“You mentioned that, but you saidourfavorite place.”
I clenched my eyes shut for a minute as I realized my slip.
“Byour,I meant my sister and me.” I sucked in a long breath through my nostrils.
“Ah,” Silas said, his shoulders relaxing as he nodded, almost as if he were relieved. I needed to eat faster, as hunger combined with tequila was making me hallucinate.
“My brother and I don’t share a favorite restaurant or really anything except for the same parents, and the only time I run into him is when we happen to visit them at the same time.”
“Well…” I drew in a breath, unsure if I should explain. Maybe we were keeping the conversation about our lives superficial, butholding back who my sister really was to me seemed wrong, even from a man I’d just met.
“My sister is…mine. Meaning I’m her parent, not simply her older sister. I always was, but we recently made it official. I bring her to Williamsburg sometimes because she loves the tacos here, and we like to people-watch. She’s at a friend’s house for a sleepover since her school is closed for a conference tomorrow, so that’s why I’m here alone today.”
I let my head fall back and groaned, still not understanding why I had to blurt out my new guardianship of my sister to a man I didn’t know—and couldn’t know past this dinner.
“How old is she?” Silas asked.
“She’s thirteen. Her name is Taylor. There’s obviously a big age gap between us, and I was always a convenient, pretty much full-time babysitter since she was born. It’s why becoming her guardian wasn’t that big of a shift.” I coughed out a laugh.
“Did something happen to your parents? I’m sorry. I’m prying where I shouldn’t be.”
“No, it’s okay,” I said, a little more relaxed and pleasantly surprised that Silas didn’t ask for his tacos to-go after finding out I had a kid to take care of.
“My parents split when I was born, so I don’t know my father. Taylor’s father took off before she was born too, so we’ve both only known our mother, and she wasn’t into parenting. Ever. But I had my grandmother to raise me while my mother indulged in whatever whim was calling to her at the time.”
“Wasn’t into parenting?” Silas asked, raising a brow.
“Not even a little,” I said with a chuckle. “School concerts, award ceremonies, she always had an excuse as to why she never showed up. She managed to attend my elementary school graduation, but I am pretty sure that was because she was dating one of my teachers at the time. Then all of a sudden, she’d check the school calendar for what was going on so she could be there.”
I winced and covered my eyes.
“Sorry, I’m sure you don’t want to know all of this.”
“I wouldn’t have asked if I weren’t interested,” he said with a soft rasp. “And you sound like you’ve been holding all that in for a minute.” He sent me a smile that was sweet enough not only to relax me, but liquefy my knees under the table.
I didn’t have to explain my situation to friends since they’d been around to see it all. I knew what an awful story it was, yet telling it seemed to make it worse.
“Probably,” I allowed, fidgeting with the paper napkin next to my plate. “My mother signed over her rights, so there’d be ‘no issues’ with the decisions I made for Taylor.” I held up my fingers in air quotes. “But it was less out of consideration and more about not being liable for whatever my sister did until she was eighteen. I don’t get out much, as you can imagine, so today was a treat day for me.”
When I finally met Silas’s eyes again, he rested his chin on the palm of his hand as his gaze seared into mine. I studied him back, trying to decipher what was behind his golden eyes.
Pity was something I should have been used to by now, but it still irked me whenever I spotted it. Anger on my behalf was common among my friends when it came to my mother’s antics. But I didn’t know what Silas was thinking because I didn’t know Silas.
And the bastard was making it really hard not to want to know him beyond this impromptu dinner.
“That is pretty damn admirable,” he finally said.
“Admirable?” I repeated slowly. “Which part?”
“Taking care of your sister when you were a kid yourself.”
As if I had a choice.I suppose I had, but not one I could ever live with if I’d chosen the alternative.
“Well, I was twenty when she was born, not exactly a kid. I haven’t thought of myself as a kid in a long time, even when I was, but thank you.”
I spotted a sort of pride in his eyes when his gaze found mine. That was new and kind of intoxicating. I’d enjoy the rush for the moment but not get carried away by it.
“So, it’s just the two of you?” Silas asked, his words slow. I wasn’t sure if he was trying not to appear too nosy or too interested if I went for tacos with others besides my sister. Why would he care?
