“Hi, bud!” I greeted, hanging my purse on the coat rack.
“I dig the cat.”
I smiled. “That’s Hank.”
I thought he was being a smart ass until I saw his grin as he made his way over to the lounging feline. “Nice name.”
“Thanks.”
“It suits him.” He reached out and stroked his fur before I could utter a warning, shocking me to hell and back when Hank let him. Usually, he hissed and darted at the first sign of a stranger.
“It was between Hank and Bartholomew, but he was clearly a Hank.”
He continued to pet him, earning purrs, Hank tilting his chin up to hog rubs. “I had a cat growing up named Kitty. Unfortunately, Nan wasn’t the most creative with names.”
“You grew up with your grandparents?” I asked, curious. He never told me anything about his upbringing. I assumed he came from a nuclear family like everyone else. Mom, dad, sibling. Maybe a dog. The unit I craved growing up.
“Later on, yeah,” he replied, still blanketing Hank in attention. “We lived on an inlet up in Maine. My brother still lives in the house.”
“You have a brother too?” I was glad he had someone. He was so closed off from everyone, only turning to his phone for work when we were together, never any personal calls. “I’m an only child.”
“Lucky,” he teased. “I have two.”
“I’m assuming younger?”
“Why’s that?” he asked.
“You act like a big brother. You know, bossy to the bone.”
He smiled, shaking his head. “You’re right. Luke is your age, and Ethan is thirty.”
“How was it growing up with siblings? I always felt like I got gypped out of a playmate.” The only friends I had on the mountain were dogs, shepherds a constant fixture in our home since they were Mom’s favorite. I spent a lot of time with Lily, too, the daughter of my babysitter in town.
“It was an interesting ride. I love them now, but I could have strangled them as teens.”
I giggled, wandering over and sitting on the couch, Hank’s husky purrs filling the air. “I bet. I spent a lot of time at the sitter’s playing with her daughter. She wasn’t my sister, but I pretended sometimes.”
Lily always bragged about her sister, though hers was older and more into boys and lip gloss when I was over. As for Lily, I was glad she wasn’t my sister in the end. The last I’d heard, she was in prison for running down a boyfriend with a station wagon. Yikes.
“Sitter’s?” he asked.
“Yeah, my dad worked a lot.”
Sometimes I’d spend days at a time there when Dad worked late on the road crew, but he did it all for me. Eventually, he trusted me enough to stay home alone when I was a teenager, but only after he taught me to handle a shotgun.
His eyes flicked to my face. “Your mom?”
“She passed when I was a baby.”
His face fell. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be,” I said. “It’s not your fault. I was too young to remember, obviously.”
Dad still choked up talking about her, and I’d give anything to have a man look at me the way he looked at pictures of her. That was my new deciding factor in ever saying yes to a proposal again. If he didn’t eye me up like the icing on a cake, I was out.
“Is your father still...” he trailed.
“Yes, he’s fine. Still as ornery as ever.”
He grinned. “At least I know where you get it from.”
“Ha-ha, Jase. What about you? Tell me about your parents.”
“Not much to tell,” he replied, mimicking my earlier shrug. “I was raised mostly by my grandparents.”
I only met Dad’s mother, hardly the sweet old granny most people had, reeking of Virginia Slims and burnt plastic. She moved to Florida after Grandpa passed, picking up a fake British accent out of thin air. There was no way she would have taken me in if something had happened to Dad.
He strolled over to sit beside me, his leg flush with mine. “I miss the hell out of them. Do you see your dad often?”
“Not as much as I’d like,” I admitted. “I’m hoping to move back someday.”
“You should hand out your resume at NorCon,” he suggested. “There are tons of contacts there, and some might offer remote options.”
“I debated that,” I said, smiling. “Thank you for doing that, by the way. I’ll be careful around Monica when networking.”
“Monica isn’t going,” he replied matter-of-factly.
“She’ll throw a conniption if she’s not invited...” I warned.
“She should have thought of that before she started fucking up,” he muttered, brushing a stray lock of hair from my eyes. “And you’re welcome. You deserve to go. It’s the best of the best here.”
I smiled, Hank taking advantage of the distraction to hop on my lap and flop down.
“Let’s watch a movie,” he declared with a smirk.
“This late?” I laughed, glancing at the clock. It was almost midnight.
“Why not?” he asked. “You got somewhere to be?”
I shrugged. “Nope. What do you want to watch?”
“It’s my turn to pick, huh?” he breathed, reaching out to fluff Hank’s fur. “Whatcha got?”
“A streaming service, so almost anything your little heart desires.”
“Little heart? I’m eight times the size of you.” He crossed his arms, looking every inch the 6’4” behemoth he was.
“Yeah, but my heart is eight times the size of yours,” I teased, not missing a beat.
It wasn’t the nicest jab, but it was true. He had feelings, but something locked them away long before I met him.
“Not going to argue that.”
“One day it’ll thaw,” I predicted, doubting my own words but truly hoping the best for him. Going through life under the fog of apathy was more harmful than feeling the pain in the long run. I knew it firsthand. “But until then, you’re fine the way you are.”
“I’m glad one of us thinks so.”
“We all have our problems, Jase,” I assured, ruffling his hair. “You’re still cool in my
