It wasn’t enough for Gary to be a drunk. Or to be a letch. Or to be unable to hold a job. But he had to be all three, all at once. Selina had long since stopped trying to figure out why her mom didn’t leave the guy. The why didn’t matter as much as the fact that she wouldn’t, and anyway, what did Selina know about long-term relationships and commitment? The only thing she was committed to was getting out of this town and she held tight to that goal, despite the snags life had thrown in her way. Some day.
“Ya know, it’s a small town, and getting out isn’t easy. Poverty, meth, bad schools—take your pick. There’s a lot to cry about.”
Disappointment darkened his brown eyes. “Come on, now. I mean, it’s your life and you can keep it to yourself if you want. But I did share with you.”
“Is telling you why I was crying my price for dinner?” Thinking about Gary had put her on edge, and it was reflected in the sharpness of her tone. Worry that her instincts had slipped and that Marc was just a nicer, classier version of Gary snaked through her. Maybe with Marc, when he said something didn’t have a price, what he meant was that he hadn’t come up with the price yet.
“God, if you have cause to think that about men, I already know why you were crying.” The disappointment that had been in his eyes colored to anger, though she knew it wasn’t directed at her. “Look, if you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine. Tell me what the most interesting thing is that you learned in your art class so far. I want to know that, too.”
For the second time that night, she evaluated how genuine he was. And for the second time that night, he looked her straight in her eyes and let her appraise him. She would have expected a man who built security programs to keep information safe, to be closed off and secretive. And maybe most guys like him were. Maybe Marc normally was, even, but nothing about this interaction was normal.
“My stepfather made a pass at me last night,” she admitted, trying not to let her voice waver. He opened his mouth, and she spoke before he could get any words out. “No, that diminishes me and makes what he did seem smaller. Gary often makes passes at me. He likes my looks and my figure. Sometimes he tests my doorknob to see if it’s locked. What made last night different was that he was the perfect combination of drunk enough to try to knock down my door and not so drunk that he passed out before he could do it. I spent all night driving around town, just so I didn’t have to be at home. And I was crying because I don’t know where to sleep tonight.”
There was the pitying face she’d been hoping to avoid. Though in Marc’s eyes, it was okay. Not great, but bearable. “No friends you can stay with?”
Their conversation paused as the waitress came up to the table and set down their plates. Wood snapped as they both broke their chopsticks apart and the smells of chilies, chicken, and oyster sauce wafted up from the table.
Her belly growled. She’d eaten a small breakfast at Babe’s before the restaurant opened, but otherwise that undrunk cup of coffee was the only thing she’d tried to put in her stomach today.
She poked at her food, picking out a piece of red pepper and setting it on her rice. “I’ve burned through most of my friends’ patience staying with them.” Sauce glistened on the pepper as she examined it and considered her parents. “I think my mom will actually be worried. She ran away when she was young, got pregnant, and here we are.” She dropped the pepper in her mouth.
“You can’t move out?”
“Well, now I can’t go back, not after tonight. But—” she shook her head, knowing that she didn’t have any place else to go and so would probably find herself crawling back. Then she swallowed and answered “—Babe barely makes enough to keep that place open, so she can’t pay a lot. Plus, anything I make extra goes to paying for college classes and gas and textbooks. And groceries and rent sometimes, and the electric bill.” She poked at her food. “You didn’t make your escape until you sold your work for millions. I don’t need millions, but I need more than a diner waitress’s salary.”
He looked up from his own plate and met her eyes, his expression serious. “You should come with me.” He blinked in evident surprise. “Yeah,” he went on after a beat. “Come with me.”
Chapter Four
As soon as the words were out of Marc’s mouth, he knew it was a good idea. Whatever pleasure he’d gotten driving around the wilds of the Rocky Mountains on his own was long gone now, replaced by nothing but loneliness.
Judging by her narrowed eyes, Selina wasn’t quite as thrilled with the idea. “Come where with you?”
A piece of hot pepper sailed through the air as his hands opened up in offering, drawing an arc in the air with his chopsticks. “On my adventures!” He was bouncing up and down on the cushion and couldn’t stop himself. “If you want, I’ll bring you back here after my week skiing at Snowdance is over. Until the first of the year, I don’t have anywhere else I have to be.”
That was a sad truth.