Heart to Heart

“My brother.” Eric rolled his eyes. “Same old Marvin. You talked about being young and foolish—well, he’s now older and still foolish. I hoped he would grow out of his player ways, but he didn’t. He’s on a second divorce now.”

“What?”

Eric nodded. “Yep. He was married to a girl from here, really nice girl he met in college, Beverly.”

“I remember Beverly. Beverly Bonaparte?”

“Yeah, that’s her.”

“I can’t say that I’m surprised.” Deanna shook her head. “Wow.” Then she said, “Okay, I’m over it. What happened to their marriage?”

“What you’d expect of Marvin. Beverly loved him, but, yup, he cheated on her. Time and again. They have two kids, twins. A boy and a girl. The so-called perfect family. But not for Marvin. Nope, he wasn’t happy unless he could have more women. Sometimes I wonder how it’s possible that we’re related.”

“I wondered the same thing many times myself.”

Something changed in Eric’s expression. Giving her a pointed look, he asked, “Is that all you wondered?”

Butterflies fluttered in Deanna’s belly. Suddenly, she didn’t know what to say.

Eric held her gaze for a moment longer, then smiled softly and reached for more corn bread. “Anyway,” he went on, “Beverly and Marvin divorced, then Marvin headed to New Orleans to be with some other woman. Beverly moved to Cincinnati, so we hardly see the kids.”

“Oh, that’s awful,” Deanna said. But she was all too aware that Eric had just let her off the hook concerning whatever he had been curious about.

“Tell me about it. The twins are five, and I try to stay in touch with Beverly as much as possible. But she’s remarried, so she doesn’t have as much time for us as she used to. I think in the beginning she stayed away a lot because she didn’t like the reminders of Marvin. And because things had gotten ugly between them. Sometimes, the extended family can’t help but become casualties when divorce happens.”

Deanna nodded. She was thinking about Callie. Callie and Nigel hadn’t divorced, but she hadn’t been able to know her nephew until now because Callie had left, fearing that any contact with any of them would’ve led to Nigel finding out that she’d had his child. Thank goodness, they had all reunited—and now Callie and Nigel were together the way they should have been in the beginning.

Deanna shared that story with Eric, and when she was finished he said, “You would never know they’d been apart. Kwame talks about his mother and his father as though they were always together. He seems well-adjusted and happy.”

A smile touched Deanna’s lips. “He is. He’s elated to have met his father and thrilled that his parents are back together. You’d never know that he hadn’t been in Nigel’s life until a few months ago.”

Vivian arrived at the table with their dinner orders. “Two Cajun catfish dinners,” she announced, placing the steaming plates on the table in front of them. “Now, if you need anything else, let me know.”

“Sure thing,” Eric told her.

“It smells delicious,” Deanna commented.

“Wait till you taste it.”

Deanna did exactly that and then moaned in pleasure. “Oh, wow. This is amazing.”

Eric cut a morsel of his fish but held it in front of his mouth as he spoke again. “It sounds like your sister and Nigel had issues to work out, and as hard as it must have been for you all, having to come back here for your aunt’s funeral allowed healing to take place.”

“You’re right about that,” she said, but she couldn’t help thinking that Eric was truly insightful. Perhaps that was why she had been compelled to tell him her problems as a teenager. He was the kind of guy who got it.

“Sadly, Marvin is hardly in his kids’ lives. I don’t think he sees them at all.”

“It’s tragic, isn’t it? People divorce, and suddenly they’re not a part of their children’s lives. It shouldn’t be that way.” Deanna paused. “You said Marvin is on divorce number two?”

“Yep. He was married to this other girl for two years. No surprise, she left him. And the worst part is, she has a child with him, too. I’ve only seen his daughter once.”

“Wow.”

“I hardly talk to my brother,” Eric admitted. “He’s shacked up with some other woman in Louisiana. I don’t think he’ll ever get it.”

Silence fell between them, and they began to eat their dinners while listening to the smooth sounds of Trey Martinez. The man was good.

Deanna was halfway through her meal when she felt Eric’s

eyes on her. Slowly, she lifted her gaze and saw that yes, he was looking at her.

And something about the way he was staring at her made her breath catch in her throat.

“How old is your other niece?” she asked, hoping to alleviate the awkward tension she was now feeling.

“Cecelia’s eighteen months old,” Eric said.

No, it wasn’t awkward tension, Deanna realized. She was very distinctly feeling a sexual rush. But she tried to ignore it. “And what are the twins’ names?”

“Devon and Daneesha.”

“I bet they’re darling.”

“They are,” Eric confirmed. A beat passed, then, “You know what I’d really like to talk about?”

Deanna shook her head slightly, but her stomach was still fluttering.

“No,” she told him.

“I’d like to talk about us.” Eric held her gaze, his eyes not wavering. “About you and me.”

Chapter 4

For some reason, Deanna felt a wave of heat envelop her. You and me.

What exactly did he mean by that?

“Us?” she asked faintly, wondering why her pulse had picked up speed.

“All those years ago, when you used to come to me and cry on my shoulder about Marvin, did you never…” His voice trailed off.

“Did I never what?” Deanna asked.

Eric paused, and Deanna wondered if he wasn’t going to finish his statement. And she wanted him to, wanted to hear what he had to say.

“Did you never wonder about me? Did you never look at me in the way that you looked at Marvin?”

She felt a tightening in her chest, the kind she felt when she was attracted to someone. And yet, there was only one way to answer the question honestly. “I was so wrapped up in Marvin that someone else could have come into my life with a neon sign from God shining on him that said he was Mr. Right, and I wouldn’t have noticed.”