came from, as she hasn’t ordered any fries yet.

I’m sure that’ll happen before we leave, though, despite it still being breakfast hours.

“Back to the most exciting topic at hand.” Wendy glances at Leslie.

“No offense. It’s not that your honeymoon isn’t exciting, or that this little peanut isn’t exciting,” she rubs her belly, “but … Melissa and Bobby are dating!” She wiggles her fingers and squeals like a little girl who’s just been told she’s getting a pony.

I try to temper my smile but fail miserably. “I honestly can’t believe it.”

Wendy props her chin on her palm. “What’s your favorite thing about Bobby?”

That’s a great question, and I’m not sure how to answer. Is it the way he takes care of the people he loves, and even the ones he doesn’t love but who he works for? Is it the way he makes me feel? Is it that he doesn’t have any idea what an amazing human he is?

“It’s that dimple, isn’t it?” Leslie smirks at me. “Don’t you just want to poke your finger in there on the rare occasions it makes an appearance?”

Wendy raises an eyebrow. “I can think of something else?—”

I make a chopping motion with my hand. “Yes, I love the dimples! But I also love how much he loves his daughter … and his ex-wife, as weird as that sounds. I like that he cares about his clients and goes above and beyond to help them be better people. I love that he wants to be a better man than he is, which is already pretty dang good.”

“And he’s verrrry easy on the eyes,” Wendy adds with a decisive nod.

My entire body heats at the thought. “That he is.”

“And he’s a great kisser?” Leslie asks.

“Indeed.” My face warms even more and I hide it behind my hands.

Wendy reaches across the table and yanks my hands away. “Nothing to be ashamed of. Own it, girl. You’ve got yourself a hunk of a man.” She points her thumb back and forth between herself and Leslie. “Welcome to the club!”

“Thanks … I guess. Anyway, have either of you met Kelli? Has he ever brought her out here? Or did you take a trip to L.A. and not tell me because I wasn’t supposed to know about Bobby’s family?”

Leslie shakes her head. “We haven’t met her, but the guys did when they flew out to L.A.

for Randall’s bachelor party in November.

In fact, they stayed at Bobby’s house. Ash didn’t say much about it, which is no surprise to anyone, but Randall still won’t shut up about how much he loves the style of Bobby’s home.

” She bobs her head back and forth. “Again, not out of character.”

Wendy adds, “We have some photos of the guys that were taken at the house if you want to see them. None with Kelli or her mom, though.”

I think about it for a second. “No, I’d rather wait and see Bobby’s house when he’s ready to show me.”

“That makes sense,” Leslie says. “I’ve seen a photo of Kelli, but not from Bobby.

Diego is a ridiculously proud honorary uncle, and it drives him a little bit crazy that he doesn’t get to show her off to many people.

Once he found out I knew about Kelli, he showed me the picture of her he keeps in his wallet. ”

My hand presses over my heart. “That’s so sweet.” Then I feel my mouth pull into a frown. “But why didn’t he show me? Or why didn’t Bobby show me a picture? There’s no doubt he’s proud of his daughter.”

Leslie shrugs. “Bobby probably didn’t think about it. He’s not used to people knowing about Kelli, much less wanting to see her picture. And maybe Diego thought it wasn’t his place to show you.”

That makes me feel a little better. “OK, we’ll go with that.”

Wendy laughs. “Girl, Bobby was thinking about how gorgeous you are and how much he wanted to get his hands and mouth on you. Showing you a picture of his daughter wasn’t anywhere near his radar.”

Leslie rubs her hands together. “Now let’s talk about your upcoming Miami trip. How many hotel rooms will there be?”

The grin on Wendy’s face could be seen for miles. “We all know you two aren’t opposed to sharing a hotel room—or a bed.”

“What?!” Leslie’s gaze bounces back and forth between Wendy and me. “Who knows this? I don’t know this!”

I tell her about our hotel experiences on the trip to her wedding, minus the part about Bobby having a panic attack. I know these two are aware of the accident that nearly killed Nanette, but I doubt they know about his panic attacks. They’re not going to hear about them from me.

“Even though we’ve shared a bed before,” I say, “sharing a bed now is a whole different animal. I told him I’m open to staying together, but I’m trusting him to make the decision he thinks is best for him.

There’s no doubt he’s all in on this relationship, but he’s being cautious because of Kelli.

I get it. He has more at stake than I do if this all goes south. ”

“Mom, Dad . . .” I take a deep breath. “I’m dating someone.”

My mother jumps up and rounds the table to hug me, while my dad gives me a lopsided smile and reaches across the corner of the dining room table with his good arm to pat my hand.

“Who is it?” my mom asks as she retakes her seat. “Is it someone at work?” Her eyes grow wide. “It’s not a baseball player, is it?”

I chuckle at her obvious dismay at that thought. “What? You don’t want me to be a baseball wife?”

“Honey, you know I want you to be happy and married and giving me grandbabies, and if that’s with a professional athlete, then so be it.

” She points her steak knife at me. “But I’d prefer if it were with someone who lives in Chicago and has no fear of being traded to another team far away from here at any moment. ”

My heart sinks. “Well, the good news is he’s not a baseball player. But he doesn’t live here. He lives in L.A.”

“Los Angeles!” My mother nearly leaps out of her chair again, but for a different reason than before. “You can’t move that far away! We just got you back last spring.”

“Settle down, my dear,” Dad says softly. “If she loves this man, she needs to feel like she has the freedom to move to wherever the two of them need to be. We can’t hold her back from her happiness.”

Tears fill my eyes. “Thank you, Dad. I don’t know if I love him yet. And I don’t want to move. I need you to know that. But he has a daughter, and their life is in California. Moving here isn’t really an option for them.”

“A daughter?” Mom’s eyebrows raise as she sets down her wine glass. “How old is she? Are you prepared to be a step-mother? Has he been married before? Is his ex-wife still in the picture?”

Dad settles his hand on her arm and speaks to me. “How about we start with his name and how you met him, Lissa, and we’ll go from there?”

I nod, my heart squeezing at Dad’s use of his childhood nickname for me. “His name is Bobby Jacobs. He’s Diego Sanchez’s agent, and he was a groomsman in both of the Hamilton weddings.”

Dad nods. “Yes, I remember him being one of Randall’s groomsmen. And more than that, I know of him by reputation. He’s a bit older than you, isn’t he?”

“Yes, he’s ten years older, which is closer in age to me than you two are to each other.

” My parents have a thirteen-year age difference.

“And don’t let his professional reputation turn you off.

He’s a really good man outside the office.

” I tilt my head to the side. “Actually, I think he’s a good man inside the office, too.

He’s just determined to always get the best deal possible for his clients. ”

“I didn’t mean anything negative by mentioning his reputation,” Dad says. “As a businessman, I know public perception isn’t always equal to reality. I’ll reserve any judgment until I hear what you have to say about him and I meet the man myself.”

I give my parents the CliffsNotes version of Bobby’s past. I don’t gloss over his previous marriage and divorce, but I also don’t divulge all the details of his relationship with Nanette.

“Nanette is still a big part of his life,” I say, “and Kelli’s, obviously. That’s another reason why he needs to stay in California. If he moved here, he’d have to not only uproot his daughter but also move Nanette here, too.”

“It says a lot about the man that he’s taking care of a woman he’s not legally or even morally obligated to,” Dad says.

I shrug. “He loves her.” I hold my hand up to my mom when she starts to speak.

“As a friend, not as anything more. He has no intention of ever having a romantic relationship with her in the future. He’s not Jeremy, Mom.

He says he thinks of Nanette as a sister, and I believe him.

” The jury is still out on whether Nanette thinks of Bobby as a brother, though.

I need to verify that for myself. “If you don’t trust my judgment, then trust Diego’s and Randall’s and Ash’s.

They all speak incredibly highly of him. ”

“I trust you,” Mom says. “You’re sure about this? That this is what you want—to date this man who lives across the country and has a teenage daughter and an ex-wife who may always be around?”

“Yes, I’m absolutely certain this is what I want. I’m serious about this relationship and seeing if it could lead to marriage. If I weren’t, I wouldn’t be willing to put in the effort it’s going to take.”