Once they’d both made their selections, the server took their orders, then lingered a few moments to talk with his dad.
“Hey, Vin. I didn’t know you were back in town.”
Vin’s heart gave a little shudder. He knew that voice. Turning, he looked up at Casey Lombard, whose smile was the same one Vin remembered from when they were sixteen and got in trouble for… well, just about anything they thought they could get away with.
“I got in today. The shop in LA is closed for renovations, so I took some time off to visit Dad.” Vin hadn’t seen Casey since the funeral. “How are Alicia and little Brianna?” His dad had told him about Casey’s daughter, but Vin had never met her.
“Alicia returned to the Costa Rica to be with her family about a year after Brianna was born,” Casey said softly.
Vin didn’t know what to say to that. Sure, he was sorry, for Casey’s sake, that things hadn’t worked out, but he couldn’t help being glad that the woman was gone. There’d just been something about her that he didn’t trust.
“Things between the two of us had been… bad. Our marriage had pretty much been a mistake right from the beginning, I guess… with the exception of Brianna.” He scratched his head. “It was ugly. In fact, the ugliness really started shortly after you left for LA.” He seemed miserable. “Alicia is now fighting for custody of Brianna. She wants to take her to Costa Rica to live with her family and is trying to drag me into dealing with the courts down there. Thankfully, the authorities here have denied all her petitions to have Brianna sent down there. Bri is an American citizen, and the courts here believe, as I do, that if Brianna left the country, Alicia’s family would never allow her to return.”
“So you have her?” Casey was made to be a parent. At the funeral, he’d been the one looking after his daughter. Alicia had seemed more intent on seeing and being seen. Maybe by that point she’d already decided to leave. Who knew?
“Yes. But I’m getting tired of fighting. I have told Alicia she’s welcome to come here and see Bri. Hell, I even agreed to pay for the plane ticket. But she’s refused, which hasn’t helped her case.” There was a slight sparkle in Casey’s eyes. “I want my daughter to have a relationship with her mother, but not at the expense of her—and my—happiness. Brianna goes to school here, she has friends and family here. There’s no way in hell that I’m going to uproot—” He cut himself off. “Sorry. I tend to go on about this.”
“Daddy!” Speaking of cuteness. Brianna hurried over to his side from the nearby table. “The waitress brought the food and it’s getting cold.” She took Casey’s hand. “You need to eat.”
“I’m staying at Dad’s,” Vin said. He fished in his wallet, pulled out one of this business cards, and handed it to Casey. “It has my cell number on it. Maybe we can get together while I’m in town.”
“Sure.” Casey took the card, looked at it for a moment, then let Brianna pull him away.
Vin watched them go, a lump in his throat. Casey had been his very first crush in high school, and damn if he hadn’t fallen hard. Then, during their college years, their friendship had grown even deeper, into something resembling love.
Vin mentally shook himself. While it was natural that he’d react this way to seeing Casey again, he’d be smart to push those painful memories away. What they’d had was over long ago.
They’d been just a couple of stupid kids who couldn’t be open and honest with each other. Casey hadn’t been willing to acknowledge their relationship, and Vin hadn’t been willing to hide. When Casey had started seeing Alicia, it had hurt Vin—badly. But he was still willing to wait, hoping that Casey would realize what they had and come back to him. Only it hadn’t worked out that way.
The day after Vin’s mother died, Casey had admitted to him that Alicia was pregnant. It had just been too much. Just thinking about trying to live without his mom—and suddenly Casey too—had been more than he could take. He had to leave town as quickly as he could.
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