Atonement(7)
“French and Patois, the official language of the Lorraine region of France—my dad never did learn to speak proper Québécois though I have been teased on occasion by some French people who say my French has a slight tinge of Québécois to it,” I explained as I leaned onto the table.
Conversation between us seemed so easy and the more we spoke, the more I was convinced this would be a great start to a wonderful adventure. Who wouldn’t want to jump on the first plane with this man who literally screamed hotness?
I adored and admired a sexy, brooding drop dead gorgeous dark-haired guy as much as the next woman but I also thought blond men could be as good looking and sexy. Colin definitely fit the picture of what every woman would swoon over as he had that mixture of Gabriel Aubry hotness mixed with a dangerous combination of Charlie Hunnam bad-boy just lurking underneath the surface. The moment his crystal blue eyes gazed into mine again as if I were the only woman in the world almost took my breath away.
And then my sister appeared with a chipper, “Hiya!” and the mood was broken.
Chapter Three
THE LEAST DESCRIBED adjective for my father was prejudiced as his choice of wives proved he was in fact very versatile.
My mother had been beautiful and exotic, her family from the bayous of St. Tammany Parish in Louisiana. Caitlyn’s mother had been the exact opposite. Gorgeous, blonde and WASPy, Jeanette was English as a bag of crisps and had only lived in America for the length of time she and my father had been married. Her family, like most English families, was a hodgepodge of English, Welsh and Scottish with some French Huguenot as well.
Caitlyn had taken her coloring from both our parents and possessed an impossibly clear peaches and cream complexion, my father’s gorgeous blue-gray eyes and her mother’s natural honey-blonde hair. She didn’t play up her color with highlights but she was still beautiful. Tall and thin, she and I were more or less the same height but where as I had some hips and ass, she was boyish and athletic with the exception of her chest which was natural and complimentary. I was jealous and would have given anything for her 32-D breasts as opposed to my barely there 34-B breasts.
Her chipper personality and her good looks never kept her short of men but she wasn’t a slut and like me, preferred to keep it safe. She and Drew had been playing a dangerous game of cat and mouse for years but it had yet to lead anywhere. In the time being, she dated and we conversed over too many cups of coffee and glasses of wine the perils of being a young single woman in the twenty-first century.
She still wore her work clothes which consisted of a smart black pencil skirt and a white silk blouse with a pair of four-inch Chanel heels she’d bought from the mall the former week.
“Hey you,” I responded before she leaned over to hug me. “You haven’t been smoking have you?”
“No but I put out Drew’s so that’s probably why you smell it on me.”
She smiled brightly and displayed perfectly white teeth. “Good.” Caitlyn’s smile and eyes drifted toward Colin. “You must be Drew’s friend? I’m Caitlyn, Deirdre’s baby sister.”
Colin smiled back at her and shook her hand though there was none of heat in his gaze as there was when he looked at me. “Nice to meet you.”
Drew finally put in an appearance with a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc for Caitlyn as she hated dark wines, a bottle of Pinot Noir for us, another Beck’s for Colin and three clean wine glasses. I stood hurriedly and helped him out, handing Colin another Beck’s, pouring wine for my sister and refilling my empty wine glass.
We all sat cozily and comfy, deciding to hold off on dinner for another half an hour or so. Conversation flowed freely until my sister brought up the big question: “So, Colin, what do you do?”
He smiled at her again in a good-natured way and I realized I enjoyed the back and forth banter between them. “Well, what do you do, Caitlyn?”
My sister smiled as her blue-gray eyes warmed with pride. “Well, let’s see, I attended the University of Washington here in Seattle despite getting accepted into Stanford University, finished school in three years and have worked for Amazon since I graduated. I’ve managed to work my way up and I’m now a junior executive in the burgeoning and very successful division of KDP.”
“What’s that exactly?” Colin inquired.
“It’s their Kindle Direct Publishing division. You know, for people who want to self-publish books,” I responded before I took a healthy swig from my wine.