Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 114419 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 572(@200wpm)___ 458(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 114419 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 572(@200wpm)___ 458(@250wpm)___ 381(@300wpm)
Gavin pulled his arm back, lowering his sleeve. The waitress approached the table and asked if she could get him anything. “A cup of coffee would be great.”
She nodded. “Anything else for you, ma’am?”
“No, I’m good. Just the bill when you get the chance.” Sienna wanted to be able to leave the minute she was ready.
“When I left Reno, I joined the military.” He smiled a bit ruefully. “I would have started competing in cards right away, but—”
“You were only eighteen. Yes, I’m well aware.”
There was that flicker again. “Yeah. Anyway, me and the guys went out drinking our first weekend off and all got tattoos. They got snakes, army insignias, leopards, and swords, and I got—”
“Swans floating on a lake. Pretty.”
“Right. They still harass me over it.” He smiled, and dammit, she softened. Not much, but she did.
She shook her head, the small smile she’d given him in return dissipating. She wasn’t going to ask more about the why. It had been a pretty lake. There were good memories there, even if, for her, they’d been cast in hurt later. It was a happy part of his childhood. Something beautiful in the midst of ugly.
“I happened to drive by Paradise Estates the other day,” she told him, and if he doubted the “happened to” claim, his expression didn’t show it. “But I was heading east, so I didn’t drive past the lake.”
“Good thing you didn’t,” he said as the waitress showed up with his cup of coffee. She placed it down with a bowl of creamer and walked away before he continued with what he was saying. “The whole park has gone to hell. It’s infested with drug dealers and even some prostitution.”
Sienna let out a groan of disappointment. “God, that’s a shame. I can’t say I’m completely surprised, but I hoped . . .”
She didn’t have to finish the statement. He nodded, obviously knowing exactly what she was thinking. I hoped the people of the community where Paradise Estates was located would show some pride in the park they’d been gifted by a philanthropist attempting to beautify the area with good intentions but faulty logic and little understanding of poverty and human nature. I hoped they’d work to keep the park clean and well kept. Safe. But that had been a pipe dream. Most of the people in the community barely kept their own residences livable. Why in the world would they maintain a park? They had no real ownership in either. There were a few people who tried their best to use the park as intended—an aesthetically pleasing, family-friendly location they didn’t need to travel halfway across town to utilize. But it was an uphill battle that they’d apparently lost.
“Yeah,” he sighed. “It went to ruin. Otis and Odette had babies, though, four of them.”
Sienna’s eyes widened with surprised pleasure. Otis and Odette. She’d forgotten they’d named their favorite swans once upon a time. But Gavin raised his hand as though she should temper her obvious delight. “Sadly, Odette passed away. They tried to save her, but . . .”
Sienna inhaled a sharp breath. “Oh no.” Poor Otis. Swans mated for life. “Is Otis still there?”
“No. They moved him. I’m not sure where. The lake had become a garbage-filled swamp.”
She opened her mouth to ask him more about the poor single dad but thought twice, pressing her lips together. How had they fallen so easily back into casual conversation anyway? She sat up straighter. “So . . . the cards. Who designed them?”
He leaned back, slinging his arm over the top of the booth. “The leader of my fan club.”
“You have a fan club?” She tried to keep her brow from rising, but it didn’t comply.
He grimaced. “Had. It disbanded when I quit playing—” He shook his head as if the very thought of a fan club pained him deeply.
“You were pretty famous,” she conceded. “I’m not surprised you had a fan club. In fact, I was surprised there weren’t pictures of you on the wall at the Emerald Isle—as an in-house celebrity and all.”
Gavin laughed. “There were. I made them remove each and every one. Who wants to look at a mug like this blown up to three times its size?” He circled his hand in front of his face.
Lots of women, she supposed. It was a damn good mug. It always had been. Currently, from what she could tell, the waitress who had served them and another were discussing it in swoony, hushed tones as they stared at him from beside the bar. Nothing’s changed. All the high school girls had wanted Gavin’s attention too. In those days, though, he’d only had eyes for her. She’d believed then that he always would. She looked back at Gavin, and his eyes met hers for a beat, then two, before she again looked away.