Norah pulled the requested pieces out. “You know, I’m really envious of your relationship with your dad.”
Tess stared at her. “You’re jealous of me?”
“Yeah. Little bit. My dad’s nothing like yours. Trey is great at recognizing that everybody’s got their own interests and strengths and playing to that. My dad…” She shook her head. “I was raised with all this pressure that Burkes are meant to do great things. You get that. You’ve got a big family legacy, too.”
Tess inclined her head in acknowledgment.
“I absolutely took that edict to heart. But my dad’s expectations and the expectations I believed he had for me weren’t the same thing.”
“What do you mean?”
“Dad had it in his head that I was going to follow in his footsteps and go to law school. The only acceptable deviation would have been med school to take after my mother. I did something entirely different that he’s never approved of. So I’ve spent my entire adult life trying to meet his expectations and failing.”
“Then his expectations are bullshit. Look at what you’ve done here. You have absolutely proved yourself. You saved an entire freaking town.”
“With a small army.”
“Maybe so but my dad never talks about the army. Just you. Frankly, it feels like a lot to live up to.”
Now Norah was the one staring. “Tess, do you think Trey’s comparing us?”
The tone of absolute shock had Tess wishing she’d kept her mouth shut. She shrugged and braced herself, accepting that they were finally going to address the elephant in the room. “You cast a wide shadow, Wonder Woman.”
Norah pressed her hands to the counter and seemed to work on gathering her thoughts. “Do you have any idea how much your dad talks about you? About how proud he is of all the things you’ve done? All the things you want to do? Do you have any idea what I’d give for my dad to just once acknowledge that I’m good at what I do and that he’s proud of me? Sure, Trey is impressed with what I’ve done, and I appreciate the hell out of that. But it’s not the same. There’s a part of me that’s still trying to live up to the family name. You’ve already lived up to yours.”
Tess rocked back on her heels and absorbed that. She’d already lived up to the family name? If that were true, then exactly who was she trying to impress with all the backbreaking work? As she stood across from this woman she’d seen as a rival, she found she didn’t have an answer. She scooped a hand through her hair. “So I’m jealous of you, you’re jealous of me, and we’re both probably being ridiculous?”
“It does rather look that way.”
Tess couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of it. “Jesus. We really are a lot alike.”
Norah grinned. “People do keep saying that. The fact is, Tess, we have a lot in common, and I’d really like to be friends.”
Tess really, really wanted a friend. “I’d like that. Now give me that skillet.” Norah handed it over, and Tess added a pat of butter, setting it to melt. “So where is Cam tonight?”
“He had a City Council meeting. Where’s Mitch?”
“Poker night. I believe there was some discussion of handcuffs and hog-tying if he didn’t show up this week. Here, go ahead and clean off these mushrooms and give them a rough chop.”
Norah peeled the plastic wrap off the package and began wiping down the mushrooms with a damp towel. “Judd and Liam take poker night very seriously. Cam only gets a pass because he’s got official city business.”
Tess found herself curious about these guys Mitch was closest to. “They’ve been friends for a long time?”
“Since grade school. They’re good guys.”
“Judd is the detective, right? Married to Autumn? The pregnant one.”
“Yeah, that’s them. There’s a love story for the ages.” Norah began chopping the mushrooms. “Those two were best friends from the time they were six. It took forever for them to get out of their own way and admit they were in love with each other, but once they got past that hurdle, they didn’t waste any time. Judd proposed and presented Autumn with a fully planned wedding on the same day.”
“Seriously?” Tess added the diced onion to the skillet.
“Seriously. As long as it took Cam and me to even set a date, I’ll admit to some jealousy there. I think Riley’s got some of that going on, too. She and Liam have been trying to plan their wedding around his brothers’ deployments.”
She added the ground chicken to the pan with the onions. “What’s their story?”
“Oh, that was fun to watch. As I understand it they were friends when they were younger. Riley’s best friends with Liam’s little sister, so I’m sure there was some kind of an off-limits vibe there. Anyway, when Liam got out of the Marines and came home and saw Riley for the first time in years, you’d have thought he got hit upside the head with a 2x4. Another little sister she was not.”
Tess listened to the play-by-play, breaking up the chicken as it browned. Rock solid foundations that were years old. Both of them. This was what she and Mitch hadn’t had time to build.