Page 60 of Crossing the Line
Lake shoots a look in my direction and then smiles warmly at him. “Good morning, Max.”
He looks at her for several seconds. I’m wondering if he’s going to say anything at all until he grumbles, “Good morning.”
“Oh,” she says like she just remembered something. “Paisley told me you likedPillows Through the City,and you have it hanging in your office.” She leans toward him as if she’s inviting him on a secret. “I just want to say thanks. I appreciate that you like my work.”
He’s not going to smile, I think. And he doesn’t. Max nods briskly and then escapes fast. When he’s out of sight, Lake and I look at each other with wide, stunned eyes.
“Your brother is odd,” she finally says as she walks over and sits in the chair Max just abandoned. She makes herself comfortable, sinking into the cushiony back.
“True. But he also likes you,” I say. “Maybe I should tell him that you’re getting married.”
Lake presses her hand over his chest. “He likes me? No way. I never attract guys like your brother, never. They’re scared of me.”
Chuckling, I say, “Oh, yes, he’s into the artistic types.” I slouch as I yawn. “Max has never had many girlfriends. He’s only introduced me to one, and she was a serious artist.”
Lake perks up. “She lives in the city?”
“Yep.”
She tosses her head into a tilt. “Oh, really? What’s her name?”
“Kiera Langford.”
She gasps into her palm. “I know Kiera.” She shrugs. “Well,knewher.”
I gasp as my heart feels like it’s free-falling. “Did something happen to her?”
“No,” she repeats, shaking her head adamantly. “Nothing bad.”
I’m seeing all the signs of exhaustion on Lake’s face as she tells me that Kiera left the New York art scene four years ago. She now lives in Long Island and has three kids. She’s no longer a platinum blonde with dreadlocks either.
We fall silent. I’m not sure what Lake is thinking about, but I’m trying to picture Kiera without her long blond dreads and oversized painted, stained coveralls and see her as a suburban housewife instead. The vision won’t materialize in my mind. Seeing her that way is sort of unfathomable.
“She wanted Max to settle down with her,” I say. “But he said he wasn’t ready to give her that. That’s why she broke up with him.”
Lake grunts thoughtfully. “I never would have guessed your brother was commitment-phobic.”
“I wouldn’t say he’s commitment-phobic. He’s single-minded when it comes to fulfilling his ambition.”
She gazes at me with thoughtful focus. “Is that so?”
My eyes shift away from her face as I nod. I want to make sure I’m right about what I said about my brother. I am right about him. “Yeah.”
“Ambitious about what?”
I wish I could say TRANSPOT, but I can’t, since Lake is engaged to the competition. “Work,” I say instead. Then I quickly scoot to the edge of my seat. I don’t want to talk about Max anymore. Plus, his old girlfriend, who I liked very much, is still on my mind. “But Kiera, is she happy?” I ask, wanting desperately to hear that she is.
Lake sits up straight and blinks a few times. I think I hit her too hard with my effort to change the subject. “By the looks of it, yes,” she says. “But one can never know unless you know, you know?”
I snort, smiling. “I know.” Then I remember that yesterday morning when she called to tell me that she found Davey’s keys, she had something to tell me. “By the way, what did you want to talk to me about?”
Gradually, a veil of sadness transforms her happy expression.
“What is it?” I’m feeling worried.
She takes on a determined look. “Mason and I have decided to postpone the wedding.”
I jerk my posture up a tad bit straighter. “Why?”
