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Max realized that maybe he should have waited to ask her when they were alone. But this entire night hadn’t gone to plan. He wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing.
They finished their meal and then said good night to Jock and Delilah. When they were alone in his car, he realized he wasn’t sure how the night would end. Had he pushed too hard already?
With Angelica, as always, it was difficult to tell. She was hard to read. He wasn’t sure if it was his natural cynicism or her trying to piece herself back together after hitting rock bottom. But she constantly surprised him and he didn’t necessarily like it.
“Sorry if I caused any problems with your family.”
“You didn’t. I really enjoyed tonight and if I had more time to plan, I would have said yes to New York. I’ve always wanted to go at Christmas.”
*
Angelica wasn’t readyfor the night to end even though it was nearly eleven. She had been surprised by Max a lot tonight. That he had a deceased brother for one. He had the air of a single child to her. But she’d been wrong. And then he’d invited her to go to New York with him.
Jock and Nico both worked there throughout the year. Jock only when his cooking show was shooting and Nico was slowly moving his offices to Whiskey River so he and Cressida could live together all the time. But she’d only been a few times. And never at Christmas.
“Is losing your brother the reason why you don’t like Christmas?” she asked as he was driving back to Whiskey River.
He shook his head and for a minute she thought that maybe he wasn’t going to say anything more. But then she heard him inhale deeply.
“Sort of. But not really.”
Which told her nothing. She wondered if she should leave this be. She knew when the video had gone viral it was the last thing she’d wanted to talk about, and that had been way less traumatic than losing his brother must have been.
“Sorry. I wasn’t trying to pry. Just trying to get to know you better,” she said at last.
“It’s okay. My brother and I had a difficult relationship toward the end of his life. We had already drifted apart when he passed.” He rubbed his left wrist again under his cuff.
She didn’t know what to say to that. She noticed some ink like he might have a tattoo there. She tucked that away for later. Her siblings and she were close and always had been. Even when they fought, and they did it often, they always made up after a few days. “I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to be. Your family is special, Angelica. Not everyone is close like you are.”
She nodded, remembering her college roommate who’d been an only child and had found Angelica’s family too loud and a little bit overwhelming. “I know. Because my dad is one of four and my mom is one of three, we have tons of cousins and aunts and uncles. I’m just used to family being huge.”
He sort of chuckled but to her ears it sounded forced. “My mom was a twin but her sister died before I was born. My dad is the only son and heir to the Parrish fortune. He was raised in boarding schools. So they both weren’t sure what to do with two boys. For a while they kept us home and tried to create some sort of family that they both imagined they wanted. It was good when I was a boy.”
He pulled into the parking lot behind her shop next to her car and left the car idling. “I enjoyed our date.”
She guessed that was his way of ending the conversation, which she was fine with. She hadn’t meant to stir up his past, she’d just been…curious because she liked him and had been toying with inviting him back to her place. But now she wasn’t sure. Maybe she’d overstepped?
“I did too—even with Jock being himself.”
Max laughed again and this time it sounded more relaxed. “Yeah, your brother has a lot of energy.”
“That’s one way of putting it,” she said, waiting for a moment to see if he was going to say anything else about another date or coming back to hers. But he didn’t. She smiled over at him. “Good night.”
She reached for the handle of the door but he stopped her with his hand on her arm. She glanced back over and saw on his face the same turmoil she was dealing with…or maybe she was just seeing what she wanted to see. He leaned over as if to kiss her and she shook her head. She wasn’t sure another kiss was a good idea.
She’d pushed too hard, and he was sending her home, which was completely his prerogative but she realized she wanted more. She was barely aware of the shift inside of her as she turned to face him more fully. “If you kiss me, I’m going to want to ask you back to my place and I’m pretty sure that’s not what you have in mind. So let’s end the date here and maybe try again another night.”
“Why do you think that?” he asked.
“Because you are keeping the car running and waiting for me to get out,” she said dryly.
“Fair enough. I’m not sure why I’m being an ass.”
“I shouldn’t have brought up your brother,” she admitted. “I can tell it’s a sensitive subject.”
“Christ, is that how it seems?”
