Page 81 of See You There

“Scott? Is he an unattractive bit?”

Dahlia sighed. “He wasn’t one of the good parts, that’s for sure.”

“Then why did you marry him?” Luke’s hands flexed around the steering wheel, his jaw tight.

“I was young and stupid… Convinced I was in love. What I really wanted was to get out of my house. Unfortunately, I traded one set of people I was responsible for, for another. I thought Icould help him.” She hesitated before saying, “Scott had a pretty serious gambling problem.”

“Like Chandler. You seem to have a type.”

Dahlia glared at him. “Chandler’s not my boyfriend, and you know it. That was set up for press purposes only by the studio.”

Luke glanced at her, his eyes angry. “Youneverdated him?”

“It only took one date for us to figure out we wouldn’t work as an actual couple.”

Dahlia swallowed past the sudden lump in her throat. She wanted to be open but that was a step too far. Dahlia wasn’t ready to tell him about the disastrous evening when Chandler assumed a date automatically gave him the right to see her naked.

When she didn’t answer, Luke appeared to let the subject of Chandler go. “How did you hook up with Victor?”

Dahlia made a face to cover her relief. “That’s a long story. But you can file it away under young and stupid, too. What about you? How did you become a lawyer?”

Luke adjusted the AC so it would blow harder. “Pretty simple. My mother was a law professor and worked with the ACLU. So, conversations about justice and equality were always topics around our dinner table.”

“What did your dad do?”

Luke looked at her from the corner of his eye. “David Bloom?”

“Right! Sorry, I forgot.”

Luke didn’t look like he believed her, so Dahlia was honest. “I’ve read a bit about him. He didn’t strike me as a social justice kind of guy.”

“No.” Luke’s voice was tight. “He definitely was not. David Bloom was awin no matter the costkind of guy.”

“You and James take after your mom then?”

“We spent most of our time in Atlanta. But the four of us, Declan, Cara, me, and James, spent the summers in Rhode Island with my dad.”

“I didn’t realize you had another brother.”

“Yeah, he and Cara are my half-siblings.”

“Are you close to them?” Dahlia thought about her own siblings and their constant battles.

“Cara and I are close. My older brother Declan is… difficult to get close to. He’s the most like our father. We are all competitive,” he chuckled. “But I guess as far as families go, we’re pretty tight. There’s nothing we wouldn’t do for each other.”

“Even though you didn’t grow up in the same house?”

Luke darted another glance at her.

“I’m sorry. I’m being nosy.”

One of his shoulders lifted. “It’s okay. One thing about growing up with a high-profile father is that everyone knows your business. The moms, well mine and Declan’s, wanted the kids to grow up as a family. They made sure we spent as many holidays together as we could. Cara’s mom, Corinne, was a bit of a mess, so Cara usually came to us for her school holidays. We alternated between Atlanta and Dublin, where Declan lived with his mom and his older half-brother.”

Dahlia’s eyebrows flew up. “Another half-brother?”

Luke smirked. “We are a bit of a soap opera. Declan’s half-brother Seamus is from Siobhan’s marriage. When we were old enough to entertain ourselves, my father made us all come to his estate in Rhode Island for the summer.”

“Summering at an estate. La-di-da.” Dahlia pretended to fan herself with her hand.