_OceanofPDF

“Why?”
“Sugar?” I called.
“In what?”
Of course. He’d asked for whatever I was having, but I never told him
what that was. Terrible hostess. He probably needed a wife who was better
at this.
“Mint tea.”
“Yes, then.”
“Full disclosure.” I put the leaves into the white porcelain teapot. “It’s
wild mint that grows behind the building. Could be toxic, but it hasn’t killed
me yet.”
“It’s fine.” He turned his attention back to the music.
As I poured hot water into the pot, I peeked to the other side again. How
much did my iPod reveal about me? He seemed fascinated.
He looked up at me with his thumb on the glass. “The window. What
did she do?”
“She convinced my father I shouldn’t work at Papillion until I got my
grades up.” I poured hot water over the leaves. “That company was my life.
It was my mother’s life, and that bitch wanted to cut me off from it.”
I crossed to him with the tea tray and two packets of sugar pressed
between my lips.
“And getting your grades up wasn’t an option?” He put the iPod back
into the cradle, then plucked the sugar from my lips.
“Fuck her.”
He laughed. “You haven’t changed.”
Was that true? I felt more beaten down and more defiant than when my
father was alive. Maybe the only difference was my volume. I was the
same, but more of it.
Blind Willie Johnson came over the speakers. I’d hoped Logan would
find something he liked so I could feel him out based on his musical
choices, but he’d chosen the list I played most frequently—probably for the
same reason.
I didn’t know this person. He didn’t know me.
How badly did I want to buy back my father’s company?
How much did I want to keep my promise to him and get Bianca out of
my life?
Because getting married for it was absolutely insane.