Crazy for You

Chapter 8

The last of the old wallpaper was down and in the trash. I’d just finished with the first coat of paint in the kitchen. I stepped back and bumped into one of the many men who were working on renovations for me. I’d only owned the place two weeks, but already they were making enough headway that I could actually move in sometime soon.

I wiped my cheek and set my paintbrush down on the plastic covering the old tile from the sixties. It was black and white checks. Samson had attempted to talk me into letting him tear it out. I refused. It was perfect just the way it was.

“Mer?” Samson called out from the front of the house. “Where are you?”

“Kitchen,” I yelled back.

He walked in with Landry right behind him. They glanced at the kitchen walls and their eyes widened. It was weird knowing Landry was my neighbor.

Samson stared at me. “You hate purple.”

I smiled. “I know.”

Landry shook his head. “If you hate it, why did you paint the entire kitchen bright purple?”

“Because I hate to cook, and this way, I won’t want to bother trying.” I rolled my eyes as if they were the stupidest people alive.

They shared a look.

“Hey, she’s your sister,” Landry said. “I’m starting to believe she is insane.” He approached and touched my cheek. “You have dried paint on you.”

I turned around, showing him my cut-off jean shorts. There was purple dried across the butt of them. “Accidentally bent too close to the wall and got my butt in it too.”

He laughed and swatted my ass playfully.

Samson groaned and stopped, glancing at the backsplash. “That wasn’t that way before. This is going to sound weird, but I like it and it’s not my normal kind of thing. Who did it?”

“I did,” I said.

“What are all these purple, red and yellow stone things? And what’s this stuff here?”

I bit my lower lip. “Broken dishes, vases, jewelry, pieces of a smashed porcelain doll and some other stuff.”

He stared at me. “What? Why? Did you decide to take everything you’d ever broken in your life and make a mosaic with it?”

“No,” I said softly as I approached my brother. I pointed to the pieces of red glass. They were placed in a way they couldn’t cut anyone now. “Remember the day Mom left?”

He stiffened and closed his eyes. “Mer, tell me that’s not what I think it is.”

I glanced away.

“You fucking put that on your wall? Hell, you even kept it?” His voice boomed around me. “Why in the hell would you want to immortalize that? That fucking bitch threw this at you when you tried to run after her, crying for her to stay. Christ, Mer, had Dad been any slower, it would have hit you in the face instead of the wall next to your head. That bitch threw a fucking vase at a four-year-old little girl. Why…?” He stared at the wall. He shook his head. “How do you even have it?”

“That night, when Dad thought I was upstairs in my room sleeping, I was actually sitting at the bottom of the stairs, listening to him talk to Izak’s and Jeremiah’s parents about what had happened. The adults were all gathered in the dining room, trying to help Dad figure out how he was going to raise us alone.” I ran my fingers over the white pieces of ceramic next to it. “He suggested it might be best to send me to live with his parents, at least until I was older, because he didn’t think he could raise a little girl on his own. He was sure he’d be able to handle raising you because you were older and a boy. I thought that maybe, if I was really good, he’d let me stay too. If I could show him I wouldn’t be a burden and that I was big like you—” I nudged Samson “—he’d know he could do it.”

Samson bent his head, shielding his eyes with his hand.

“I crept out back to the trash and gathered as many pieces of the vase as I could find. I took them to the laundry room and tried to put it back together again. I used everything from that art box I used to carry everywhere. Tape. Glue. Ribbons.” I lifted my left hand. “I kept cutting myself, so I taped my fingertips and kept going. Finally, Jeremiah’s mom came out to the kitchen to refill her coffee, and she saw me in the laundry room. Dad rushed out when he realized I wasn’t in bed. He freaked out when he saw blood smeared all over me, the art kit, and the hunk of glass that in no way resembled a vase. I held it up to him and told him it would be perfect when it dried and that I could be perfect for him too.”

I let out a soft laugh. “He wouldn’t stop crying. I thought for sure that meant he was mad at me. Jeremiah’s mom cleaned me up, put bandages on all my tiny cuts and then took me up to bed. I couldn’t stop crying because I thought Dad was going to send me to live with Grandma and Grandpa.”

Samson hunched his shoulders. “Y-you tried to come in and sleep in my room that night. I had Izak and Jeremiah in there with me and was so embarrassed that my little sister wanted to sleep in bed with me that I shouted at you too.”

“It’s okay,” I said.

“No. It’s not,” he returned, his head still bent. “You were four and thought no one wanted you. Not Mom, not Dad, not me.”

“Samson, it’s all right. You were pushing ten. Just a kid yourself, and I get it’s not cool to have your little sister come barging in, wanting to be held, especially when almost all of your best friends are camped out in your room with you to bear witness to it all.” I was trying to lighten the mood.

“Don’t, Mer. Don’t joke off what I did. What we all did. You were the baby and we were all so swept up in it all that you got lost in the shuffle.” Samson turned completely away from me.

“No, Samson. I wasn’t totally lost in the chaos of it all. When I woke up the next morning, Dad was there, asleep in the chair in my room, holding that stupid hunk of glass, glue, tape, and ribbons like it was the most precious thing he’d ever been given. I was really quiet when I got out of bed and started packing to go to Grandma’s. I didn’t want to wake him up and make him mad at me again. After I stuffed all the dolls I could fit into my little suitcase, I touched Dad’s arm and told him I was ready to go.” I actually choked up. “Dad shot out of that chair and hugged me with one arm so tight I thought my head was going to pop clean off. The entire time he was hugging me, he was still holding that stupid hunk of glass in his free hand. So see. He didn’t let me get overlooked in it all.”

“Why keep pieces of it, Mer?” he asked. “Why have a constant reminder of that fucking bitch? Of a woman who would beat you so bad that Dad was scared to leave for business. He knew, some part of him knew, that she was drinking too much and that you were the one she lashed out at. He knew, and it’s why he told her she had to get help or go.” Samson shook his head. “Fuck, Mer. There was one time that Phillip and I came in from playing baseball, and we found her hitting you over and over again with a goddamn rolling pin! You were three fucking years old and all you’d done was ask for a cup of juice because you weren’t big enough to pour it yourself.”

I rubbed his arm. “Maybe that’s why I don’t like to cook,” I said, joking.

My brother punched the countertop. “Stop it! Stop always joking away everything bad that happened to you. You were admitted into the hospital eight times in the span of two years, Meredith. I had to sit there and listen to her lie about what happened to you. And she would lie to Dad when he got back into town too. I didn’t know what to do. I thought she was going to kill you, and yet here you are, keeping memories of her.”

“Samson, I don’t remember all those times. The earliest memory I have is of you, pushing me on the tire swing and catching a butterfly for me. Shortly after that, Mom left. I remember thinking she was leaving because of me, and that you and Dad would be sad without her. It’s why I ran after her.”

Samson let out a choked sob and kept his head turned from me.

“I didn’t keep the pieces of the vase to remember her.” I took a deep breath. “I keep them because they remind me that no matter how much she didn’t want us, Dad did. That, in the end, her leaving was the best thing that could have happened to us. Dad stopped working a job that was killing him slowly and started working closer to home. And no matter what, you, me, him, we are a family.”

He looked at me and was fighting with all he had not to cry.

I hugged him. “Face it, bucko. As far as siblings go, I’m not so bad to get stuck with.”

He stared down at me, his blue eyes glistening. “I don’t understand it.”

“Understand what?”

“How someone with such a big heart, who loves life and makes everyone around her love it too, continues to have the most horrible things happen to her. It’s like you’re too good to be true, and God is trying to balance the scales or something.”

“Samson, when the hell did you find God and, really, put him back where you left him, you’re freaking me out here.”

He laughed in spite of himself.

I kissed his cheek and pinched his chin. “No more feeling sorry for me. I bounce well, brother.”

“I don’t want you to bounce anymore, Mer. I want someone to catch you and hold you tight. I want to know you’re happy and safe.”

“Then you should help me pick a puppy. I’m leaning towards a golden retriever that I can call Sparkles.”

He kissed my forehead. “You are not quite right in the head.”

“I know.”

He hugged me and pointed to another piece of glass. This one was clear.

“That’s the first window you ever broke with a baseball,” I said.

He laughed through his tears.

I pointed to the broken pieces of dishes. “These are what I threw at the wall when things ended with Phillip.”

He snorted. “I remember. You were pretty pissed off. Poor Natasha tried to stop you from doing it, telling you over and over again how expensive they were. That only made you break more of them.”

He leaned in, looking closer at an object. His eyes widened. “Meredith, is that what I think it is?”

I smiled. “Yes.”

“You put your engagement ring in there?”

I shrugged. “He refused to take it back and I wasn’t going to wear it ever again. It’s another piece of my life. See—” I touched the wall “—separate, they’re broken things, okay, not the ring, but you know what I mean, together, they’re something solid. They’re me. The story of my life. They’re what make me who I am and changing them or taking them out of the mix changes me.”

“You have a ring worth over a quarter of a million dollars on your wall,” he said, before busting into hysterical laughter. He paused and stared around the backsplash. “Meredith, that’s not the only item of extreme value you have in this, is it?”

“Nope.” I pointed to various things. “Here are the diamond earrings he gave me. Here are the pearls from that necklace he gave me. Here is the sapphire necklace he got me for my sixteenth birthday.” I took a moment to touch the necklace. “Phil used to get so upset with me for not wearing them and didn’t understand how a girl could pick a two-dollar gumball machine ring over something like this.”

“It’s because of his mother. She’s never without enough jewels on to sink a ship. Doesn’t matter what she’s doing. I think he grew up seeing that and seeing his father shower his mother with them, so he thought it was what every woman wants.”

I snorted. “His mother is a total and complete bitch who hates his father.”

“Yeah, well, at least his father hates his mother too. You know, mutual hateage going on there,” my brother offered. “Before it all happened and before he did what he did, I used to be so friggin’ happy the two of you were together. I didn’t worry about you when you moved into the condo with him when you graduated from college. Dad was beside himself that you were staying in the city. Me, I knew Phil was there with you, so I never batted an eye with worry. He had this seemingly endless amount of love and no one to share it with, and you’re a sponge for it. I figured he’d forever be there by your side. I’m sorry, Mer.”

“Don’t be. He was a bed hog.”

“You know, I remember the guy trying to give you something shiny all the time, but this seems like more than even he did,” my brother said, staring harder at the backsplash.

“It’s not all from Phil. Uh, this one is from Sherman, a man I met my first week in the city all on my own, after it all happened and I moved back and took a job for Brice. I never caught the man’s last name, but he was a sweetheart.”

Samson blinked. “A guy gave you that and you don’t even remember his last name? You slept with a guy you barely knew?”

“I didn’t sleep with him. I met him when I stepped out in front of his limo and his driver nearly killed me. I was busy reading over a report for Brice. The guy got out and freaked, worried about me. I patted his shoulder and told him to take a breath before he had an aneurism or something. He was in his late fifties, maybe early sixties. I was worried he’d have a heart attack or something with the way he was carrying on.”

Samson’s eyes widened.

I grunted. “It’s not like that. There was this deep sadness about him. I can’t explain. He needed a friend. I took his hand and asked him if he wanted to go for a walk or something.”

“You went for a walk with a stranger?”

I bumped his hip with mine. “Uh, missing the fact we had introductions?”

He shook his head.

“Actually, we spent the entire day together, walking around the city, talking about his past.”

“His past?” Samson asked.

I nodded. “He’d only just lost his wife of over thirty years. They’d been very close—the best of friends since they were in college. Losing her had been the hardest thing he’d been through, but he’d spent the week trying to be brave for his sons who hadn’t taken their mother’s passing well.”

Landry choked on thin air and pounded on his chest, his eyes wide. “And Sherman volunteered all this information to you after meeting you?”

“Yes, well, not at first. At first, he just looked so sad that I couldn’t bring myself to send him on his way. I remember telling him I was new to the city and that while I found it beautiful, I also thought it was overwhelming and lonely.”

Samson touched my arm. “Mer, this guy could have been a serial killer or something. To just go off and spend the day with him was a very bad idea.”

I swatted my brother. “Sherman was nothing but a gentleman and, Samson, I think you’d have liked him. He’s a little like Daddy is. Tough and hard on the outside, but inside, someone who cares greatly for the people he loves. He talked about his sons a lot. Uh, Lucas, Lance, and L-something or other. I don’t remember the last one’s name. I just know Sherman thought the world of them. He was extremely proud, telling me about how successful each of them were, and how he really hoped to talk his eldest son into taking over the company. I guess the son was a powerful swanky lawyer or something.”

“Meredith, you do realize you pick up strays,” my brother said, shaking his head.

“Oh, Sherman was so nice, and it broke my heart when he talked about his wife and losing her. He said it was the first time he’d gone out of town and not taken her with him. He mentioned she’d been feeling slightly under the weather and had insisted he go without her.” I sighed. “I guess she passed quietly, in her sleep, and the maid found her. Sherman had so much guilt for not being there. I guess the oldest son took it the worst because he’d promised to check in on his mother but never made it over—something about being with a woman instead of his mother, but Sherman didn’t blame him. Not one bit. He was thankful his son hadn’t been there to find his mother that way. He didn’t want that memory to be part of his son’s life.”

Samson patted my shoulder. “Meredith, you remember all of this and you spent one day with the guy?”

“I know what it’s like to lose someone you love, Samson. Of course I remember what he said. I remember how brown his eyes were and how he each and every time he talked about his wife, they grew moist, and as her name would pass over his lips, he’d automatically rub his wedding band. I remember it fully because I stood there thinking I want a man to love me as much as he loved his wife.”

Samson hugged me.

I rubbed his back as I drew away. “Sherman is the only person in the city whom I told about my past. Natasha doesn’t count because she lived it with me. Sherman listened, and he gave me what I needed, someone I could say exactly what was on my mind to and not worry about how they would view me later. And he didn’t judge me. He told me a higher power really does have a master plan for us all. I clung to his every word.” I let out a slow breath. “I think it was fate that left the two of us meeting one another. He needed to see there was still beauty in life and that he could live on without his wife, all the while still loving her. I needed to see that true love isn’t a myth. I also needed to hear that it wasn’t my fault.”

“It was never you, Mer. Phillip is a dickhead,” Samson said.

“Samson, no. He was one of your best friends all your life. If you set aside what happened at the end, you know as well as I do that you loved him like a brother. You also know it wasn’t all his fault.” I took my brother’s hand and guided it to one of the many angel pins I’d been given during the darkest part of my life. I’d taken one and put it in the backsplash too.

As his fingers skimmed it, he stared down at me. “Is this one of Matthew’s?”

I nodded.

He closed his eyes briefly. “I told Dad to let me take the box of stuff from his place. I told him I’d keep it at my house until you found a house here and then Dad could take it all back.”

“This isn’t from the box of things Natasha packed away for me and gave to Dad for safekeeping,” I confessed. “It’s one I’d kept out. The one I wore to his funeral.”

“You came here and did this backsplash after that family came into the diner, didn’t you?”

My brother knew me well.

“Yes.”

“I knew it would be too much for you, Mer. I tried to get you out of there,” he said softly. “You didn’t need to have it all thrown in your face like that.”

“I think I did.” I took a deep breath. “The last time I talked openly about Matthew was with Sherman. All of you, my friends and family, let me sweep it under the rug and never bring it up. I know why. I know it hurts you all too, and while I also love to live in a fantasy bubble, at some point I needed to deal with it and let some of it out.”

“Meredith, let Natasha and I take all that stuff down in the nursery. I hate knowing that every time you walk into that room, you have a reminder of how fucking empty it is.”

“Honestly, I’ve not been back in the room since I first opened the door to see it.”

“I’ll do it right now,” Samson said. “I’ll have Landry give me a…”

My emotions had the better of me, clouding my judgment and my reasoning skills. “Samson, the last thing I want is one more person I’ve let close looking at me with pity in his eyes.”

“Then let me call Jer over. He and I can have that totally redone in hours.”

“No,” I said softly.

“Meredith, you can’t keep that there like that. Jesus Christ, it’s a constant reminder of what you had and lost. Of what Phillip fucking—”

“Shh, you can’t blame Phillip for Matthew’s death. I was driving. That is, and will forever be, on me.”

“Meredith, you hydroplaned! It was something you couldn’t have possibly controlled, and it’s amazing you lived through what happened.”

“I shouldn’t have been driving when I was upset and the weather was that bad. I’d not been feeling well as it was, and I shouldn’t have… I should have let Natasha drive my car back instead of her following me in hers.”

“You’d have been here, in this house, or at the very least, in the city with Phillip, had he not shoved his head up his ass and let his father lead him around by the nose. You wouldn’t have been on that road. You wouldn’t have been alone, even if you were. Phillip would have been driving.”

“Samson, you have no way of knowing that had Phillip not ended things the way he did, that I wouldn’t have been in an accident. That the very same thing wouldn’t have played out but in a different way. You can’t know that. I can’t know that. No one can. It is what it is.”

“Meredith, how can you just let things roll off you the way you do?” he asked. “How can you live in a house that fucking dickhead picked for you?”

“Hey, now. Landry may have some rough edges, but I’d hardly call him a dickhead,” I said, trying to make him smile.

He didn’t. “Don’t joke this off. You know goddamn well I was talking about Phillip. Stop protecting him. It’s all his fault and you know it. Get mad, Meredith. Scream, shout, cry. Anything.”

“Why?”

He gave me an odd look. “What do you mean why?”

“I mean exactly that, why?” I countered.

He advanced on me, but I stood my ground. “You ran off to the city after it all happened, and you threw yourself into a life that wasn’t you, Mer. It’s like you took your ability to make believe to new extremes. You faded into this magazine version of what a woman with a high-paying position should be.”

I stared at him. “You really think that?”

“I watched you with those clients, Meredith. When you were talking with them about acquisitions. It was like watching a stranger. You were this whole other person.”

I met his gaze. “Samson, when you were staring down the barrel of a sniper rifle somewhere in Middle East, do you think you came off as you? We all grow up. We all play our parts and do what we need to do to get by. You threw yourself into the service to find yourself. I threw myself into the city to lose myself. Don’t fault me for needing time away from everything. For needing to see that it was entirely possible to put one foot in front of the other and live.”

“Mer.”

“Would you rather I had stayed in this town, kept living with Dad, and kept dwelling on the fact that in a span of a year, I lost everything. That life as I knew it slipped right through my fingers in what felt like the blink of an eye?” I asked. “I think you’d have hated what I was becoming. I know Natasha did. It’s why she packed my things and dragged me to the city. It’s why she threw me at Brice. It’s why she had me living in the same building as her. It’s why she, at first, tried so hard to get me to date. When she realized I wasn’t interested in that, she stood behind me fully when I threw myself into work.”

“She hates you being in this house,” he said, so soft I almost missed it. “And she hates that you’re not there with her. She calls me all the time, worried about you. It’s like roles reversed. It used to be me calling her, wanting to know you were doing all right up there.”

I offered a warm smile. “See, I think in a lot of respects I’m a very lucky girl. I have a brother who would literally kill for me and a best friend who would help him hide the body.”

He grinned slightly. “You know, Dad doesn’t seem the least bit concerned with you being in this house. When I told him I didn’t think it was a good idea, he told me to stay the hell out of it. He said you were made of strong stock, and that it’s your nature to take what is broken and make it whole again.” He looked at the pieces of the red vase on the wall. “Old habits die hard, huh?”

I hugged him and then took a step back, taking his hands in mine. “Stop blaming yourself, Samson.”

He stiffened.

“You couldn’t have stopped any of it from happening. You couldn’t have stopped Mom when you were little, and you couldn’t have stopped everything that happened four years ago.”

“Jeremiah warned me,” Samson said. “He showed up at my place at two in the morning, freaking out about having a dream with you in it. He kept telling me something bad was going to happen to you. That he felt it. That he couldn’t tell me what, only that he knew it was bad. He tried to get me to drive to the city and get you. I sent him on his way, telling him he was one wrench short of a set.” He exhaled loudly. “When I finally woke up, hours later, I gave Natasha a call, asking her to keep an eye on you. I should have come up. I’d have been there.”

“Samson, you seem to be missing something kind of big here,” I said. “Had you not spooked Natasha, she wouldn’t have insisted on following me back here with a load of things from the condo. She wouldn’t have been on that road with me and she wouldn’t have been there to call for help. I think we both know, what with the way the car was flipped and with where I went off the road and over that embankment and into those woods, no one would have ever seen me from the road. And you already know that they had to cut me out of it. I’d have never been able to crawl out and get help. I’d have died there and weeks, months, years later, someone would have come across that car and me, and you’d have been called to the scene to find your long-dead sister still in that car.”

I saw the wheels spinning in his head and knew he came to the same conclusion as me. He winced and shivered.

I touched his cheek gently. “I remember you there, arriving, yelling for me. I remember Natasha screaming at you and, if I’m right, she smacked the shit out of you for opening your mouth and telling me how much blood was everywhere.”

“She did. I have been in situations that would leave men’s minds snapping and never batted an eye. I get a call and show up to find my pregnant baby sister stuck in a car that is, literally, being held up by one old tree before it would plummet two hundred feet, and I go apeshit.”

“But, Samson, I also remember that you were the one who, in the end, pulled me out. It was you who carried me up and onto that stretcher, and it was you who helped put me into the ambulance, and it was you who held my hand all the way there and made sure one of your men drove behind us with Natasha. Don’t blame yourself for being there for me. For loving me. I wouldn’t want any other brother than you.”

He blushed. “Love me enough to let me go up there and redo that nursery?”

“Let it be.”

“Meredith, please tell me you aren’t going to keep it that way and when you have another child, put it in there.”

I actually laughed a little. “No. I’m not even that crazy. But when I’m ready, I will handle the room, and someday, who knows, maybe it will be nursery again. I don’t really know. I think love like Sherman had is something that only a few people are honored enough to get. The rest of us, we muddle our way through life, getting by, making the most of the hand we were dealt.”

“You do realize that Natasha has told me how many men have tried to convince you to marry them,” he said, pain in his voice. “As much as I want to break their necks, I’d like you to be happy.”

“She also tell you that I…”

“Haven’t dated a man, or been serious with one, since Phillip? Yeah, she mentioned as much. But I’ve known all along, since she was my source of updates. Funny enough, she never let on about Brice. I think she was hoping he’d be the one you finally let your guard down for. Fuck, I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but how about you agree to go out with him?”

I stared at him with wide eyes.

“What?” he asked. “As much as I don’t want to think about you having a sex life, you need someone.”

I broke into a fit of the giggles. “I know. I figured it out when poor, unsuspecting Landry was drinking out of a water bottle, and I had the strongest urge to leap on the man. I actually did cast aside my views on casual sex and was going to go out with a man who I’m positive wanted one thing, and one thing only, but damn if Landry didn’t foil that. Jerk. He goes and flips the switch on my sex drive and then blows my first chance to act on it.”

Samson glanced past me and grinned before taking hold of my shoulders. “Why not just use Landry?”

I burst into laughter.

“Damn, sleeping with the guy is that funny?” Hearing my brother echo Landry’s thoughts made me laugh harder.

I took hold of his forearms and shook my head, fighting for air. “N-no. It’s not that. I swear. I mean, the man is very, very, very delicious-looking, but setting aside his being off women policy, there is something about him that…I can’t really explain. He’s not like other men I run across. I see them and am positive that if I really wanted to, I could sleep with them and walk away. I don’t know. I’m not making a lot of sense here. I just have this really strange feeling about him.”

“That makes you know, if you did act on the attraction you have to him, you could very well see yourself falling for him, and you aren’t ready to go down that road,” my brother stated.

I opened my mouth to protest and closed it again, a nervous feeling creeping over me.

“Don’t bother denying it,” Samson said. “The minute I saw the two of you collide in the diner—the first time you met—I saw the way you two looked at each other. I also noticed the way he fell in step with you and your weirdness. Sadly, it’s only served to make it worse. I have never seen a man get you quite as well as Landry does. Hell, even Phillip didn’t seem this in sync with you, and that boy knew you since birth.”

“You know, I’m not sure what’s to get about me. I think I’m perfectly normal. I think the rest of you are odd ducks.”

“Meredith, you started dancing with the bag boys at the market, getting the cashiers to do it with you the other day.”

I tugged at my lip. “You heard about that, huh?”

“Yeah. I did.”

“Hey, they enjoyed it.”

He grunted. “I know. Most people do like being swept up in your version of reality.” His attention went back to the necklace Sherman had given me. “I imagine you had as profound of an impact on this man’s life as he did yours. It’s your way, Meredith.”

“Oh, I don’t think so.”

“He just sent you a necklace this expensive for no reason?” Samson asked.

I shrugged. “It took me an hour to convince him we could get a gyro sandwich that was as good, if not better, from a street vendor than his fancy restaurant places, so it’s very likely he, like Phillip, has a warped idea of money and doesn’t think twice about spending.”

“Maybe. Natasha is right. You do attract loaded men. Why is that?”

I put my hands above my head and swayed. “Because when I was born the angels sprinkled me with gold dust, thus attracting rich men.” I batted my eyes.

“You are certifiable,” Samson said.

“I know.”

He motioned to the necklace again. “You two just spent a day walking around, sharing details of your life, and then simply up and left, no exchange of last names, no anything? How did he get this to you if he didn’t know you?”

I bit my lower lip. “Well, we spent the entire day together and finally, we ended up outside of a restaurant he was meeting his eldest son at,” I said. “His son came storming out because his father was apparently late, and the guy took one look at me, my arm looped through his father’s, and lost it. He called me a hired whore, someone looking for a sugar daddy, you name it, he said it. Sherman tried to defend me and explain it wasn’t like that. The son told him he that he was a bastard because he didn’t even wait until his mother was cold in the ground before he found a younger model.”

Samson made an odd noise.

“At some point in our walk, Sherman had put the report I’d been reading for Brice in his jacket pocket since I didn’t have anywhere on my dress to put it. I forgot he had it. I got into the office the next day to find a daisy with a box of jewelry under it. The only thing the card said was ‘thanks for helping me through the day.’ The report was pinned under it. I tried to find out his last name so I could give him the jewelry back, but I never did figure it out.” I motioned around the wall. “Most of the rest of the things are from Brice. It took him two years to figure out I really wasn’t the kind of girl you shower in diamonds. Getting him to take a gift back is like telling a lady who just gave birth to shove the kid back in.”

Samson laughed and shook his head. “You are the strangest person I know.”

“Thanks.” I went to my tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “I love you too.”

“Hey, want to give me a description of the dickhead who called you a high-priced whore?” Samson said, tapping a finger on the counter.

“I don’t know. Landry all executived up, I guess. Picture him clean shaven, short hair, in an expensive suit and with a cell phone pressed to his ear.”

Samson made an odd noise. “I’m half tempted to go search the city for the asshole.”

I laughed. “Want to hear something funny?”

He stilled.

“Sherman kept telling me how much he thought his son would like me. He said I reminded him of his wife, spunky, sassy, and sweet, all wrapped up in one, and that his son would be taken with me right away. I think he was mistaken. His son acted like I was the whore of Babylon.”

Samson kissed the tip of my nose. “When I find him, I’ll kick his ass for you.”

“Thanks.”

“Mer,” he glanced behind me, “what if I were to tell you that Landry is aware of Matthew and his passing, and he knows other details of your life that I’m guessing you’d rather he not?”

I tensed. “He never said anything. Did you tell him?”

“Yes and no.” He turned me to face the other direction, and it was then I remembered Landry had been in the kitchen with us. I’d been so swept up in my emotions I hadn’t registered everything around me—including Landry.

For a split second, I considered freaking out.

Landry swallowed hard and cleared his throat. “I, umm, your bedroom. Me. In it with you.”

I stopped and so did my brother. We both stared at Landry.

He exhaled slowly. “I mean, you wanted some shelves hung in your bedroom. I can do that.”

“Whew, for a minute there I thought you were asking me to take you upstairs and have sex with you. Like I was a pity fuck or something.”

“Mer,” Samson warned.

I smiled. “Go hover over the work crews. I know how much you like to do that.”

He headed off, and I reached for Landry’s hand, wanting to check it since his stitches had come out a few days prior. “Let me see.”

“It’s fine, Meredith,” he said, his voice soothing.

Grabbing it anyway, I brought it to my lips and kissed the spot he’d only just had his stitches removed from. He came closer to me, his head meeting mine. He stared at me and then, just like that, he smiled, and that single action told me he didn’t view me with pity in his eyes, and that he wasn’t going to be dramatic about what he’d overheard. It also did something else. It made it painfully clear that I was already starting to fall for the man.

I went to my tiptoes and gave him a peck on the cheek. He caught me around the waist and jerked me to him. For one tense second, I thought he might kiss me. Instead, he backed away and drew in a deep breath. “I’ve sworn off women.”

“I know, you won’t let me forget,” I said without meaning to.