Casanova(56)

“I suppose he is.” Sali smiled back. “Then Jake buys ridiculously large balloons, Brett buys the little things, and we have a party. Eliot, a nine-year-old boy who’s been here for eighteen months with his mom and sister, got a scooter for Christmas last year. Sy, who arrived with his mom eight weeks ago, has been enamored with it ever since he got here. Nobody was surprised when he asked for a scooter. Eliot will be glad to have his back.”

I was in in a parallel universe. It was the only explanation for this.

“He does Christmas too, doesn’t he?”

Sali swallowed, blinking back tears. “Every year. The one thing they want, he buys it. And I can’t tell anybody because he refuses to let me.”

“Because he doesn’t do it for the credit.” How many ‘oh my gods’ was too many? “I didn’t know. But why?”

“Ah.” She patted my knee. “That, hon, is his story to tell you.”

“Voila!” Brett burst into the room with the scooter in his hands.

“Where in the hell did you get a giant blue ribbon?” I asked, looking at the large bow tied around the handlebars.

He tapped the side of his nose with a wink.

I rolled my eyes.

He carried the scooter outside and set it against the porch railings. When he came back in, Jake was carrying four balloons with weights on the bottom. They were all superheroes, and I was tempted to put money on little Sy turning up dressed like one.

“Here.” Brett tossed a packet of multi-colored balloons at me. “Be useful and blow them up.”

“You could try ‘please’ once in a while, you know,” I replied, tearing open the packet. Balloons spilled out onto my lap.

Sali laughed and stood up. “She’s got your number, Brett.”

“I know,” he said wearily. “It’s exhausting.”

“It’s about time someone called you on your crap.”

“Well now you sound like my mother. And my grandmother. And my sister, actually.”

“And the rest of Whiskey Key,” I muttered and put a balloon between my lips.

“Good.” Sali smiled widely and kissed his cheek. “Is half an hour enough time?”

Brett nodded. “We’ll be done. Where’s the tape?”

Sali pointed to a tape dispenser on the table—which was right next to him—on her way out.

I shook my head and tied the balloon off. I batted it onto the coffee table in front of me and grabbed another. “So, you’re like the birthday fairy around here, huh?”

“Ah...she told you.”

“Well, that and I was there when you bought the scooter.” I raised an eyebrow and blew into the balloon. “Which was not under fifty dollars.”

“Shh.” He smiled, and it was mischievous. “It was only five bucks over.”

His smile was so infectious. Maybe it was the way his cheeks were a little pink or the way his eyes shone. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I had to smile back. This side of him...

He tore a bit of tape off of the dispenser and lifted a banner up. “Can you help me?”

I tied off a second balloon and put it down. “Sure.” I reached him and took the end he gave me. “Why do you do it?”

Brett taped one corner to the wall. “Banned question.”

“Boo.” I pouted.

He glanced at me. “Fine, I’ll give you the easy answer. But if you pout like that again, I’m kissing you.”

I covered my mouth with my hand.

A smirk appeared on his face. “I do it because somebody has to. These kids have seen enough hell, and in some cases, like Sy’s, they’ve been through it too. What’s fifty bucks on a birthday present for them if it makes them smile?”

I took the tape he offered me and stuck my side to the wall, then looked at him out of the corner of my eye as he tore off another bit of tape.

“These kids don’t have many people to believe in. Their moms are struggling and most of them don’t have a lot of money. I’m like...a walking happy place. I play soccer or baseball with them and their moms can take a breather or whatever. Hell, I’ve even baked cookies with them and one of the moms before.” He smiled and looked down. “I can make a difference in their lives. A difference they need, even if it only lasts for ten minutes.”

There he was. That was my Brett. The one I remembered—the one I’d loved.

That softness...that heart.

His heart.

His words sucker-punched me right in the gut.

Just like that, a piece of my hatred for him was stripped away. It fizzled out into nothing, and the worst part about it was that it was a piece I held close to my heart. It was a piece that guarded my heart. He’d exposed it in less than one hundred words.

“What?” Brett smiled and awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

I pressed my lips together and stepped toward him. I hesitated before I put my hand on his chest, right over his heart, and looked up at him, my own heart thumping hard. “You’re really ruining your reputation as an asshole, you know that?”

He laughed lightly, the sound rumbling across my skin. “Lani,” he said in a low voice. “Why do you think I haven’t told anyone?”