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The fact that my dad forced a smile and tried to be supportive of the fact that a man had come calling was a big step for him. In reality, he never really saw me doing anything out of my normal routine, but I knew that bothered him. However, he was my responsibility, and in order for me to go anywhere and feel comfortable, it took a bit of preparation, almost as if I had a child to take care of. Luckily, my father could make his own meals and generally take care of himself physically. I was more of a guardian than anything.
“Ready?” I looked up at Blaine and smiled.
“I am.” He smiled back and walked toward the door.
He looked over his shoulder to say something to my father but realized he was lost in his computer screen. I closed the door behind us as Blaine escorted me to his bright teal sports car parked out front. Immediately, I remembered thinking about how much I would like this car sober, and my drunk self was right on the money. It was sleek, shiny, sparkly, and had to have been almost brand new. The thing was luxurious and from my limited knowledge of cars, extremely expensive. Seeing that told me one of two things. Either he had a rich daddy, or he had some seriously fat pockets of his own to be able to cruise around in something like that. He definitely was not a West Palm Beach boy. That was for damn sure.
However, I didn’t really care about his money at all. It was just an observation that helped me start to piece together who Blaine actually was. I couldn’t remember him telling me anything about himself the night before, so in reality, the only thing I could do was piece together who I thought he was, though it was very likely that I was wrong. It didn’t matter at that point, anyway. I was just glad to see him standing there, waiting for me, something I never thought would happen. But I couldn’t deny that his car was pretty sweet.
Knowing that Blaine was obviously not poor made me a bit nervous about where he was taking me to lunch. I really didn’t like snobby rich people, and I wasn’t dressed to face those kinds of people at the moment. I assumed, though, that he would take me to a fancy brunch place or something, and secretly, I was dreading it. To my surprise, however, we zoomed down the road just a short way and pulled into the parking lot of Hal’s, a greasy spoon type of diner that had the best fried foods in the whole town.
I had gone there as a teenager with friends, when I could eat whatever I wanted and still have a rocking body. I wasn’t going to lie. I was pretty relieved to be there and not someplace with the rich and the famous of Palm Beach. I was just used to West Palm, no matter what people said about it. It was home, the place I grew up when times were simpler, and it had provided for me ever since then.
It was definitely more relaxing, knowing I was going to face Blaine on my own turf. He was intimidating enough as it was.
He walked around the car and opened my door, reaching down to help me out. As my hand moved across his, I could feel the electricity sparking through us. I stood up and straightened my dress, feeling his eyes on me. I linked my arm into his, and we walked inside, grabbing a booth in the back corner for a little bit of privacy. We both ordered a big sloppy burger and greasy fries. Then we sat back, talked, and ate for quite a bit of time. He was so funny and charming, and I felt that his candor was refreshing, even if it did take me by surprise at first. It was quickly becoming apparent that I liked him more and more.
“What do you do?” I asked.
“You can’t hold it against me if I tell you,” he said, chuckling. “I’m a lawyer. It was my parents’ firm.”
“That’s awesome,” I said, impressed. “Do your parents still work there?”
His face went blank, and I could tell he was guarding himself against me. I sat back and thought about apologizing, but if he wanted to get to know me, then he needed to start opening up, too. I wasn’t upset. I just wanted to know this stuff because it was important. He took a deep breath and softened his face.
“My parents both died in a boating accident in my first year of law school,” he said with an embarrassed smile.
“I’m so sorry,” I replied, feeling like I should have stepped back. “Were you at school?”
“No,” he said with a deep breath. “Actually, I was there. I was the only one that made it out alive.”
“That’s terrible,” I said, shaking my head. “Well, at least we still have you. You saved me from myself last night.”
; I lightened up the mood and breathed a deep breath as his face turned to laughter. We spent several hours enjoying our food and talking. This guy had my attention, and he had it good.
Chapter 5
Blaine
I had always been such a guarded person, never opening up to anyone. I kept everything close to my chest, even to some of my closest friends. My inability to open up to people had gotten the best of me on many occasions, but at the same time, I had carefully crafted my walls so that I didn’t allow myself to get close to women, especially ones that were as easy to talk to as Josie. There was just something about her that made me feel incredibly comfortable. She was kind, caring, and extremely empathetic, something I was not used to with the women that I normally hooked up with. They were interested in my wallet, not my heart, and they were not looking for complications. I was a giant ball of complications since I found it important to keep people at bay. I didn’t want to be hurt, not after going through what I did with my parents. I also knew these women would expect me to be the bigshot lawyer, something I was not interested in whatsoever. However, sitting across from Josie and staring into her eyes, I couldn’t help the words that just kept spilling out of my mouth. I wanted to tell her everything, and I had little restraint.
“Ever since my parents died,” I said, looking down as she reached across the table and covered my hands. “I don’t know. I guess I’ve just been drifting.”
“Why do you think that is?”
“I wish I knew,” I said, smiling and taking a deep breath. “I don’t mind law, but financial law is really boring. I know it my parents’ business, but I have pretty much no interest in it at all. I find myself making excuses to get out of it, not caring that I’m living off the partners and my inheritance. I was so on track when they were alive, though I still wasn’t planning on working for their firm. I wanted to change lives, not wallets, and I hate the big corporate aspect of it all.”
“Have you talked about maybe selling your part of the firm?”
“I could never do that,” I said, looking down. She grasped my hands tighter. “It is really the only thing I have left of them. It was their legacy, the company they built from the ground up. I remembered being a small child and my father working for someone else. When he and my mother split off to start their firm, it was like he changed for the better. I couldn’t sell that off. It was the man and woman behind the name that made it valuable to me, not the actual firm.”
“I’m sorry you have to go through this,” she said with a kind grin. “I am sure, though, once you have worked through this, you will see that you have much more of your parents than just their law firm.”
“I hope so,” I said, looking at her beautiful face.
“I understand that family problems can hit you hard,” she responded. “They can cut you down to the core and really change who you are as a person. My mother left when I was a sophomore in high school. My father, he has a serious gambling problem, and he put our family in a really bad spot. He’s gotten better because he has no choice, but she wanted me to come with her. In the end, I just couldn’t think about leaving my dad all by himself. Sometimes, I think about the what-ifs. What if I had gone with her? How different would my life have been? But I still wouldn’t change anything, except maybe get my father a little bit more help earlier on. He pretty much gambled away everything we had, and now, he is jobless and struggling. I support us on my salary, but I still can’t seem to get through to him some days. It’s like the addiction takes over, and he is another person.”
