His expression had gone so serious, she almost wanted to take the question back. “What you need to understand is that it’s already real for me. What do I want out of it? Companionship. Someone I can rely on. Someone on my side.”
Again, not what she’d been hoping for, but was she going to throw their relationship away because he wasn’t using the right words? “You’re looking for a friend you can have sex with?”
“That makes me sound shallow.” He seemed to think about it for a long moment. “This doesn’t feel shallow to me. I’ve had women I slept with, women I had whole relationships with, because I was lonely. This feels like something more.”
Maybe she was going about this the wrong way. At her job, she would listen and try to decipher the forces behind what a constituent wanted. Sometimes a stop sign was merely a way to make a neighborhood safer. Sometimes there was a deeper need at play. “So in your mind, marriage is a partnership.”
“I suppose so.”
“Like your parents?” She knew he loved his parents, but even the best-intentioned parents could influence their kids in ways they hadn’t meant to.
“No. If you’re asking me if I want what my parents had, then I have to say no.” He turned to his side so he was looking her straight in the eyes, the intimacy plain between them. He reached up and ran a big hand over her shoulder and down her arm. “I seriously doubt my parents spent long hours in bed talking and making love. I want that with you. Not with some random wife. Only you.”
Just when she thought she could put up some walls and protect herself, he said the perfect thing. “Your parents weren’t outwardly affectionate?”
“Oh, they would hug and he would give her a peck, but they had separate lives. She ran the house and worked on her charities and was active in church. He ran the family and the business. They often took separate vacations. She would go off with friends, and Dad would take Louis with him when he was working. They took a couple of cruises over the years. They’d talked about doing one around the world for their anniversary, but he died before they could book it.”
“Yeah, my mom and dad had lots of plans for when he retired.” She didn’t like to talk about her father’s passing, but somehow it seemed right to do it here and now. There was such a warm intimacy between them. Like this was where they always should have been. “I think she would have sold the salon if he’d lived. But when he died, she couldn’t stand the thought of being alone in the house all day. With me working all the time and my brother usually halfway across the globe, I think she finds the salon soothing.”
“I can’t imagine your mom not at her salon. Unless she’s road tripping with Delphine,” he said with a grin.
“They are planning a tour of craft fairs this fall. I think they enjoy selling hoodoo in the suburbs.” Her momma had never minded causing a ruckus. Delphine had lost her husband early on in their marriage, and she hadn’t dated. She’d raised her kids and built a life for them, and now she was Sylvie’s mother’s regular companion. They got into trouble and had fun adventures. They’d become each other’s soul mates when their own had passed.
If you’re not getting in trouble, you aren’t living, baby.
Was she getting into trouble with Rene? He was so polite and buttoned up, and he held the world on his shoulders. Would he let her truly take part of his burden? He said he wanted a partner, but most of the week he’d refused to talk about work. He’d listened and focused on her, but he didn’t share the troubles of his day.
She would bet he was modeling their marriage after his parents, despite the fact that he said he didn’t want that. People tended to act in habitual ways.
His parents had married later in their lives. They hadn’t been forced to build a business together or support each other in building careers because they’d already had their places in the world.
“Have your parents told you how they met?” Sylvie asked.
His hand kept moving over her skin like he couldn’t force himself to stop touching her. “My mom knew my father’s best friend.”
“Uncle Louis?” He’d always been around Darois House when they were kids. He’d been a nice man who always took the time to throw a ball with the kids. He would take them out for ice cream from time to time.
“I don’t call him ‘uncle’ anymore,” Rene murmured. “I stopped when I started working at the company. My father and Louis were in the same fraternity in college. Louis introduced my mother and father. She and Louis were childhood friends in Dallas. Their families ran in the same circles. Louis had a falling out with his family. That’s why he came here to work for my dad, but he kept up with my mother. At some point my dad and Louis went to Dallas and had dinner with my mother, and they were married six weeks later.”