Flirting with Forever: A Hot Romantic Comedy(86)

She had said that, hadn’t she? “How did you know that?”

“When we had dinner at that place with the really good noodles, she was talking about work. I remember because I said that it would be like someone adding colors to one of my paintings and she said that was exactly right. And we agreed that it sucked.”

“Wow, you really listened, didn’t you?”

“Yeah. Didn’t you?”

I scowled.

“Sorry, but is that why we stayed at Grandma and Grandpa’s last night? You had a fight with Nora?”

“Yes.”

“This sucks.”

“I know, kiddo. It really does.”

Nora’s Jeep wasn’t in her driveway when we got home. But a car I didn’t recognize was parked on the street outside my house. I parked, eying it with suspicion. Who the hell was here?

“Oh, shit,” I muttered as three men got out of the car and walked up the driveway in the rain.

“Dad,” Riley said.

“Sorry.”

“Is that—”

“Yeah,” I said, unable to keep the dread out of my voice. “It’s the husband gang.”

“What are they doing here?”

“I have no idea.”

That wasn’t exactly true. I had an inkling as to why they were here. I just hadn’t thought their threats were quite this serious.

Apparently these guys didn’t mess around.

I got out of the car and gave them a chin tip. I’d let them in, and hear what they had to say, but I wasn’t about to be lectured by a bunch of guys who didn’t know the full story.

“Hi there, Miss Riley,” Cox said, nothing but friendliness in his tone.

She ran to the front door to get out of the rain, her backpack swinging off her shoulder. “Hi! Hurry, it’s pouring.”

I paused and motioned for the three men to follow her inside. Shepherd glared at me. No surprise there. Corban’s brow furrowed, as if there were something about me he didn’t understand. Cox just patted me on the shoulder as he walked by—a gesture with an air of condolence, rather than support.

With a resigned breath, I went inside and shut the door. “Gentlemen.”

Riley watched expectantly.

Shepherd cast a glance in her direction, as if deciding whether to talk in front of her. “You know why we’re here.”

“Because of Nora?” Riley asked.

“She’s a smart one,” Cox said.

“I thought we made our position clear,” Shepherd said.

“How about I make something clear.” I crossed my arms. “This is between me and Nora. It’s not anyone else’s business and I don’t appreciate you coming over here and acting like you can threaten me.”

“It’s not a threat,” Shepherd said, his voice low.

Cox patted him on the back and took a step forward. “Maybe you let me take this one and we can cut through the bullshit. Dex, Nora didn’t write that article.”

“See!” Riley dropped her backpack on the floor with a thud. “I told you.”

“Go to your room.” I pointed upstairs.

She crossed her arms and stood still.

“What we have here is a misunderstanding,” Cox said, as if Riley hadn’t interrupted. “Trust me when I say I understand how quickly these things can spiral out of control. So let’s not let that happen.”

“Open communication is key to a healthy relationship,” Corban said.

“It sounds obvious, but he’s right,” Shepherd said.

I stared at them, dumbfounded. She hadn’t written it?

“I’m such an idiot.” I didn’t even need to hear the rest—how it happened, why an article she hadn’t written had been published under her name. I knew Cox was right.

And I knew I’d messed up. Big time.

I pinched the bridge of my nose and started pacing around the front room. “She didn’t know it had been published. That’s what she said when I confronted her, and I didn’t listen. Damn it. Why didn’t I listen? Why didn’t I give her a chance to explain?”

“This was easier than I thought it would be,” Cox said, sounding pleased with himself.

“No, there’s no easy,” I said. “You don’t understand, I really fucked this up. I don’t know if I can fix it.”

“Of course you can,” Riley said. “You have to.”

“You might be surprised.” Corban adjusted his glasses. “Love can heal lot. We’ve all been there.”

“And like Cox said, it’s just a misunderstanding,” Riley said.

I shook my head. “It’s a big-ass misunderstanding.”

“My wife got served with divorce papers,” Cox said. “At work. That was a pretty big misunderstanding, but we got through it.”

“Hazel and I started out hating each other,” Corban said. “There was a lot to work through, but we did.”

Everyone’s eyes moved to Shepherd. He didn’t move, his expression stony.

“Come on, Shep,” Cox said. “You’ve got a feeling in there somewhere. You can let it out once in a while.”

Shepherd glared at Cox, then cleared his throat. It was interesting to see him look mildly uncomfortable. Maybe he did have a feeling in there.