Page 29 of Just One Silver Fox

“She’s an editor at a publishing company. She has a whole lot of people to organize and terrorize there.” He nodded. “Entire teams. Then there are the freelancers, like the poor writers who actually sell her a book.” He shook his head sadly and Sonia smiled.

“Is it enough?”

“Evidently not, she still terrorizes my mom and me. We call it her relentless plan for world domination.”

“In case of Apocalypse.” Sonia smiled when he nodded. “Is she married? Does she have kids?”

“No, much to my mom’s disappointment. Diane is married to her job.” He sighed. “We are failures in the quest of generating darling grandchildren.” He made a sad face, so she knew he didn’t take it that seriously.

“Does your mom bug you about it?” Sonia wondered what it was like to have a normal mom, one who actually cared about someone other than herself.

“She makes pointed comments on occasion. Usually when we’re all together, for Christmas or something.” He smiled. “Diane comes honestly by her talent for terrorizing, although my mom’s strategy is more like water torture. Drip, drip, drip.”

“Don’t you want to have kids?”

“I don’t lie awake nights worrying about it,” Nate said. “For me, the point of life is to enjoy each moment while you’re there. If you worry about what you don’t have or what you haven’t done yet—never mind whether you ever will do something—that takes you out of the zone. It steals the joy.” Sonia had to think that was a sensible philosophy, if a bit hard to do for most people. “I get tired just thinking about all that stuff.” He pushed the diced onions in the bowl she’d put out for them. “What’s next? I have my chopping rhythm going now. I will chop all the things.” He spun the knife with a flourish.

“Garlic.” She shook a finger at him. “Then celery. And no knife tricks.”

“I don’t know any.”

Sonia rolled her eyes.

“But I’m not without other skills.” He raised a finger as if advising her to wait for it, then crossed the room to his jacket. He pulled out his phone and tapped through to something, then placed it on the counter. “I did promise to sing.”

“Can you sing?”

Nate scoffed. “Hello. You’re making dinner with the former lead singer of the Manic Eclectics.”

His attitude made Sonia smile. “The Manic Eclectics?”

“Ask for us by name. Although, actually, we disbanded more than fifteen years ago. We had a garage band in high school and we weren’t bad, if I say so myself.”

“No.”

“Oh yeah. You’re not the only one with secrets, Sonia Olson.” He wagged the knife at her, then dropped his voice to a whisper. “Welcome to the hidden past of Nathan Buchanan.”

“Now I need to hear you sing,” Sonia said.

“Ask and you shall receive,” Nate said, then touched the phone. “I made a mix for the drive. I like to sing in the car.”

“Not in the shower?”

“That would be a cliché.” He clicked his tongue. The apartment filled with the opening sounds of Jeff Healey’sAngel Eyes.Nate cleared his throat, winked at Sonia, then started to sing along.

She felt her mouth drop open.

Nate had a fantastic voice.

Sonia felt like she was being serenaded all through dinner preparation. The mix was a good one, mostly ballads so she wasn’t tempted to get up and dance, but songs with a good beat that made the time fly. She knew most of the words, but Nate’s voice was so great that she just wanted to listen. He played a little air guitar in her kitchen and swung her out to dance more than once, hamming it up so that she couldn’t help laughing. She didn’t even notice she’d been hanging onto the Hook until she was back in front of the counter again.

“You have to sing this one,” Nate insisted when she recognized the opening notes ofRhiannon. “Before we do the final assembly. It’ll be our big finish.”

“I can’t sing like Stevie Nicks.”

“Everyone does Stevie Nicks,” he scoffed. “EvenIdo Stevie Nicks. But you have to make a guest appearance on today’s Singing Along with Nate.” He shook the Hook at her. “Small price to pay for taking advantage of my superior onion-chopping skills.”

Sonia smiled. “I’m not as good a singer as you.”

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