Page 20 of Trophy

“Well, yeah, I guess.” She swallowed, feeling like her answer had been stupid.

There was no reason to feel flustered. No one would know how she and Rob had been spending their nights.

“I mean, I live across the street—there—so we see each other some. Plus, I work at Dora’s, and he comes in every morning for breakfast.”

“That boy,” Tari said, tsk-tsking. “I tell him he needs to watch his cholesterol.”

“I tell him that too. He doesn’t listen.” Allison looked back toward him and saw him glancing at her again. Probably making sure she had someone to talk to.

“He never did. That boy.” Tari shook her head, smiling fondly.

James added, “Stubborn.”

Allison pulled her eyebrows together. “How long have you known him?”

“For a very long time.” Tari reached over and patted Allison’s hand. “We’re his parents, dear.”

“Oh my goodness, I had no idea! I’m so sorry.”

“No reason for you to know,” Tari said. “We don’t live in town, and James doesn’t like to travel anymore. We’re fortunate that Rob comes to see us every week.”

Allison couldn’t imagine a world where a half hour’s drive amounted to traveling, but she wouldn’t dream of expressing her surprise to these kind people. Now that she knew, she could see the resemblance in Tari’s smile and James’s brown eyes. “Rob said you have a dairy farm?”

Tari shot her a quick, assessing look that Allison didn’t understand. She didn’t think she’d said anything too revealing or inappropriate. Then the woman’s expression transformed back into a smile. “Yes. We do, although we’ve scaled back a lot in the last ten years or so.”

“She keeps making me get rid of my cows,” James muttered, his mustache quivering.

Allison gave him a sympathetic look. “You still have some, though?”

“Way too many,” Tari said. “But you don’t want to talk about cows, I’m sure. Tell us about you. You’re not married?”

“No. I’m divorced. That’s really why I moved to town. To start a new life.”

“Well, it’s a good place to start one,” Tari said, reaching out to pat her hand again. “We’re glad you moved here.”

It sounded like she meant it, and Allison appreciated the sincerity and the kindness both. “I’m glad too.”

“How are things going over here?” a voice came from beside her.

She looked up to see Rob, standing and looking down at them with a beer in his hand. He met her eyes, and he seemed to be searching for something. She had no idea what.

“We’re doing very well,” his mother said. “We don’t need you hovering, as if we might say something to embarrass you.”

Rob chuckled. “I’ve come to expect that, so I don’t waste time trying to stop it. Have they said anything embarrassing yet?” His eyes focused on Allison’s, and she could tell he was making sure she was okay in her present company.

Just because she didn’t want a serious relationship didn’t mean she couldn’t chat with his parents. She gave him a relaxed smile. “Apparently, they too are concerned about your cholesterol.”

Rob groaned and covered his eyes with his hands, making them all laugh, and Allison was surprised to realize she was enjoying herself.

He wandered off after a few minutes, doing his duty as the host, and Allison stayed where she was, talking to his parents, who told her some funny stories about trouble Rob had gotten into as a kid—blowing up a shed with a chemistry set and throwing rocks at beehives.

In all the stories he’d pretended that everything was just fine and that he’d planned the disaster to happen that way.

“He always was like that,” Tari concluded with a smile. “Pretending that he had everything under control, even when he got himself into the biggest messes you could imagine.”

Allison laughed at the stories and at the visual of Rob as a boy, but her heart was touched in a strange way, picturing that boy and how hard he’d tried to hide his messes.

He was still doing that. She remembered how long it had taken him to let her see his messy house.

Eventually Rob put the burgers on the grill and everyone gathered on the patio to eat. A lot of the guests had brought their own chairs, and the others sat on the low brick wall that surrounded the patio. The kids sat on the grass.

When Allison got up to get her burger, someone took her chair, so she was looking around for a place to sit when she walked up to Rob at the grill with her opened bun.

He smiled at her—a secret little smile that felt intimate and special—and asked very softly, “How’s it going?”

“Fine. I’m having a good time.”

“And my folks really didn’t say anything embarrassing?”

“They told me about you blowing up the shed.”

Rob chuckled. “That’s okay, I guess. It was a really impressive explosion.”

Allison had to stop herself from reaching out to touch him—his face, his chest. She hadn’t realized how hard it would be to act like they were casual acquaintances after they’d gotten so close.

“It looks like everyone has their food,” Rob said. “Hold on a minute, and let me get a couple more chairs from inside.”

Relieved that she wouldn’t have to try to make pleasant conversation while sitting on the ground, Allison waited and took one of the chairs that Rob set up near the grill. He grabbed a plate and filled it up before coming to sit beside her.

“Hey, Jeanie,” he said, his voice pitched to carry, getting the attention of a middle-aged woman with long graying hair and a broomstick skirt. “Can you tell Allison about how to hook up with those craft fairs you go to?”

Allison looked at him in surprise. Since he hadn’t mentioned it again, she’d assumed he might have forgotten their conversation from a couple of weeks ago.

“Sure,” Jeanie said, leaning over to meet Allison’s eyes. “There are a few that happen every year, and then I’m on a list that announces some others. If you give me your email, I can put you on the list.”

“That would be great. Thank you. What kind of crafts do you make?”

“Pottery. I’d love to show you sometime. What about you?”

“I make jewelry.” She felt a little self-conscious announcing it, since about ten other people were now listening to their conversation, but there was nothing strange or unusual about making jewelry. Most people weren’t like Arthur, belittling it as an unworthy activity.

“You didn’t make that gorgeous bracelet you’re wearing?” That was from a well-rounded woman in a clingy sundress who was sitting near her. Allison was pretty sure her name was Peg.

“I did,” Allison admitted, glancing down at the beaded cuff she wore.

Peg gasped and leaned down to examine the bracelet more closely. “It’s stunning. Those don’t look like normal Walmart beads. Where did you get them?”

“A couple of years ago I found a big tub of beads at a thrift shop in Charlotte. Some of them were just cheap plastic, but some of them were really valuable, and they were all thrown in there together and offered for almost nothing. It was an amazing find. All I had to do was sort through them all.” She remembered the days she’d spent trying to sort out all of those beads.

Even that tedious task had been enjoyable, since she could imagine what she might make out of them after she was finished.

“It’s amazing,” Peg said. “You’re really good.”

“Thank you.”

“Stuff like that would do really well at the craft fairs,” Jeanie told her, nodding in a competent, no-nonsense way. “You should definitely get hooked up.”

“I will. Thank you.” She turned to smile at Rob, who was watching her with a strangely satisfied look.

Since the conversation had broken up, Rob asked her quietly, “How did your trip to the college go yesterday afternoon?”

“It was good,” she said. “I talked to a really nice lady in the financial aid department, and she helped me fill out all the forms. She said that in my situation a Pell Grant would cover a lot of the tuition.”

“So when do you start?”

“Their next session starts in a couple of weeks, so I’ve signed up for an online class then.”

“Good.” His eyes were very warm. “I’m glad.”

“I just hope I can do it on top of work.”

Peg, sitting nearby, must have heard that part of the conversation because she broke in, “I got my degree while I was working. It kicked my butt sometimes, but you can do it.”

“Well, that’s the plan.” Allison decided that going back to college wasn’t a really personal issue, so it didn’t matter if other people heard about it.

“Someone said you were married to a billionaire,” Peg said, after taking a few chips off the plate of the silent man who must be her husband.

Allison almost choked on her bite of burger. Once she’d gotten it down, she said, “Not a billionaire.”

“Some bigwig in Charlotte?”

“He’s an executive at an investment firm.” Allison didn’t want to talk about Arthur, but she also didn’t want to be rude.

“So how come you’re so tight on money, after being married to him?”

Allison was definitely uncomfortable now.

In her previous circles no one had ever talked about money.

Of course, everyone had had it in her old life, so things here would likely be different.

She spoke carefully, making sure not to sound offended or annoyed.

“We had a prenup. We had to be married for ten years before I got any real money. I left him after eight.”

“And you couldn’t stick it out for two more years, just for all that cash?” Peg’s eyes were completely sincere. She wasn’t being catty. She really wanted to know.

Because Allison recognized that, she kept the bitterness from her voice. “It was a bad marriage. And honestly, at the end of it I didn’t want to feel like I was bought and paid for.”

Peg’s face changed, as if she were thinking through the words. Then she nodded. “Makes total sense. A girl’s got to know her own worth—and that ain’t money.”

Allison was surprised and gave an appreciative smile. “Exactly.”

Rob had moved his hand so it was slightly behind her. He rubbed her back with the tips of his fingers very lightly. Anyone looking would probably not realize he was doing anything intentionally, but Allison felt it. She knew he was being supportive.

It meant something to her.

She glanced over and noticed Tari looking in her direction, so she smiled, pleased when the older woman smiled back.

Today had felt awkward a few times, but overall it had been pretty good. These people were different from her, but they weren’t as different as she’d assumed. She was glad she had come.