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Still, it felt odd to leave it as it was. “My parents divorced when I was young, but my mother still comes around every couple of years…when she wants money.” Nice. Now she was oversharing. Why didn’t she just tell him about the bump on her little toe she suspected was a wart? That would make the conversation better.
He frowned. “That doesn’t sound good.”
Now would be a good time to change the subject. Maybe talk about the food. Or the weather. It was a nice day for a swim. But for some reason, her mind blanked. “Yeah,” she said, trying to fill the silence. “Mom has never been, shall we say, a role model.”
His gaze softened, and he shifted. “That must have been hard on you.”
“Yes.” For some reason, emotion surged in her, and she found herself blinking back tears. Stupid! Why was she getting all weepy right now? She was at work. Her purpose was not to open up all her family trash to Shadow Walker. In fact, she should be trying to get him to talk toherabout that kind of stuff. She shoved back the emotion and pushed her empty plate away. “What about you? Are your parents still together?”
Sir Barks-a-Lot decided to announce the presence of a seagull on the deck, his tail wagging as he barked out a happy greeting, his head stuck between the blinds. Shadow smiled at the dog, then looked down at the carpet. “They passed away when I was ten.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.” She had not expected that. But it was a great tidbit to Google search if she could pinpoint who Shadow reminded her of. That kind of information would be exactly what would expose him in the end.
A bit of guilt threaded through her, tightening her throat. He was telling her something personal. How could she be thinking of using it against him? Yet, she had to if she wanted to get the promotion and have any hope of paying the mountain of bills piling up. It’s not like she wanted to do it. She had no choice.
“Don’t be. It was a long time ago.”
“Was it a car accident?” Was that rude to ask? She didn’t really want to know for research, she was curious how they both died.
Shadow’s gaze pierced through her, and he paused for a few seconds, as if he were trying to decide if he should tell her. He must have decided to confide in her, because he quietly said, “House fire.”
“Oh, no.” That sounded horrible. She couldn’t even imagine losing your parents and your home at such a young age. “Did you have family who raised you?”
He shook his head. “I went into the foster-care system.”
A flood of terrible images came into her mind at the thought. She’d heard too many horror stories about the foster care system.
He must have seen it on her face, because he leaned closer to her. “It’s not like in the movies. Not everyone has a terrible experience. I got placed with a good family and was adopted a year later.”
Relief for him flooded over her. She hated to think he had suffered in the system that was supposed to help. Every child deserved a loving parent. She stood and began to clean up the mess. “I’m so glad.”
“I talk with my mother every week. We have a good relationship.”
“Do you have any siblings?”
“Yes, I had an older brother. He was also adopted. He passed a couple of years ago.”
She paused before snapping the plastic lid over the leftovers. “So much loss. I’m sorry.”
“It’s shaped me into who I am today.”
Riley had never thought about it that way before, but Shadow was right. She’d be a different person had her past been sugarcoated. She was stronger for it, even though it was hard to go through those things. She put the trash into the take-out bag and stuffed it into the small trashcan, then she nodded at him. “You’re right. I get that.”
“Is your father okay?”
Her chest tightened at the mention of her father. No, he wasn’t okay. He desperately needed a heart transplant. Being on the list was nerve wracking to say the least. They had to wait for people to either get a heart that could have been his or die from their illness and drop off so he could move closer to the top. It was a morbid place to be, and she hated thinking about it. And yet, she had to, because without that transplant, he would die.
She stared at the blinds covering the sliding glass door and wondered why Shadow didn’t let in some sunlight. Wanting to busy herself, she began straightening up the rest of the room. “He’ll be fine.”
It was a lie, but she didn’t want to talk about her father to the man she would be exposing to the world. She wanted to dig up dirt on him, find out who he was, and get home so she could get the promotion and the big wad of cash that would come from the story. It didn’t matter that he was a kind man who seemed to care about her and her father. Kindness couldn’t fix the situation she was in. Only money could. And that meant she needed to get her job done and get out of there.
Chapter 6
Jalen noticed the shift in mood as Riley rushed around cleaning up his room. She was uncomfortable with his questions. He could understand. She didn’t know him. He was prying, and he needed to back off. He picked up his phone and scrolled down the schedule for today. He’d started to look at it, but had gotten distracted.
“Looks like I’m free until three o’clock, when I lead a craft in the conference room off the lobby. They called it Painting with Shadow Walker.”
Riley lifted one eyebrow. “You paint, too?”
