Broken Toy [Suncoast Society] (Siren Publishing Sensations) by Tymber Dalton Read Free Book Online

middle of a gallbladder surgery.
    Reaching out, he stroked the glass over the picture. “Miss you, babe. Every damn day. I hope I’m doing the right thing. I know I can’t ever replace you, and I don’t want to try. But I know you’d want me to keep moving forward.”
    Okay. I need to do it. I need to go. Resolved, he headed to the bathroom to get his shower.
     
    * * * *
     
    Bill was standing in the restaurant’s lobby twenty minutes before the agreed upon time when Rob and Laura pulled into the parking lot.
    They both greeted him with smiles and hugs. “Glad to see you didn’t back out,” Rob lightly teased.
    “Well, I almost did. I talked myself into coming.”
    Laura touched his arm. “Look, I don’t mean to be forward, but even if nothing else comes out of this, you’ll make a good bunch of friends. You saw how supportive they were for us during…last year.” She nodded. “They’re really good people. You’ll like them.”
    “To be honest, that’s sort of what I used to get myself here.” And he had. All through his shower he’d rationalized that he needed more than Dori and Papa Tom, Al and Sue, Craig, and the handful of people who took pity on him. He used to have friends, he and Ella. She had been more the social, and he hadn’t done his part after her death to keep them close once the shock and initial grief wore off. And in his job, there were plenty of days the last thing he wanted to do after work was socialize.
    He had more than enough self-awareness to recognize that was all on him.
    The hostess led them back to a far corner where several tables had been arranged together. “We’re regulars,” Laura said. “We call them every week to give them a head count and they prepare for us.”
    “Ah. Where do you want me?”
    She patted the chair next to her and grinned. “We won’t throw you into the deep end of the pool without floaties, I swear.”
    “Good to know. I appreciate that.”
    Everyone else arrived fairly soon after. Another round of introductions, or reintroductions, as the case was. He’d met pretty much everyone there through the investigation the prior year.
    He was also relieved to see no one acted overly wary of him or his motives for being there.
    As the meal continued, he was struck by how absolutely freaking normal everyone appeared and acted. He was well aware of the significance of things some of the people wore, like collars, bracelets, and the like.
    But if it wasn’t for that, and his prior knowledge of their lifestyle, he never would have assumed anything out of the ordinary about any of them.
    It was a welcomed relief to know that his introduction into a more public aspect of this area of his life would be chaperoned by a group of people he suspected he would quickly come to trust.
    Hell, he already liked them.
    Toward the end of the meal, the conversation turned to the invisible topic at hand. From across the table, Seth Erikkson got Bill’s attention. “By the way, we do have room in our class next Saturday.”
    “We’d love to have you,” Leah added.
    “I don’t have any…equipment,” he said, glancing around to nearby tables to make sure they weren’t being overheard.
    “It’s all right,” Seth assured him. “No special ‘equipment’ needed. We have plenty of extra.”
    “I’ll warn you, I’ve never done anything like this before.”
    Tony Daniels hooked a thumb toward Seth and Leah. “Then it’s the perfect class to introduce you to it. If nothing else, even if you decide it’s not for you, they’re excellent teachers and you’ll kill a few hours.”
    “I’m looking forward to it.”
    And if he didn’t lie to himself, he really was. It was nice to have something to look forward to other than yard work.
    Hell, it was just nice to have a group of people he could spend social time with who weren’t in law enforcement or the restaurant business.
    They were waiting to settle their checks when Rob said, “Oh, you know what? I