“You’d be surprised how many midsize companies are looking to move to towns like Wharton. Towns that will give them more attention, where the jobs mean a lot to the community. I was at an Association of Cities and Towns meeting a month ago and started on a target list of businesses. I’ve been assembling proposals when I have time.”
“When do you have time? You’ve got a lot going on at Ryland it sounds like. Did you work things out with Jeb?”
He stopped reaching for a chip to answer. “I convinced him to adjust the threshold on one measurement, but we’re still at odds. I don’t get where the hostility is coming from.”
“Matt said something about Ryland using inferior parts...?”
“That’s bullshit.” He lowered his voice. “Sorry to bark at you. We got faulty components from a vendor on an early shipment, but that’s long fixed. I overheard Matt’s wife complaining about it to her cousin who’s on our assembly line.”
“At the cookware party, right? Matt said you met his wife there. You sure you don’t want to change friendly to gossipy? Sounds like you’ve been stung, too.”
“What matters is we work out the problem.” It didn’t help that his father was disengaged lately. They needed to be united in this final push to get Ryland over the hump, so Dylan could leave the place with a clear conscience.
“I hope you do,” Tara said.
They dipped for salsa at the same time, the mere brush of her fingers sending a jolt of lust through him. He had it bad and it made him feel like a fool.
She swallowed, so at least he knew she’d felt something, too. “I didn’t see Harvey behind the bar,” she said. “He retire?”
“Couple years back, yeah.”
“He used to make us great drinks, remember?”
“He used to make you drinks. He liked you.”
“That’s because he didn’t dare say no to a Wharton. That was one situation I didn’t mind my name.”
“People liked you for you, not your name.”
She shook her head. “Trust me. I had good reason to hang with the dropouts, the stoners and the lost souls. They had enough troubles they didn’t give a shit what my name was.”
He could argue, but he could feel her opinion was set in stone.
She took another chip and dipped it, her face troubled. “I feel bad about some of that. The way I was and how it affected my friends. Like Dana, for example. She was a B student until I got hold of her. Her grades dropped. She never went to college.”
“That was her decision, not yours.”
“But I made screwing off look cool. It wasn’t fair. I had a safety net. I would never starve. I don’t intend to ever take a dime from my family, but I know, deep down, that if disaster strikes I’m covered. That’s an amazing gift I sneered at back then.”
“You were young. You had reasons.” At best, her parents treated her with benign neglect. At worst, deliberate cruelty. Children shouldn’t have to read between the lines to know they were loved.
“Don’t cut me slack, Dylan. I know the mistakes I made.”
They didn’t see the world the same—then or now. Maybe that couldn’t be helped. Tara, like everyone else, was made up of her experiences—the moments, big and small, good and bad, that had shaped her character, her hopes and expectations, her limits and her reach.
“You looked down on me back then,” she said. “Admit it.”
“I thought you were wasting your abilities.”
“You were such a straight arrow.” She pointed a chip at him, then licked the salt off.
He had to close his eyes to handle that sight. He’d forgotten that habit of hers. “Meanwhile, you used to call me Do Right Boy,” he said hoarsely.
“That’s right. I was pretty mean. How did you stand me?”
“I told you why last night.”
“I tickled your brain...I remember.” Attraction burned in her eyes, her pupils large and gleaming. She pursed her lips, her tongue peeking at him, the way she used to before she threw herself at him, as if she were famished and he were a banquet table. Their attraction surged again. It was constantly ticking in the background, waiting for one of them to flip the switch.
The waitress arrived with their beers, breaking the unbearable tension. When she’d gone, Tara tapped her beer to his. “To being wiser.”
“To that,” he said, feeling more foolish every second. “So how did your snooping go?”