“Okay, name one thing.”
I’m met with silence.
“See,” I grind out. “It’s a very bad idea.”
“Well, we both run our own businesses,” he says and I bark out a laugh.
“You jet off across the world to meet with who are probably millionaire clients, and I just run a yarn store in the town I grew up in. They couldn’t be more different.”
“First, don’t demean what you do. You have to manage finances, deal with lots of customers, stock management... All of it by yourself. I’m a project manager. I just have to coordinate other people to do their jobs.”
“Well, when you put it like that,” I say bitterly, not believing a word of it.
“I mean it, Holden. You’ve achieved a great deal. I’d say I’ve had it easier,andI have a business partner.”
“Tell me about him?” I ask and watch the miles roll by as he explains.
“Nolan’s a great partner to have. We met over a decade ago when we were both working for another company. We both realized we wanted to set up on our own in the same sort of business and decided it would be easier together. We’ve been going for nearly four years now. So far we’ve been lucky, we’ve worked hard and managed to secure some good clients.”
“Your millionaire.”
“Billionaire, actually,” he says and I glance over, detecting a small smile.
“That’s not helping,” I say, but his smile is catching and I match it. “Sounds like the perfect life.”
“It’s good but it’s not perfect,” he replies and I detect a slight hint of wistfulness.
“But you must have lots of friends.” Okay, now I’m digging a little, but I’m stuck with him for several hours so I’m allowed to. I’m not looking at him but I can almost feel his frown.
“Not many, no,” he says carefully. “But I do have a brother.”
“W-what! Wait!” I steer the car back to the right hand lane from where I’d crossed over to the left in shock. Once I can drive properly again I ask, “Y-You have a brother?”
My mind is trying to get around that and failing. I know his dad married several times, but none of his wives had any kids by him.
“Yeah, you met his mom the other day. Marina.”
“How? Your mom just said she was a friend from England. So like, how?”
He gives a little chuckle.
“This isn’t her first visit to the States. She came over thirty-nine years ago for a tour of several states. She met my dad right before he married my mom—the night before from what I’ve been told. And yeah, I know my dad’s an asshole.”
I glance over again at Reece, and he has a slightly pained expression on his face.
“Does your dad know about your brother?”
“Yeah, he knows,” he says with a sigh. “He doesn’t care about Mac any more than he cares about me.”
“Mac? Is that his name?”
“Well, it’s Mackinley,” he says with a laugh.
“Wow.”
“Yeah, apparently Marina has a thing for old cop shows. But then, as Mac is a cop, I guess it fits.”
“A cop, huh?”
