Page 115 of Slumming It

"I didn't when we were arguing," I explained. "But hedidgive it to me right before he dropped me off at Mom and Dad's place." When I finished my message, I hit send and looked back to Vivian. "What a crazy day, huh?"

A moment later, my phone beeped with an incoming text, and I looked down to see what it said. The message was from Reese, and I wasn't quite sure how to take it.

Vivian asked, "Was that from him?"

I nodded.

"Well?" she said. "What did it say?"

I lifted the phone and showed the screen to my sister. She read the message out loud, adding a question mark of her own."I'm gonna kill him?" She looked back to me and said, "If he means Cameron Slade, I hope he doesn't."

The remark surprised me. And here I'd thought she hated the guy. "Why not?"

She leaned over the counter and looked down at the money. "Because if he ever comes back, I'd like to kill him myself."

I wasn't sure if she was joking, but I laughed, anyway. And soon, she was laughing, too. But her laughter was all wrong, like she was getting ready to crack under the pressure.

One way or another, I decided, I would do something to ease her load. I just didn't expect the opportunity to come from Reese Murdock himself when we finally met up to talk.

Chapter 44

Emily

Over the soft Italian music, Reese said, "This morning, you asked me two questions."

I gazed across the intimate table with its deep red tablecloth and gently glowing candle. "You mean in your car outside the restaurant?" I was referring, of course, to the pancake house where I worked, not the much fancier place we were dining at now.

To my surprise, Reese had called me this afternoon at exactly two o'clock and asked me out to dinner, making it crystal clear that he was inviting me out on a genuine date, not a fake date related to whatever role I was supposedly playing.

I knew this because I'd actually asked for clarification, and his affirmative reply that yes, he meant a genuine date, had been delivered not only with good grace, but with an amused smile.

I hadn't been able to see the smile through the phone, but Ihadheard it in his voice as he asked,"Can I pick you up at six?"

But as far as the two questions he'd just mentioned, I was drawing a total blank. "You don't mean the thing about your phone number, do you?"

He shook his head. "No. Before that."

When I replied with nothing but a puzzled look, he said, "Question one. You wanted to know if Cassandra and I were ever engaged."

I didn't recall asking such a thing, but Ihadbeen curious. But now I was mostly embarrassed. "I didn't seriously ask you that, did I?"

"Not directly. But you were hinting for an answer."

I felt my cheeks grow slightly warm. "I guess I wasn't so subtle then, huh?"

"Screw subtle," he said. "I should've told you then and there." His gaze met mine across the table. "I've never been engaged – not to Cassandra or anyone else."

"Oh." For reasons that I couldn't quite understand, I was oddly relieved. But now I didn't know what to say. "So, I guess that's good, huh?" I tried to read his expression, but it offered no clues. "Or is it bad?"

To my surprise, Reese actually paused to give it some thought before replying, "I'd say it's good."

"Why? Because you like being single?" I let out a nervous laugh. "You know…the bachelor life and all that?"

"No. It's good because I don't have a failed engagement." The corners of his mouth lifted in a slight smile. "When I do something, I like to do it right."

The answer wasn't just a surprise. It warmed my heart to a degree that made no sense. At that particular moment, he almost reminded me of my dad, who was big on doing things right the first time.

True, my dad was no billionaire, but he had loved only one woman, the woman who happened to be my mom. And he still loved her even now, more than three decades after they'd first met.