Autumn nodded but looked down. When she looked back up, I could see hesitation in her face. “Can I ask you something personal?”
“Shoot.”
“Was social services ever involved when you were younger? I mean, you found Bud because you needed a place to eat. Didn’t they intervene?”
I shrugged. “Sometimes. Mostly when I got in trouble. But I’d call my friends and have them go to my mother’s usual places, and they’d pay her twenty bucks to go down to the police station and pretend she gave a shit, like I was just an out-of-control kid. Social services didn’t really look deeper since someone had come to pick me up. Guess there’s too many kids like Storm who have no one to even pretend.”
She sighed. “The system is far from perfect.”
“It all worked out in the end.”
“I guess.”
“Can I ask you something personal now?”
“Of course. It’s only fair since I’m so nosy.”
“What’s the reason you don’t want a relationship and only date guys who want the same?”
She frowned. “You really cut to the chase, don’t you?”
“Sorry. Occupational hazard, I guess. But I’d like to understand what I’m missing here. I know it’s something.”
Autumn nodded. She looked away before she started speaking again. “I was in a relationship that…ended. And I’m just not ready for that again.”
I could see she was uncomfortable talking about it, but she’d let me in a bit, so I gently pushed. “How long ago did it end?”
“Six years.”
Wow. That was a long time to get over things. But it dawned on me that maybe she’d suffered a loss. That could definitely make it take longer than usual to get back on the horse, so to speak.
Before I could ask anything more, she turned to go in.
“Goodnight, Donovan. Thanks again for everything.”
CHAPTER 10
* * *
Autumn
Ten years ago
“That was a nice gift you gave Lena.” The deep voice seemed to come out of nowhere.
“Jesus. You scared the crap out of me.”
“How long have you been sitting back here?”
“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “Maybe twenty minutes.”
The backyard was pitch dark, but I knew the voice. Braden Erlich. The son of my dad’s newest partner at work. Correction, the ridiculously hot son of my dad’s newest partner at work.
“Are the lights broken?” he asked. “The ones that go on when they detect motion?”
“Not that I’m aware of.”
Braden was quiet for a moment. “So that means you haven’t moved in twenty minutes?”
I smiled in the dark. “It’s sort of a hobby of mine. I like to see how long I can stay still before the motion detectors catch me.”
“What’s your record?”
I detected a hint of amusement in his voice.
“Twenty-six minutes.”
He went silent for a while. “Alright. Let’s see if we can break it.”
I laughed, but I was careful not to move my face too much or let my body shake. “You’re going to stand there and not move so I can break my record?”
“That depends.”
“On what?”
“If you admit that you re-gifted the present I just saw your dad’s fiancée open inside.”
“What makes you think I re-gifted it?”
“My mother gave it to you at your high school graduation party three months ago.”
Shit. Did she? I closed my eyes. Oh my God. I think she might’ve. “Sorry,” I said.
“What are you sorry for? Not wanting a porcelain figurine when you’re eighteen?”
“It’s a Lladro. It probably cost seven-hundred dollars.”
“Didn’t cost my mother that much.”
“How do you know?”
“Because she got it as a gift from my grandmother two years ago.”
My eyes widened. “Are you kidding?”
“Nope.”
I chuckled. “Wow. Now I definitely don’t feel bad.”
“You shouldn’t. You’re too pretty to feel bad.”
Oh wow. I was definitely glad we were still in the dark, so he didn’t see me blush. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Did you know there’s a limited-edition Lladro that costs forty-seven-thousand dollars? They only made five hundred of them.”
“So you checked out the value before deciding to re-gift, huh?”
I laughed. “Actually, no. Sometimes I just read up on really random things.”
“Interesting.”
I probably sounded like a complete dork. “I don’t sit at home doing it or anything. It’s just something I do once in a while.”
“I like that. You’re curious.”
A solid minute went by, and neither of us said anything. Eventually, Braden spoke. “Are you still there?”
“I am.”
“Weren’t you afraid Lena would remember you opening that at your graduation party?”
“Lena wasn’t at my graduation party. She and my dad only met on the Fourth of July.”
“That was less than two months ago.”
“Yep.”
“And they’re engaged already?”
“He proposed on their one-month anniversary.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah. That seems to be a thing for him. He proposed to his last wife on their six-month anniversary.”
“His last wife? How many has he had?”
“This will be his fourth.”
“What number was your mom?”
“She was the first. She died when I was twelve.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Thank you.”
“I feel bad for making you talk about it. I think I know where I can get a nice Lladro to make it up to you.”