“Actually,” he confessed, “I was trying to get up the nerve to come in.”
That was a new one in her experience. “Why ever would you have to get up the nerve to approach me?”
“Several reasons. First, I knew there were hard feelings where Brad was concerned and I wasn’t sure how I’d be received. Second, I wasn’t sure if it was really you.” His gaze slid from one to another of her features. Again that puzzled look crossed his face. “You look so different. Very … very pretty.”
Lauren clutched the shoulder strap of her bag more tightly. “Brad had a picture.”
“An old one. You were sixteen at the time.”
For reasons she wasn’t about to analyze, she didn’t want to go into the matter of her reconstructive surgery. “It was a long time ago,” she said quietly. “People change.”
“I’ll say,” Matt drawled. “Still, it’s amazing …” He seemed about to go on, and for an instant Lauren wondered just how much Brad had told him about her. She was saved when he looked up and announced tentatively, “I think this is it.”
She followed his gaze toward where the wharf and its cruise boats loomed. “Looks like it. This is really the blind leading the blind. I went to college in Boston, but that was a while ago. I haven’t been back for very long.”
“Are you living here in the city?”
The glance she sent him held subtle accusation, but there was a whisper of amusement underlying her words. “What did my parents tell you?”
Reading her loud and clear, he fought back a grin. “Just the name of the shop. I assume they wanted to keep things on a strictly business level.”
“I’m sure they did.”
“And you?”
“And me what?”
He was suddenly serious. “Would you put me down because I don’t have a Ph.D. in some esoteric subject?”
“I don’t have a Ph.D. inanysubject.”
“You have a master’s degree in art. I never went to college.”
“But you’re successful in what you do. At least, if you’re traveling across the country, the firm you work for must be doing well … you must be valued.” Having doubted his story such a short time ago, she amazed herself by coming to his defense. Suckers for vulnerability weren’t always the most prudent. She took a deep breath. “No, Matt. I’m not like my parents. Brad wasn’t the only one who had differences with them. It’s just taken me a little longer to act on those differences.”
Their conversation was cut short when they arrived at the ticket booth. Matt paid their fare, and they boarded the boat. Wending their way through the other groups that had gathered, they climbed to the top deck and found an empty place by the rail to look back at the city skyline.
“I love Boston,” Lauren mused after several minutes of silent appreciation.
“Explain.”
“It’s bigger than Bennington and that much more exciting, yet smaller than New York and that much more manageable. You can understand it, get to know it. It’s livable.”
“You have an apartment?”
“A farmhouse.”
“In thecity?”
“In Lincoln—” She caught herself and scowled at him. “That was sneaky. You took advantage of me when my defenses were down.”
He grinned amiably. “Sorry about that. Do you really own a farmhouse?”
Somehow further prevarication seemed silly. “Uh-huh. It’s old and needs a whole load of work before its potential can be realized, but it’s on a great piece of land and has charm, real charm.”
“Old places are like that. History adds character. That’s one of the reasonsIlike Boston. Wandering around, seeing where the Boston Massacre took place or where the Declaration of Independence was first read—it gives you goose bumps.” He paused, staring at Lauren. “Why are you grinning?”
“You and goose bumps. You’re so big and solid. It seems a contradiction.”
