“So, Marlowe,” Walker said, pouring a glass of wine. “You’re from…”
“Vermont,” she said.
Cody was jealous of how easily his brother asked these kinds of questions, and he was also… Fascinated. He wanted to hear exactly what she had to say. Wanted to use Walker’s people skills in this moment. He and Marlowe had had a deep conversation the other morning, but there was more that he wanted to know, and if he were in charge, he would just end up asking her for a biography, and that wasn’t really how it was done. At least, that was his impression of things.
“Brothers or sisters?”
“Not that I know of,” she said.
“Relatable. I mean, obviously, I have these two. But truth be told, there could be more. There’s a reason none of us have ever put our DNA into one of those things.”
“Same,” she said. “There are things I don’t need to know.”
“Agreed. So, dysfunctional family then?”
“Walker,” Lila said, elbowing him. “That’s not polite.”
“Oh, it’s fine,” Marlowe said. “Yes. Dysfunctional family.”
Cody already knew about that, but it was interesting to listen to her give a very abbreviated, less emotional version of what she had told him. She didn’t tear up when she talked about her dad, and she didn’t talk about him dying in a nursing home due to his alcoholism. She gave a nice, neat answer that gave just enough away.
He wanted to ask her how she learned to do that. And why.
This was the thing, he wasn’t interested in the PR answers. So, he didn’t want to ask PR questions.
He wanted real answers. He couldn’t quite say why he was so hungry for that. For something… authentic. Something unique to her that only he had access to.
“What made you want to come to Oregon?”
She got a strange, thoughtful look on her face. “I’ve lived a lot of places, but they were all on the East Coast. So, I thought it would be nice to check this place out.”
She didn’t say we. She didn’t mention her husband. And he had a feeling that the answer was deeply abbreviated. But he didn’t know the real answer to this question, and he wished that he did.
Walker spent the rest of dinner entertaining them with stories of his years cattle roping, and if Marlowe hadn’t put her hand on his thigh under the table, he would’ve been convinced that his brother had charmed her away from him.
They finished their meal with each dessert on the menu. Rhubarb cream pie that made his eyes roll back in his head, a lava cake, a berry cobbler, and banana pudding, which he would’ve said he wanted nothing to do with, but was actually delicious.
When they all stood, he felt himself lingering.
“It’s fine, “Walker said, looking between him and Marlowe. “We know that you’re staying.”
Lila wrinkled her nose, and the two of them walked out of the restaurant, leaving him there with Marlowe.
“So, they know,” she said.
“Walker’s too perceptive. And honestly, Lila is too, she just hides it better than he does. And anyway, why keep it a secret?”
“Because it might not make a difference to you, but it kind of makes a difference to me whether or not everybody here knows that I’m… with the boss.”
He ground his teeth together, irritation at himself makinghis jaw tight. He hadn’t thought about that. “Sorry. Do you want me to… Leave?”
“No,” she said. “I don’t want you to leave. The fact that you haven’t thought about that is actually…” She shook her head.” Because you aren’t trying to take advantage of me. I get it. So you didn’t think about that. “
It was a lifeline, actually, one he hadn’t realized he was desperate for.
But it was nice that she said that, because it made him feel like maybe he really wasn’t like his dad.
Maybe he wasn’t.
