Don’t get me wrong, the Thistles are a good lot and Mellie is a sweet girl studying to be a veterinary assistant, but she has this desperately infatuated way about her that’s off-putting. Now and then she gets this fanatical look in her eyes—and I know she’d sneak in my room and stare at me while I slept if she thought she could get away with it. Gives me the willies.
“School’s going well. Yesterday we learned about snakes—boa constrictors to be exact. They’re fascinating creatures. The way they wrap themselves around and around and around whatever they desire . . . so it can never get away. Then they just squeeze the life right out of it!”
She demonstrates by wrapping her hands around her own neck, and squeezing—hard.
“And that thing they do with their tongue—it’s like this . . . ”
Melanie flicks her tongue in and out of her mouth. Then she does it again, trying to look sultry. And failing.
“It’s really sexy, don’t you think?”
Logan squints wordlessly. And I slip on my dark aviator sunglasses.
“Right. Okay, then.” I hook my thumb towards the car. “We need to head out. There’s an appointment. Waiting.”
“Oh, of course. Don’t let me keep you.”
But before we can make a break for it, keep us is what she does.
“Your mum invited me to supper this Sunday.”
Of course she did. As far as my mother is concerned, Melanie would be the perfect daughter-in-law. Someone she could remake in her own image—like a clone. A mini-mum.
As Ellie would say . . . yikes.
“Will you be there?”
I rub the back of my neck. “It depends on work. We’ve been hammered with business lately. You know—clients and training the new hires.”
“Yes, it’s wonderful how well you’re doing. Truly.”
For a moment, I feel genuinely proud. Because Lo and I are doing well. A couple of nobodies from nowhere—who would’ve thought it?
Then Melanie keeps speaking.
“And you know my door’s always open. If you ever want to drop by—we can discuss the boa constrictors some more.”
And she’s back to flicking her tongue.
“’Bye, Mellie.” I turn and don’t stop until I reach the car.
Logan’s behind the wheel and once we’re down the block, he comments, “So . . . Melanie’s still carrying a torch for you, eh?”
“More like the Great Fire of London, yeah.” I chuckle.
“She’s probably just nervous around you.” Logan laughs. “Jittery. Ellie says she used to be like that with me back in the day. This one time, she tripped over her own feet and almost bashed her head on the kitchen counter—would’ve knocked herself clean out if I hadn’t caught her.” He shakes his head. “I think you should give Melanie a chance, take her for dinner, see how it goes.”
Logan St. James is giving me dating advice.
I push my sunglasses down the bridge of my nose, stare at him, and voice the only logical conclusion.
“My mum got to you, didn’t she?”
He laughs again, turning the car onto the main road out of town.
“No, she didn’t get to me.”
His voice goes softer. Sentimental.
“It’s just . . . having Ellie and Finn, a family . . . being settled. It’s a good thing, Tommy. It’s really good.”
I nod, because I know for Lo it’s not just a good thing—it’s everything.
“And if you look past the temporary insanity and whatever she was trying to do with her tongue, Melanie’s a nice girl.”
I tend to go for women with a bit of a wild side. Feisty. A girl who can handle herself, stand up for herself. When something comes easy—and for me, women have always come easy—it’s a challenge that grabs you by the balls. Holds your attention. Heats your interest.
I look back at Logan. “Exactly. When have you ever known me to like nice girls?”
CHAPTER TWO
Abby
TIC-TOC
One of the drawbacks of being born into an extraordinary family is average can feel like utter failure. When you’re Lois Lane surrounded by a household of Supermen it can be rather . . . intimidating. Disheartening.
Or motivating, depending on your outlook.
Tic-toc
I come from a long line of remarkable people. Perfect people. People who seem like they were manufactured on a shiny assembly line of grand accomplishments.
Tic-toc
Take my father for example—Montgomery Felix Haddock, the 10th Earl of Bumblebridge—seated at the far end of the dining table, reading the morning edition of the Wessconian Times, his distinguished brow drawn low in concentration. Many would have been satisfied with their inherited title, but not my father, not in this family.
Tic-toc
He went on to become a world-renowned barrister specializing in international law and human rights. He’s also the founding partner of Haddock & Lipton, the most esteemed law firm in Wessco.
Tic-toc
Mother—Antoinette Bellamy-Haddock—seated to Father’s right, wearing her oval mother-of-pearl reading glasses, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics before the age of twenty. Twice.
She’s now the Head Chair of the Bellamy-Haddock School of Physics and Chemistry at Wilfordshire University.