When did I start thinking of us as a couple? A real couple.
It’s always been me doing it on my own. I’ve had it all mapped out because I never saw it any differently. Now I’m talking about being a team with him. It’s foreign but at the same time, deep in my gut I know that it’s what I want.
My world has been turned around and finally, I have hope for more.
“Yeah, I guess we will.”
Chastity groans and leaves the room. “I should’ve moved in with Grandma.”
Both of us burst out laughing. “Well, I guess I’m glad she didn’t say her father. Thank God none of us had to see him all that much when he was here.”
Derek stops laughing and something in his face changes. I’m not sure what, but it was so weird that my stomach drops a little. He turns his face and starts to busy himself.
Why did he turn away when I said something about Keith? He hadn’t shown up again after that night at my parents’, and from what I’ve heard he left town yesterday. I’m just grateful my life can go back to normal.
“Derek?” I call his attention.
“Teagan?”
“Why did you turn away?”
He straightens his back and sighs. “I hate thinking about Keith.”
“Well, no one really likes to think about him, but you seem…I don’t know…weird.”
“I hate him and I still hate what he did to you. And that there even is a tape.”
My heart sinks. I thought maybe after he knew the whole story, he’d understand. He didn’t seem bothered by it after. He was angry, which I get, but not at me. Derek felt a lot of self-hatred for not protecting me—which is stupid.
He couldn’t have stopped it. I don’t even know that I would’ve told him.
“I get that, but it’s in the past, seriously.”
He nods. “Agreed, but I still don’t like him.”
“Oh, me neither.”
“Good, then let’s stop talking about him.”
“Okay,” I say apprehensively. “Dinner is done anyway.”
Derek gives me a quick kiss. “I’ll head downstairs to get the girls.”
This could be so easy if we can get the girls to be civil, which seems to be happening on its own. There are no hurdles to overcome other than merging our lives. I don’t think we’ll struggle there. Even though years of us being apart has changed things about us, we’re still the same.
We just—click.
It’s why I think I see the future with him.
There’s a knock at the back door that leads down to the store, which means it can either be my mother, Derek is locked out, or it’s Nina. I pray for any but the first.
When I open the door, I thank God for once being kind to me with this. “Hey!”
“Hey,” Nina says a little quieter than her normal boisterous self.
“Everything okay?”
“I really need to talk and it can’t wait.”
I push open the door and invite her in. “What’s wrong?” She starts to pace, and my nerves grow. Nina is always so easygoing. When things are in crisis, she’s the calm one. Seeing her like this is out of character. “Nina?”
“I’m not sure if what I heard is a lie or not, but the rumor is going around and I don’t want you to hear it anywhere else.”
“Okay…”
This town and their fucking rumors. I’m so tired of it and once again, I’m going to be the center of it. God forbid they get a life and leave mine alone.
“So, Keith was here and apparently, the rumor is that you sent Chastity to get information on Keith.”
Well, now I’ve heard it all. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”
“You mean she didn’t go to the funeral home?”
“Of course she didn’t go! She didn’t even know when it was. This is so insane. I’m so tired of this crap. I want nothing to do with that asshole. I’ve worked so hard to keep Chastity away from him and the poison that is his life and for what?”
“Tea,” she says softly. “I saw her.”
“You saw who?”
“Chastity.”
My heart sputters. “You saw her where?”
Nina releases a heavy sigh through her nose and then shakes her head. “I saw her leaving the funeral home.”
This makes no sense.
“She couldn’t. She was with Derek.”
Nina looks away, she chews on her thumb and then turns back to me. “I know.”
“You…he was with her? No, that’s crazy.”
“All I know is I saw her and then I saw him. I don’t know, Tea. I don’t know what the story is. Derek didn’t tell you?”
No, he most definitely didn’t. In fact, he didn’t say a word.
“I was going to tell you.” Derek’s voice fills the room. “I was waiting for the right time.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Teagan
Present
I stand, looking at the man I love, wondering what the hell he was thinking. “You took her to the funeral home?” I ask, praying he answers differently.
“It wasn’t like that.”
Nina walks forward, touching my shoulder. “Call me later, okay?”
I nod, not taking my eyes off him.
I wait, trying to wrap my mind around what she just told me. Derek, who hates Keith, took my daughter to see him. He didn’t talk to me, ask me, get my blessing. He just took her? Why? What could possibly be the reason why he would go against something I so clearly was opposed to?
Nina walks around us, her hand rests on his shoulder for a minute and then drops.
“Nina?” I call. “Can you ask the girls to stay downstairs until we get them?”
“Of course, honey.”
“Thank you. For being honest as well.”
She gives me a sad smile and then closes the door behind her.
Derek straightens his back and his lips form a thin line. I don’t care that it hurt, this is far worse. “Before you go ballistic, hear me out.”
“By all means…” I say with
