interesting?”
“Couldn’t tell you even if I wanted to,” he teased her.
“Do you like Atlanta? I haven’t been there in years.”
“I love it.” His hand came to rest on Ella’s shoulder. Rusty or not at the flirting thing, as his thumb slid lightly over her skin, even she could recognize he was flirting with her. She shivered at the sensation as all her blood seemed to rush to her skin. Focusing on the conversation took on a whole new level of difficulty. “All the excitement of Chicago without all the snow,” he continued, and it took her a second to remember what they were talking about. “In fact, I’ve gotten a bit thin-blooded in the past few years, and I try to avoid coming up here at all in the winter.”
She pulled herself together with a deep breath. “That must make coming home for Christmas a bit difficult.”
“I don’t think anyone notices when I don’t make it.”
“I don’t believe that for a second.”
“Seriously, we are the Catholic family cliché. You think Brian’s family is bad? Mine’s worse.”
“I think Brian’s family is nice—a little loud when they’re all together, but…”
“Brian’s got nothing on my family when it comes to loud. My mom and dad have nine brothers and sisters, so I have, let’s see, um, twenty-two—no, twenty-three—first cousins. All my brothers are married and have two or three kids apiece. There’s at least fifty people at my mom’s house on any given holiday. That is the definition of loud.”
She was such a sucker for the idea of a big family gathering—noisy or not. How could he be so blasé about it? “I’m sure they take note of who’s there.”
“Well, my brothers and I look a lot alike, so short of actually calling roll…” He sighed. “Do you have siblings?”
“No, it was just me and my grandparents.”
“Consider yourself lucky. Everyone was at the house today, and it was an absolute zoo. It’s enough to drive a man crazy. I used to dream of being an only child. Sometimes I still do.” Matt was the picture of the aggrieved youngest child, and Ella sipped at the last of her wine to stifle a laugh.
“And I used to dream about being in a big family. I mean, Mel’s family has adopted me, for all intents and purposes, but it’s not quite the same thing. I guess everyone wants what they don’t have.”
“Usually I’d say you were right. Especially after a day like today.”
This time she did laugh. She couldn’t help it. “Mel’s told me about your mother. I can’t imagine she’s too happy with the lack of grandchildren from you.”
“I hear it all the time. Someday I’ll see what I can do about that. Right now it’s not really an option.”
Ella wondered about that statement as Matt moved away from her in order to pay. The light teasing tone that had marked their entire evening evaporated once they started talking about his family. Mel hadn’t mentioned any rifts in the family—not beyond the norm, at least. Maybe he was just touchy about the whole get-married-and-have-kids thing. She could relate to that.
With Matt’s arm gone, she missed the warmth that emanated from him. Although the restaurant temperature was comfortable, she shivered as the heat dissipated. Matt noticed.
“Do you need my jacket?” He was already lifting it off the back of his chair and holding it out to her.
“Your mama must have raised you right. Or else Southern manners have rubbed off on you.”
“I will pass the compliment along to Mom.” He continued to hold the jacket out to her.
“No, but thanks. I’m fine.” She wrapped her shawl around her shoulders as Matt shrugged into his jacket.
But as they left the restaurant, the intimacy they shared also seemed to be left behind, because Matt didn’t flirt with her at all on the way back to her apartment.
Even though it made the situation more complicated, she was more disappointed by that than she cared to admit.
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