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He lifted the pencil and rolled it between his fingers, unable to look at me. “You should set up your new office. I have to get back to work.”
I clapped as I inched my way out of the room. “Father of the year, ladies and gentleman.”
Kali Marx arrived at noon. With her blonde hair fashioned into an elegant updo, she wore a black sheath dress and Manhattan shades that made her look like Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. She drove us to Blue Moon Cafe in her pristine 6 Series, which had the prettiest blue paint and cream interior.
We sat in the back booth at the upscale cafe. Blue Moon had everything from gourmet burgers and fries to steak and lobster. They even had milkshakes that cost twenty-five dollars, which made me gasp when I saw the price. Who the hell would pay that kind of money for ice cream?
“You were right,” I said between bites, moaning as I chewed. “These are the best chili cheese fries I’ve ever tasted.”
Kali shoved the plate in front of me. “You finish them.”
I rubbed my belly, the button on my jeans ready to pop from eating so much. “I’m good.”
“The women in this town drink their water through a straw,” Kali said as she raised the glass bottle of French carbonated water. “Weird, right?”
“This town reminds me of the movie The Stepford Wives.”
“They act like them, too,” she said with laughter in her tone. “Wait until you see the Devil’s Creek Belles dolled up for their Sunday brunches at the yacht club with their full faces of makeup, talking about stupid shit no one cares about as they stuff their spoiled faces with cream puffs between snorting pills.”
We laughed so hard the table shook.
“The Founders wives are the worst,” Kali muttered, then bit her lip when she realized her mistake. “I mean, no offense, but the founders kinda suck, and so do their minions.”
I rolled my shoulders. “I’m an outsider to these people.”
She set her fork on the plate and wiped her mouth with a cloth napkin. “I lived in Devil’s Creek until I was five. After my parents divorced, my mom moved back to Southern California. I lived with her until my last semester of high school.”
“So that’s why Sonny calls you Kali from Cali.” I smiled at the cute nickname. “Now, I get it.”
“My mom is from Orange County. She moved to the East Coast to be with my dad.”
“Is your mom still in California?”
“Yeah. I would love to go back home,” Kali admitted, tapping the keyboard on her phone to answer a text message. “I miss my mom. She’s lonely out there by herself.”
“Does she visit you?”
She dropped her phone onto the table with a frown. “My dad lets me see her at the start of every summer.”
I cocked an eyebrow at her. “He lets you?”
Her cheeks flushed crimson. “I shouldn’t have said that. I mean… You understand what this is like.” She lowered her voice, resting her elbows on the table, and leaned closer. “My dad forced me to move here because of his election. I only stayed because of my mom.”
“Is he holding something over her?”
She nodded. “It’s a long story. I’m sure you know what it feels like not to have control of your life.”
“I have an idea,” I quipped. “Because of Luca, I’ve never had a life.”
“Luca likes you.” She flashed a genuine smile, playing with the straw in her water bottle. “You’re the only woman he’s ever talked about.”
“All bad things, I’m sure.”
“Nah, girl,” she said with the wave of her hand. “He talks to me sometimes. One night, he got drunk and told me all about you. He’s obsessed with you.”
I laughed. “Luca doesn’t know how to be with someone without controlling them. Whenever I get too close, he pushes me away.”
“Funny, he says the same about you.”
I stuffed a fry into my mouth, speaking between bites. “Luca is incapable of having a relationship with anyone.”
“His brothers are the same way.” She sighed. “Damian and Bastian make my head spin with all of their games.”
“Sonny said you’re with both of them. Is that true?”
Kali released a groan, averting my gaze. “He’s so nosy.”
“I noticed.”
“I know it’s strange…” She tucked her bottom lip into her mouth and looked away. “But yeah, I’m dating both of them. If you can even call it that.”
“What is it like to date brothers?”
“They’re not blood-related.” Her phone dinged again, and she stared down at the new message with a sigh. “Not that it makes what we’re doing any better.”
“Bastian and Damian’s parents were friends, right? That’s how they co-founded Atlantic Airlines.”
She nodded. “Did Luca ever tell you the real story about what happened to their parents?”
“They were in a fatal plane crash.”
Kali bit her straw, giving me a look that she said too much.
