Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 115833 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115833 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
“And that’s how GOC was born,” he said.
“Yep. Exactly.”
“Seems to be doing well for you. Don’t know what you need me for.” His eyes lit up as he waited for my response.
“I mean, sure, it’s done well, but it can always do better. And by the way, I’m really glad you’re doing this with us, Deke. Seriously. Having you as the face of our products is going to change a lot of things for us.”
“You don’t have to thank me. You did the work, and it paid off. But let’s make a sober toast to it,” he said, picking up his glass of water and raising it in the air.
I snorted a laugh, picking mine up too. “Okay.”
“Here’s to Golden Oil.” His eyes twinkled beneath the warm lighting as he studied every detail of my face. “May it continue to prosper for you.”
“To Golden Oil,” I said, tapping his glass.
As we locked eyes and sipped, I tried very hard to ignore that warm, fuzzy feeling inside me.
FIVE
DAVINA
While we ate, I found it surprising that Deke was such a great conversationalist. Most athletes loved talking about themselves, but not him.
“Were you born in Charlotte?” he asked me.
“No, born and raised in Maple Cove, but Charlotte is my second home.”
“Oh.” His eyebrows dipped a bit. “Where’s Maple Cove? I don’t think I’ve heard of it.”
“It’s about a two-hour drive from here, just outside of Asheville. It gets lumped in with Asheville, because it’s such a small town.”
“Oh. That’s cool. I’ll have to check it out. So what about siblings?”
“A sister, two years younger, and a brother, sixteen years younger.”
“Sixteen years?” His eyes stretched as he gaped. “Mama got busy!”
“Yeah.” I laughed. “She did.”
“That makes you the oldest, then.”
“Sure does.”
“That must’ve been a burden growing up.”
I shifted in my seat. “What makes you say that?”
“My oldest sister grew up as the caretaker. She was like a second mom, when I think about it. She was always taking care of me. Then again, I’m the youngest, so . . .” He shrugged like it was no big deal, but that small statement seemed loaded.
“Hmm. Well, there are downfalls and perks to being the eldest.”
“Really?” He sat up taller in his chair, placing both elbows on the table. “Care to share any?”
“One of the downfalls is that your parents are harder on you, but only because they’re afraid of what the world will do to you. You’re basically this guinea pig, and they’re trying to figure you out and how to get you to navigate the world properly. But as you age, they begin to trust you, so much so that they want you to watch over their other kids. But with that comes the annoyance of babysitting on weekends, when what you really want is to go out and have fun with your friends—and you can’t, because your ‘parent’ has to work, or they end up having things planned for themselves.”
I fiddled with my fork, hoping it’d distract me from the brewing frustrations. I didn’t want to think about my childhood, and I was glad Deke didn’t notice how worked up I was getting. I sipped my water to calm down.
“Okay. I hear that. What are the perks?” he asked.
“The perks . . .” I chewed on my bottom lip. “Well, one of them is the independence that comes with being the oldest. We learn how to do a lot on our own. Sure, there can be burdens, but being older means getting out first, exploring the world first, becoming the most responsible—well, sometimes. In my case, it paid off. Being the oldest made me work harder for the things I wanted so I wouldn’t have to share with my siblings forever. Believe it or not, I had to wear my sister’s hand-me-downs. She grew up bigger than me.”
Deke gave me a warm smile. “That’s usually how it goes, isn’t it?”
“Yep.” I sighed, then looked him over, grinning. “So, you’re the baby.”
“I am.”
“I bet you’re so spoiled.”
He belted out a laugh. “Spoiled? Nah, I wouldn’t say all that. I may be the baby of the family, but I grew up to be a respectful gentleman.”
“And a charmer, apparently.” I took a sip of my water like it was hot gossip tea.
“What gives you that impression?”
“You’re trying to charm me right now.”
“You think so?” A smooth smile tugged at his lips. “How am I doing?”
“It’s sweet. Unfortunately, it won’t work on me.”
His eyes dropped to my ring finger, and this time he made it very clear that he was aware of it. He tapped the cushion-cut diamond while holding my gaze.
“I assume it’s because of this?”
I glanced at the ring, trying hard not to react to the heat of his finger. Instead, I gingerly pulled my hand away from his to pick up a slice of bruschetta. “That’s part of the reason.”