“Oh, I’m afraid I can’t do photos when I’m dining. Contractually forbidden.”
And he was all melting apology and steely unyielding denial and blue-eyed charm. The kid was helpless in the face of that and promptly took himself off.
There was another moment of taut silence between them. The reality of sitting with someone half the world had seen every week for several years was sinking in.
And she was suddenly as speechless as that kid.
“I’m sorry about that, Britt. That maître d’ pocketed my fifty and didn’t say anything to his staff, or that kid has balls, and I’m betting on the former. It’s just...”
“Please. Please don’t apologize. We’ll just roll with whatever happens.”
This was the right thing to say, and that’s why she said it. But she was out of practice, too: with rolling with things, with sudden interruptions, with changes, with hot men who comprised all of those things.
“So you were homecoming queen, huh? I bet you were a cheerleader, too, Britt Langley.”
“Headcheerleader.” Her old competitive streak kicked in. She’d fought for that top spot.
“Not surprised. I bet you liked it on top. Of the pyramid.”
“Oh, yeah. The view is much better from up there.”
He grinned slowly at that. “Still have the uniform?”
She laughed. “Whatisit with men and cheerleaders? It’s cliché. Remind me to tell you about the mermaid and the fisherman some time.”
“Whatthe... you don’t want to tell me about itnow? You expect me to move on from a statement like that?”
“I don’t know if you’re ready for it. An innocent young movie star like yourself.”
His head went back on a quick laugh. “Okay, you were about to tell me about your family.”
“Ah... um... well, my sister’s name is Laine. She’s older than I am. She married her high-school sweetheart and they have a little boy, Will.”
“The one who likes Muppets and flatulence.”
“That’s the one! We were a pretty ordinary family I guess. We had a nice little house identical to all the other houses on our street, except I had pink daisies on my wallpaper and my friend Dana down the street had yellow daisies. And she had a glow-in-the dark baton and I had a regular one, and man, I really wanted a glow-in-the-dark one. Oh, and my mom planted petunias and Dana’s mom planted shrubs. Mom could make anything grow, really.”
He visibly relaxed as he listened to this with pleasure and amusement.
“Is that where you got your love affair with plants? Your mama?”
“Yeah, probably. From Dad... I guess that’s where I got my competitive streak. And my mom would say that’s where I got my hard head. I got a scholarship, otherwise my parents would never have been able to afford college. They wouldn’t have pushed me to go, though. They’re pretty mellow people, my parents. They love us just because.”
And he was smiling softly at all of this.
With a pang she wondered if anyone had ever loved J. T. just because.
“Your turn, J. T. Where you grew up, siblings...”
She said this swiftly so she could cut him off at the pass if he intended to ask about her husband.
His little silence, and that faint shadow between his eyes, told her he wasn’t fooled a bit.
The muscles banding her stomach tensed.
But this was what people did on dates, right? They exchanged information about themselves.
“I have two brothers and a sister. We don’t talk much these days. We kind of scattered like pool balls the minute we could get away from Sorry, Tennessee. You don’t go revisit the site of a train wreck if you can avoid it, right? One brother is kind of a deadbeat, the other’s all right. He’s stubborn and proud and—”