“You have no idea what I—”
Her glare silenced him.
“Can we just talk about the offer? Does it really make sense to turn it down?”
“Obviously you’re not sure selling is right. What makes you want to say no?” she asked as she handed him a few serving bowls to place on the table.
“I don’t like the idea of someone else running the shop, screwing it up—”
“Not doing things your way.”
So he was a control freak. “Right. And what about Marc? He’s taken this job hoping to learn something, wanting a springboard for a fashion career, and he’ll lose that chance if I sell.”
Clarice’s smile let him know he’d just given away far more about his feelings for Marc than he’d intended.
He poured sweet tea into two glasses as he tried to come up with a counter argument. “On the other hand, it would mean a lot of money and freedom.”
“And would that make you happy, having all that money?”
Darius shrugged. “I have no idea.”
“I don’t think it would. You’re restless, and you want a challenge, right?”
Darius nodded as he picked up the tea.
“Then why not change something about the shop and get Marc involved?”
“You mean like selling Marc’s costumes?”
She nudged him toward the table. “That’s a great idea. You did say his designs were brilliant.”
“They are, but…” He paused, placing the glasses by their plates. It was a niche market, like high-end men’s clothes. It just might work to combine them, especially if they started by offering Marc’s services to existing clients and their families or friends. “I’ll think about it.”
“What? No more arguing?”
Darius shook his head.
“Good. When do you have to decide on the offer?”
“I’ve still got over a week.”
“Then think and ask more questions, and ultimately go with your instincts.”
Wait. She wanted him to consider it? “I thought you wanted me to say no.”
“I’m opinionated, but that doesn’t mean you have to listen to me,” Clarice said, as she set the roast on the table.
Darius huffed. “You never gave me that impression before.”
“Sit down,” she ordered.
Darius did, and his mouth watered as he surveyed all the food on the table. “You were cooking all this for yourself?”
“So what if I was?”
She wasn’t looking at him. Something was up. “What is it? Did I mess up some plans of yours?”
“I was going to have my daughter and her family to dinner, but you needed me more.”
“You didn’t know that. I could’ve talked to you later.”
She waved off his comments as she passed him the green beans. “I could hear in your voice that you were worried about something.”
“Still, it could’ve waited.”
“I wanted to see you now.”
She was even more stubborn than Darius. “Well, tell your daughter I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it. Her kids were probably glad to skip the weekly lecture from Grandma about looking up from their phones to see the people around them.”
“Ha!”
“And besides, I’ve been needing a chance to demand you ask Marc out.”
Of course they were going to return to this. “I don’t date. You know that. You haven’t changed me in all these years.”
“There’s never been a man who interests you like Marc does.”
“How do you know? You don’t meet all the men I…um…”
“Sleep with? No, thank the Lord, I do not. But if any of them had affected you the way Marc does, I’d know.”
“How?” Darius took a healthy serving of pot roast and then cut some for Clarice.
“I have my ways.”
She passed him a bowl of creamy mashed potatoes, and he scooped out a large helping. “Magic wand? Crystal ball?”
She scowled at him. “You’d talk about him. You wouldn’t be able to help yourself.”
“I’ve barely mentioned Marc today except when you brought him up.”
“But you don’t want to hurt him by selling the store, and you told me that, even knowing I’d pounce on the chance to talk about him more.”
“I did no—” He had. Motherfucker.
“And you’ve mentioned him every time we’ve talked recently. That’s why I knew I could promise not to mention him myself.”
Sometimes he really hated Clarice.
“The one thing I’ve never gotten out of you is why you shut yourself off from everyone and everything but working and…those boys you bring home.”
They were so not going there. “You know why.”
“Oscar was ten years ago. Why do you still let him have that kind of power over you? What happened back then shouldn’t keep you from being happy.”
Oscar didn’t have power over him. Darius had learned from that encounter and put that knowledge to use. “I am happy.”
“You just said you were bored.”
Why did she have to be so annoying? “I’m bored but happy.”
“I see.”
He gave a growl of disgust. “I do not want to talk about this.”
“Fine, but think about the costume line.”
“I will.”
She glared at him.
“I promise; not like you’d let me forget.”
“You’re right about that.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
Darius jolted awake, gulped air, desperate to fill his lungs. A sheen of sweat covered him, and his heart pulsed in his ears. It took him several seconds to realize the alarm clock was still blaring. He reached out and turned it off. That was better.