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“Yes. Mom and Dad moved here to be closer to Jock who was opening his restaurant in Last Stand. I came home to hide and lick my wounds and be spoiled by my parents. Which worked for a while.”
“Now you’re ready to rebuild?”
“I hope so. Cosima and I opened our boutique but the residents of Whiskey River who knew about the video avoided us. Most of the tourists who come through on their buses do shop with us. When we heard about your project in The Barrels, I got excited. I wanted the chance to maybe put some good karma out into the universe to make up for that bad stuff.”
She hoped that made sense. She wanted to get back to feeling like what she was doing was making the world a better place. “Even before the thing happened with Veronica, I felt like the shop was getting too big and I had to watch the bottom line. It wasn’t as enjoyable as it had been at first.”
“I know how you feel. That’s why I decided on putting my time and energy into Second Start. I have a seat on a number of boards and when my father retires, I’m expected to become chairman but I wanted something that was mine,” he said.
That resonated with her and also fit with the man she had come to know. “What does your father do?”
“He runs Parrish International. It’s a biotech conglomerate. Pretty much they buy up small research firms and try to find a way to bring their products to market at a price point that ensures profit for the company and doesn’t hurt the consumer.”
She smiled at the way he said it. “You sound like a line from a prospectus.”
“That’s because it is. It’s the best way to explain it.”
“Are you close with your father?” she asked.
She noticed that his smile faded away and his jaw got a bit stiff. “Um, as close as anyone can be to him.”
“What about your mom?”
*
His mom.Wellthat was the very thing he really didn’t want to discuss. He wasn’t the type of man to whine about his life. And there was no changing the fact that his mom had never said to his face that she’d wished he’d died instead of Cal. In fact she’d said nothing to him about Cal’s death at all. He had no idea if she knew that Cal had come to him that night before he OD’d.
“We’re not close.”
Angelica twisted around in her chair, putting her leg under her body in one of those positions that only women seemed to be able to do, and turned to face him. “I’m gonna need a little more than that.”
“Why?” he asked. He knew he sounded arrogant and he hoped he was also giving off the don’t-push vibes.
“I guess because I was just so honest with you about everything that happened and I thought that we both liked each other and wanted to get to know more about each other. I only asked because you don’t talk about your family, which makes me think there is something there.”
She put her arm on the back of the love seat they were on, her fingertips brushing his shoulder. “You can trust me to keep anything you say to myself. And if I’m wrong and we’re not getting to know each other better and you simply want me as a woman you hook up with…well just say so.”
In her neat way she’d sort of pushed him into a corner. With any other woman he might think it was manipulation but he knew it wasn’t from Angelica. She’d told him that she had no filter and said whatever she wanted to. This was how she expressed herself and while he might wish she had a different way of communicating this was what she had.
“I’m…I hate talking about my family,” he said. “My mom has been isolated in her childhood home since my brother’s death. The last time I saw her, she suggested we not visit again for a while. That was a few years ago.”
“Oh, Max. I’m sorry,” she said. “I should have let this be. I didn’t think it would…”
She trailed off and he guessed that was because she didn’t want to say that it would be this bleak. Not that it was bleak. A lot of families weren’t close. He was sort of close with his dad but it was a bonding because of his mom and Cal’s death. Otherwise the two of them were more lone wolves who kept to themselves. But Max knew for himself that he did try to protect his family when he could.
“I’m only going to say this once and I don’t want to discuss it after, okay?”
She sat up straighter. “What is it? I’m not sure I can promise not to ever speak of this again.”
“Then we’ll wait until you can,” he said. He wanted her to know the truth about Cal and his role in his death. He needed to tell someone and he wasn’t sure that Angelica was that person, but she was the first one that he’d felt the need to tell.
“I can do this if you need me to just listen,” she said. “What is it?”
“My brother was an addict. I rescued him many times, took him to rehab, brought him to my house so I could help him detox and keep him clean. When he was with me, he was healthy and we were close. But then I’d have to go to work and he’d go back to his old lifestyle.”
“And eventually you had to stop rescuing him,” she said.
“Yeah. And that time…well…”
