Page 100 of Skins Game

Morrissey waved him off and turned back to Nicole. “Michelangela was the younger sister of our friend fromboarding school, though she attended day school in Naples rather than boarded at Le Rosey. It wouldn’t have worked out unless Kingston wanted to join the mafia.”

Kingston coughed into the glass of water he’d been drinking.“Morrissey,therestaurantwe’re in.”

Morrissey waved him off. “But the breakup was several years ago and amicable, which is good because otherwise ol’ Skins here might’ve died in a car bomb.”

Being cussed out suddenly felt less threatening than other possibilities. “Michelangela isn’t going to take offense if Kingston starts dating someone else, is she?”

Morrissey chuckled. “She’s rabidly in love with someone her brother considers more suitable. And then there was Emily Saltonstall.”

Kingston scowled at him. “Jesus, Sand. Don’t make that into something gross.”

“You were the one who dated the girl when you were twenty-four, and she was only sixteen.”

Kingston rolled his eyes and turned to Nicole. “Emily is the younger sister of Mitchell Saltonstall, also of Last Chance. She has Down’s Syndrome. Mitchell took her to every dance at her school, but when she was sixteen, she insisted that she wanted arealdate. I got her a wrist corsage and played gallant knight for an afternoon. Her daddroveus to the dance and picked us up.”

“And then he ghosted her,” Morrissey said.

“Jeez, I knew I should’ve asked Jericho to meet Nicole.” He turned to her. “Emily thought I wastoo oldand got a boyfriend from her school for the next dance.”

“Aw, that’s sweet,” Nicole said.

Morrissey tweaked Kingston’s ear. “Yes,so sweet.”

“Please don’t,” Kingston said. “He’ll never shut up about it.”

Nicole watched them squabble like siblings.

Kingston had let her meet someone who truly knew him. Found family rather than genetic, but family nevertheless.

She asked Morrissey, “Who else has he dated? And did it end horribly?”

He laughed, but it was a sardonic chuff. “No one he’s ever brought home to meet us, so I can only assume it was something tawdry and embarrassing. You’re a breath of fresh air.”

Jump in now.“But he’s never been married or anything?”

“Dear Lord, no. All four of us are confirmed bachelors, I’m afraid, in the new sense of the word, meaning we haven’t found women who love us more than their peace. We’re too wrapped up in our work at Last Chance to be decent husband material.”

Opening.“You said Kingston didn’t work at Last Chance.”

“I did.”

“But you said the four of you.”

“The four of us from boarding school. Kingston wasn’t in a position to comfortably finance a stake in Last Chance, even with his trust fund. Thus, the silent investor is our fourth. But Kingston is more my brother than anyone else in the world.”

“So Kingston works for you?”

Morrissey steepled his fingers and looked over them at her. “No, Kingston doesn’t workforme. He’s an employee of Sidewinder Golf. He’s my childhood friend who I trust to go into companies that arehighly at risk?—”

Morrissey’s pointed squint at her conveyed the seriousness of beinghighlyat risk.

“—and improve their bottom line by beefing up their sales figures fast. He’s saved several companies from a quick liquidation after we became aware of fraud during the sale, like Sidewinder. He seems to think Sidewinder is worth saving, though I can’t figure out why for the life of me. The math doesn’t math, if you catch my drift.”

His drift was that Nicole and all her friends might be unemployed next week if Morrissey Sand stopped listening to Kingston.

Morrissey continued, “Kingston’s good opinion is the only thing standing between Sidewinder and my recommendation. That, and some magic golf club that he insists will change everything if it ever gets out of R&D.” His stare pinned Nicole to her chair. “You wouldn’t know anything about a magic driver, would you?”

She swallowed hard just as the waitress settled a round dish of pasta with garlic-fragrant red sauce in front of her. “Sidewinder’s research and development group is meticulous, and it shows.”