I laugh. “That’s not that far off, actually. I really don’t like being the center of attention, which is kind of all I seem to find myself in around here. But I still like it here better than Chicago.”
“You ran from Chicago? Were you runnin’ from somethin’?”
This really is an interrogation. “I was engaged to a man named Kevin. Mama loved him. I didn’t.”
“But you were goin’ to marry him?”
How do I explain this without sounding like a total jerk with no backbone? “It was all right after Mama passed, which was really quick. We weren’t what a lot of people would consider close, but she was my only family. And she was just… gone. Kevin came from a powerful and rich family, and Mama loved him. He was there when I had no one, and I always wanted to please Mama. I felt like I had to honor that until I realized I would be miserable for the rest of my life if I did.”
“You never really wanted to marry him?”
This makes me sound like the worst person in the world. “No. I didn’t. I know it sounds bad, but it’s the truth. Nothing with us ever felt right. The more the planning got underway, it startedto suffocate me. The walls were closing in. I didn’t want this life that Mama wanted for me. Then there was the whole affair with a twenty-two-year-old secretary that kind of did it for me. I packed up and left while he was on abusiness tripwith her and never looked back.”
Lydia stops and stares, her mouth wide open. “What?”
“Yeah, you’d think it would be shocking, but it’s actually really common. The cheating thing. It’s not about love as much as it is appearances. Everything feels like a business deal.”
“Appearances?”
She rolls out dough that’s as flat as I’ve ever seen, but I don’t question it. “If you have the right look, you can get almost anything. That’s what Mama believed. Anything but a loving and monogamous marriage, anyway. Money was never worth it to me, and I’ve never been big on power. They can keep it all.”
“Tell me somethin’ scandalous,” she says and leans forward, the dough forgotten now. “I love those housewives’ reality shows. How true are they?”
Her excitement makes me giggle. “I’d say about half and half.” Looking up at the ceiling, I try to think of something she’d like to hear about. “Okay, I have two stories. A powerful socialite, whose father owned some of the largest law firms in Chicago, LA, and New York, got pregnant by acommon manher father didn’t approve of. She refused to, um, not have the child, so her father joined companies with his competitor in order to agree to have his son marry the socialite and claim the child as his own. Let’s just say, there were certain attributes about the child that made the story not so believable.”
“They didn’t think…?”
“Thecommon manshe thought was the father, was in fact not the father. It was a random one-night stand, and the father of the child was actually from a family higher than hers. He refusesto acknowledge her or the child, and even got out of taking a paternity test.”
She nearly claps with excitement. “No!”
“And then Kevin’s father, Arnold, is a notorious playboy. More women than you can count, honestly. I don’t know how he hasn’t caught something and made it fall off yet, but he’s had affairs on pretty much every continent. We met at a party that Kevin took me to, but I was alone when he saw me. Arnold hit on me and tried to convince me to be his newest mistress.”
“You’re kiddin’.”
“I’m not. And this wasn’t the first time he’s done it because Kevin wasn’t even surprised.”
“Pull up a picture of him. I want to see this family!”
Reaching into my purse, I pull out my phone. “I bet I can find at least thirty on the internet.”
“Brynlee?”
I look up to see her studying me. It’s clear where Rhett gets his intense gazes from. “Yes?”
“I want you to be completely honest with me. Rhett doesn’t have a lot of money, and I know you don’t work. Not in town, at least.”
Isn’t it normally the girl’s family who has thewhat do you bring to the tableinterrogation? My stomach flutters, and I feel nauseous. I thought I’d gotten over my nervous stomach years ago, but it’s the same feeling I’ve had since Rhett invited me to dinner with his family. Nothing in my life has ever felt this important before. “I have my own money and my own consulting business. I’m not looking for someone to take care of me. That’s what I left back in Chicago.”
“And you really care about Rhett?” Lydia asks, her eyes never leaving me.
Care about him? How about being madly in love with him? Something that’s killing me to wait for him to say first. “I do.”
“Why?”
“Why not?” I ask, not really sure how to answer that.
A smile spreads on her face. “Good answer.”
