Page 56 of No More Hiding

“You worried over nothing,” she said when they pulled into Brent’s driveway hours later.

“I wasn’t worried,” he said, winking at her.

“Oh, I think you were. Your family wasn’t that bad and you know it. They were caring and funny. I found it very sweet.”

Nothing like she’d ever experienced before.

When she’d been a teen and interested in a boy back in LA, her father was more about bragging and trying to find out what he could of the family. There were two motives. Could he get money out of them and if they were good enough for his daughter.

Her mother was flighty and embarrassing while she showed off things in the house that shouldn’t have been theirs.

Her father was smart. He was good at his job. They could have had a great living, honestly, she knew that.

But greed got the better of him. Status and prestige mixed in and it was a curse and a burden she was going to carry for the rest of her life.

No, she didn’t do anything wrong other than being born to a man that never felt like he had enough and a woman too weak to make the right decisions.

And when she was living with her grandparents and brought a boy home, her grandfather was almost like a drill sergeant. She got it. His own daughter married a swindler and he wasn’t going to see his granddaughter fall down the same path.

It’d never happen and she’d told her grandfather that for years. But she loved how protective he was of her. He gave her the new life she had. Not just a new name, but also the money to be who she wanted away from where she came from.

“That’s better than thinking I’m a wuss,” he said.

“I find it adorable that you don’t come across as this big tough man wanting to beat his fists against his chest. You’re comfortable in your skin and that means a hell of a lot more to me than other characteristics that you might think you are lacking.”

He snorted. “Thanks for that. I’m a hermit and know it. I don’t like to admit it to many, but I’m more comfortable that way. Maureen and Rob were the two that pulled me out of my shell when I wanted to retreat back in.”

“Were you comfortable when they did that?” she asked. “Be honest with me?”

They were getting out of his SUV, Sammie all but jumping to exit, knowing she was home and not wanting to sit in the driveway and chat.

“No. I did it because it made them happy, but it didn’t make me happy.”

She stopped and looked at him. “Then do what works for you. You don’t need to prove anything to me or anyone else.”

“I don’t like worrying people though,” he said.

She found that commendable. “I can understand that.”

They went through his front door of the modest white ranch. It had a cute front porch with no chairs. It looked barren to her and she could see some flowers and a rocker would make a huge difference.

Then she reminded herself, that wasn’t Brent and she wouldn’t try to have him be who he wasn’t. It seemed he’d dealt with that enough in his life.

“My place isn’t as big as yours. Not as modern or decorated either,” he said.

“My house wasn’t when I bought it. I updated it to my liking.”

They stepped into a small foyer, the living room to the right. Nice hardwood floors that seemed to go throughout. There was a wall in front of her but a hallway to the left that she suspected went to the bedrooms and baths.

“You’ve got a nice big window to bring in light,” she said as they moved through the living room. Sammie had taken off and disappeared and she assumed it was into the kitchen that couldn’t be seen until they got to the doorway of that room.

“It’s nice. I spend most of my time in my office or the living room.”

They moved into the kitchen that wasn’t brand new but had been updated in the past ten years or less she was guessing. It wasn’t her style with the tans and browns but it wasn’t horrible by any means.

There was a door she assumed went to the garage, but the space was open to a dining room, only separated by a peninsula. His small four-chair table looked funny in the larger room, but she noticed two stools that he must sit on at the counter.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but your table looks out of place.”