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“Hope there’s plenty of napkins.” She rummaged in the bag and gave me a stack. “I won’t be held responsible for the mess I make.”
Her nose wrinkled. “I didn’t think about how messy this would be.”
I picked up the sandwich, and a drop of dark liquid landed on my plate. We looked at each other and burst into giggles.
“Maybe a balsamic reduction wasn’t the best idea,” she muttered.
I took a bite and shook my head. “Oh yes it was.” Had I ever eaten anything this good? Not lately, that was for damn sure.
She blushed and hid her smile behind her own bite. Once she swallowed, she set her sandwich down and wiped her mouth. “So after the internship, will you stay in New York or head back to Texas?”
“Someone would have to drag me back to Dallas kicking and screaming.” I popped a chip in my mouth. “These homemade?”
She nodded before cocking her head to the side. “I thought people from Texas didn’t like to be anywhere else.”
“That’s usually true, but I can’t go back.”
Concern filled her eyes. “Are you in trouble?” she asked quietly.
I grinned. “Always.” Her shoulders relaxed and she tucked a leg under her, mirroring my position. “Don’t tell me you’d already miss me if I was gone?”
“I have a feeling I wouldn’t be the only one,” she said under her breath.
“Do you and Daniel live together?” I hadn’t quite figured out their relationship yet. What the hell? Might as well find out what I could.
“I’m in the apartment below his.”
“Is that how y’all know each other?”
A shadow crossed her face, and I regretted the question. “No.” Her eyes met mine. “He saved my life.”
My brows shot to my hair line. I shoved another bite of sandwich into my mouth because I didn’t know what to say to that. A million questions zipped through my brain, but I didn’t give voice to any of them. Muriella would tell me what she wanted me to know in her own time.
“My father won’t speak to me,” I finally said after eating in silence for a few minutes. “That’s one reason I won’t go back.”
“That’s not always a bad thing.”
The woman constantly said the unexpected. Where I came from, I was expected to do what my parents wanted with a smile on my face. Damn sure wasn’t supposed to make a stink about it. But I wasn’t going to apologize when it was my daddy who was in the wrong.
“You ever been married?” I asked, changing the subject.
Her posture went rigid, and her hands froze halfway to her mouth. “No,” she said softly. Sadness flashed in her eyes.
“Me neither.” I cocked my head to the side. “Would your parents ever try to force you into a marriage you didn’t want?”
“My father absolutely would.”
Damn. She’d gotten me again with her answers. I shrugged. “Then maybe I overreacted when mine did,” I muttered.
“You should never, ever, let anyone else control your life,” she said with a vehemence that told me I was getting into tricky territory.
I set aside my empty plate and edged closer to her. It was time for a little girl talk. “Now tell me everything I need to know about Daniel.”
She laughed, and though I liked that it felt like I could talk to Muriella about anything, I was glad to be back on safer ground.
“Just keep doing what you’re doing.”
I threw my hands up. “That was a big help.”
