“What about my other offer?”
She averted her eyes, staring across the street. When she brought them back to his, they held a note of apology. “I’m not ready for adatedate just yet.” Regret and just a hint of sadness drew across her face. “You’re so different than I thought you would be, Matt, and I’ll probably kick myself for turning you down, but I just… I can’t right now. I came here for a specific purpose, and if I allow myself to get sidetracked again, I’ll never get this book done. I hope you understand.”
He held her gaze for several long moments. “I guess I don’t really have a choice,” he replied. “As long as you understand that I’m not giving up.”
A grin curled up the edges of her lips. “Why am I not surprised?”
The urge to lean over and taste that smile was so strong that Matt had to push himself away from the table before he caved to the impulse. He stood and took hold of the messenger bag, pulling the strap across his body. Then he picked up his coffee and motioned for Tamryn to join him.
The Jazzy Bean occupied one of the southernmost buildings along Main Street’s commercial area. As they made their way up the street, Matt pointed out the various retail shops. He told her about the businesses that occupied the buildings and how all had taken on new life after last year’s Underground Railroad discovery put Gauthier on the map and made it a tourist destination for history buffs.
“It’s good to see the boost businesses have received. There aren’t many places like Main Street left around here,” he commented.
“Or anywhere,” Tamryn said. “I’d argue that this place was a national treasure even before the discovery in your law office. It’s like stepping back in time.”
“The shop owners go through great pains to preserve the storefronts on Main Street. We all signed a pledge promising to keep up our end of the bargain so that Main Street will look the same for generations to come.”
Tamryn wrapped her arms around herself. “Being a city girl, I have very little experience with a town this small, a community this close-knit. It must have been great growing up here.”
A disgruntled snort escaped him before he had the chance to curb it.
She looked at him. “It wasn’t?”
“It had its pluses and minuses,” Matt said with a shrug. “Remember when you asked me if there were privileges or obligations to being a Gauthier?” She nodded. “There were many more of the latter. If you carried the Gauthier name, there were certain expectations that you were expected to fulfill.”
Matt pointed across the street to the Gauthier Law Firm.
“My first memory is of walking through the doors of that building was when I was three years old. I remember my grandfather picking me up and sitting me on top of his desk. He told me it was going to be my desk someday.”
“And it is,” she mused.
“Still has the smiley face I drew on the very bottom drawer with permanent marker,” he admitted. “I never even thought about being anything but a lawyer, or about practicing anywhere but here in Gauthier. My path was laid out for me a long time ago.”
“So you never considered anything else? Even when the rest of your sixth-grade classmates wanted to be firemen, or astronauts, or…” She paused, tilting her head to the side. “What other things do sixth-grade boys want to be?”
“I don’t know,” Matt said with a laugh. “Like I said, I’ve known since I was three years old that I was going to be a lawyer.”
“Do you resent it, having your career path laid out for you from such an early age?”
“I used to,” he said. “But then again, I don’t know what else I would have done with my life. I never had the chance to contemplate anything else.” He looked at her. “Have you always wanted to be a professor?”
“Oh, no.” She shook her head. “I wanted to be a disc jockey.”
A burst of shocked laughter rushed from his mouth. He hadn’t been expecting that one. “A disc jockey?”
“Yep. When I was younger, I would sit in my bedroom for hours listening to the radio. The DJ used to interview all of these celebrities. I was so jealous. It wasn’t until I was much older that I discovered the celebrities were rarely in the studio. They were mostly call-ins.”
He held her hand as they crossed the street in front of the dry cleaners.
“So how does a wannabe disc jockey become a history professor?” Matt asked.
“A visit to my great-grandmother’s the summer before my freshman year of high school.” A wistful smile came to her lips. “That summer my great-grandmother told me abouthergrandmother, Adeline West. I was completely enthralled. I tried to learn all I could about her, which wasn’t easy, being that internet access was very sparse back then.
“As I researched Adeline’s past, I found myself falling more and more in love with history in general. I ran across so many fascinating women of color who have never made it into the history books.”
“So you decided to write your own.”
“Yes.” She nodded. “I felt they needed a voice.” She nudged his arm. “And that was a nice try, but we weren’t done talking about you.”
