Skylar pushed it right back. “You’re fine. This is what friends do. They talk.”

“Most people don’t talk to me.”

“Because you’re so beautiful?”

“What?” She snorted. Yes, she actually snorted. And she loved being able to do whatever she wanted. “Ha. No.” Because I’m a princess. But she couldn’t say that.

“Oh, come on. You’re striking. All that gorgeous, shiny hair, your boobs.” Skylar shook her head. “Well, I do this for a living, so if you want to make an appointment…”

“Do what?”

“Fight people’s demons for them.”

“I’m…I’m not…” She couldn’t believe it. It had never occurred to her that what she accepted as “fact” was nothing more than a lack of self-esteem. I’m not sexy enough. I’m not pretty enough to “wow” someone. Well…what if I am? “Oh, you’re good. You’re really good.”

“That’s why they pay me the big bucks. Anyhow, so Rocco’s dad and I were together in high school. We had big plans to move to LA, where he’d become a musician, and I’d be a stylist to the stars. But then I got pregnant and ‘ruined everything.’” She rolled her eyes.

“Are you saying he just left without you?”

“Not without a lot of fighting and threats, but yes. He didn’t want to be a dad, and I wasn’t going to let my child feel like a mistake, not for one second of his life. Rocco’s the best thing that ever happened to me.”

“That makes me sad that he doesn’t want to know his son.”

“That’s the hardest part for me. At first, I was devastated that he’d left me. It was the scariest time in my life. Twenty and pregnant? I’m lucky, though, because I’ve got this big, great family, so they’ve totally been there for me. But the thing that keeps me up at night is the fact that one day Rocco’s going to get it. That his dad doesn’t care about him. And I’m so afraid of how he’ll handle it. I can do everything in my power to make him feel loved and special, but I can’t change the fact that his own father doesn’t give a shit.”

Rosalina reached across the table and clasped Skylar’s hand. “There’s no getting around the fact that it’ll hurt him, but everyone’s got wounds. None of us gets a free pass in this life. What’s important is that Rocco’s got a loving family to help him through it. I think he’ll be all right.”

“I hope so. Now, let’s get-to-gettin’. I don’t hang out with people who don’t walk the talk.”