Armie started to push his chair back. “I’ll go.”
Rene held up a hand. “No, I’m sending them off because I’d like to have a chat with you and Remy.”
Major sent him a sympathetic look as he stood, but Quaid couldn’t seem to get out fast enough.
“Come on, friend. I happen to know where Rene stashes the cigars,” Quaid offered.
Rene shook his head. “I never should have shown him the humidor.”
“What do you need?” Remy asked once they had left. “Is the leg bothering you?”
“The leg aches every day and I loathe and despise not being on my feet, but that’s not what I want to talk about. I need to know if the two of you are okay with each other. I don’t know what happened, and I don’t need to know, but it’s obvious Armie is no longer dating Lila Daley. I know Remy likes to protect the female members of his family in some barbaric ways.”
“I don’t call them barbaric. Maybe my justice is biblical, but it’s also effective.” Remy turned to Armie. “Armie and I are fine. Lila explained that it wasn’t a good fit, and as long as he treats her with respect, we won’t have any trouble. Hey, not every relationship works.”
But theirs had. It seemed to work beautifully, except that one problem. “I’m not going to do anything to hurt her. We didn’t break up because we didn’t care about one another. If she ever needs anything, I’ll be there.”
Rene nodded. “Excellent. I wanted to let you both know that I intend to ask Ms. Daley out. The accident taught me something. I’m not getting any younger and that woman is a damn rock. I’d like very much to see if we’re compatible.”
“No.” The word came out of his mouth before he was smart enough to stop it. He didn’t have any right to tell Rene he couldn’t go after Lila. He’d always known Rene was a better match. Rene was younger than he was, didn’t have children. Wanted children.
Except he’d dreamed the night before of what it would be like to have it all again, with the right woman this time. He’d married his ex-wife because she’d been pregnant. Having children with Lila would be a deliberate act of will.
An act of hope.
What would it be like to raise a couple of kids he got to see every single day? To raise them with a woman he truly loved? He adored his daughter, but he’d missed so much by being her weekend father.
It was pure bad timing that the minute he lost Lila was also the minute he knew he wanted that family.
“I’m sorry, what does that mean?” Rene was staring at him.
“I’d like to understand that myself.” Remy frowned his way. “I wasn’t happy with how you treated Lila, but I understand that she can be a handful. She also told me I wasn’t allowed to punch you, so tread carefully because I’ll ignore that if you annoy me.”
He didn’t have the right to tell Rene no, but he did have some questions. “I don’t like the idea of you deciding it’s time for you to settle down and picking Lila because she’s standing in front of you. She deserves more than that.”
Rene watched him with shrewd eyes. “She was standing in front of me saving my life. It wasn’t like she was a random pretty lady I decided to choose because I was bored. She was a damn warrior. Even as I was bleeding out on that street I was thinking about how amazing she was. As I sat in that hospital I came up with all the ways I was going to seduce her. Imagine my surprise when I got home and all the talk was about how the sheriff had made his move.”
He didn’t like how passionate Rene sounded about Lila. But then, who wouldn’t be? She was complex and difficult and worth every bit of trouble.
“Armie, it’s obvious you miss her,” Remy said quietly. “I know it’s hard to apologize when you’re wrong, but trust me, it works. Groveling is something we all do.”
It wasn’t that simple. “She doesn’t get along with my daughter.”
“Lila loves Noelle,” Remy said gravely. “I’m struggling to understand this. She’s crying every night. You’re obviously upset.”
“What went wrong?” Rene asked. “There’s no gossip, and that tells me you’re both playing this close to the vest, but I want to know because I think I could care about her. I know I care about you. Give me a good reason why I shouldn’t go after her.”
“I can’t,” he replied. “If you’re smart, you’ll chase after that woman and raise a family with her because I think one day she’ll be an amazing mom. Maybe she just has to go through it for herself.”
“Lila’s been through it. Lila was raising kids when she was a kid,” Remy pointed out. “That’s why she and Lisa have a somewhat contentious relationship. You know Lila was in charge of that household when she was ten years old, right? Her brother did a lot, but he left her in charge of Laurel and Lisa.”