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"And him," she agreed. "It's nice to see him happy with his girlfriend, Tilly. She seems sweet. Isn't her brother some sort of sports guy?"
I laughed both at her words and in surprise. "I suppose you could call him that, yes." He was a pro football player, but if you weren't into sport, then that wouldn't mean too much to you.
"Let me guess, you're not a football fan?" I asked.
"Not really," she replied.
When she didn't elaborate, I asked, "What are you into? Do you have any hobbies? Passions?"
Kinks. I didn't say that out loud.
"Um." She tucked her hair behind her ear. Twin earrings glittered in her upper ear. What was it called? Helix? Her piercings looked like snake or spider bites. They were cute. Edgy. She had a couple in each lobe too. I wondered if she had any tattoos. I couldn’t see any on her, but she might have a few under her clothes.
"I like cooking." She looked over at me. "Specifically, I like baking cookies, but any kind of cooking really. My dad was a chef and it was a thing we did together."
"You must be really good at it then?" Her heels made her almost as tall as me. It was nice to be eye to eye with her for a change. Not that she was short, or that I was particularly tall, but there was a height difference.
"I suppose so," she said. "When I get time for it."
"Time, the one thing that never seems to be enough of," I said. "What else are you into? Any favorite movies? Books? Secret identity as a professional duck herder?"
She laughed. "I'd be better at cooking ducks than herding them. I like reading and prefer old movies to new ones."
"Really? Me too. I don't suppose you like really bad, B grade monster movies?" I only knew two other people who did and they were busy with each other right now.
"You mean the kind where people wore rubber suits and the women scream a lot? Yeah, I like those. But also the old musicals. My mother introduced me to music through them. When I was a kid, I wanted to be on stage, singing musical theater."
"You sing?" I asked.
She sighed. "No, that's why I'm not chasing that dream. It was a sad reality to learn, but I can't hold a tune for the life of me. So instead, I was the one who painted the backdrops in high school."
"At least you got involved," I said. "And I know those backdrops took a long time to paint. Those kids were the unsung heroes of the musical theater program."
"I don't think I'd go that far," she said. "Don't tell me, you played the lead role in Grease?"
"Well." I drew the word out. "No, I did band. And played football."
"Too cool for musical theater then." She raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow at me.
"Not cool enough," I said. "Not to mention busy. My mother would have pulled me out of band if I let my grades slip. Believe it or not, she thought there were more important things in life than music. Shocking, I know." I grinned.
"I'm sure she's very proud of you now."
"She is," I agreed. "She's almost at the point where she can admit she's related to me." The truth was, Mom was extremely proud of me and happy to live in the big house I bought for her. I lived there too, but technically it was hers. Honestly, I could afford a few houses so I wasn't going to argue over the details. Sooner or later, I’d buy another one and move into it myself. For now, I got to enjoy her cooking and her company. Of course, she got to enjoy hanging out with me. Lucky her.
Hayley laughed. "I'm sure it's not that bad."
"No, it's not," I admitted. "If you could hold a tune, where do you think you'd be right now?"
The question clearly took her by surprise. "I don't know. Maybe I'd be right here."
"With me?" I asked without thinking. Of course, she didn't mean to be that specific. Or did she?
"Um, maybe," she said. "Just being able to sing doesn't guarantee anything. For one thing, I don't have stage presence, as far as I know. But I think I would have always done something related to music. And people. What would you do if you couldn't play guitar?"
I should have expected her to throw my question back at me, but it was my turn to be surprised.
"I don't know. I sucked at playing football. I wasn't the best student in school either. I suppose I would have gone into a trade. I'm told I'm good with my hands." I wriggled my eyebrows.
