Lou whispered, “We?”

“But if your brother and your friend are over, obviously, stay with them,” I said to the older man.

Dallas’s head tipped to the side and his hand went up to pull at the collar of his T-shirt for a second, the tips of his fingers brushing against the bottom of the eagle head that I was pretty sure started right at the sensitive notch at his throat. “Uh….” He trailed off.

She was here with him. This lying, cheating, douchebag who had given me a hard time when he was…. It’s none of my business. None.

“Don’t worry about it,” I rushed out. “You can get leftovers another day if you want. I figured you wouldn’t take my money if I offered it.” My voice sounded a little tight and weird but not too horrible. “Unless you do.”

Dropping his hand to his pockets, Dallas took a step forward, closing the door behind him. His foot propped the screen door open as he locked his gaze on me. He wasn’t wearing any shoes, and I noticed how big his feet were. “It’s not that. I’d like dinner, and I’m sure Nana Pearl would too, it’s just… Jackson and his girl of the week just got here. I haven’t seen him in a couple of weeks.”

Why it felt like a weight had been lifted off my chest, I had no idea. But I could feel the difference. What were the chances he wouldn’t see it?

“I get it,” I croaked out before clearing my throat. Get it together. Was he trying to get me to invite Jackson and his friend over too? I couldn’t tell. That didn’t seem like Dallas behavior, but… I was such an idiot. Why would I think he’d actually have a woman over?

Because I was an idiot. That was why. Shit.

Like with most decisions in my life, I thought of my mom and what she would tell me to do and sighed. “Come over. It should be ready in an hour. You can bring him and his friend if you want. I mean, I’m not Italian and my spaghetti isn’t amazing, but this little squirrel thinks it’s all right.”

“It’s good,” my mini partner in crime chimed in.

Dallas’s mouth twitched as he glanced at the boy. “You think so, bud?”

Lou nodded, totally exaggerating. “Almost as good as chicken nuggets,” he confirmed.

“Better than chili?”

There was no hesitation. “No.”

I slanted him a look.

Raising his gaze back to me, my neighbor let out a sigh. “You sure about inviting them? He’s….” That hand went back to his collar to tug, exposing more of that brown ink over surprisingly tan skin. He swallowed a lot harder than I would expect he needed to do. “There’s a lot of sh—tuff you don’t know.”

I raised my hand, understanding his hesitation and knowing it was completely because Louie was with me. Whatever he wanted to say, he didn’t want to say in front of him. So I did what any adult would do—I put my hands over Louie’s ears. “He’s not going to kill us or anything, right?” I asked.

Dallas blew out a breath as the corners of his mouth bunched into a frown. “I’d never let that happen,” he stated so evenly, so matter-of-fact, this ripple of who-the-hell-knows-what shot up the nerves of my spine.

He’s just a nice guy. He’s married. He has a soft spot for single moms.

You are no one special, Diana, I reminded myself. You are no one special.

I cleared my throat and gave him a smile that was really fucking tight, my hands dropping from their spot on Louie’s ears. “Okay. Then, it’s fine. All three of you can come. We’re going to drop by Miss Pearl’s after this to invite her.”

“Sure?” Both of his eyebrows went up.

“Sure.”

* * *

“You smell like garlic.”

“You smell like fart.”

Louie choked like he couldn’t believe what I’d said before bursting out laughing, his hands busy holding several forks. “You’re mean!”

That had me grinning from across the table. “Okay, you smell like a cute fart. Like a little baby fart.”

“Babies smell.”

“When have you smelled a baby?”

“With Grandma and Grandpa.”

In the middle of setting the table, I stopped. “Are you lying to me?”

“No!”

I really doubted he’d smelled a baby—and really, babies smelled great most of the time, at least until you had to clean their diapers. I’d done my fair share of diaper duty, especially with Josh, but I was positive I’d done it with either a smile on my face or a grimace just because it smelled so awful. Formula poop was the worst.

“Speaking of your grandma and grandpa, don’t forget you’re staying with them for a week when I go visit Vanny, okay?” This was probably the third time I’d brought my trip up since buying my round-trip ticket to San Diego. I wanted him mentally prepared so he wouldn’t assume I was never coming back.

“Can I go with you?” he asked.

“Not this time.”

“Why?”

“Because you have school?” I grinned, eyeing him.

He pouted, his upper body deflating.

“We can all try to go visit her another time.”

A knock on the door had me raising my eyebrows at Lou and had Mac barking. I grabbed him by the collar and led him toward the back door, so he could hang out in the yard while Miss Pearl was over here. He was great with strangers, but I didn’t trust his crazy tail around a ninety-something-year-old. “Make sure it’s the neighbors and then let them in, please. Leave the forks so I can set them really quick.” I could already picture him running through the house with those tines aimed at his face.

“Okay,” he answered, dropping the silverware damn near instantly and running toward the front of the house.

A moment later, the sounds of familiar voices came from the doorway in the living room, and I peeked around to see Dallas, Miss Pearl, and the man whose ass I’d saved, in the living room. The woman was nowhere in sight. Louie was standing right by Miss Pearl, shaking her hand. It almost made me cry.

Setting the rest of the silverware as quickly as I could, I headed toward them, suddenly a little nervous. What if they hated my cooking?

“Hi, Miss Pearl,” I greeted the older woman first, taking her cool hands as she extended them in my direction.

“Thank you for inviting us over, Diana.”

I nodded and pulled back, my gaze going immediately to Dallas. The first thing that caught my eye was that he was wearing a button-down plaid shirt. It was the most clothes I’d seen on him. The brown and black pattern made his eyes pop. Hell, they might have made my heart pop if that was a possibility. But it wasn’t. It absolutely wasn’t.

“Hi again,” I said to him.

It was right then that I noticed how tight the skin around his eyes was despite the muscles of his cheeks shaping his mouth into a smile. “Thanks for having us….” He trailed off and glanced at the man standing next to him, forcing me to do the same.

Without the screen door between us and now that I’d spent more time with Dallas, the brothers’ resemblance was kind of amazing.

Except… despite knowing Dallas was the older one, he didn’t look like he was. Not at all. Jackson had more gray in his hair, his forehead more lined… but it was his eyes that aged him the most. There was something fundamentally different about the man who stood an inch shorter than my neighbor. There was just something radiating from him that seemed off. The way his presence made me feel reminded me of when Josh wanted something and I told him he couldn’t have it and he pouted over it.