After perusing the
menu, they agreed on steak and shrimp. Once the waiter was
gone, Jason said, "Tell me about yourself. You have a twin
sister, you don't work—"
"How do you know
that?" she asked sharply.
"Isabella told me,
the one time we met. She said something about your father
leaving you financially sound."
"Oh." She seemed to
calm down.
Jason wondered if
she thought he'd been checking up on her. She was certainly
a private person. "Your parents
are gone, I assume?" He treaded lightly, still
interested in learning more about her.
"Yes." Sabrina
sighed. "Our mother died when we were three. Father and
various housekeepers raised us."
"That chatterbox,
Mrs. Baker?" he teased.
The corners of her
mouth hinted at a smile, and Sabrina looked at him. "No,
Theresa hasn't been with us that long. Several years, of
course, but not when we were children. She's a fine woman. I
don't believe she would have let…" She took a sip of her
water.
"Let what, Sabrina?"
he prodded.
"Nothing." She shook
her head. "We went through housekeepers quickly when we were
children, is all. They never seemed to stick around for very
long."
He fiddled with the
straw in his drink. "You and Isabella were naughty little
girls, then."
Her eyes flashed for
a moment, but when she looked up and saw Jason's grin, she
must have realized he was teasing. Relaxing, she sighed
again. "No, not exactly. Our father was a hard man to work
for."
"Ah ha." He nodded
in understanding and their dinner arrived. They continued to
chat over the meal, and he regaled her with stories of
growing up in Chicago. The tales of two ornery little boys
and one smelly dog had her laughing until, finally, she
pushed her plate away.
"I'm stuffed. My
stomach hurts from laughing. I couldn't eat another bite."
He glanced at her
half-eaten meal. "Would you like a doggie-bag?"
"We don't have a
dog," Sabrina replied seriously.
"Oh, right." He
smiled and finished eating. The Kane family apparently
didn't hang on to leftovers.
He finished his meal
and paid the check. As they stood outside by his motorcycle,
he handed a helmet to her and asked, "I wondered if you'd
like to come back to my place and see some of my work."
"Your etchings, so
to speak?" she teased.
He blushed and
grinned. "So to speak."