The waiter left their check and Max took it. She got the feeling the gesture was automatic. Dinner out with a woman was probably par for his course, but hers had been seriously lacking in men. She didn’t think Max was her type, which was a relief. Although she wasn’t sure she had a type.
She’d been too busy working her way through college to pay much attention to the male of the species. And given the disastrous romantic track record of the Gallagher women, which included her mother, her sister and herself, she’d been grateful for the too-busy schedule that had kept her from dating.
In the cloud that was her struggle for a business degree, not dating had been the only silver lining. All of her relationship experiences had been disastrous. For her, dinner out with a man was a prequel to perdition. This wasn’t a date. There was no reason to hang around and make small talk. The check had arrived. She was ready to leave now.
But Max took a sip of his half-finished beer, then set the longneck on the table showing he was in no hurry to go.
“Why are you so loyal to my grandfather?” he asked.
“He’s always been there for me.”
“When no one else was?” His gaze never left hers.
“Why would you go there?” she asked, defensive because his remark had hit way too close to the mark.
He raised one broad shoulder in a casual shrug. “I don’t know. Nine times out of ten someone will say ‘he was there for me when no one else was.’ I filled in the blank.”
“I don’t need you to fill in my blanks. In my experience, your grandfather is fair and caring.” When he opened his mouth to say something she held up a finger to silence him. “And before you ask, I’ve got plenty of support—family support.”
But this guy didn’t know the first thing about what she shared with her mother and sister. There was no point in discussing the fact that her father was a leaver, just like Max.
She dragged a finger through the condensation on her water glass, then met his gaze. “And I’m concerned about my family.”
“What about them?”
“My mother and sister work at Caine Chocolate.”
“Are they in management, too?”
She shook her head. “A college degree is a requirement, and I’m the first in the family to get one. Your grandfather created the position of manager of specialty and seasonal items just for me. He told me the idea came to him out of the blue on my birthday—” She stopped because she was blathering like an idiot.
“When?” Max asked.
“On my birthday. It’s February twenty-ninth.”
“Leap year?”
She nodded. “Jordan and Rachel, my two best friends, were born the same day. Because of the unusual date, our families kept in touch. Since we only have a birthday once every four years, we celebrate together. This year it was in New Orleans.”
“And that’s when my grandfather came up with the idea?”
“Yes,” she said, an odd feeling raising goose bumps on her arms. That was the night they’d recovered the tacky brass lamp, à la Aladdin. The grateful shop owner dressed like a gypsy, had insisted they each rub the lamp and make a wish. Hers had been money and power—not that she was going to share that with Max. He’d think she was crazy.
“Mr. Caine waited to announce my promotion until I had my degree in my hot little hand.” Had her wish been granted with the promotion? No, that was too weird.
Max looked at her. “After doing the math, it occurs to me that it took you a while to get that important piece of paper. I know you’re brighter than the average bear. I have to ask—what took you so long?”
“I had to work full time to pay for college and help out at home. That tends to slow down the process. But I’m determined to make up for lost time.”
“Well your promotion is a good start.” He took a sip of beer. “But I always suspected you were determined enough to take over the world.”
There would never be a better time to ask. “Are you back to take over the company for your grandfather?”
“Why would you think that?”
“Obviously he isn’t getting any younger. His health is fragile. You haven’t been back until now. I just wondered if—”
“The buzzards were circling?” he interrupted, a muscle contracting in his cheek.
“Actually—yes.”
“No.” He met her gaze. “I don’t want or need Caine Chocolate. You have more ties to the company than me. In fact, I could ask you the same thing. Do you have your eye on taking it over?”
“There are a lot of people more qualified than me.”
“But you’re the one who’s making up for lost time.” His eyes narrowed.
“If the opportunity presented itself, I wouldn’t turn it down. But I respect the fact that it’s a family-owned company. If you want to fill in some blanks, there’s one.”
“Okay. But I don’t understand why you’re so hostile.”
It was too much to hope he hadn’t noticed. Normally, she was able to hide her feelings. In fact, she was feeling bad about all the one-liners she’d lobbed his way. And why had she done it? A lot of years had passed since they’d talked and she’d developed a crush on him. Was that enough reason for her grudge? Was she that weird?
Or was it because he’d been her first crush? As hard as she’d tried, she hadn’t been able to forget him, probably because he had been her first. So to speak. The second time she’d let herself care about a man, her bad choice had made her life more difficult than it had to be. But Max had been her first personal experience in the curse of the Gallagher women. He was the first to show her men leave.
And it didn’t bother her anymore that he’d left her. It was the cavalier way he’d completely turned his back on his grandfather that fried her grits. “You think I’m hostile?”
“Come on, Ash. I’m a lot of things, but stupid isn’t one of them.”
“Okay. You want to know why? I’ll tell you. It’s your behavior.”
“Excuse me, but I haven’t seen you for ten years. What do you know about my behavior?”
“I know you walked away without looking back.”
“Has anyone ever told you there are two sides to every story?”
“I’m aware of that. Let me point out that adversity doesn’t build character, it reveals it. Your behavior revealed that when there’s a bump in the road, you’re the kind of person who walks away and never comes back. Instead of trying to work things out.”
“There was nothing to work out.”
Anger ballooned inside her. “If that’s true, why did he hire a detective to find you? Why did he follow your career and save every scrap of information he came across about you?”
“You’d have to ask him.”
“No, I don’t. Because actions speak louder than words,” she said. “The way he repeatedly contacted you about coming back. How profoundly hurt he was when you ignored his seventieth birthday party. He knew you received the invitation, by the way.”
“I was working.”
“That’s not good enough. And you didn’t bother to RSVP. You didn’t even contact him and lie about why you wouldn’t be there. You just ignored him.”
He