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“God, you and Mom talk too much.”
“Your mother and I gossip, honey. We don’t talk,” she assured me. “I love your mom to death, of course, but you get all your uptight nonsense from her,” she said, dramatically waving her hand in my direction.
“Mom was always extremely strict, and I guess I’m pretty hard on myself, but I don’t think it was all her,” I answered with a smile.
“Extremely strict, is putting it mildly,” she rolled her eyes. “That woman runs your father’s show and sometimes thinks she can run mine.”
“Her and Dad work, though. You know that,” I said, not wanting to get into the fact that my mother was the world’s biggest bitch when she wanted to be.
I loved her to death, but there was a reason I was closer to my Dad. She was a high school principal—one who would put Mr. Rooney from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off to shame—and she didn’t take shit from a single soul. Dad was softer and more forgiving; they were the supreme definition of opposites attracting.
“Tell me about Jesse,” she said, continuing to probe for more info. “Your mother may love to gossip and dig into drama to tell me how she would’ve handled things, but she never gets into the good details.”
I grinned and gave Aunt Bev all the dirty details about Jesse, but we spent more time talking about how I ended up embarrassing myself with Dr. Aster, only to find out he would be my superior.
“Sounds to me like you have a keeper on your hands, and I don’t say that lightly,” she said.
“While I appreciate your honesty, Aunt Bev, I will pass on that relationship advice. How many divorces have you had now?”
“Touché; however, go with me on this.”
“Okay,” I humored her, wanting to know her perspective.
“Well, first of all, he’s quite humorous, and I know that without even having met him.”
“The guy loves a good joke, and lately, it seems I’ve made myself out to be the butt of all of them.”
“I love that he was willing to rescue you while you played damsel in distress,” she added. I guess she was going somewhere with all of this.
“I wasn’t playing the damsel in distress; I was half drunk and acting like an idiot.”
“That’s beside the point. He played along to keep you around at the bar and then kept your little moment going after Jesse tried to knock him out.” She looked at me as if she had some ancient wisdom. “This boy will fall for you. Mark my words on that.”
“He’s a complete player, Aunt Bev. He’s dangerous, and I’m not bringing my heart anywhere near a man like him.”
“The players are the best ones, darling.” She smiled, and I could see her eyes grow distant. “My first and only true love was a player.” She laughed to herself. “He tried to bend, break, and shatter my heart, but I knew the game.”
Her eyes reconnected with mine. “And what’s the game?” I asked.
“Understanding how insecure these players are, of course,” she smiled. “Michael was breathlessly handsome, a tall drink of water on a scorching hot day. His body was carved like a god, and he was only twenty-two years old.” She flashed a shy smile at me. “All the women worshipped the ground he walked on as if he were Adonis himself. He adored the attention, and yet, I was the one who saw through him.”
“How could someone like that be so insecure?”
“Who knows, sweetheart? They’re the only ones who can’t see it,” she continued. “Regardless, these people just want their egos stroked, and once their victim serves that purpose, they move on to another.”
“So, how did you manage to play this little game?”
“I didn’t fuel his ego,” she chuckled. “But, oh, did he ever try to flatter me with words. It took a lot of me being unimpressed with him to make our relationship eventually work.”
She grew solemn as she looked down at her hands, absently twisting one of her rings.
“What happened to you two?” I questioned.
She paused, lost in reflection with a look of sadness I’d never seen her wear.
“He passed away in a tragic car accident,” she finally said before she stood. “I’m sorry, honey. Daytime martinis have a way of making me dredge up old heartaches.”
“Maybe one day you’ll tell me more about him,” I said, rising to meet her and hugging her.
