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“How does my family feel?” He stood closer than necessary.
“Warm, friendly, down-to-earth.” She liked the smile she had brought to Gus’s face.
“I think they’d say the same about you.”
Her cheeks warmed. Was that a compliment?
“How about your family? What are they like?”
Merritt tensed at his question. “They’re nice.” She dreaded taking him to meet her parents.
“What do they do?” he asked.
“Dad’s third shift supervisor at a local factory, and Mom stayed home and took care of me and the house.” She glanced over at him and then at the number on the screen telling them what floor they were on. “They adopted me when I was a baby.” She didn’t know what had made her tell him that. “I don’t talk about it much. I just felt like you should know.”
His gloved hand wound around hers. “I’m glad you told me.”
She gave him a slight closed-mouth smile as they reached the first floor and walked out of the elevator.
“We’re married. We shouldn’t have secrets from each other,” he said.
When she looked over at him again, he was grinning, and she shook her head. “Oh, like you’ve told me all there is to know about you.”
“What do you want to know? I’m an open book.”
Her lips twisted to one side as she thought about that. “Favorite Sugar Ray song?”
He laughed. “That’s the first thing you want to know?”
She nodded, waiting for him to answer.
He thought for a few moments. “‘Someday.’”
“I expected it to be ‘Every Morning.’”
“Also good.”
He took her hand again as they walked through the lobby toward the exit, and she looked over at him and down at their hands.
“Keeping up appearances,” he said.
She didn’t fight him on it. “Do you work out?”
“Why? Have you been checking me out?” he asked.
“You said you were an open book.”
“Right. Of course, I work out.”
“How many days a week?”
“Five.”
“Five? I feel accomplished if I take a walk twice a week.”
“I know an excellent exercise we can do together.” He wagged his eyebrows at her.
“Gus!”