Susan Mallery: The Girls Of Mischief Bay

“So, Adam,” she said. “Tell me about yourself.”

“What do you want to know?”

Everything that had been in his profile, she thought, wishing she’d paid just a little more attention. The thing was she didn’t like online dating. She counted on the service to screen the men and then moved fairly quickly to a meeting. For her, emails and a couple of calls didn’t provide any insight into how things would go in person.

“Do you live in the area?” she asked.

“Sure.” The smile returned. “I was born and raised right here in Mischief Bay. Most of my family is still in the area, which means it’s hard to get away with anything.”

“Do you try to get away with things?”

The smile turned into a laugh. “I gave that up when I was a teenager. I’m a bad liar and if I cross the line, I get caught. So I don’t bother with either anymore.”

His smile faded. “You’re not in to bad boys, are you?”

She had been, and had the heart scars to prove it. “Not anymore. They’re great in theory, but life isn’t about theories. It’s about real people who take the time to show up.”

“I agree.”

They were on opposite sides of a small table. Adam leaned toward her. “You’re in finance?”

“Yes. I’m a CFO for a software company.”

She tried to speak normally, knowing that when she mentioned her job she tended to be both defensive and proud. An awkward combination at best.

The problem was some men resented her success and some men were intimidated by it. A few had seen her as a way to the easy life, but fortunately they weren’t usually very subtle about their hopes of being kept. The ones who accepted that she’d done well and worked hard were often the keepers, albeit rare and therefore hard to find.

“Are you in line to be president next?” he asked.

She smiled. “No. I’m comfortable being the queen of the checkbook. I like the financial side of things.” She shifted toward him and lowered her voice. “Software is not my thing. I’m better than most on a computer, but it’s never been easy for me. You should see some of the college kids we hire every year. They’re brilliant. What about you?”

“Not brilliant.”

She laughed. “Thanks for the share. I meant, tell me about your work.”

“Oh, that. My family’s in construction. Large projects, mostly. Office buildings, hotels. I’m the foreman on a hotel we’re dealing with now. It’s just south of Marina del Rey. It’s high-end, twenty stories.”

Impressive, she thought. “Foreman sounds like a lot of responsibility.”

Adam grinned. “I stand around and tell other people what to do. It beats a real job.”

Their server arrived with their drinks and the cheese plate. Adam raised his glass.

“To unexpected surprises.”

She touched her glass to his and thought he was certainly that and more. She’d had no expectations for their date, but here she was, having a nice time. So far Adam was funny and charming. There had even been hints of his being genuinely nice. She knew better than to get her hopes up, but the evening was turning out better than she’d anticipated.

“Tell me about the family that doesn’t let you get away with anything,” she said.

“I’m one of five kids and I could practically walk to four of their houses from here. Same with my parents.” He shrugged. “My youngest brother is back east, but then he’s always felt he had something to prove.”

She stared at him. “You’re one of five?”

“I know. I told my dad they figured out what causes pregnancy, but he said he and Mom always wanted a big family. I have to say it was a fun way to grow up.”

“And loud,” she murmured.

“Yeah, there was noise.”

“How many boys and girls?”

“Three boys, two girls, and we alternate. I’m in the middle. My older brother was never interested in the family business. He’s a graphic designer. Very talented. My older sister always wanted to be a veterinarian, so by the time I was six or seven, Dad was starting to get nervous that no one was going to go into the business. Fortunately my idea of a good time was building things. I got my first job at the company when I was fourteen.”

He took a piece of cheese. “I know. Not very exciting.”

“Exciting is highly overrated,” she murmured. All this and stable, too. So what was the flaw? Emotional unavailability? A secret life as a serial killer? There had to be something, because to be honest, her luck simply wasn’t that good.

“Where did you grow up?” he asked.

“Riverside. I’m an only child, so I can’t relate to your noise. My house was always quiet.”

“Were you the smartest girl in the class?”

“Sometimes. I liked math, which made me unacceptable to most groups. But I wasn’t brilliant enough to major in it. Finance seemed like an interesting way to spend my days.”

His brown eyes crinkled with amusement. “If I had a nickel for every time I looked forward to spending time working on the company’s financial records…”

“You wouldn’t have a nickel?”

“Something like that.”

She smiled. “Your profile said you’re divorced?”

He nodded. “Nearly a year now. We were separated before that.” He shrugged. “It wasn’t anything dramatic. We were married young and over the past few years realized we didn’t like spending time with each other.”

There was something about the way he spoke that had her leaning forward. As if there was more to the story.

“That’s no fun,” she said quietly.

“Tell me about it.” He looked at her, then swore softly. “Hell. Okay, she cheated. I don’t like to say that because it makes me look like an idiot. I didn’t know. She came to me one day and said she’d been having an affair and that she’d fallen in love with the guy. She didn’t want to marry him or anything, but she’d realized that if she could be in love with someone else, she wasn’t in love with me anymore.”

He moved his glass back and forth on the table. Tension pulled at his mouth. “I was shocked and hurt and didn’t know what to do. I grabbed some stuff and moved out that night. About a month later, when my pride and ego weren’t so much in the way, I realized we’d been growing apart for a long time.”

“That must have been hard,” she said, thinking that if he was telling the truth, then she was liking him more by the second.

“It was. We have two kids. Charlotte is nearly nine and Oliver is six. We share them. One week on, one week off. Tabitha and I live about two blocks away from each other. Slightly awkward for us, but easy for the kids.” Humor returned to his eyes. “Of course, my parents and three of my siblings live in the neighborhood, too, so I’m going to go out on a limb and say it’s way more awkward for her than for me.”

“As long as it works,” Shannon told him.

“And you?” he prompted.

Yes, the inevitable questions. “No kids, no ex-husband. I was engaged twice, but never quite made it down the aisle.”

“Who made the decision?”

“One time him, one time me.”

She’d also had a long-term on-again, off-again relationship with a music producer, who’d been very bad for her, but there was no reason to mention him. At least not on the first date.

“What do you do for fun?” Adam asked.

“I love to travel. Take two or three weeks and go somewhere I’ve never been.”

“Like?”

She smiled. “I’ve been on every continent except Antarctica. I was thinking of taking one of those ships there, but after one got stuck a couple of years ago and made headlines, I changed my mind.”

“What’s your next trip?”

She laughed. “You’re going to be shocked.”