I’m not looking forward to the prospect of supporting you for the rest of your life. I’m not having money troubles but there may come a day when I’m not flush. Clients don’t always pay on time, this house is very expensive to maintain and David’s life insurance will run out one of these days so I would like to know that my baby sister isn’t living on the street if I can’t give her a little bit of money now and then.”
“I’ll never be on the street,” she said. “Besides, if worse came to worst you and I can at least get an apartment together.”
Morgan shuddered at the thought. “Oh, hell, no. I remember sharing a bedroom with you and you’re a terrible roommate.”
Mona scowled. “Okay, fine.”
“Just think about the job, please?” Morgan smiled, wishing she had her sister’s verve for life and her thirst for meaning in her life, even though she could be a bit of an irresponsible mooch at times. “Listen, I won’t tell Mom about the money you borrowed if you won’t tell our parents about my putting the house on the market. I know I’m going to get a bunch of protests from them. Particularly from Dad because he might call it foolish to let go of the house that I own for emotional reasons.”
“Sure. Your secret is safe with me. I got your back.” Mona paused, then surprised her by going back to her original topic. “Can I please set you up with George?”
“Mona,” she groaned, irritated. “I already told you—”
“Yes, yes, I know and I’m sorry but here’s the thing, I kinda already promised him that you would probably go to dinner with him.”
“And why would you do that?”
“Because George wasn’t going to let me into the gallery without the promise that I would ask you out for him.”
Morgan stared at her little sister. “Are you kidding me? I definitely wouldn’t go out with someone who would use that type of extortion to get a date. That really doesn’t say much for his character.”
“No, no, no, no, he’s a really good guy. I’m sorry it came out that way. He really is a good guy but he’s intimidated by you, I think.”
“Intimidated? I’m the last person who would intimidate anyone.”
“That’s not true. You’re highly successful, beautiful and you’re very independent. Men can be very intimidated by those qualities in a woman.”
That’s how her sister saw her? Talk about living a lie. “I don’t know, Mona—”
“Please just give him a chance. One date. That’s all. And then you can walk away and I won’t feel like I reneged on a deal and everyone is happy.”
Morgan made a sound of exasperation. “You know who’s not happy? Me. I don’t want to go on a date with this man. I feel like I’m being forced into it through emotional blackmail. Which I don’t appreciate, by the way.”
“Duly noted. And I really appreciate this. You’re the best sister ever. And who knows, you might really like him. And you know they say the first act toward making a change is taking a leap of faith.”
“Please don’t. I will go out with this man on one date. A dinner. And then I never want you to put me in this position again. Are we clear?”
Mona nodded, solemn. “I understand. I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t have but I am in a pickle.”
“Yeah, yeah. You’re always in a pickle, Mona. That’s nothing new.” Morgan couldn’t help the frustration in her voice. “Why was it so important that you get into this gallery? I’m sure you could’ve gotten into a dozen other galleries on your own steam.”
“You have no idea how cutthroat it is out there in the art world. It’s all about who you know, not just about your art. You have to network and Facebook and Twitter and mingle and do all these things that I don’t want to bother with. I just want to get my work on the walls of somebody’s gallery without constantly kissing ass to make it happen. It’s exhausting. Who has time to actually make art if you’re so busy mingling?”
“Yes, the world has been taken over by social media,” she mused in agreement. Remy lived on Facebook, often when he should be working. His excuse was that without his involvement in social media, Morgan would never know what was going on in the world. She sighed and asked, “Why was this gallery so important?”
“Well, I was hoping this one particular art critic would take a liking to my work and possibly feature me in this magazine for artists. But as it turned out, my style wasn’t her cup of tea so she didn’t write something very flattering about my work.”
“So basically you traded me for no gain?”
“Yeah, but I didn’t know that at the time. Besides, you need to get out more. Life is about more than just work and sleep.”
“What am I going to do with you?” Morgan buried her head in her hands. “You make it so hard to be on your side sometimes.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know.”
Well, at least Mona didn’t dispute that fact. “I hate to cut this visit short but I’m pretty tired. I have an early client tomorrow morning and I still have notes to go over.”
Mona nodded and then gestured at the cheese plate. “You mind if I take this with me? Kind of ‘ramened out’ right now. I could use some protein.”
Morgan nodded. “Yes, take the cheese and crackers. Would you like to look in my pantry to see if there’s anything else you’d like to take home?”
Mona allowed a tiny smile. “If you wouldn’t mind...”
“I don’t mind.” She stood and hugged her sister. “Just leave me the chocolate chip cookies. Anything else is fair game.”
“You’re the best. I really mean that.” Mona kissed Morgan on the cheek. “I really hope that you meet someone as great as David again. You deserve it.”
Morgan’s smile froze but she managed to nod. “Well, we’ll see.”
Good God, would fate be that cruel? It was the one thing Morgan feared more than anything.
Please, don’t let anyone like David in my life ever again.
Perhaps it was her sister’s talk about dating or maybe she was just tired after a long day but Wade popped into her thoughts, momentarily blotting out David.
If she were looking to date—and he wasn’t her patient’s son—Wade might be the kind of man she’d like to enjoy an evening out with. Strong, smart and ruggedly handsome, Wade was a man who would make any woman take a second look. She withheld a wistful sigh when she reluctantly allowed reality to intrude. Who was she kidding? She couldn’t trust the knowledge of her past with anyone, much less a potential date. She had to protect her public persona at all costs. There was no way she was going to allow David—or the threat of his influence—to derail another moment in her life. Was it lonely? At times. But then she remembered the pain, the humiliation, and the fear of living with David, and suddenly, being lonely wasn’t that bad.
So dating? Not even a blip on her radar.
Which meant Wade—that hunky mountain of sexy potential—would remain forever out of reach for her.
But a girl could dream, right?
As long as dreams never became a reality.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“SO TELL ME about California,” he heard his sister say before she stuffed a bite of her steak into her mouth. He realized he’d only been listening with half an ear to his sister’s conversation and he grimaced when she realized the same. She graced him with a scowl that he deserved and he started to apologize but she cut him off. “Come on, you have to at least make an effort, Wade. I’m trying to do eight years of catching