Page 60 of The Nice Guy
As I sit on the stool on the other side of the kitchen island where Lydia works, I realize no amount of pageants or meeting any other suitor’s parents have prepared me for this. This is scarier than standing on stage in a bathing suit being judged.
“I should probably warn you that I’m not strong in the kitchen. I’ve been teaching myself, but I’m kind of a disaster,” I say, terrified she’ll ask me to help with what looks like pies.
Her warm brown eyes match Rhett’s, and it gives me a little relief. “Your mother didn’t teach you?”
“She taught me many things, but she wasn’t big on domestic duties. That’s what you hire out for.”
She gasps as she rolls out the dough. “What did she teach you, then?”
“How to marry rich, mostly,” I say with a shrug. “Didn’t quite stick.”
To my surprise, she laughs and leans on the counter. “So, you know Rhett’s not a rich man, then. He won’t be buyin’ any castles in the sky anytime soon, and you’re okay with that?”
“Let’s just say I don’t quite share my mother’s sentiments when it comes to seeking out companions,” I say, hoping my training of staying cool under scrutiny kicks in soon. I desperately want Lydia to like me. “As I’ve gotten older, it’s become glaringly apparent that Mama was a bit of a shallow woman. She wasn’t a bad person, and I don’t feel she was a bad mother, but she and I have very different ideas of what a successful life looks like.”
“Tell me about yourself.”
The kitchen has ingredients spread out everywhere, and she has multiple pots and pans on the stove as well as pies in various stages of completion. I watch in complete fascination as Lydia just floats around, adding something here, stirring something else over there, putting this in the oven over here.
“I, uh, I was raised in Ohio and moved around until we landed in Chicago around four years ago. My parents divorced when I was five, and I didn’t see much of Daddy after that. His parents left me their house, and that’s kind of how I ended up here.”
“Carmichael, right?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Jensen and Kathleen?”
I nod. “Yes, ma’am. Joe was my father.”
Two boys who look to be around six years old run through the kitchen. Gemma hurries after them, shouting, “Stay out of the kitchen, do you hear me?”
They sprint outside through a door I hadn’t noticed, and I can’t help but smile when they both shout, “Yeah!” over their shoulders.
“Your father was in the same class as my youngest brother,” Lydia says, and it amazes me how easy it is for her to just move on from the chaos around her. “I’m from a family of twelve. From what Barry says, your father left this town in the dust the minute he graduated and never looked back.”
Twelve? She’s one of twelve and went on to have eight? “That sounds right.”
“Do you have any brothers or sisters?”
“No, just me. Mama was from Fox Trot Valley, and she left with Daddy. It still makes me laugh that they wanted out of here, and this place is all I want. It’s been nice to slow down. I like it out here, but Mama would hate it. She always wanted to be in New York City, but she settled for Chicago in the end.”
“Where is she now?”
I look at the counter. “Um… behind Saks Fifth Avenue in Chicago. It’s where she wanted her ashes spread. It’s strange, I know, but that was my mother.”
“She passed?”
“Just over a year ago. Cancer. And a car accident took Daddy, so it’s just me.”
“Oh, dear, I’m so sorry to hear that. Well, I’m glad Rhett brought you here today. It has to be a bit of a culture shock, huh?”
Laughing, I nod, relaxing a bit in my navy dress that is far too overdressed compared to everyone else. “It was hard for me to imagine Rhett as one of eight. This is amazing. I always wanted a big family.”
“Rumor around town is that you’re a beauty queen.”
I pinch my eyes shut. I really wish I hadn’t opened up my big mouth. “When I was nineteen, I won Miss Ohio. It earned me a modeling contract, but that was all Mama. I… I hated pageants. I was basically a trained poodle who wore evening gowns and walked on two legs instead of four.”
When I open my eyes, Lydia’s watching me with amusement. “I like that image. Except it’s poodles wearin’ bikinis in heels on two legs.”
