I cocked my head. “You know you don’t have to work for him, right?”
“What else would I do?”
“I thought you were going to be a hotshot music executive.”
“I’m not going to discover the next great rock band at Alleygators.” A dive bar down by the river, near the trailer park.
“So go to L.A.”Or New York, where Jo is. I pushed the thought away.
“I can’t leave Granddad.”
“Why? Is he threatening to write you out of the will?” I joked.
Trey smiled. “No. But he took me in after my parents died. He could have left me in boarding school. I’m all he has.”
And he’s all you have, I thought.
“Sorry about your mom and dad,” I said.
He shrugged. “Nothing to be sorry for. They died. It sucked. To tell the truth, I was glad when people stopped calling me that ‘poor Laurence boy who lost his parents.’”
“I hate that expression,” I burst out. “Like you misplaced them somewhere.”
He looked at me, arrested. I froze, afraid I had gotten this—gotten him—wrong. “Like car keys,” he said.
I relaxed. “Or your phone.”
His eyes smiled. “Exactly.”
“Trey.” I stopped, putting my hand on his arm. “Are you happy in Bunyan?”
“I could have been. With the right person. I thought...” He broke off, staring across the sun-washed courtyard.
That Jo would marry him.My heart cracked a little.
“So, what’s the plan now?” I asked.
“Jo was the plan. So...” He shrugged. “There is no plan. Live. Play. Enjoy myself.” He looked back at me, forcing a smile. “What about you, little Amy? Are you happy?”
“I’m happy here.” I smiled and took his hand again. “I’m happy now.”With you.
“Good.” His smile was less forced this time. “That’s good.”
But he didn’t say he was happy, too. Maybe coming to the Louvrewas a bad idea. This wasn’t his first trip to Paris. He didn’t need another highlights tour of the museum.
“What do you want to go see?” I asked, my voice too bright.
“What about that exhibit you were talking about last night? The fashion stuff.”
The Musée de la Mode et du Textile. “You can’t be interested in looking at a bunch of sketches and dresses.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “Why not? Isn’t that your thing?”
“Actually, I’m more into accessories.”
“Jewelry.”
“Shoes. Scarves. Handbags.” I gave him a straight look. “Beautiful things can be useful, too.”
