“Thirteen years, with just a couple return visits here and there. I left when I was eighteen.”
“I know you made a movie and a CD. What else have you been up to?”
“Few other things,” she said with a casual shrug.
“Reese says you dance.”
“Love to two-step.”
He flashed a grin. “I heard it was more along the lines of Broadway and Vegas shows.”
“A Broadway show. A Vegas show. Strictly chorus line for both of them, never a lead role. I was only in New York for a couple years. In Vegas for a few more than that, but I spent the first two years training for the audition. I had no idea what to expect when it came to being a showgirl. And I had to get into even better shape than when I was in New York. Those headdresses were ridiculously heavy, and the late-night show was topless.”
He groaned. Sky laughed.
“What did you expect?” she teased.
“I had my suspicions. But you could have left that tidbit to my imagination. Now that I know it’s a reality…”
He shifted in his seat, as though the crotch of his pants was suddenly a bit snug.
The thought sent a titillating thrill down her spine.
She said, “Maybe we ought to stick with safer subjects. Why’d you leave the Marine Corps?”
“Got tired of being shot at.”
“So much for safe,” she lamented.
“I was deployed twice, once to Iraq and once to Afghanistan. But I wasn’t meant to be a military career man.”
“Or an oil tycoon?”
He smirked. Raising his voice, he asked, “Reese, is there anything you don’t talk about?”
“My sex life,” she quipped from the backseat. “Oh wait. That’s a lie.”
Caleb grunted. “Please tell me it’s not while you and your friends are sitting in the church pew waiting for the congregation to file in.”
“As a matter of fact…”
Sky laughed. “I’m shocked, I say. You’re usually so discreet.”
“Ha, ha,” Caleb said with a chortle.
They continued the amiable conversation until they reached town. Sam parked in the lot by Pietro’s and the foursome strolled along the sidewalk to the restaurant. He held the door open for Sky. She stepped inside, took a deep breath and savored the sinfully delicious scent of her youth.
“I cannot believe I’ve survived this long without Uncle Mike’s food,” she said.
“Uncle?” Sam asked with a lifted brow.
“Yep.” She moved farther into the establishment where her aunt manned the hostess stand.
“Now there’s a sight for sore eyes,” Ruby said as she spread her arms wide.
Sky hugged her robust aunt tightly. Then she pulled away and admired the woman’s apron—she had a variety of them, all with something naughtily entertaining scrawled across them, usually an innuendo involving Italian sausage. This one was probably the cleanest by far, simply declaring Saucy!
Ruby said, “I heard a rumor you were back in town, but I ignored it, because of course if it were true, you’d come by to see me.”