“We’ll make that happen,” Conroy said with a nod. “Those girls are really something. They call us Gingy and Connie, and it’s the cutest damn thing. Wait until you see them. Junie’s got red hair and Rosie’s is brown, and they’re as different as kids can be…”

As Conroy raved about his granddaughters, Tobias’s mind wandered to his sister and niece. He had no idea if his father had been there for Carrie when she was pregnant, or if he’d made her suffer alone. He didn’t have it in him to ask Elsa, because it would only piss him off if his father hadn’t been there for Carrie.

“I wonder what they’ll call you,” Conroy asked, but before Tobias could respond, he was called away to help another customer. A little while later he brought Tobias his burger, and they talked for a few minutes before Conroy got pulled away again, and the place got even busier.

It was weird eating dinner alone after weeks of eating with Madigan. He pulled out his phone and texted her a peach emoji and a heart. A fucking heart. He’d never been a texter, much less a guy who used emojis, but everything was different with her. He’d sell his soul to fix things with Blaine, but he wouldn’t do the one thing he knew would fix it. He wouldn’t walk away from the woman he was falling wildly and passionately in love with.

He couldn’t believe he’d admitted how he felt to her that morning. I don’t want to imagine a single day without you by my side. He hadn’t planned on saying it, but when they’d been making love, it had been impossible to satisfy his insatiable desire for her. No matter how deep he took her, he hadn’t been able to get close enough. It was only afterward, when he’d gazed into her eyes, that he’d realized the closeness he craved was to her heart, and when she’d said, Then don’t…Because I don’t want to, either, time had stood still, and he’d known he was falling hard and fast, and he never wanted to stop.

There was a commotion behind him. He pocketed his phone and looked over his shoulder, seeing three young guys plowing through the crowd, their tattooed arms around scantily clad blondes. He turned back to the bar, ordering another beer from the female bartender, and looked up at the baseball game on the television.