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She was about to blurt out, That’s not on your bio, either. But she kept her mouth shut, giving him space to talk.
“There’s a before.” He made a slicing motion. “And an after. Before, we were the all-American family. My mom homeschooled us, and we all sat down for dinner together every night. Vacations were camping trips to National Parks. On our birthdays, we got to go to Blueberry Hill diner for breakfast and order anything we wanted.” He smiled. “Every year, I knew exactly what I was getting. I rotated my favorites, so if I ordered French toast one year, it’d be pancakes next time, and the country breakfast the year after that.”
“Same. Only for me, it was the state fair. If I got funnel cake one year, I knew I was getting the Cheeto turkey drumstick next time, and I’d have the Churro sundae the year after that.”
He grinned, and she felt a pop in her chest. Happiness rained over her like confetti. She’d seen him having sexy times, she’d seen him in business mode…she’d even caught a glimpse of vulnerability.
But his smile is what makes him a star.
Like the sun, it pulled her into his orbit.
And she never wanted to leave.
“Yep. It was the ritual, you know? This thing I could count on. Me slathering so much syrup, my dad would say, Do you want pancakes with your syrup? Every single time.” Seemingly lost in the memories, his expression radiated affection.
And she wished she could drop in there with him, sit beside the happy boy and his whole, complete family. She’d have had such a crush on that boy.
And she could’ve been there for him when he’d lost his dad.
But the smile flattened. “And then there was the after. He was young, only thirty-six, and healthy, so he didn’t have life insurance. His company gave my mom some money, but it didn’t last long. She got a job, but it didn’t pay the bills, so she had to get a second and then a third one.” He waved a hand, like he didn’t know why he was telling her this. Like none of his story had any relevance to his life today.
But she didn’t want him to stop. She wanted more. “How many kids?”
“Four.”
Another oddity. His bio only mentions three Van Claybourne siblings.
“My mom sold the house, and we moved into a two-bedroom apartment. And I watched her go from overwhelmed to defeated in under a year, so we all had to step up and take care of each other. Make sure we got food on the table. Make sure everyone was on time for school.”
“Why do I get the feeling you’re using the royal we? Do you mean you got food on the table?”
“It was a joint effort.” But he looked away, so she suspected he was lying. “And we did our best, but there wasn’t time or money for birthday breakfasts at the diner or football uniforms or dance classes. We were in survival mode.”
She squeezed his biceps. “You’d have been a hot quarterback.”
He chuckled. “This is one of those awkward moments where you want the pretty girl to think you’re a stud, but you have to admit that you didn’t like the idea of running away from three-hundred-pound men who wanted to hurt you. Sorry, but football was never in the cards for me.”
“Well, sure. Why get tackled by sweaty, hairy guys when you can topple pretty, sweet-smelling girls?”
“I feel so seen right now.”
A joke!Van Claybourne was playing with her.
And beneath that outer layer of confidence, that charisma, was a shy little-boy vulnerability that made him irresistible. He was no longer her long-time celebrity crush. He was someone she could relate to.
Someone she wanted to kiss.
“Anyhow, we kept getting evicted, and it sucked for everyone, and we just wanted to come up with a way to help my mom make ends meet. So, we got the bright idea to start singing on Freemont. It’s the heart of downtown Vegas, where all the street performers hang out.”
“I’ve never been there.”
“Yeah, so, it worked. We made good money. And someone noticed us, and there you go. We became Van Claybourne.”
“And I’m going to bet the first thing you did with your money was buy your mom a house.”
“A condo, actually. At the time, she didn’t want a house. She wanted all the amenities like a gym, a pool, and a concierge.”
“I’ll bet you made sure no one in your family went without ever again.” She smoothed a hand over his forearm. “You’re a good man.” She wanted to crack him open and see inside, pick through all the memories until she got to know every single thing about him.
