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.She’d been Jack’s wife, their daughter-in-law.She’d gone out to eat with them once a week on the mandatory parents’ night and she’d sat at their dining room table over three years of holiday dinners.She’d owed them the courtesy of a phone call and had fallen short.Knowing their number by heart, she dialed, and prayed the right words would come to her.“You!” A feminine shriek shook the line.“How dare you call!”“Mrs.Leon,” Nikki managed to say.“I’m sorry.I should have been the one to… tell you.”“Tell me what? That you murdered my boy? I hope that cop arrests you and you spend the rest of your life in prison!”“I didn’t—”“I told him.I told that O’Connor cop everything.I told him how you tried to get my boy to pay you alimony.”“I didn’t—”“I told him how I’d reminded my son that he needed to change his will.I’ll die before I let you get one cent.” She started sobbing.“He was my son.My only son.”“I’m so sorry,” Nikki said.“Sorry that you killed him?”“I didn’t—” Her breath caught in her chest, followed by a big ache.“You stay away from us!” Mrs.Leon snapped.“I told my boy you were nothing but white trash.”The phone went dead.Nikki sat in the middle of the floor and stared at her phone.The sobs came slowly at first and then began to gush out of her.Tony spotted LeAnn right off—sitting at a lunch table by herself, picking at a bag of potato chips.His gaze shot to the table where an empty saucer sat.No doubt it had held her dessert.Which, more times than not, she ate first.He recalled how hard it had been for her to eat healthy during her pregnancy.But she’d done it.If eating green crap is what I have to do, I’ll do it.And she had.He remembered the night she’d held her nose and ate broccoli because she’d read it was good for the baby.He’d told LeAnn she didn’t have to do everything the books said, but she wasn’t taking chances.He felt so sorry for her that every time she’d looked away, he’d snag a bite of broccoli and eat it himself.He hated the shit, but would have eaten every bite for her.Lunchroom noises brought him back to the moment.He watched LeAnn eat another chip.She hadn’t had a mom to push the five food groups on her.To LeAnn, cake and a bag of potato chips were the perfect meal.Walking over to the table, he longed to lean over and kiss her, to taste her lips.But instead, he pulled out a chair and snagged one of her chips.Shock filled her green eyes.She looked as tired as he felt.He forced a smile.“Hmm, chocolate and potato chips, you’ve covered both your essential food groups.”“Yeah.” She looked back at chips as if trying to collect her thoughts.“What are you doing here?”“I had to talk to a witness,” he said.She nodded, but didn’t look up.“I was thinking maybe we could go out on Sunday.A nice dinner.”“I…” She looked back at him.“I was going to give you this on Sunday, but since you’re here.” She pulled a white envelope from her purse and pushed it to him.His gut knotted with fear because he instinctually knew what it was.The knot rose to his throat when he saw the lawyer’s name typed across the front.“No.” He pushed it back over to her.“I love you.”Tears filled her eyes.“You married me because I was pregnant, Tony.And now…”Shock ripped through his chest.Was that what this was about? Holy hell, he’d counted his lucky stars, considered himself the luckiest man in the world when she came to him with that little stick with a pink line on it.He leaned in.“I married you because you totally rocked my world.You stole my heart.I would have asked you to marry me a month earlier if I thought there was a chance in hell that you’d say yes.”She sat there as if she didn’t hear a word he said.“You did the right thing.You always do the right thing.So do it this time, too.Sign it, Tony.Let’s move on.” She got up and walked away.His world, his touchstone just walked out.He swallowed the emotion down his throat.“I don’t want to move on,” he said under his breath.And that’s when he knew what he had to do.And while it involved moving, it wasn’t on or away from LeAnn.It was back.He was moving back home.Snatching up the envelope, he left.He was almost out of the hospital when he remembered he had gone there to interview someone.Folding the damn divorce papers, he stuffed them into his pocket, and went back to do his job.Dallas let Bud out, started coffee, and then stood staring at his refrigerator trying to figure out what he could offer Nikki to eat.No eggs.Some bacon that had expired a month ago.He tossed that in the garbage.Feeling anxious, he went back to the fridge and stared at the empty shelves.In the back of his mind he heard his mom’s voice.You know, staring in there won’t make anything magically appear.I know, he would tell her.This is where I do my best thinking.What on your mind, son? She would always come hug him from behind.Whatever dilemma he’d had, one trip to the fridge always led to problem solving with his mom.God, how he missed her.And if she were here right now, he’d probably be telling her about his yin and yang feeling about the woman in his bathroom.Shutting the fridge door, trying to shut off his thoughts, he moved his attention to the pantry.Those shelves were even emptier than the fridge
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