“Let’s go home and do it together then.”
As he started driving away, I looked back at the building and thought about the sister I was leaving behind. I couldn’t force her hand though. I needed to give her time. I just hoped she’d do it before it was too late.
Chapter Thirty
Adam
“When you said home I thought you were talking about The Manor.” Eva sat in the car, eyeing the small cottage I’d parked in front of warily.
“Is this okay?” I brought her to my house without a second thought. “I just figured we should stay away from The Manor right now. Just in case.”
“We could’ve gone to my place,” she said, chewing on her bottom lip.
I set the gear to drive. “That’s fine.”
“No.” She glanced at me quickly and smiled. “This is fine. I want to see your place.”
Once we got inside, I let her explore the place while I ordered Chinese food for us.
“This place is cute. Not where I’d expect you to live.” She sank down on the couch, still clutching the folder. “I thought you’d live in Billionaire’s Row.”
“My parents aren’t billionaires.”
“Their vacation condo or whatever they call it is there.”
“True.”
“Nolan lives there, I bet.”
“He does, actually.” I brought two glasses of water and set them on the coffee table.
“You bring me to your house and you give me water?” She arched an eyebrow. “Where’s the whiskey?”
“You want whiskey?” I chuckled, setting the glass of water down.
“You have whiskey?” she sounded surprised.
“What kind of German do you think I am? Of course I have whiskey.”
“Isn’t whiskey an Irish thing?”
“Scottish, technically, but yeah. These days, Germany produces more whiskey than Scotland though.”
“Damn. I didn’t know I was going to be getting a history lesson with my nightcap.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. She was entirely too amused by me and I liked it. I liked that she let herself go around me, that she let herself just be. I poured us some of the Macallan 18 my father gifted me for my birthday last year. I’d only had a few glasses of it with him, Nolan, and Will. I wasn’t much of a drinker, but my father told me it was a good bottle, and I knew Eva would appreciate it.
When I walked back to the living room, she was looking through the photo album on my table. My mother had set it there last month when she visited and I hadn’t bothered to move it. It was the only thing that was of sentimental value in the house. Everything else belonged to the landlord. Between school, my internship, and The Manor, I was rarely home and didn’t care to decorate much. Of course, I’d signed the lease before the Chancellor asked me to move to The Manor, otherwise, I would have saved my money.
“Scottish whiskey,” I said, handing her a glass.
“Not German?” she gasped. “I’m offended for you.”
“I just stated facts. I didn’t say I actually drank it.”
She shook her head, smiling as she took a sip of the drink. “This is good. Really good.”
“I thought you’d like it.”
“Where’s your mom from? She’s not German.”
“Greece.”
“Greece. That’s my dream vacation.” Her brows rose. “Have you been?”
“Every year. Mom moved here for college and stayed for my dad, but she can’t stay away from her family for too long. Dad says if they lived here, they’d probably have to move to a compound that fit all of them.”
“They must be close.”
“Very.” I smiled, thinking about my yiayia.
“Do they really have huge weddings?”
“Ridiculous weddings. My last cousin who got married probably had three hundred people, and half were family.”
“Damn. I’ve always wanted to go to one to see how it compares to the movie.”
“I’ll take you.” I grinned as I took a sip of the whiskey. “You know, after you come to Thanksgiving and all that.”
Eva laughed.
I picked up the folder between us and waved it at her, asking for permission. She nodded and picked up her glass again as I moved closer to her and opened it. Inside, there was a page with numerous pictures of Eva. The nurse who made copies of the original folder for Stella must have gotten all of the photos and placed them together on a page so that they’d all be on one sheet. Eva when she was a baby, a toddler, a little older, a tween, a teen, and now. I looked at her.
“How long did you say you’ve known the Maslows?”
“My whole life.” Her voice was a whisper as she reached over and touched the photograph where she was around six or seven months old.
“They don’t even see babies.” I frowned. Eva took the folder from my hand and started looking through the rest of the file.
“Apparently they did.” She handed me the paper she’d just scanned through. “What do you think this means?”