AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Back when she’d known him before, she lived in a world of make-believe and hoped she was important to him. She had daydreamed of the day he would realize she was more than the awkward production assistant, and he’d give her some of that attention he’d reserved exclusively for the other women on set. Yep, she had crushed hard on him. Her heart broke that summer when he left, and she swore the next time she met a guy like William, he wouldn’t forget about her.
He sat forward on his chair, leaning his arms on the table. “Did I do something to upset you?”
Fine. So she was being a total grouch and scratching at old wounds to ensure they wouldn’t close. Eight years had passed. The statute of limitations on judgment for his past indiscretions was over. She wasn’t that insecure, shy girl anymore. Her past no longer defined her. He didn’t remember her, and it was better this way. Time to let it go and start fresh. “Sorry, no. Next question.”
William read the next card. “If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what would it be and why?”
She sucked in a breath. Her parents weren’t the kind you talked about openly. No, they were the kind who left you with enough issues to fund the vacations of future therapists.
“You go first this time.” William nudged her shin with his toe.
“You didn’t add any chips,” she pointed out.
“Let’s just answer the questions. We’ll get to know each other better. It’ll make the time here easier.” His dimples swept away her resolve.
“I confess I would’ve liked parents who kept me around.” Where did that come from? Sheesh, yeah, it was true. But it wasn’t something she shared with anyone.
“Your parents didn’t want you around?” Abruptly aware of his proximity, she glanced down to where his hand rested only an inch away from hers.
“Mom and Dad are different.” She heard herself speak, but remained unclear which synapses were giving direction at the moment. “When they’re together, they want me around, when they’re in the midst of one of a thousand breakups, they pretend I don’t exist. They toss money at me. I stay away. A few months ago, they broke up again.” She’d refused to take anything from them this time around. This time around she decided to do things herself. Which is what landed her in Camelot. “We’ve only emailed a few times since. Last I heard, it’s looking promising they might reconcile soon.”
Not that it mattered to her. Not really. She was done with that part of her life.
“Siblings?” The slightest of movements brought his fingers even closer to hers, and the desire to trace the line of his gold wedding band nearly overpowered her.
“No.” Thankfully, some part of her brain wasn’t focused on his proximity and continued to play the game. “You?”
“No siblings.” He frowned. “Always wanted a big family, but that didn’t happen. Mom got sick when I was a kid. Cancer. She beat it. Couldn’t have more kids, so she threw herself into her work at Crestone. Cancer came back. She died. Dad married the housekeeper.”
Whoa. “That’s awful.”
“You have no idea.” His face went totally blank.
“I met her at the coffee shop. Teresa, right?” Lucy asked.
“Yeah.” He rolled his beer bottle between his palms.
Right. Moving on. Lucy grabbed another card. “What’s the most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to you?”
William lifted his bottle to his lips.
“You first,” Lucy said quickly.
His face turned thoughtful. “I confess I was on a reality show once.”
Lucy’s heart stammered. Of course she knew that. “Yeah?”
The word came out breathy.
“A Real World, Big Brother type show. They made me look like an idiot. I was a kid, and I was naive, so I didn’t think. But I needed the cash, and it seemed like a good idea at the time. In hindsight, it was a bad decision that led to years of embarrassment.” Sadness oozed through his words, and he had the look of a man banished to Confession-induced purgatory.
“I thought you were loaded. Why’d you need money?”
The question apparently caught him off guard. “My parents shut off my trust fund. My mom was pissed at how I blew through cash. She was right. I get that now. I was stuck in Florida with Parker, and he had to get home for work. I got the casting call, took an advance, and sent him home with my payout. My mom got sick when we were filming. She died, and I missed her funeral because I didn’t get home in time.”
William cleared his throat.
“Then your dad married the housekeeper…Teresa,” she whispered. The beautifully sad Italian woman from the coffee shop Lucy’s first day at KDVX. She could relate to that type of thing… That’s the type of thing that tore her own parents apart again and again.
