“Talk about what?” She pivoted and yanked open the refrigerator, disappearing briefly into its depths. She emerged with two bottles of water, handed one to him, and dropped into one of the chairs at her kitchen table with a glare. “The fact that you want everybody to think you’re some cool, laid-back guy but you’re actually super rigid and unwilling to deviate from your precious schedules?”
His arm jolted to a halt as he lifted the bottle to his lips, startled that she’d evaluated him so precisely in one short sentence. But the fact that she was insightful as hell wasn’t what they needed to address tonight.
“No deflecting with observations about me.” He pointed his water bottle at what they’d just done in the kitchen. “Maybe that was just a random nighttime home-improvement streak, but I’m asking if maybe it was something else.”
She worried the corner of the water bottle label instead of answering. “Did you know I’ve never dated anyone for longer than four months?”
Okay, he’d definitely missed a step somewhere. “Um, no?”
She twisted off the cap and took a swig. “Remember how fast Mom and I moved away from your neighborhood?”
He nodded and took the seat next to her, still not following this conversational track.
“Some people aren’t built to be alone, I guess.” She ripped a strip of label off the bottle. “So Mom married the first guy who came along.”
Ah. Okay. “And did she regret it?”
Thea shrugged. “Isure did. But she says she’s happy. And she loves Annabelle.” Her stepdad’s fucking spite plant sat in the center of the table, and she poked her finger into the pot, then dumped the rest of her water into the soil. “Next time I see her, she’s going to ask me if I can afford the property taxes on this place, mark my words. He’ll have gotten into her head.”
Aiden’s irritation flared. Those people should be delighted that Thea had managed to make her dream come true. But that didn’t fully explain her previous comment. “And the boyfriend thing?”
“Yeah well, if you watched your mom become a completely different person because she married somebody she knew for five months, you’d be choosy too.” One corner of her mouth twisted down. “Somewhere along the line, I got kind of used to moving on before things got serious because God forbid I end up stuck with someone who makes me miserable.”
Aiden rubbed his knuckles along his jaw, reconciling what he knew about her habits with this new information. “Makes sense.”
“Oh, is that also the reason you’ve never settled down with some nice girl?” She raised a challenging brow at him, and he rewarded the return of her sass with a grin.
“Hardly. My parents have a great marriage. I just prefer to embrace my Peter Pan syndrome.”
She rolled her eyes. “Lord, grant me the confidence of a mediocre white man.”
“Hey! Ain’t nothing mediocre here.” He gestured down at his sweaty shirt to cover his discomfort at discussing his relationship history. When they’d discussed it before, it hadn’t felt so… personal.
She made apshhtsound. “Please. You’re magnificent and you know it.”
He’d never been called magnificent before. Had to admit, he liked it.
She blushed and looked down, her teeth worrying the corner of her lip, before saying briskly, “Anyway,I can now add kitchen demolition to my list of skills.”
“Hell yes you can.” They exchanged high fives, then a thought struck him. “Same deal with the jobs?”
“What do you mean?” She snagged their empty water bottles and got up to toss them in the recycling bin.
“Is that why you run through careers the way some people run through songs on a workout mix?”
When she turned to face him, she was frowning. “I guess I’ve never really thought about it like that. But yeah. Maybe. People start to rely on me at the job, and I get the itch to move on.” She shifted from foot to foot. “I’m… not happy working at the station.”
Her voice was a barely audible whisper, and he crossed to where she stood in front of the sink. “Oh yeah? Is this how it usually goes for you?”
She glanced toward the dark stillness of the river, clearly uneasy with the subject. “Yeah. I’ve got my favorite temp agency’s number on speed dial for when I wake up some morning and just need to make a change.” She blew out a breath and shot him a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Guess I haven’t found the job that makes me want to settle down yet.”
Haven’t found the job or haven’t found the man?The question almost slipped out, and he was suddenly more curious than he should be about the guys she’d dated in the past and how they’d failed to satisfy her. Weeks ago he’d pegged her as a “marry me” girl. She apparently would disagree, but he wasn’t convinced he’d been wrong. Then again, how many men were worthy of her quick wits and sunny nature?
Just as he was about to lose his damn mind and start saying things that a fake boyfriend really shouldn’t be saying, she yawned and sagged against the counter. “I think it’s time for bed.”
Fair enough. If this was a heavy conversation for him, it would be massive for her. “Okay if I leave my stuff here for the night? I’ll be back tomorrow to take out the countertop and finish cleaning all this up.”
“Ha. I messed up your schedule for a second day,” she crowed.
