Page 8 of Always a Roommate
“Girls?” Mrs. Kelly poked her head in. “Dinner is ready.”
“Thanks, Mom.” Finley walked by her.
Mrs. Kelly studied my face. “Are you okay?”
I nodded. “Sure am, Momma.” I’d been calling her that for as long as I could remember. She was the closest thing to a mother I knew.
When we joined the others in the kitchen, she squeezed my shoulders and directed me to my usual chair, which happened to be right next to Shane, who’d finally made an appearance.
“All right.” Mrs. Kelly clapped her hands together. “Grace. Shane, why don’t you go ahead.”
Before he started, I caught my dad’s eye across the table and mouthed a hello. He smiled, his weathered face crinkling at the corners of his eye. His salt-and-pepper hair still had hints of the red I’d inherited.
Shane bowed his head, his low voice vibrating over me, sliding along my skin as it always had. “Lord, we thank you for this meal, this family, this day. For our successes and our failures and the ability to bring both to this table. Amen.”
“Amen,” I echoed.
As I dug in to eat, I listened to the talk around me, realizing if anything was worth cutting an important meeting short, it was this.
“Rae,” my dad started, “how is the new client?”
“Oh, yes!” Tanner grinned. “Is Drew Stone as dreamy as everyone says?”
Finley, sitting next to him, shoved him, and everyone laughed. We all knew my girl was obsessed with the singer.
I fluttered my eyelashes at Tanner and rested my chin on my hand. “So dreamy.”
Shane grunted beside me, actually grunted. I shot him a look, but he didn’t meet my eyes.
Focusing back on the other expectant faces, I smiled. “Honestly, he’s a nice guy. And I really like Lola.”
“Lola is a sweetheart,” Mariana agreed. “She used to work at The Beach Club.”
“Since when were you a Beach Club girl?” Tanner asked.
Cole was the one who answered. “Mom used to be friends with a man who took us there.”
From the flush that came to Mariana’s cheeks, I knew whoever it was had been more than a friend. I gave her a high five in my head. The Beach Club was nice, the nicest part of Gulf City, but I’d never gotten the chance to spend much time there before this weekend.
It was exclusive… and expensive. Part of it was a fancy hotel, but the rest was a country club for the wealthy people in town.
Everyone went back to eating and talking about nothing in particular, my meeting with Drew all but forgotten. This wasn’t a family who got starstruck, though it might have also been because they remembered him as a kid on Shane’s team.
I pursed my lips, studying the food in front of me, before speaking to Shane under my breath so no one else could hear. “Why didn’t you tell me you knew Drew Stone?”
4
SHANE
I almost spit out the bite of potatoes I’d taken but managed to swallow it and reach for my wine to wash it down. Why hadn’t I told her I knew Drew?
Let’s face it, I hadn’t wanted her to pepper me with a million questions like I knew she’d do. But that wasn’t all. Rae had hardly had a full conversation with me since I moved in. I didn’t want that to happen only because I’d once known a celebrity.
I hadn’t spoken to Drew since he was a teenager off to play on a better hockey team than our local ragtag band. So, sure, I’d once known him, but that was two decades ago.
“Are you going to answer me?” Rae asked, turning those bright green eyes on me.
I’d never been good to her, I knew that. I’d been surly and unable to keep any irritation at bay, so I deserved her suspicion, her anger. But I definitely didn’t want it.
