Yeah, that didn’t work.

He’d known since the first time he saw Roni there would be no tempering, but hell, he had to try. He went for a change in subject to steer his brain to a safer track and said, “Where did you grow up?”

“Not in this idyllic town, that’s for sure. I grew up over the bridge, in an awful, drug-infested neighborhood. My grandmother had lived there all her life and refused to move. But she wanted me to get out as soon as I graduated high school, which was why she pushed me so hard.”

“It’s strange that she wouldn’t have moved you out of there when you were younger.”

“The area wasn’t like that when she was growing up, and she said she wasn’t going to let anyone run her out of her home.”

“That’s gutsy. Did you stay clean?”

“Of course. I’ve never even smoked a cigarette. My grandmother smoked a pack a day right up until the month she died. She would have throttled me if I’d so much as tried to smoke.”

“That’s good. That’s love.” That’s what Truman had done for him before going to prison. “Are your parents still around?”

Her gaze drifted to what was left of her salad, and she pushed the food around with her fork. “I don’t know who my mother is. My father left home when he was eighteen, and six years later he came back to live with my grandmother with me in his arms. I was about a week old. He was a drinker and a gambler, and he was in and out of my life for the first few years. He stole from my grandmother and he was mean. One day he showed up drunk, demanding money and tearing the apartment apart. My grandmother pulled a gun on him and told him to get out and never come back or she’d have him arrested.”

Bad memories resurfaced of the night Quincy had shown up at Truman’s place asking for money to pay off his debt to Puck. He’d never forget the disgusted, and so fucking disappointed, look on Truman’s face as he’d sent Quincy away and said, You made this fucking mess of a life you’re living. Unless you want to get out of it, don’t show your face around here again.

Roni lifted troubled eyes and said, “I haven’t seen him since I was five.”

He looked at Roni, with her sweet demeanor and clean life, hating that she’d experienced such ugliness and wondered if he was selfish for wanting to continue getting to know her. But he wasn’t that drugged-out guy anymore. He’d proved that every day for the last two years, and he would continue to do so until they buried him six feet under. Pushing that hesitation aside, he said, “I’m sorry you went through that, and I’m glad you had your gun-toting grandmother.”

“I told you she was fierce.”

Damn, he loved how her smile lit up her face. He’d planned on laying out all of his ugly truths for Roni tonight. He’d owned up to his past to plenty of people, without hesitation. But he’d never been faced with sharing that darkness with someone he wanted to become involved with. He knew that once he did, it had the power to change everything, including the way she was looking at him as she sipped her water, and he wasn’t ready to give that up just yet.