“I wanted to talk to you,” he said. “I asked William if it would be okay if I stopped by.”
“Oh? I didn’t know you were coming.” She looked past him. “Is Lindsey with you?”
“No. I want to talk to you about that.” Roger tugged on his shirt collar. “Could we maybe go inside?”
“Sure. Yeah. Come on in.” They walked inside into the dining room, away from the others.
“Thanks. You’ve been really busy lately.”
“Aren’t we always?” she said with a laugh.
“I mean more than usual. I’ve been trying to catch a minute of your time the last few days.”
She remembered Olivia mentioning that. “Oh. Sorry. I?—”
“Whitney, I made a mistake. Lindsey is not my person. I think I just wanted you and me to be something more than we were, and when we weren’t, well, I let myself believe that Lindsey could be my person. I miss how easy it was for us. We always had fun. No drama.”
Hot dogs and potato salad twisted in her gut. “Roger, the reason it was so easy is that what we had wasn’t really anything at all.” He didn’t nod in agreement. Didn’t say anything at all, just stood there looking at her. “We didn’t have to put in the hardwork, because there were no expectations. Real relationships take effort.”
“Sure, it was convenient, but we were really good together.” Roger paused, but he didn’t give her a chance to respond. “I have a client dinner next week in Virginia Beach. Come with me. You can even have some expectations. You’ll see. It’ll be as good as it ever was.”
“No, thank you.” That ship had sailed. Now that she’d been getting to know Matthew, she wanted more. “We both were getting a little too comfortable in the situation,” she said. “I’m sorry it didn’t work out with Lindsey, but this… you and me… this isn’t why.”
“Do you have a date for the awards ceremony?” he asked.
He stood there waiting for an answer that she had no intention of giving him. “I’ve got plans. Thank you.”
“I heard you were dating an artist.”
She didn’t like the way he’d said that, and it wasn’t any of his business. “That’s personal.”
“He’s not your type. You know that, right? Can you take him to a formal event? A fundraiser? I have a feeling your parents would flip if you settled for someone like that. Besides, I already fit right in with your family.”
She tried to temper how much that comment bugged her. “Roger, it’s not becoming to judge someone you don’t even know.” She folded her arms. “And how would you know what my type is? You never once asked me what I wanted or liked. Suddenly you’re an expert on me?”
“I know you.” He shifted, looking a little agitated. “I checked him out. Looked for red flags. I care about your best interests,” Roger said.
“I don’t need you checking up on my decisions on who I go out with.”
“So youareseeing him. What are you going to do, hang around and wash his paint brushes for him? I can’t really picture that.”
If that’s what she wanted to do, that was her choice. “Maybe you should leave before you say something else that makes you look like?—”
He stopped her mid-sentence. “Fine. I’m going. When it doesn’t work out, give me a call.”
She watched him walk away, glad to not carry on the act any longer. Especially not after seeing this side of him.
Finally,the sun lowered in the sky, and everyone moved to the second level balcony to watch the city’s fireworks. Richmond always put on a spectacular fireworks display for Memorial Day.
Carina brought out a tray of tiny, bite-sized desserts.
“These are almost too pretty to eat,” G-Maw said.
“Nothing is that pretty.” Carina passed them around. “Come on, they are even tastier than they look. You don’t want to miss out.”
Whitney took one even though she was still full from the meal and had been snacking earlier.
Finally, the first flurry of fireworks soared into the air with repeaters that echoed so loud little Chloe immediately wailed. Their cousins’ kids tried to distract her and entice her with the pretty colors, but that little girl wasn’t having any part of it.
