“Nailed it,” he confirms. Easy, practiced, a little bored.
“I followall your market analysis. And I meanallof it. And that ETF bundle from September? I’m up nineteen percent, which my dad said was impossible, so, like,thank you. Seriously.”
“You’re welcome.”
This is almost awkward but the woman is too ecstatic to notice. “And your father’s films? Meridiandestroyedme when Iwas seventeen. I’ve watched it probably a hundred times. Maybe more.”
“I’m sure he’d be very flattered.”
“Can I just ask,” she gushes, “I mean,everyonewonders about it. Iloveyour brother Apollo, but you … you just have, like,somuch star quality and I read online that like at least a dozen different directors have pleaded for you to be in their films, but you always turn them down. Why?”
Hang on a minute.
ApolloWilder?
Holy shit.
“Not my thing,” is all Dallas gives her, his annoyance gaining momentum at this point.
“I’m taking too much of your time,” the woman says, maybe hearing in his tone that this is beyond tedious for him. “Would you mind terribly—I would absolutelydie—if I got a quick photo of you? With me?”
He couldn’t sound more bored. “Sure.”
“Would you mind?” she asks me, holding out her phone.
Dallas’s eyes narrow, as though he doesn’t care how rude she is tohim, but any inkling of rudeness directed atmeis inexcusable. But I reach for her phone as she stands next to Dallas and beams up at him like he’s the second coming.
I take a bunch of photos and hand the phone back to her.
“Thank yousomuch.” More to Dallas than me. She smiles gleefully at him again before making her way back to her table.
“Wow,” I murmur. “You really made her day.”
“Don’t start.”
“Don’t start? Actually, I think we have a whole lot to talk about, Dallas Wilder.”
“After you, Amelie Thibodeaux.” Dallas gestures for me to go first, so I slide into the seat closer to the window. He slides in next to me. There’s a small half-door shield, which he closes so the entire restaurant is no longer staring at us.
I start with the first question. “Apollo Wilder is yourbrother?” He’s one of the biggest movie stars in the world. I don’t go to many movies because I’m always working, and I don’t follow social media or go on the internet much at all because my phone is so old it doesn’t support a lot of apps, but evenI’veheard of Apollo Wilder.
“To his great personal satisfaction, yes.”
“Your father is that famous movie director?”
“Jack Wilder, yes.”
“And your mother?”
“Hattie Carson.”
Wow.Hattie Carson is one of those movie stars of the ages. It’s all sinking in. “You’re the oldest. The banker, who’s …” I don’t want to say it because it shouldn’t matter. He’s famous for making billions andbillionsof dollars.
“Been written up once or twice, yes.”
That’swhy his name sounded familiar when he introduced himself last night. Because I’ve read about him. Sometimes there are newspapers on the bar and occasionally I read them. He’s the quiet enigma of his family, the one who’s some kind of financial genius. All four of the brothers live very different lives but they’ve all been successful, not just because of their name, I remember reading, but because they happen to be a family ofvery talented people. “I’ve seen some of your father’s movies. I loved that one about that ranch in Montana.”
“Big Sky.”
