“I’ll be ready for him,” I said grimly.
“Good. I’m still sticking around for a while. At least until I know she’s okay. But I can’t be next to her at all times. It helps to know there’s someone else looking out for her.”
“She wouldn’t take him back, would she?” I surprised myself with the question.
Stef seemed to enjoy the fact that I’d asked the question. “No. But she’s soft enough that she might try to help him clean himself up.”
“Fuck.”
“There’s nothing our girl loves more than getting her hands on a disaster and making it shine.” He gave me a long, even look, and I didn’t much care for the connotation.
I wasn’t a disaster. There was nothing wrong with me. I had my fucking life figured out.
“Fine. So what do we do in the meantime?”
“Money’s tight for her. She spent most of her own savings on the wedding.”
Fucking romantics. Never even considering that things could and would go horribly wrong.
“She’s prickly about taking loans or handouts. Though she might have no choice once her parents catch wind of the situation.”
“They blow into town pissed off at Evil Twin and then try to take care of down-on-her-luck Good Twin,” I guessed.
He tossed me a salute. “That about sums it up.”
I blew out a sigh. “She’s got no car, no computer. She’s picked up some bar shifts from me.”
But it wasn’t enough for a family of two to live off of for long. And the best paying shifts were nights, which meant someone had to watch Waylay.
Single moms were the world’s unsung fucking heroes.
Stef took his phone out of his back pocket, thumbs moving over the screen. “I’m going to apply some charming pressure and push her to put her house up for sale. She’s only had it two years, but she had a decent down payment, and property values are going up in that neighborhood. There should be enough equity there to help her cash flow problem.”
I searched my memory for something that was niggling in the back of my head. “Librarian said something about a part-time gig if a grant comes through. I could make sure that grant lands.”
He looked at me over his screen. “Putting those lottery winnings to good use?”
So Mr. Smooth had looked me up. It wasn’t exactly a secret. And I’d have done the same in his place.
“What exactly do you do?” I asked.
He shrugged, still typing. “A little of this. A little of that. I’ve got a guy who can deal with the house. As soon as she gives the okay, we’ll have an offer within a week. Two tops,” he predicted.
I drained the last of the coffee. “So she didn’t live with this asshole?”
“Not officially. He was going to move in with her after the wedding. Reluctant bastard liked having his own place. Especially since Naomi cleaned it for him and took care of his meals and laundry. I hope that fucker is sitting in a pair of dirty underwear sobbing into a pot of Campbell’s.”
I stared at him a beat. “Who the fuck are you?”
“Me?” Stef laughed, stowing his phone back in his pocket. “I’m the best friend. Naomi is family.”
“And you two never…”
He sat there smugly and waited for me to say it. “Never what?”
“Never…dated?”
“Not unless you count taking her to senior prom because Tina got caught with her mouth on Naomi’s date’s dick in the locker room at school.”
Fucking Tina.
“Naomi’s been my ride-or-die before ride-or-die was a thing. She has never once let me down and she’s forgiven me for the handful of occasions that I’ve let her down. She’s the most amazing woman I know, and that’s counting her mother, who’s pretty fucking awesome too. I don’t like it when people fuck with my family.”
I could respect that.
“I’ll take that grunt to mean we have an understanding. You’ll watch out for her. You won’t fuck with her. And together we’ll make sure Warner Fucking Dipshit the Third never gets within a city block of her.”
I nodded again. “Fine.”
“Give me your phone,” he said, holding out his hand.
“Why?”
“Oh, you want me to text Naomi when Warner shows up looking for her?”
I handed it over. Stef held it up to my scowling face to unlock it. “Huh. Wonder if it would unlock if you were smiling.”
“I don’t know. Never tried.”