He picked up the beer. “So I’m working on it, trying to play Tom Petty’s ‘Free Fallin’’—an oldie, but Tom Petty, and the chords are pretty basic. I tell myself I’m jamming it, and I look up, and there she is. Really hot babe.”
He took a swig of beer.
“My twelve-year-old system’s a lot more jolted by really hot babe standing there, smiling at me, than where the hell did she come from.”
“Did you recognize her?”
“Not then.” He shook his head. “Long blond hair, waterfall long and straight. She’s wearing these jeans that ride low and tight on the hips and flare out below the knees, and this little white top, short enough that I can see—holy shit—skin.”
He grinned as he waved a hand in front of his stomach. “It’s got these flowers like embroidered up here, where it rides pretty low again, so oh my God, boobs are happening right under there. She’s got beads—lots of them—hanging where I’m trying not to look. Pale pink lips, eyes that have all that stuff—liner and all that—thick, catlike so they just sing a song to a boy’s libido.”
“That’s a lot of detail you’ve remembered on this one.”
“It imprinted on my brain and my balls in that moment. ‘My man,’ she said, and I might have drooled a little, ‘you can handle that axe.’ At twelve, I didn’t know axe meant guitar, so I think I said: ‘Huh?’ And she told me Petty was great but to try learning ‘Satisfaction’ because the Stones were gods. Then she shot me the peace sign, and she tapped those two fingers on those pale pink lips and blew me a kiss that left me a quivering puddle of hormones.”
He lifted his beer in toast. “And she was gone.”
“That’s some story.”
“I never saw her again, and Owen and I both looked. That is, until I saw her picture in Collin’s book. I had my first real crush over the ghost of Lilian Crest, who called herself Clover.”
That struck Sonya like a lightning bolt. “My father’s birth mother.”
“Don’t hold it against me. I saw a hot babe, and she’d have been about eighteen. Actually, except for the pale pink, you’ve got her mouth.”
“Oh.” Instinctively, she pressed her fingers to it. “That’s so strange to hear.”
“It’s a really nice mouth. So those are my experiences with the haunted and haunting—that I remember.”
“But did you learn to play ‘Satisfaction’?”
“Oh yeah. I like to think she heard me when I whacked away at it in the music room.”
“I’m not a music history buff, but I don’t think Tom Petty was around—professionally—in the sixties.”
“No, he didn’t hit until…” With a frown, Trey trailed off. “Now, why didn’t that come home to me before?”
“Twelve-year-old hormones.” Impossible, Sonya admitted, to ignore the fact that the man who currently had her hormones humming had once crushed on her biological grandmother.
In spirit, she supposed.
“She kept up, somehow.”
“Must have. Collin liked music. You saw his vinyl collection.”
And with a second lightning bolt, Sonya raised a hand. “Trey, maybe she’s the DJ.”
“Having that same thought.”
On the counter, Sonya’s phone played ABBA’s “That’s Me.”
“Holy crap.” She grabbed her wine, took a gulp. “Give me a second, because this is good. Unsettling for a minute, but good.”
“That’s your biological grandmother.”
“Okay, back to unsettling. But it’s good. We have an identity, and that has to be positive. I’m not calling her Grandma. I mean, when you think about it one way, she’s younger than I am. I wonder if Collin ever met … his mother.”
“I don’t think he ever mentioned that to my father. I didn’t tell my dad or Collin. I told Owen, because hot babe.”
“Is it odd that I’m going to feel easier knowing who she is?”
“I think it would be odd if you didn’t. She isn’t trying to scare you. She wasn’t trying to scare me. She was, and is, making a connection.”
“She died here.” And it hurt Sonya’s heart to think of it. “She had to be afraid, in pain, but she plays music for me. I got a chance to bid on a major account today, and she played happy music for me.”
“What major account?”
“Oh.” Distracted, she pushed a hand at her hair. “Do you know Ryder Sports?”
“Sure. Based in Boston. I’ve bought plenty of their stuff online.”
She smiled. “What did you think of their website?”
“Sucks you in, easy to navigate. Your work?”
“I headed the team that designed it. They’re expanding, putting a store in Portland, and want to update. I’m going to be competing for the job against my old company. Which is … let’s go back to unsettling.”
“Not for long.” He said it so matter-of-factly, he gave her a boost she hadn’t known she needed. “You’re confident in your work for a reason.”
“They’re a strong, innovative company. But I’ve got the chance, and I’m taking it. And as you’re a client, I’ll say this in no way means I won’t give your firm exactly what it needs and wants.”
“Never doubted it. And speaking of clients, I’ve got a little work to do for the one I saw before I got here.”
“We’ve still got pizza.”
“No breakfast tops the breakfast of cold pizza.”
“On that we agree. We’ll split it.”
Chapter Nineteen
It would help, Sonya thought as she took two slices for a plate, if she didn’t like him so much. His looks, his manner, that easy way. She wasn’t a puddle of hormones, but she could definitely feel them pulsing whenever he came around.
It was either get over it, or make that move and see.
A casual goodnight kiss at the door, she decided. And she’d know if they equaled hang-out buddies or had the potential for more.
He reached for the pizza box just as she turned. Bodies bumped. For one humming second, eyes locked.
“Sorry.” He took a full step back.
No casual kiss at the door then, but …
“Are you sorry because you are or because you think you should be? If it’s the first, I’ll stop wondering. If it’s the second, I’d like to know why.”
“I’m sorry I think I should be.”
“All right, sort of. But that doesn’t answer the why.”
“First off, the firm represents Collin’s estate.”
“Your father represents the estate, and my interests.”
“We’re a family firm.”
“Okay, but … I kind of looked it up.”
The faintest hint of a smile came into his eyes, then curved his lips. “Did you?”
“I thought it might, possibly, become an issue. My take is, I’m not actually your client, and even if I were, you’d continue to represent me competently. And, at your father’s advice, I hired a lawyer in Boston. I’m not going to date him.”
“Good policy.”
“Especially since he’s my mother’s boss. But you said first off. If you’re not attracted that way, then—”
“You’re not a stupid woman, by any measure. But that’s the beginning of a very stupid statement.” He slid his hands into his pockets. “The way I see it, you’ve had a lot of major upheaval in less than a year. You called off your wedding.”
“That’s right. I think that’s the sensible thing to do when finding your fiancé in bed with your cousin, don’t you?”