“I’m glad it all worked out. Now, my second thing. How were your blood test results?”
“Good. Still in remission, still accepting the organ.”
“Good, good. Now for the third item.”
“And the main one.” She grinned at her brother.
“Fine,” he said and actually blushed. “Never thought I’d be asking my younger sister for female advice, but what do you know about Trish Bower?”
“What about her?” She frowned as she began eating after he encouraged her to.
“Hell, I don’t know.” He sighed and refilled his coffee cup. “Is she married? Engaged? Dating anyone. Does she even bat for my team or yours?”
“Oh my god.” Wanda laughed. “You like her?”
“I thought she was cute, but I didn’t want to come over too strong last night. I could tell this was an important thing for her.”
“Well, I can’t tell you much. What she said when she introduced me last night is all true. I’ve worked with her for three years. She’d put my designs in different shops around Seattle. That’s where she’s based out of. The woman who gave that free lesson took me under her wing and taught me the craft. She’s the one that contacted Trish to represent me. You’ll have to talk to her. I do know that I was her first client and now she’s as big as she is. If last night were any indication, I’d say she’s doing well for herself. But as for personal stuff, I have no clue. As much as I enjoy working with her, that’s all our relationship is, work. Nothing personal.”
“Oh. But if she’s based out of Seattle, that’s good. I know you sent an e-mail that you were going to be busy. Now I understand why, you were getting ready for this, right?”
“Right.” She agreed with him, she had been busy back then for a gallery, except it was for Susan’s in Seattle, not this one in New York, that came weeks later. It was too confusing to correct him, so she just agreed with him.
“That’s what I figured. When you sent the tickets to Mom, and she said we’d be meeting you here, I decided to wait for my news. The rest of the familydoesn’t know yet, not even Brandon and he is my boss.”
“What?” Wanda prompted after he went silent.
“I took the detective’s exam, and I passed.”
“Douglas, that’s wonderful. Does this mean a promotion?”
“It does. However, I was offered a job in Seattle. I took it, so when I leave here Monday, I’m going back to Oregon and packing up and moving to Seattle. I thought if I got to know Trish, I’d know at least one person in the city.” He frowned. “Not necessarily as a love interest.”
“I understand.” She put her hand on her brother’s. “Someone to talk to, get to know the city when you both have a free moment. I wished I knew someone in Yuma when I arrived. Sure, I had Magnolia, but she was a seventy-year-old woman, and I think she took me under her wing because her daughter didn’t want anything to do with the pottery business. But other than Magnolia, I had no one there. It gets lonely. Sure, I’ve since made friends, but not that many. One thing I always stressed with Trish was that she would never know my real name until I was ready to reveal it. That’s why she kept calling me Willow Raintree all last night. But I can understand why you’d want to know someone of the opposite sex. I’m going to lunch with her and the other artists tomorrow, I can talk to her then if you’d like.”
“I’m not sure. I’m going to try to see if I can get her by herself for a few minutes tonight. But maybe I’m pushing it. Hell, I don’t know. All I know is that I really liked what I saw.”
“When was the last time you dated someone?”
“Last Spring. Her name was Emily Brown. I dated her for about four months. Matter of fact, I met her at a friend’s New Year’s Eve party. I even took her to Fern’s for Easter dinner.”
“Damn, bro. That’s serious. What happened?”
“We got to talking about your wedding. I have pictures of the family all over my apartment. But my favorite picture of you was the day you left on your trip. It’s with you blowing me a kiss. I had it blown up into an eight by ten, and it’s on my desk at the office. Emily came to my office several times and always commented on the picture. I didn’t really pay any attention. It wasn’t until Easter Sunday when we were laughing and reminiscing about your wedding that her comments began to register.”
“Let me guess, because of my size?”
“Exactly. I told Emily she didn’t understand. She told me that I had my head in the clouds that no one didn’t have control over their weight. I refused to listen anymore to her comments. I called Uber and Brandon escorted her out of the house. I haven’t seen her since.”
“So, let me ask you this,” Wanda said as she scooped up a bite of the veggie omelet. She knew she was curvy, but most of that was due to the medication. She was happy with her body and knew that Christopher loved it, so she didn’t take offense. “Are you interested in Trish because she’s curvy? I take it that this Emily Brown wasn’t.”
“No, she wasn’t. I didn’t really give her a second glance at first. She wasn’t really my type. I’ve always liked women who had curves. When I make love to a woman, I don’t want to think I have to temper my enthusiasm and break something or get poked by asharp bone sticking out. Remember Rachael in high school?”
“Oh yeah, she was curvy. Whatever happened to her?”
“She went away to college at UCLA and started her life there. But that’s why I think I liked Trish’s look, the first thing that caught my attention was that I saw her from behind and I liked her figure. Then she turned, and I saw her face. Cute. Do you even know how old she is?”
“I think she’s a year or two older than me. So that should put her around your age. What about this? Why don’t you let me introduce you to her tonight? I’ll introduce you as my brother and mention that you’re being transferred to Seattle, then we can see what her reaction would be.”
