Page 44 of Fierce-Matt

“I was having fun and assumed he was too. My life has been minus that for a while. Brendan was a good time more than I thought and I figured it wouldn’t hurt. He knew where I stood.”

“Did he really?” he asked. “Or did he hope to wear you down?”

Her cheeks puffed out as a gush of air was released. “The second. Is that a guy thing?”

“If a window is open a crack, any idiot would try to lift it wider for a pretty girl.”

“I’m a pretty girl to you?”

“You’re an attractive woman to me. You were a pretty girl when I was being a dick to you and I wanted that attention.”

There he was baring his soul again and laying it on the line.

He hoped the line didn’t snap with the weight he was piling on it.

“You got more attention than you bargained for,” she said.

“I did. And I have to live with it and the fact I did it to a lot of women. I didn’t learn my lesson for a long time.”

“And now you have?”

“I’d like to think so. I also know that when it means something you put more effort in.”

“You’re laying it on thick, aren’t you?” she asked, laughing. “Is that a lawyer thing too?”

“Let me ask you, are you enjoying this dinner?”

“Surprisingly, I am.”

“I’ll take it. Can I ask why you are?”

She took her time answering. “I’m being myself. I’m not worrying if you’ll like it or not. I didn’t like the way I was around you before. It hurt and I don’t want to feel that way again. That’s one change I’ve made. I’ll get nowhere in life if I can’t be true to myself. I’m putting it out there with you when in the past I would be hesitant about someone just getting to know them.”

“That might be the best response I could have hoped for.”

“Why?” She picked her wine up and downed it. It was a nervous gesture and he hated she’d felt that.

“Because I’m sick of fake people. I never thought you were and though you’ve changed, I didn’t think it was in that regard.”

“Never. I’ve got a lot going on in my life. I’m working two jobs and when I’ve got time I’m helping my mother. Not just legally with everything, but in the house. I’m trying to give her a break and keep an eye on my father too.”

“I’d do the same.”

“I’m sure you would. All of your siblings. But it’s just me. EJ is as useless as dead batteries in a vibrator. He’s selfish and I wonder if some fights he’s had with my father haven’t contributed to this.”

It was hard for him not to say something funny about her vibrator comment, but he pulled out steel strength to show no reaction.

“To their relationship?”

“To his dementia. I’ve done a lot of reading on it. Traumatic events can cause the increase of cognitive decline. My grandfather had dementia. I think that is why my mother got the long-term care insurance.”

“They fought a lot?” he asked. “Your father and brother?”

He wanted to hear from her and not what his mother told him Phoebe had brought up years ago.

“Over everything. My brother would break out into fits of rage. He was selfish and narcissistic. It was his way or thehighway. He felt everything was owed to him. My father kicked him out once when he was done with college and it was a solid month before my mother could repair the damage for him to come home. I hated it. I thought he was finally out after that, but I was wrong.”

“What caused him to be kicked out?” he asked. “You don’t have to answer that.”