having to come home after work on Fridays instead of being able to go out for drinks with his pals and flirt with twenty-year-olds whose bra sizes were bigger than their brains. He’d been almost as big a heart crusher as Nicole. Although nothing topped her.
Catherine’s smile looked genuine. Was it? Only time and close observation would tell. And whether Daddy liked it or not, Athena was going to be observing very carefully.
9
Trevor was on the same tour bus as the sisters, and he slipped into a seat right behind them. And Harriet made sure she beat his brother to the empty seat next to Trevor. Oh, joy.
Her butt was barely in the seat before she started in. “Did you know this is a two-thousand-year-old city?”
“No, but I bet our guide is going to tell us that,” he said.
Harriet shrugged as if to say, What does he know?
The last thing Trevor wanted was a history of Cologne from Harriet. He changed the subject. “How was your song-translating contest?”
She frowned. “Nobody wanted to do it. They’re all lazy brains.”
“Maybe they just wanted to party.”
“That would have been partying.”
For a moment, Trevor felt sorry for the kid. Being smart was a gift, but sometimes that gift went unappreciated by others.
“Most of the class just came here to drink and spend money, but I’m here for more than souvenirs. I’m here to learn and expand my horizons. Education is the key to success.”
“Can’t argue with that,” Trevor said.
“I had a scholarship to Western.”
And here she was at a community college. “How come you’re not there?”
“Money. The scholarship wasn’t enough. And I had no intention of being saddled with a student loan.”
Not enough money to make up the difference of the scholarship but here she was on this trip. Interesting.
“I only got to come on this trip because I saved my tip money from my barista job and did a bunch of housesitting last summer.”
“Good for you.” An ambitious kid. She’d go far.
“I’m getting my AA and then transferring. My parents said if I did that they’d help me pay for two years at Western so I can get my BA. After that I’m going to get my master’s and then a doctorate. I want to be a history professor.”
Harriet had her whole life mapped out. Good for her.
“I’m not going to get married, though. Commingling money is a bad idea.”
“Sounds like you’ve got your life pretty well planned,” he said.
“I do. All that’s missing is the right man. I want someone mature and successful.”
Here she paused to give him a coy smile. Oh, boy.
“Someone who wants a woman who’s smart. You’re a businessman. I bet you want a smart woman.”
Now he was feeling squirmy.
Giggles danced back to him from where the sisters were sitting. Yeah, easy for them to laugh. They weren’t stuck sitting next to Miss Big Bang.
“I think I’m a little too old for you, Harriet,” he said.
“Age is just a number,” she informed him.
The bus doors shut and their guide picked up his microphone. Thank God.
“Welcome to beautiful Cologne,” said the guide as the bus started moving. “Or, as we call it, Köln. I am Karl, and it will be my pleasure to tell you all about our wonderful city. Cologne is two thousand years old.”
“Told you,” Harriet whispered.
“It spans the Rhine River and is the fourth largest city in Germany. We are famous for our medieval cathedral with its twin towers. Cologne is one of the key inland ports of Europe and remains a banking center as it was in the Middle Ages.”
“I knew all that,” Harriet said in disgust.
“He’s just warming up. I’m sure he’ll eventually tell you something you don’t know,” Trevor said, feeling a little disgusted himself. Harriet knew a lot of stuff, but somebody needed to make her take a class in social interaction.
“The city was heavily bombed during World War II, and our cathedral was badly damaged, but it survived the bombing,” said the guide.
“I read that the towers were used as an easily recognizable navigational landmark by Allied aircraft,” Harriet said to Trevor. She shook her head. “Poor Germany. It has such a dark history, doesn’t it?”
“I think most of the people here would as soon try and forget it,” Trevor said.
“Some things you shouldn’t forget, though. You know that saying, if you don’t learn from history you’re bound to repeat it.”
Trevor was familiar with the saying but he was surprised she knew it. “I don’t think anyone’s planning on repeating that particular