Page 36 of Wishing for Love

“I don’t know how anyone could write off their child like that,” she said. “As bad as my mother has been with things in my life, she’d never not talk to us.”

“My family took Maryn in,” he said. “My siblings had all met her. There were times she went home with me for holidays when she would have been alone in the college dorm. It was a wide-eyed experience for her.”

“I bet,” she said. “You don’t talk about your family much. I mean I know you’re close with your parents.”

“I’m as close as can be with my siblings. But the truth is, the twins have each other. The triplets too. Then the age gap is bigger after the triplets.”

“Ah,” she said. She covered her mouth while she chewed her sandwich. “You are the loner of the family. There is always one of them.”

“I guess you could say that. Who is the loner in your family?”

“Landon,” she said. “He is engaged, but I didn’t think he’d ever settle down. He dated or hooked up, but he liked his space more than anyone else. I guess there is someone out there for everyone though.”

“So I’ve been told,” he said. “Yet we are all single and most of my cousins are too. One just got engaged last week, he’s the oldest of us. I think thirty-six.”

Her jaw dropped. “How many cousins do you have?”

“I’ve got eight on my father’s side. Ages thirty-six to I think twenty-two. Yes, Talia, my cousin who is the youngest, and Memphis are the same age. Memphis is getting his MBA right now, so still in college. Talia graduated in May. That is how I keep track.”

“And everyone else is single?” she said. “Damn.”

“The oldest is engaged. The next one is dating someone I just found out. At least it might be serious according to my father, but the rest are most likely single or nothing serious.”

She could tell he didn’t want to talk much about it. The fact he didn’t give many names was odd too, but she got it with that many kids. He wasn’t one to always overshare.

“I’m the last one not in a relationship. I’m not forcing it. It never works when you try to do that.”

“No,” he said.

The rest of their lunch they talked about Elsie and school and anything she might have felt he needed to be aware of.

He paid their bill and then they started to shop.

Four bags later and they were heading back home.

“I didn’t realize you were such a speed shopper,” she said, trying not to giggle every time he jogged into a store.

They were zipping in and out of stores quickly. He bought just about anything she suggested. Guess he wasn’t one for bargain shopping either. A few times she said she could get it cheaper and he just grabbed it to go.

“Maryn was the shopper, not me. She’d make me tag along to pick out clothes for me. She had great taste. Me, I just buy the first thing I see.”

“I like to bargain shop,” she said. “But it’s not like I’ve had a lot of money either.”

“Maryn was helping me with my work,” he said.

“Oh,” she said. “I hadn’t realized that.”

“The bags. She had a great eye for design.”

“I saw that in her house. Also her clothing. But she was more on the fancy side. Didn’t you say that your bags are priced for the everyday user?”

“They are,” he said. “And she was good with that too. The men’s bags are in a good spot. I was getting ready to design awoman’s line and it kind of got halted. I need to figure out trends or something. That is what I suck at.”

Crystal didn’t want to step on his toes or anything. She wasn’t an expert by any means. “I’m a woman,” she said. “Can I see what your choices are? I wouldn’t mind saying if something looked good or not to me. Not that I’d know for sure what the masses would buy, but I know what I would.”

“If you don’t mind,” he said. “Any little bit helps. It might be good to just narrow down basic colors and go from there to get the line ready to launch.”

“I’d love to,” she said. “This is exciting. I know this is horrible—I don’t know anything about your business, but maybe I’ve heard a few things when you’re on the phone...”