at all.”
“I appreciate that.” I smiled and almost laughed. “I really do. I can take care of myself, promise.”
“The guy from last night?”
I shoved my chopsticks into the rice in front of me and picked up the little box it was in. “Well, we had a relationship. It’s over and he didn’t exactly agree.”
“Men don’t appreciate having their supply cut off.”
I glared at him briefly and then started to laugh. “Very rude thing to say.”
“I’ve gotten a good look at that body you’re hiding in that big T-shirt. Can’t see how I can blame the man for being a little pissed about losing you.”
I couldn’t help but preen a little under the warmth of his gaze. Shawn Tranner was the kind of man who made a woman feel sexy and feminine with just a look.
“He never really had me.” I grabbed a pack of soy sauce for the rice and met his gaze across my coffee table. “How about you? Got a girlfriend, militant ex-wife, or a side piece?”
“No, yes, not right now.”
“So why did you get divorced?”
“I wanted children and she didn’t. I thought we could talk about it and she took a surgical option to prevent accidental pregnancy.”
“Nice.”
“I came home from a conference and she was recovering from having her tubes tied. Stunned barely covered my feelings on the subject. She’d altered the course of our future without even giving me a choice. I filed for divorce.”
“I take it she wasn’t happy?”
“No. She considered our divorce a failure and Dana doesn’t do failure. By the end of it, I’d forgotten why I ever loved her in the first place.”
“Ouch.” I sat back against the couch and poked that rice a little before snagging a piece of chicken out of one of the containers between us. “How do you like the neighborhood?”
“It’s interesting. Everyone I met was happy to have a cop on the block.”
I had no doubts. The neighborhood was full of widows and single women with children. I’m sure half of them had spent the morning loitering on their front steps to watch him jog around in his little red shorts. It had occurred to me that I should warn him about that, but it would also be sort of amusing to watch the women chase him around. I could even get some cookies or brownies out of it. Lois across the street made amazing peanut-butter cookies.
“Tell me about your job.”
I glanced up from my food and smiled. “You’ll find it boring.”
“I promise to at least pretend to be interested in it.”
“Okay, I’ll remember that. I’m a buyer and negotiate the resale of fine-art pieces for the Holman Gallery. The gallery is the cornerstone of the Holman Foundation. It’s also my job to supervise the administration staff for the gallery and work as Jane Tilwell’s assistant. So, I wine and dine artists on occasion as well.”
“And Jane is?”
“The assistant director of the gallery.” I snagged a piece of broccoli from a container near him and shrugged. “The foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping children and families in Boston. We use the money we make with the gallery for the arts academy and the shelters.”
“It must be very rewarding to know that every day you help someone else have a better life.”
Yeah. That was pretty awesome. “A world without art would be a boring world.” I tilted my head and looked over his face. He didn’t look like he was pretending. “So, what about you? Why are you a cop instead of an accountant?”
“Well, math was not my favorite subject in school. I studied criminal justice in college with the intention to go to law school.” He shrugged, but I could tell the question had made him tense. “Four months from graduation, I decided that law school was not in my future. Nothing extraordinary happened…I had the grades and had already been accepted into three schools. I just didn’t want it. With the degree I had earned, I had a few options. Law enforcement satisfied my sense of justice and would allow me to put my degree to some use.”
“And your parents?”
“They were upset at first, but they love me, so they got over it and even managed to throw one hell of a party when I graduated from the police academy.”
“Good.” I couldn’t say the same. My grandmother had been absolutely furious when I’d left California and moved to Boston. She didn’t speak to me for a year, and still resented that I hadn’t returned when she’d demanded it. “Having family support is very important.”
“What about your parents?”
“I believe that they would be proud of what I’m doing. They both died in a car accident when I was three. My grandmother raised me.”
I rarely discussed my family. So it was a bit surprising that I’d answered his question without even thinking about it.
“The two of you don’t get along.”
I jerked and raised one eyebrow at him. “What?”
“The moment you mentioned her, your whole body tensed up. It’s my job to read people and their reactions.” He leaned back against the couch and picked up his water. “You didn’t live up to her expectations?”
“She wanted a doll.” I sighed. “As I child and well into my teen years she picked out my clothes and basically ran my life from the moment I woke up to the moment I went to sleep. She would have structured my dreams if she could’ve. My mother hadn’t done what she’d wanted. She’d married the wrong man, had the wrong child, lived the wrong life, and died the wrong death. My grandmother was never abusive, but she cut herself off after the loss of my mother.”
“So, she had your life all planned out?”
“Oh, yes, even picked out a man.” I rolled my eyes. “If you could call him that. He was a mama’s boy through and through. He didn’t cross the room without asking his parents if it was okay. Have you ever met a grown man that allowed himself to be called ‘Scooter’?”
He laughed softly. “No, saw a few on TV.”
“Right.” I shook my head. “It’s disgusting, and I could just imagine what kind of life I’d have with him. She thought she could control me all of my life, but the day I turned twenty-one I inherited the money my parents had put in a trust for me.”
“And you came to Boston?”
“I finished my degree and yes, moved to Boston.” I put down the chopsticks and grabbed my water. “She was unhappy at first, now she’s just bitter. I guess she figured she could keep me under her thumb with her money. But, I want to think that even without my parents’ money I would have come here and started the career that I wanted.”
I’d
