“And drinking scotch.” I gave the glass a little shake so she could hear the rattle of the ice cubes. “It’s been a shitty night and I needed to unwind a bit.”
There wasn’t the slightest hesitation as she asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Evan finally opened up and told me what’s been bothering her this whole time,” I replied flatly.
There was a short pause across the line. “Really? But isn’t that a good thing? That she finally opened up to you?”
“Yeah, it is. We worked out a lot of shit, and I hope the two of us really turned a corner. But some of the things she told me...” I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply, trying to keep my cool. “I can’t shake this rage, Luna. It’s eating at me.”
I heard her breathing through the phone. “Then talk to me,” she said softly, gently. “Talk to me and get it out so it can’t do any more damage.”
That right there was why I called her, why I needed her. Hell, why I was already half in love with her, if not more.
I did as she’d ordered, giving her all of it, pouring out the poison until nothing was left. I told her everything Evan had confessed to me from start to finish, and by the time I finished purging, I felt like myself again.
Silence stretched through the line for several moments once I finished, to the point I worried the call had dropped. But then she spoke. “Okay, first off, I’ve never met your ex, but I hate her. I mean, hate her. San Antonio isn’t far enough away. I want to hunt her down and rip all her hair out, and I mean all of it, Nate. I want to use tweezers and pluck her nose hairs one at a time.”
I couldn’t help but laugh.
“She doesn’t know this, and being her father, you can’t actually come right out and say it, but she’s better off without that woman in her life.” My mind went back to the conversation I’d listened in on, and my gut was telling me Luna was speaking from experience.
“I had the exact same thought. I had to swallow the words down.”
“Second, that whole dance tradition needed to be done away with like ten years ago. Times have changed. Families come in all different shapes and sizes, and not all of them include the standard mother and father pairing. Someone needs to talk to the school board and stop that tradition, or at least change it to be inclusive of all the different family dynamics out there.”
I smiled so big my cheeks ached. God, I was gone for this woman. “Well, I’m glad you feel so passionately about that, because Evan mentioned asking you if you wanted to team up with her.”
“Hell yeah, I would,” she answered without a single blink, without a thought. Just like that. My girl wanted something, and Luna jumped at the chance to give it to her.
Moving away from the railing, I sat in one of the cheap plastic chairs since our old patio furniture wouldn’t fit. “You’re fucking incredible, you know that?” I asked in a low, raspy voice.
“Of course I do. It was you who was slow on the uptake.”
My chuckle shook loose the rest of that knot, taking the last remaining bits of anger with it. “Kicking myself for taking so long to realize it. Thanks for the talk.”
I could hear the smile in her voice as she said, “Anytime, Nate. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, baby.”
I pulled the phone away from my ear and disconnected as the words I love you filtered through my brain.