“Okay. Good.” As horribly judgmental as it was, Ira was glad. He wanted to give Angel the benefit of the doubt, he truly did, but it was hard not to think like she didn’t deserve her daughter back after having done that.
“Ha. Sincerely doubt that.” He smiled back at the other man. Staas an interesting character, even without the ex-drug-addict-with-crazy-past-girlfriends history attached. And surely there would be more –hopefully not quite as depressing – things to unearth about his friend
And so of course Ira had more questions. A number of which –even with Staas’ assurances – he was definitely not going to ask unless the other man brought it up first. The remaining bite of chocolate melted sweetly on his tongue as he considered what to start with. There was a sentence that had stuck out to him as Staas explained about how Theo had come into the world, but it had taken a backseat to the flood of indignation that rose in response to Angel’s story. Sipping his tea and watching his cat cuddle into Staas’ hand, Ira remembered, nodding.
“…Your last lapse, after you quit. That was because your mama died.” His voice was low and soft, enough so that Lady’s delicate rumble of a purr was audible under his words. “You were close.” It wasn’t so much an inquiry as a statement, but the request for elaboration was in there somewhere.