It felt fucking wrong as hell to lie to her—although technically, his dad did teach him those things—and it felt even worse when she nodded, accepting his explanation without question.
Hopefully one day soon, he’d be able to tell her the truth. He wanted her to know everything—but she had to be ready to hear it first.
“Ah, I got it. I know Aaron’s is a family business, but did you start it? Or does it go back farther?”
The corner of his mouth curled as he slanted a look at her. She was tucked into the corner, one leg up on the seat so she could look at him easier as they talked. One elegant hand was playing with her hair, her slender fingers running through the long strands over and over.
The fact that she was relaxed with him meant everything. So much so, she didn’t realize he was driving at what basically amounted to a snail’s pace, trying to draw out his time with her.
“Pops started it when he was in his twenties. You remember him. They grumpy asshole who nearly ran you off.”
That startled a laugh out of her, and when he glanced over, her green eyes were sparkling as she stared at him. Fuck, what it did to him to see a smile on her face, to hear her laugh.
Even more, to know he was the one who pulled that reaction from her. He felt like he’d conquered the tallest mountain in the world and been crowned king of it.
And Lord have mercy, when did he start thinking in those kinds of terms? It wasn’t like him at all.
When you met her, his mind whispered.
“So you’ve worked there all your life, I’m guessing?”
“Yeah. I always knew I’d take over the business, so I didn’t feel like I had to work somewhere else, or even go away to college. I took business classes online, but I learne
d most of what I know from my dad and grandfather.”
“Lindsey mentioned she did the bookkeeping at Aaron’s.”
Eyebrows shooting up, he looked at her with surprise. “You’ve talked to my sister?”
“Yeah,” she replied with a soft laugh. “I stopped at the bookstore before I went to the grocery store, and she was there. I guess she recognized me. We talked for a few minutes, and then she said she had to get back to work.”
His smile turned wry as he glanced at her. “Did she talk your ear off while her mouth went a hundred miles a minute?”
A surprised laugh left her lips, and the melodic sound washed over him. It sounded foolish, even to him, and most would think he was crazy—but he swore it tethered his soul a little tighter to hers.
Was she magic? Did she posses some kind of witchcraft? He honestly couldn’t think of another explanation for why he was so invested in her, so attached, this soon.
“Pretty much,” she replied with another laugh. “I learned pretty fast that I had to focus and pay attention, or I’d be completely lost. She seems very nice, though.”
“She’s one of the nicest people I know, and I’m not just saying that because she’s my sister. She has a kind and generous soul. Unlike me, she went off to the big city for college, and I worried it would change her.” Pausing, his brow furrowed as he thought about his words. “Not change her as in make her unkind, but I was worried others would be unkind to her. That she might come back jaded and cynical. That didn’t happen, though. She came back just the same. Older, more mature, sure, but otherwise, the same Lindsey she was when she left.”
“That’s really good. The experiences we have can change us. Sometimes it’s for the better, but all too often, it’s for the worse. And sometimes you lose yourself, and you have to claw your way back to who you were. It comes in bits and pieces, and they’re hard fought and hard won. And then you know you might never be exactly who you used to be. You just have to cling to the broken pieces you found, and accept that they’re all you get. You become someone else. Someone new. And sometimes, that’s okay, too.” Pausing, she shook her head with a smile. “Sorry, I got a little deep there. I’m just saying, it’s a good thing she never had to go through that.”
Her voice was quiet and solemn, and he knew she was speaking from experience. Even if he hadn’t been able to tell from her words that she had intimate knowledge of that struggle, he still would have known.
It was in her eyes when he glanced at her, in her posture, in her voice. And despite all those clues, he thought he would have known anyway.
As much as he wanted to know how she knew what that felt like, what she’d experienced to get to that place, he refused to pry. It still wasn’t the time, and he couldn’t help hoping she would open up to him on her own eventually.
The turn to her driveway was coming up far too soon, so he tried to casually change the subject as best he could. He had a feeling she didn’t want him pursuing her statement—that it was something she hadn’t even meant to say in the first place.
“Did you go to college? What do you do for a living—or what did you do before you came here to start over?”
He’d thought he was steering the conversation to a neutral subject, but when she stiffened slightly, he knew he didn’t succeed. What about those questions could elicit that reaction?
It wasn’t extreme, but it was there, and he noticed it.
And he wanted more than anything to soothe her tension away. Hold her, comfort her, tell her she’d always be safe with him.