I nodded, not thrilled that my living situation was complex enough to warrant a whole conversation, but at least it would give us something to talk about. Something that didn’t involve the past.
Soon, we were driving through what looked to be a normal mid-sized city, but even in the dim light, I could see the red mesas and cliffs in the distance. It was a far cry from the very flat town I’d lived in most of my life.
Mac pulled into the crowded parking lot of the steakhouse and stopped by the entrance. “Why don’t you hop out? The reservation’s under my name.”
“Okay.” The night air on my bare arms was a relief. First, that it was cool. Secondly, that I wasn’t in the confines of the pickup cab anymore. I’d always preferred outdoors to indoors, but that wasn’t it. Talking to Mac just felt so awkward. Like the only thing we could discuss was superficial stuff. Anything else would be too painful—or might get me in trouble. He’d gotten me this job—whatever it was—and I wouldn’t keep it very long if I told him how I really felt about him.
I stepped into the restaurant. The inside looked more like Texas than Utah. The tables were big. The booths were big. And yes, from what I could see, the steaks were huge.
The crowd was pretty big, too. I wove my way through the people waiting on either side of the entryway. “Is there a reservation for Roy Mackenzie?”
The woman scanned the computer screen in front of her. She looked to be about my age—twenty-five. “How do you spell the last name?”
I’d only gotten a few letters in when I heard someone call my name. Ronnie, not Veronica. I scanned the tables and booths in confusion.
“Ronnie! Over here.”
It was Ford. He was standing next to one of the circular corner booths, waving at me.
Mac hadn’t told me he was coming, but it wasn’t an unpleasant surprise. This many miles from home, it was kind of nice to run into someone who knew my name.
I made my way through the crowded dining room, ducking when a waiter appeared out of nowhere with a huge, meat-laden tray. It wasn’t until I was steps away that I saw that Ford wasn’t alone. Tanner got to his feet, and then a second Tanner did as well. Confusion had me blinking, but there were still two men in addition to Ford. Which meant that one of them must be…
“Hi, I’m Aiden.” Tanner Two held out his hand, and I brushed mine off on my jeans before shaking it. It was hard to believe that this was him, a movie star known all over the world, but no way was I going to let myself get starstruck as I had earlier.
“Nice to meet you.”
I couldn’t believe that Mac had talked for the entire hour-long drive without mentioning the fact that we’d be dining with these men. That was annoying, but probably a good thing overall. I still didn’t know what to talk to Mac about, and at some point, he had to run out of movie anecdotes, surely. But with these men here, hopefully the conversation wouldn’t lag.
There was a light touch on my arm and Mac’s tall figure appeared next to me. “Oh good, you’re all here.” Mac beamed down at me and then the others. “Can’t tell you what this means to me.”
He blinked rapidly, almost as if he was touched by something. He reached as if to put an arm around me but paused when I stiffened. It didn’t dim the smile on his face as he looked at me, though. “You’ve already met Ford, but you have no idea how long I’ve been wanting to introduce you to these two. Veronica, meet Aiden and Tanner—your stepbrothers.”
5
Ford
“How’s your steak?” I asked Ronnie. Since it was largely untouched, I knew the answer, but I wanted to gauge how she was feeling. She’d been extremely quiet since she sat down next to me. Aiden and Tanner were in the middle of the round booth, and Mac took up the far side. I was glad she’d chosen to sit next to me. She’d had a long day, and the others could be a bit much. Not that they weren’t good men, but sometimes they seemed to suck all the oxygen out of the room. Fortunately, we were in a huge dining room and there was plenty of beef-scented air to go around.
“It’s fine.” Ronnie’s voice was softer than it had been when we spoke earlier. She was either tired from her flight, overwhelmed by the company, or—my personal guess—she’d just received a big shock.
Had Mac not told her that we’d be joining them for dinner? I couldn’t imagine that he hadn’t, but when I spotted her at the reservation desk and called her name, she looked surprised—and then her face had broken into a beautiful smile.