“It’s very much like that. I mean, I can’t blame you. The man’s gorgeous.”
“He’s also, like, twice my age.”
“I don’t know about that. I’d guess late thirties.”
“Okay, so a decade older.”
Lora laughs and looks at me. “Since when did you care about that?”
I shrug. “I guess I don’t.”
“Come on. I thought you were the sophisticated city girl with her own fashion brand?”
“I don’t have a fashion brand anymore,” I remind her. “Remember? Came home in shame?”
She rolls her eyes. “Oh, please. So your store went under. So what?”
“So what?” I tense briefly, anger flaring. “I put my whole life into that store. I wanted to do something with myself. Not just use up Mom and Dad’s money.”
Lora frowns and looks at me again. “Sorry, Del. I didn’t mean to be an asshole. You know I was really proud of you… still am. I don’t see the store closing as a failure.”
“Hard for me to see it any other way,” I mumble.
She sits up and leans toward me, putting a hand on my leg. “You opened it and made it work for a few years. I know it was hard and it was a lot of work, but I don’t think that’s a failure. You made something… you learned something. You can do it again if you want.”
“Yeah,” I say, biting my lip hard to keep from getting emotional. “I think maybe I can one day.”
She hesitates then pulls her hand away and leans back down, kicking her legs up in the air. “I could never do that. None of the boys could, either.”
“Uh, Jacob has his own hedge fund. And Brent has his own physical therapy practice.”
Lora frowns at me. “Okay. So Shaun couldn’t.”
I laugh a little. “Yeah, that’s true. Shaun couldn’t.”
She grins at me and stretches like a cat. “You’re too hard on yourself. Mom was proud of you, you know?”
I snort. “Yeah, right. Mom thought I was wasting my time and money, which I was.”
“She said that to you, but I saw the way she looked at you. And she was constantly Googling your store. I caught her doing it more than once.”
I hesitate. “Really?”
“Really. Come on, Del. You’re amazing. You just got unlucky. That’s retail. But you’ll get back on your feet and do more amazing stuff.”
I smile at my sister. I get up and hug her. She groans and tries to push me away but I hold on tight. “You’re right,” I say, my voice muffled against her shoulder. “I am amazing.”
“Get off, you animal,” she says, laughing, and I go back to my chair.
“If I make out with Max, do you think Patricks will kill him?” I ask.
She nods. “Yep. He’ll try to, at least.”
“I wonder what he’d do if I did more than just make out with him.”
She laughs. “Now you’re gross.”
I grin at her. “Just speaking my truth.”
“I regret ever wanting to hear your truth.”
“Liar. You love it. Can you imagine how Mom and Dad would react? Being with a man like… him?”
“You mean a regular guy?” Lora shakes her head. “That’s about the worst thing possible. You can date anyone you want… so long as he has a huge bank account.”
I sigh and look out at the garden again. We’re joking, but there’s some truth in it. All our lives, Mom has been trying to set us up with rich, eligible men from good families. She doesn’t force the issue and make us do anything we don’t want to do, but she’s made it clear over the years that she doesn’t want us marrying just any man.
Max isn’t just any man. He’s strong and handsome and funny. He’s gorgeous, really, and the first man that I’ve wanted to kiss in a long time. I was married to my job after college, trying to start my own business and ultimately failing, so I didn’t have time for guys. And in college and high school, I found all the boys just so… young and annoying. Max, though, he’s totally unlike any of the man I’ve ever met.
So totally unlike the men Mom would want me to date.
Maybe this is a rebellion thing, but I don’t think so.
It’s more about the way I felt when he touched me. Even the other day, when he touched my hip without thinking about it, just a mindless gesture. I felt a thrill run through me and I wanted him to push me up against a wall and rip off my clothes. It hit me like a rocket between the legs.
I can’t get that feeling from my mind.
I daydream about him all day. I know I should be busy doing something else, getting myself together, thinking up a new business plan, anything, but I can’t bring myself to work. I’ve been working so hard for years and it didn’t get me anywhere. I just ended up right back where I started, lying around on a couch with my little sister.