We stepped out into the winter storm, snowflakes swirling under the streetlights down the long drive. A taxi splashed by,and the sight made me think of the woman from earlier. She’d yelled at that driver like she’d been appointed judge, jury, and executioner of Chicago traffic violations.
Weirdly, I found myself smiling without even meaning to. “I met the craziest woman today.”
We started walking toward his place. Nate glanced at me, his chin tucked into his coat. “Craziest, huh? Like she wore her shoes as a hat?”
I chuckled. “She screamed at a cab driver trying to bully his way into traffic and probably made him cry. It was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.”
He nodded appreciatively. “You get a name? Or a date?”
“Nope.”
Nate snorted. “You should’ve asked. She probably would’ve made you the perfect wife. Fiery enough that you wouldn’t have gotten bored for at least a month.”
I laughed. “What makes you think I didn’t ask for her name? She just wouldn’t tell me.”
When we reached his building, I hung back at the curb, waving down a cab to take me back to my place. Nate’s eyebrows hiked up before he chuckled. “Well, that’s very on-brand for you. You finally meet a woman who intrigues you and immediately let her slip away.”
The cab slowed to a stop beside me. I flipped Nate off and slid into the backseat. Once I was alone again, I couldn’t stop seeing her, furious and fearless. A human firecracker ready to detonate at anyone dumb enough to test her patience.
She’d made something in my blood spark for the first time in a very long time, and now that dinner was over with, I felt a pinch of disappointment that I’d let her get lost in the sea of people in Chicago, another face I’d forget in a few weeks.
But damn, I’d never forget watching her tear into that driver like he’d killed a kitten in front of her. Honestly, it had kind of turned me on.
The cab pulled away from Nate’s and I dropped my head back against the seat, watching the lights blur past the window and silently cursing myself for letting herslip away—to quote my brother.
She really had intrigued me. It was just too fucking bad that the odds of ever running into her again in a city the size of this one were practically zero.
CHAPTER 3
JANE
My mother had been pacing for twenty minutes. Fluttering around her room, she was wringing her hands like she was preparing to accept the award for theMost Anxious Human Alive. I leaned against the doorway, watching her and trying to reach for a shred of patience deep inside.
“Mom, we’re going to be late.”
“I know, I know,” Nora breathed, tugging open a drawer, then slamming it shut like there was a snake hiding inside. “Where is my lipstick? The one that doesn’t make me look tired. Jane, do I look tired?”
“You look fine.”
She didnotlook fine. She looked like a stressed, vibrating, one-winged bee, her hair half-curled and her blouse tucked on only one side, but if I said any of that out loud, we would never leave. Besides, this was as good as it got these days.
At least she finally found the lipstick, only to promptly forget she’d found it. Then remembered she’d forgotten, then panicked about forgetting in the first place.
I exhaled slowly, summoning all the skills I’d learned as a semi-professional crisis manager while simultaneously trying to keep myself calm. “Mom. We have to go. Now.”
Of all the things my mother had gotten in the divorce—this house, us kids, and twenty-five percent of Thayer Steelworks—stability was not one of them. Her world had collapsed with the investigation into my father and the subsequent trial.
Everything had come crashing down around her, and the public humiliation had destroyed whatever had been left. When the board had stepped in like a court-appointed babysitter, she hadn’t even had any reason to try to cling to control. So here we were.
Watching her now, it was hard to believe that she’d been a social tornado once upon a time. People used to beg for her attendance at galas, charity luncheons, and gallery openings. She’d flitted from one to the next without breaking a sweat.
She’d been at the height of her career as a socialite, the epitome of wealth and status. Now, herfriendshad faded, her invite list was gathering dust, and the winter gala season on its way was a constant reminder of how far Nora had fallen.
She could barely leave the house without a full meltdown. I watched her apply the lipstick, then start fretting with an earring, but I swallowed the frustrated sigh that tried to work its way out of me.
Part of me still blamed myself for how badly it had gotten. I hadn’t been here when everything had fallen apart. I’d been at Yale, finishing a PhD my father had thumbed his nose at.What’s a pretty girl like you going to do with an advanced degree, Jane?
He hated that I’d always strived to become the eldest son he’d really wanted, but I’d thought he would eventually leave me the company my great-grandfathers had built.
