They went into the pizza place and got a booth. If Lia wasn’ttotallyoff base, Sammy was trying to finagle Lia to have to sit next to Gard, but Lia purposefully sat at the edge of one side of the booth so that no one could sit with her. Sammy pouted.
Lia’s nerves intensified, because if that girl was trying to make something happen between her and Gard…
But Sammy picked up the menu and fixed Lia with a direct glare. “What kind of pizza toppings do you like?”
“I’m pretty easy. Nothing fishy and no mushrooms. Otherwise, I’m open to anything.”
“Oh, don’t say that,” Gard muttered.
“Okay,” Sammy said, shooting Gard a triumphant grin. “The arugula and caramelized onion with balsamic it is.”
“Wait. Balsamic?” Lia pulled a face. “On pizza?”
“Thank you,” Gard said emphatically. “See? No one wants that.”
Sammy pouted again. “It’ssophisticated. Uncle Gard has novision,” Sammy said. “Be on my side.”
Lia looked from Gard to Sammy. “Sorry. I can’t. I think I’d rather suffer through a mushroom.”
Sammy rolled her eyes dramatically. “Someday, when I’m as far out of Wyoming as you can get, I will find people who appreciaterealfood.”
Lia couldn’t help but smile at the dramatics, but Gard wasn’t smiling. Lia realized he was probably thinking about Sammy talking about leaving Wyoming, and how a few years would pass by in the blink of an eye.
Ouch.
They ordered. One meat lovers for Gard and Lia to share, and Sammy got a personal-pan pizza for her, as Gard called it, abomination. Gard made Sammy talk about what she’d learned in school, and though Sammy pretended to be irritated, Lia could see how much she enjoyed Gard’s questions. His attention.Him.
“Sarabeth is trying to talk me into joining debate, but she’s almost never there because of her sports schedule. I don’t really know anyone else on the team, and Mr. Nielson is kind of a jerk.”
“But you’d be good at it,” Lia said encouragingly. “I’m pretty sure if you and Sarabeth teamed up, you’d be unstoppable.”
Gard chuckled. “Debatingisin the Fairhurst blood.”
Sammy wrinkled her nose. “Well, I don’t want to be likethem.”
Gard ran a hand over her hair. “Never, kid.”
Leaving Lia to wonder just what was wrong with the Fairhurst family.
“You know, before she dropped out, even your mom went to a state competition for debate,” Gard told her.
“And you went to nationals. Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Sammy turned her gaze onto Lia. “He’s freaky smart. He was going to go to law school.”
Gard shifted, clearly uncomfortable with that tidbit. Which Lia had to admit, made her want to hear more about it.
“Is that so?” Lia replied. She could see it though. It was easy to picture him all slicked back in a power suit. Talking people into or out of things, depending on what kind of lawyer. He had that…presence about him.
“Another family tradition,” Gard said, a hint of bitterness in his tone. “Luckily, I decided to enforce the law instead of warp it even more.” His phone trilled before he could say anything else. “Sorry. It’s work. I have to take this. I’ll be right back.” He slid out of the booth and stepped outside the restaurant, but they could still see him through the window.
Lia noted Sammy was frowning as he talked seriously to whoever had given him a call. Then she turned her gaze on Lia—direct and blue, just like her uncle’s.
“If he asks you out, you’d say yes, right?”
Lia felt a bit like she’d been slapped. There was certainly an odd ringing in her ears. “What?”
“Like on a date. You would, right?”
Her cheeks were burning, which wasridiculous, considering she was being questioned by a teenager. “What are you talking about?”
