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"You know, I never realized you were so materialistic," he said to her.
"I wouldn't get together with a guy just because he was rich, but I want that for you," she said, and Malcolm felt insulted but he couldn't put his finger on exactly why.
Since he rejected the invitation to move in, Malcolm was watching Derrick closely, wondering if he was upset with him. He didn't seem to be, but that didn't make Malcolm feel relieved. He wanted him to be upset? That was dumb.
It was a sunny day and they drove to a beautiful estate with a huge lawn and an impressive mansion on the other side of it. People were already sipping drinks and milling around on the lawn. Some people were sitting on blankets on the grass.
Plenty of kids were there, dressed in adorable outfits. Under a purple jacket, Paula was wearing a cute white dress with open and closed purple umbrellas on it. Another little girl said she liked it and yelled, "Umbrellas!"
That made Paula feel more at ease, and she joined the other kids though she seemed to like smaller groups. Malcolm kept aclose eye on her and only half listened as Derrick introduced him to people.
Derrick noticed where his attention was focused. "Are you worried about Paula?"
"Not really. She's doing OK. This just isn't my kind of crowd," Malcolm told him. "Honestly, I would rather talk to the people serving the drinks."
"We can do that," Derrick said easily.
"Actually, I would rather talk to you," Malcolm admitted with a smile.
"We don't have to stay long," Derrick said. "It's cold anyway."
"We can't leave. Paula is having fun and it's for a good cause," Malcolm said.
A woman who wanted to talk business pulled Derrick away, and Malcolm watched Paula as she showed the other kids a red heart she found. Another kid had found two and he was running around like crazy, yelling about it.
Then a young guy came over to Malcolm and smiled uncertainly. "I've been trying to place you. Did we go to school together?"
"Doubt it," Malcolm said. The guy looked vaguely familiar and Malcolm realized he saw him at the office when he came to a business meeting with his father. That was where this guy knew him from. "I'm Derrick's assistant."
"Oh." The guy looked dismayed and now he gave Malcolm's clothes a second look.
"I'm just kidding. I'm a prostitute," Malcolm said with a grin.
It took him a minute, but the guy figured out he was messing with him and laughed. "I'm not a snob, really," he said and offered Malcolm his hand. "I'm Owen."
"Malcolm. Nice to meet you." He had barely taken his hand when Derrick appeared next to him, his hand going to Malcolm's lower back as he stood possessively close.
"Right. It was nice to meet you," Owen said and walked away.
Now Malcolm had to turn to see what kind of look Derrick had given the poor guy to make him run off like that. Derrick was glaring after him pretty fiercely, and not even pretending he wasn't jealous. "He was hitting on you," Derrick declared.
"Did you cut off that woman in mid sentence to rush over here to scare off poor Owen?" Malcolm asked.
"It wasn't in mid sentence," Derrick said and Malcolm laughed. "I guess I need to work on that?"
Malcolm agreed. "Yeah."
That's when Paula ran over to them holding two red hearts. "I found two," she said excitedly.
"Are they chocolate? Do they have candy inside?" Malcolm asked her.
"They have candy. I have two, one for Uncle Malcolm and one for Mr. A," she said.
"Oh, thank you," Derrick told her. "But you can keep one. Your uncle and I only need one. We can share."
"One heart for the both of us," Malcolm told her and smiled at Derrick.
Chapter 23
