“Framing medals wasn’t high on my list of priorities when I got home.” He consciously relaxed his grip on the wheel. “Your name’s Evangeline? Your records all say Eve Marie Webber.”
The topic switch and the white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel told her to go with the flow. “It’s vaguely creepy that you’ve seen my records, Matt.” His face didn’t change, so she dialed down the sass. “They wanted to name me Evangeline, but I was three weeks early and Dad was away at his annual retreat. Mom was completely out of it when the nurse asked for my name, and Mom gave her the nickname. I’m Eve to everyone except my family, and then I’m Evangeline only when I’m screwing up.”
“Or swearing.”
She looked at him, dread in her heart. “How much of that conversation did you hear?” she asked.
“No ménage,” he clarified.
She sank down in the seat, embarrassment heating her cheeks. “I’m going to kill him,” she said.
“Unless the next time you get pissed at me, you decide that’s how you want to work out your anger.”
Her jaw dropped. “You’re kidding, right?”
“Yes,” he said. “No ménage.”
Thank God.
“Caleb’s hiding an honest-to-God big brother under that swagger,” he said.
“Takes one to know one?” She sighed. “Sometimes he’s such a jerk I forget he really cares.”
Matt downshifted and coasted to a stop at a light. “What drives him? They teach argumentation in law school, but he takes combative to a whole new level.”
She thought about how to answer that question for a long time before saying, “He made a mistake. Lives were ruined forever. He puts on a front because the world sees gold and Caleb knows better.”
He nodded, as if that made perfect sense to him. Maybe it did. “What do you see?”
“My brother,” she said simply. “He used to strap my Barbie dolls to bottle rockets, and light them while I screamed. He taught me to shoot free throws well enough that I won the school competition my senior year.” She laughed. “Classic Caleb story. My sophomore year I wasn’t allowed to date, but Nate Marshall asked me out. He was a senior starting wide receiver on the football team, teen idol movie star gorgeous, and he knew it. I was all angles, no curves, and he asked me out. So I snuck out to meet him. Nate drove me out to the reservoir north of town and said he wouldn’t take me home until I—red light! Red light!”
The Jeep jerked to a halt halfway through the crosswalk, the seatbelt locking with the force of the stop. Matt cursed, shoved the gearshift into reverse, and backed up a few feet.
“You okay?” she asked.
“Fine,” he ground out. “What happened?”
“I told him to go to hell and fuck himself when he got there. Then I got out of the car and started walking, and he took off, spraying me with dust and gravel from his nifty Camaro as he drove away. Caleb got wind of the whole thing, and found me a mile from home, walking along the highway. He got me inside without Mom and Dad finding out, and the next day, after school, he went after Nate. I didn’t see it, you understand, so I’m just repeating what I heard, but apparently the entire offensive line was clustered around Nate’s Camaro when Caleb waded through them, twisted Nate’s arm up behind his back, grabbed his hair, and slammed his pretty face into the trunk of the car.”
“I would have done the same thing.”
“Two broken teeth, a broken nose, split lip, and Caleb hadn’t hit him yet. Caleb took him apart. I was minding my own business, sitting on the front steps of the school with most of the drill squad, wondering where the hell Caleb was because he was my ride home, when Caleb shoved Nate in front of me and told him to impress us both with his eloquent apology.”
Another one of those deep, unwilling laughs. “You have to respect his style.”
“The school tried to suspend Caleb for fighting, but they couldn’t get Nate to identify Caleb as the person who did it because Caleb said he’d make Nate tell the principal, the football coach, his parents, my parents, and most important of all, the football recruiter from Ohio State why Caleb beat him up.”
“Nate believed him,” Matt said, but it wasn’t a question.
“Years and experience have reined in the temper, but Caleb takes personal offense when the strong take advantage of the weak.” She watched the scenery shift from the small homes and small lots of the East Side to Matt’s neighborhood. “He’s just Caleb. That’s all I see.”
Matt said nothing for a few moments. “You were on the drill squad?”