Morgan took a deep breath and wrapped her arms across her chest, hugging her sweater tighter to her curves. “When you were talking before, I was just thinking that maybe you’re a pretty good guy after all.”
“Uh, thanks?” River wasn’t quite sure what to say to that. He’d always thought he was a good guy, but apparently Morgan felt otherwise. It was probably the money thing. With her, it always came back to the money thing.
And yet, she’d just kissed him.
Her gaze dropped from his and surveyed the ground for a moment awkwardly. “I probably shouldn’t have done that,” she said. “It wasn’t very professional.”
“I didn’t mind.” He said the words a touch too quickly, making her look back up at him with a soft smile curling her dark lips.
“Still. My father would frown on my behavior. I’m representing the company after all.”
“Your father would disapprove of anything that involved me. Honestly, I can’t believe he let me through the front door.”
Morgan’s lips twisted in thought for a moment before she shook her head. “I doubt he knows. Or if he does, he kept his mouth shut about it. My brothers worked the details, I’m pretty sure, and they don’t know about...us.”
River stuffed his hands into his pockets and rocked back a bit on his heels. “Wow. Your family is really good at keeping secrets. I know your father likes to keep private issues private, but to keep things from each other... That’s next-level secret keeping.”
Morgan narrowed her gaze at him for a moment and then nodded slowly with a sad expression on her face. “You have no idea.”
There was something about the way she said the words that made him wonder if there were more Steele family secrets than just their ill-fated marriage. He wanted to ask but thought better of it. If she felt like sharing, she would tell him. Besides, he imagined there had to be more than a few skeletons in the closets of that big mansion of theirs. Some of those doors were best kept shut.
With a sigh, Morgan’s expression shifted back to her usual practiced facade, but when she looked at him, there was a twinkle of mischief in her eyes instead. “You know, this isn’t very professional of me, either, but what the hell... Can I buy you a drink?”
Four
The waiter put a glass of wine and a tall pilsner glass on the table between them. River hadn’t anticipated ending up in a bar with Morgan tonight, but he wasn’t going to complain. He didn’t have anything else to do. It was either crash at the small apartment he kept downtown and work, or drive out to his home on Kiawah Island and work. It was the same thing he did every night, typically staying in the city during the week and escaping to his coastal retreat on the weekends. But no matter where he was, not much was going on. Honestly, this day had brought more highlights than the entire month that preceded it.
He tried not to think about how all those highlights featured Morgan.
“So tell me what you’ve been up to, River. It’s been nearly a decade since my unscheduled departure from your life in the middle of the night. What happened after that?”
Sitting down, having a real conversation with Morgan seemed a bit surreal. They’d gotten past the initial resentment and anger, moved through the polite discussions and now they were getting to the real talk. He was curious to know what she had been doing with her life, too, but his own stories were not that exciting.
“The short answer is that I’ve been working ever since you left. You remember how I was working construction with my dad back when we were dating?”
Morgan nodded.
“Well, I took the money from your father and started my own construction business. It was what I knew. I’d met plenty of good guys who were willing to come work for me, and with my dad’s experience and guidance, I was able to get the company up off the ground. Actually, I worked my tail off, seven days a week, to get where I am today. It’s only been in the last year or so that I’ve been able to take a breath.”
“It takes time,” she said. “My father inherited a company that was already very successful, but even then, he was in the office more than he was at home when we were young. Things change.
Competitors come and go. The market shifts. Right now, we’re coping with losing retail space in brick-and-mortar stores and expanding our online presence. You’ve got to stay on your toes or you can lose everything you’ve worked for.”
“Don’t I know it. And really, starting a construction business right at the tail end of the housing bust was the dumbest thing I could’ve done. People were foreclosing left and right. But I watched the market and started with small houses that people could actually afford to buy. I worked with a financing company that went through hoops to get people approved when almost no one could get a home loan. It made all the difference. There were times I worried, though. I even started going to college online in the evenings in case I needed a backup plan.”
Morgan perked up in her chair. “Really?”
“Yeah. I have an expensive framed diploma on the wall to prove it. I got a degree in industrial management. I’m not sure what I would’ve done with it, but I never had to find out. That’s enough about me. What about you? I presume you finished school, although I never saw you around Columbia after.”
“When summer was over, I went back to the University of South Carolina and finished the fall semester. I didn’t leave campus very much, though. I wasn’t doing that well with my classes after everything that had happened, so I was trying to focus and keep my grades up. After that, I decided to take a semester off.” Morgan stopped talking to take a large sip of wine. “So I took a break and went home for a while. Then I ended up transferring to Georgetown and finished school there.”
“I didn’t realize you left South Carolina.” River hadn’t kept tabs on her, but honestly, he couldn’t have even if he’d wanted to. The Steele family left almost no digital footprints to follow. After her father took her away, it was like she’d never even existed. She could’ve spent the last ten years on the moon for all he knew.
“Oh, yes. I actually still live there most of the year. I have a town house in the Georgetown area that I started renting when I was still in school. I ended up loving the area and stayed. I come to Charleston for the summers to work on the annual charity project, and then I return home. Our company has a large production facility across the river in Virginia and that’s where my office is.”
“Where do you stay while you’re here?”
“At the house.” As she said the words, she looked at him and chuckled into her glass. “I know,” she said after swallowing some wine. “Living in the same house with my parents is not ideal. They watch me like hawks, always have, but I try to ignore it. I suppose I could get my own place here. I’ve just always felt like doing that meant I might never leave again. I don’t want that tethering me.”