Opposites Attract (21 page)

Tina
had seemed suddenly unhappy with her life. She began over-filling her
days with book clubs, part-time classes, volunteer work, new friends.
She started insisting he quit his job when he was only eight years
away from putting in his twenty years and getting full pension. She
picked fights and complained about his hours when she’d never
done so before. Antonio finally did just what she accused him of and
started working extra hours because it was easier than coming home.

And
their sex life, which had always been hot, even after the birth of
his daughter, had dwindled to a once monthly obligation pretty much
since his son was born. He’d thought that was what happened
when people were married for a while. They settled into a comfortable
relationship, kind of like his parents had. But after the separation
and especially after meeting Maddie, he realized passion in a
relationship was too important to live without it.

After
grabbing the kids’ overnight bag, he followed Tina up the
stairs to the house as she led Esme by the hand and balanced Rafe on
her hip. He watched her hips sway ahead of him.

She’d
gained some weight when she was pregnant with Rafe. When she couldn’t
lose it after he was born, it really got to her. He thought she
looked great filled out with a few more curves, but she wasn’t
happy with herself anymore. Maybe that was part of the problem too.
Who knows?

He
went with her into the kitchen and dropped the overnight bag on the
table. When he didn’t make a move to leave, she asked, “Are
you staying?”

“
Tina,
we need to talk.” He played with the strap on the bag.

“
Okay.
I’ll put a video on for the kids in the TV room.” She
looked at him with a kind of resolution on her face. She returned a
few minutes later. “Do you want coffee?”

He
shook his head. “Can we sit?”

She
sat with her hands clasped on the table in front of her and took a
deep breath. “Antonio, if you’re going to ask me if you
can move back in, I’m just not ready.”

“
I
know. Tina, I think it’s time we went to a lawyer and filed the
papers for a divorce. I called my parents’ attorney this
morning and got all the information. We can file for a civil divorce
and then petition the church for an annulment later. You can stay in
the house, I’ll keep paying the bills and support the children,
that’s no problem. I just…I’ve got to move on with
my life.”

After
a few seconds where Tina sat in silence, surprise evident in her
expression, she shook her head. “I don’t want the house.
I want to move back in with my parents. You can see the kids whenever
you want, but my mother said she would watch them while I go back to
school and get my degree. I think I want to be a teacher, Antonio.”

She
looked excited about going back to school. Tina hadn’t shown
enthusiasm for anything in a long time.

“
Wow.
You never mentioned that before, but good for you. I’m really
glad for you, Tina. All I want is for you to be happy.”

“
Thanks.”
She took a deep breath. “It’s kind of a relief actually,
you know, to have the decision made.”

“
I
know. The lawyer can see us today and start the paperwork if you
want. Otherwise it’s going to have to wait until next week
because I’m due back on shift in the morning.”

“
That’s
fine, we can go today. My mom will take the kids.” She rose and
came around to his side of the table and surprised him when she
hugged him. “It wasn’t all bad, was it, Antonio?”

He
hadn’t thought any of it was bad, but apparently she had. Maybe
that was part of the problem. He squeezed her, sad that the marriage
he’d thought was so perfect had been far from it. “No, it
wasn’t.”

~

Maddie
stumbled to the foyer and squinted through the peephole. Scowling,
she flung the door open and headed for the kitchen to make coffee.
“Brad, this is my last day off from work for the holidays. I
need to store up as much sleep as I can.”

She
hastily pushed a curl out of her eyes and glared at him as she
somehow made it to the kitchen and started to fill the coffee pot.

“
Jeez,
Maddie. It’s eleven. I didn’t think I would be
interfering with even your sleep schedule at this hour. Maybe you’ll
forgive me when you see these.” He held up and shook a bag that
she certainly hoped contained what she thought it did.

She
made a grab for it and after a few seconds of keep away, was rewarded
with her first whiff of freshly baked chocolate croissants. “Okay,
I may forgive you.”

Brad
smiled. “Works every time. So I’m happy to see that you
made it home safely. Although not so happy to see you’re alone.
I thought maybe Antonio might be here.” He glanced around the
condo.

Maddie
opened her eyes wide. “Bradley Morgan! I hardly even know him.”

Brad
was her little brother so she had to play coy but truth be told if
Antonio hadn’t been such the consummate and extremely,
frustratingly well-behaved gentleman last night, she might not have
been waking up alone today.

She’d
never considered herself a particularly sexual person but after all
the dancing and laughing and what amounted to mental foreplay with
Antonio last night, she was aroused enough to actually consider
breaking out that vibrator the girls at work had given her at her
divorce party. All right, she did break it out and almost used it,
then she got shy and put it back away. One more night like last night
though and she had a feeling she’d be stocking up on batteries.

Maddie
bit into the warm, mouth-teasing chocolate filling of the croissant
and closed her eyes. She would just have to satisfy her cravings with
chocolate until she could get Antonio to stop acting the gentleman.
He better not take too long or she’d get fat.

“
If
you’re done having your chocolate orgasm over there, would you
like me to pour you a cup of coffee?”

She
opened her eyes and made a face at Brad, who stood there holding two
mugs. “Are all men jealous that women get as much if not more
pleasure from chocolate than from them? With a lot less headaches, I
might add.”

Brad
wrinkled his nose right back at her. “Don’t you use your
lawyerly logic on me.”

He
handed her the coffee. Once it was safely in her hand, she shot back,
“Why not? You’re always using your computer-ese on me.”

“
Well,
come on, Maddie. I’ve never met anyone who didn’t even
know how to cut and paste a document into an email before. It’s
not like I was asking you to write me the code for an inoculation
program or anything.”

“
See,
my point exactly.” She raised a finger in the air and although
she had no idea what he just said, she considered her case closed and
won.

“
Okay,
truce. I came by to apologize for having to leave you like that last
night. Lys really was sick. I had to pull over on the side of the
road so she didn’t, you know, lose it in the car.”

Maddie
winced. “Yeah, that would have been most unpleasant. I’m
sorry. Tell her I hope she feels better. It wasn’t the food
though, I feel fine.”

“
No,
it wasn’t the food.” Brad wandered around the kitchen
picking things up and putting them down.

She
watched him and immediately had visions of Brad as a child. He would
do the same thing when he was hiding something or anxious. “Brad?”

He
looked up nervously. “Yeah?”

“
I’m
not mad at you for tricking me into singing, so you don’t have
to worry.”

“
Oh.
Oh, yeah. Good. I’m glad you’re not mad.” Brad
still stood by the counter, looking on edge.

Hmm.
Maybe that wasn’t it after all. “I’m not mad at the
matchmaking scheme you hatched up for me and Antonio either.”

Now
he broke into a smile. “Yeah, about that. How did it go,
besides the fact that he’s not here now? Do you think it may
lead somewhere?”

“
That’s
a very good question. I don’t know.” Maddie stared into
her coffee cup, but since it wasn’t a crystal ball, the answer
wasn’t there. She did know what she wanted to happen, but she
wasn’t sharing
that
with her brother.

“
Well
you know, it seems that so far anyone who met somehow through Maria
ends up getting married. Me and Lys. Troy and Amy. You might want to
prepare yourself,” Brad warned.

“
Marriage?
Please, Brad. That’s the last thing on my mind.” But she
wouldn’t mind a dinner, hopefully followed by a breakfast…

She
took another bite of the croissant.

Chapter 5

“
Uh,
a little help here.”

Antonio
looked down to find Troy nearly crushed on the weight bench below. He
reached down with both hands and grabbed the bar off him. “Sorry,
man. I guess I wasn’t paying attention.”

“
No
shit.” Troy sat up and grabbed a towel. “What the hell
were you thinking about?”

“
Nothing.”

“
Nothing,
my ass. Come on. You nearly just killed me while you were supposed to
be spotting me. Not to mention you still owe me for saving your life
two years ago, so fess up.”

Antonio
cocked a brow at his supposed best friend. “That’s low,
bringing that up just to get your own way and make me tell you
something I don’t want to.”

“
What
can I say?” Troy shrugged. “So? Fess up… Whoa,
wait. Wait one minute.”

Troy
stared at the white stripe of skin on Antonio’s left hand ring
finger. Antonio ran his thumb over the smooth spot where his wedding
band used to be. It had felt very strange taking off that ring, but
he knew he wouldn’t be able to move on until he did it. “Tina
and I went to a lawyer and filed for divorce yesterday.”

“
Why
the hell didn’t you tell me instead of letting me tease you
like that? Jeez. Of course you’re preoccupied. I understand
that.” Troy looked so sincere Antonio had to confess the rest.

“
Well,
that wasn’t exactly what I was thinking of when I just almost
let you get crushed.”

Troy
rubbed his hands together and his eyes grew wide. “Now we’re
getting somewhere. Go on, I think I know what you’re going to
say, but let me hear you say it anyway.”

Antonio
rolled his eyes. “I was thinking about Maddie. Okay? Happy
now?”

“
Very.
Of course it will be unbearable living with Amy once she knows. I can
hear the ‘I told so’ now. But hey, wait a minute. You
told me nothing happened the other night when you drove her home.”

“
Nothing
did happen. I hadn’t asked Tina for the divorce yet then. And
right after I did ask her, I had to come on shift and now…well,
it’s a good thing we’re having a slow day here because my
mind is obviously not where it should be. You’d probably be
pulling me out from under a burning building again where my head’s
at right now.”

Troy
stood. He walked over to pick up a barbell and faced the mirror. He
watched Antonio in the reflection and frowned. “I don’t
know what you’re looking so miserable about. You should be
happy and looking forward to getting to know Maddie a whole lot
better, if you know what I mean.”

“
This
coming from the man who holds the longstanding firehouse record for
the most women dated in one month.”

“
Yeah,
well, now I’m the retired champion. And what does that have to
do with anything anyway?”

“
You’re
used to going out with different women. Tina and I started dating way
back in high school.” Antonio waited for that to sink in, but
Troy didn’t seem to catch on so he continued. He was going to
regret this, he could feel it already. “Troy, Tina was my first
and until now she’s been the only. I guess I’m nervous.”

“
Wow.”
Troy stopped lifting the weight and stood totally still, staring at
him. He frowned deeply, as if he couldn’t comprehend such a
concept as having slept with only one woman in your lifetime.

Antonio
laughed. “All of the times I wished you’d shut up over
the years and you wouldn’t and now when I actually need your
advice, you’re speechless.”

Troy
shook his head. “I honestly don’t know what to tell you.”

“
That’s
okay. Forget it. And I mean that, I want you to forget all about it.”