Nash shot him a look. “Jesus, Rhett? Your stepmother?”
“Yeah, I know,” he said, looking miserable. “It was a big mistake letting her stick around. I guess I’m too kind-hearted for my own good. She loves living in the big house, and even though she has plenty of her own money she wants the ring and status that comes with being married to a Temple. Again.”
“Yeah, you are quite a catch,” Nash said drolly.
“And you know her kid?”
“Yeah, Amanda. What about her?”
“She’s not my father’s child.”
Nash gave Temple an eye roll. “Really? What a surprise.”
“What, you mean you knew?”
“Isuspected. When I first met her I thought she looked a lot like you.” Nash obviously couldn’t tell him that years ago Temple Senior had bragged to Nash about his vasectomy, and his relief in not being able to help conceive, or having to support, any more children.
Temple said, “She’s a good kid, she really is. I. . .I actually like being around her. I never thought I’d have children. I wanted complete freedom to do what I wanted to do because under my father’s thumb I never got that chance. But the thing is, if we get married, people might start assuming Mandy is mine, and maybe they start thinking my father didn’t kill himself.”
“Do youknowthat he didn’t?”
“No, I mean, no. I. . .look, he jumped, okay? He was dying from cancer and took a shortcut. But the police may think otherwise if Mindy and I get married. You know, bump off the old man so we can get together and inherit the money.”
“Okay. But more to the point, do youwantto marry her?”
“No, I don’t. She was married to my dad. It. . .it would be weird as shit. And I don’t want his sloppy seconds.”
“You already slept with her, Rhett,” Nash reminded him.
“That was an impromptu romp in the hay because my old man dropped a bombshell on me. Marriage means being faithful till death do us part.”
This made Nash think of the adulterous Judith. “For some people it doesn’t.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Then tell her no and your problem goes away.”
“I’ve tried, but she won’t take no for an answer.”
“She can’t make you marry her.” Nash glanced sharply at him. “Can she?”
“I. . .she. . .look, just forget I said anything.”
They drove in silence for a bit before Temple said, “Hey, in your line of work, do you know anything about disappearing?”
“What do you mean by that?” Nash asked.
“I mean, maybe you encounter people on the run, or in hiding. That’s why they need security.”
“So you’re really asking me how you can disappear to get away from Steers? And Mindy?”
“No, I’m asking for a friend. Yes, I’m fucking asking about me! I got all this money and my own jet, and I’m still trapped by these women. It’s driving me insane. I could be golfing in Scotland right now or bedding hot chicks in Thailand, but instead I’m going to that dump of a place to look through the trash cans. And when I get home, there’s Mindy.Andthe kid. With Steers looking over my shoulder like some homicidal big sister. It’s freaking me out, it really is.”
“You made your bed, Rhett.”
“I’ll pay you. Name a price.”
“And if Steers found out, I’d never get a chance to spend the money. Look, you left me behind with that woman. So don’t ask me to liberate you, okay? That’s going way over the line.”