After dinner, Romero announced with a smirk he had a several stops to make before the night was over. Then he pulled out his wallet, smiling as wickedly as only Romero could and announced his soldier had enough helmets for what he had planned. Yeah, Angel would be taking relationship advice from this hopeless romantic.

They dropped off Romero at his place, and then Angel and Sarah headed to the marina. Even though they’d just eaten, Angel knew that after a romantic evening walk along the marina boardwalk Sarah might be ready for dessert. He got the distinct feeling that his less-than-eager attitude about her meeting her dad and brother was bothering her. The last thing he wanted her to think was that he wasn’t happy for her because he was—sort of.

He wouldn’t be telling her this, but he didn’t think her dad deserved her in his life. Sure, the guy had been locked up for a better part of Sarah’s life, but he’d been out for over five years. And the fact remained that even he said it wasn’t until her brother began to show in an interest in meeting her that he actually made an effort to find her. Angel knew his whole not trusting any guy when it came to Sarah had a lot to do with it, but something else gnawed at him, and he couldn’t quite put a finger on it. Something just felt off. He’d never been the superstitious type, and he’d certainly never put a whole lot of weight on something like the fortune in his cookie he got tonight at the Lucky Dragon. But the ironic coincidence was unsettling to say the least.

If you feel in your heart and soul that something is wrong, then it probably is.

He just wasn’t sure which of the two things that were bothering him lately this might be referring to: her dad and brother or Syd? Then again it was just a damn fortune cookie. He wouldn’t waste more time trying to figure it out.

For now, he’d go along and join her in her excitement—pretend to be as enthused as she was for the sake of not shitting all over what should be an unexpected but exciting development in her life. He knew this was huge for her, and so far he’d sort of dumped on it, but then he also hadn’t been in the best of moods for other reasons.

They strolled on the boardwalk, and he let her go on about her feelings, thoughts, and anxiousness about meeting her father and brother without interrupting. As expected, a half hour into their walk she was ready for ice cream.

“We haven’t been here in a while,” Angel said, holding the door open to Dipsy’s, the ice cream place they used to frequent a lot when they were first dating.

“I was just here not too long ago,” she said, looking up curiously at the poster behind the counter.

Angel glanced up at the poster announcing their Sundae’s For Two. “That’s new,” he said, already reading what each one consisted of to help decide which one he and Sarah could share.

“Not really. Me and Sydney had one last week. The girl behind the counter said they’ve featured them all summer and are real popular.” She turned to Angel. “I guess it has been a while since you and I were here last.” She smiled then pointed. “Look at that humongo one.” She giggled. “I told Sydney if I ever come back here with Valerie that’s for sure the one we’d share and she’d probably finish most of it.”

Normally, Angel would’ve chuckled along with her and agreed. Instead, he was still trying to shake off the irritation that she and Syd had shared a sundae. This was ice cream for crying out loud. She just said it herself. It was something she’d just as soon share with Valerie. It shouldn’t be a big deal. So why did it feel as if she just said she’d shared a f**king shower with the guy?

“What’s wrong?” she asked, squeezing his hand.

Glancing up at the poster, Angel avoided eye contact with her. He hadn’t even realized his jaw had locked tightly just like every time he thought about what Alex has said about Syd. “Nothing. I’m just wondering if I’m not still too full for this.”

She was quiet, and he could see from the corner of his eye that she was staring at him. Sarah knew him too well, which only irritated him more. Clearly, she’d already picked up on the fact that her bringing up Syd was off-putting. Why then had she? He worked his jaw and knew now there’d be no denying it.

“I can get a single one for myself,” she said, “if you don’t want to share one of the bigger ones.”

Angel turned to her, unable to soften the stony expression he knew he wore now. “Which one did you share with Syd?”

He knew she might think him petty, but he had a feeling what the answer to the question of why she’d brought it up might be. If she was trying to make her spending time with Syd sound casual and innocent—if she thought she could start weaning Angel onto the idea because it just may turn into a reoccurring thing—it wasn’t happening. Angel would set things straight right now. He’d never made it a secret that while he accepted their friendship he didn’t like it. She’d never asked him to like it, and he knew he never would. So talking about the time she spent with Syd without Angel would never be a casual and pleasant conversation, regardless of how innocent it may sound.

Her face fell for a moment, and he hated that. They’d been having such a good time up until she brought up Syd. She recovered fast enough, but he’d seen it—the disappointment that she couldn’t bring up Syd this casually without things getting tense. But it couldn’t be helped. His girl had gone out for ice cream with a dude who’d just dumped his longtime girlfriend for her, and they’d shared a sundae. She had to know the only reason this scenario was acceptable at all was because Syd was her longtime friend, but it’d still never be pleasant.