When We Met (Fool's Gold #13)(12)

He chuckled, then touched his glass to hers. “Thank you for joining me tonight.”

“Thank you for asking me.”

She took a sip. The Cab was smooth, but there was still a hint of tannins at the end. Plenty of berry flavor, without it being overpowering.

“Why did you come to Fool’s Gold?” she asked.

“Justice moved the company here.”

“Was that a good thing or a bad thing?”

“I like small towns. I grew up in one.” He turned his attention to the view. “You’re not from a small town.”

A statement or a question, she wondered. “No, I’m an L.A. girl at heart. Moving to Fool’s Gold has been a transition.”

“Then why not keep the company in la-la land?”

“I was outvoted. Jack, Kenny and Sam came here for a Pro-Am golf tournament. I’m still not clear on what happened that weekend, but when they returned to work on the following Monday, they announced we were moving.” She sipped her wine again. “Score is a democracy and I was in the minority. Of course they left all the details of moving up to me.”

“Naturally.”

“Where did you grow up?”

“West Virginia.” He glanced at her and smiled. “A place you’ve never heard of. Coal mining town.”

“I’ve never been in one,” she admitted.

“There’s good and bad. A lot of poverty with one large employer. The work is hard. My mom died when I was born, so it was my dad and me. I watched him come out of that coal mine day after day and swore I was going to get out.”

“Which you did.”

“I went into the military. When I left, I got involved with a security company doing about the same kind of work without so many rules.”

She wasn’t sure what that meant. Black ops stuff? Which, like the coal mining town, was more concept than reality to her.

“I’m sorry about your mom,” she said.

“Thanks. I never knew her.” His mouth curved up again. “The women on our block decided they were going to take her place. They were always looking out for me. It was like having twelve moms instead of one. Let me tell you, it was tough to be bad.”

She laughed. “Which you wanted to be.”

His gaze locked with hers. “Nearly all the time. But I learned patience. There were still opportunities, but I had to work for them.”

A message? She held in a shiver and reminded herself he was good. Better than she was used to.

“What about you?” he asked. “Suburbs? Two-point-four siblings and a white picket fence?”

An easy question for most, she thought, the need to shiver fading as if it had never happened. Tension crept through her, but she ignored the tightening in her shoulders as she tried to calculate how much to tell. And how to tell it such that he didn’t know she was lying.

“It was my dad and me, just like you,” she said, confident their situations couldn’t have been more different. “My mom left when I was young.”

“That’s rough.”

She shrugged because the truth—that her mother had walked away from her only child, as well as her husband—was bad enough. Worse was the fact that the man had regularly beaten them both and with his wife gone, he’d only had one place to turn.

“It was L.A.,” she said lightly. “I had distractions. And now we’re both here. The people are very welcoming, if a little too involved in each other’s lives.”

“The disadvantage of a small town. There aren’t a lot of secrets.”

She relaxed as he accepted the change in topic. Every new relationship had to navigate through that rocky space. The exchange of past information. It was done and they would move on.

“How does that work for you?” she asked.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re a man of secrets.”

He laughed. “Less than you would think. I go to work, hang out with my friends.” Humor warmed his eyes. “I do live with a woman.”

“So I’ve heard. Consuelo Ly. She’s engaged.”

“Damn. And here I thought I was going to rile you.”

“It’s a little early to play the jealousy card. Besides, you don’t cheat.” She took a sip of her wine and wished they were sitting closer. The evening would be more interesting without this table between them.

“How do you know that?”

“Am I wrong?”

“No.”

She leaned closer. “You’re not the type. In my book, with cheating comes shame. You wouldn’t allow that emotion.” She smiled. “My business partners are guys. We spend a lot of time with each other. Let’s just say whatever I didn’t know about your gender before we went into business I’ve since learned.”

“Okay,” he said slowly. “You’re right. I don’t cheat.”

“How long were you married?” Because she’d heard that he had been. Not that it was easy getting information on Angel without admitting her interest. Something she hadn’t been willing to do.

“Sixteen years.”

Okay, that was unexpected. “A long time,” she admitted. “What happened?”

“She died. A car accident.”