Page 42 of Family Bonds- Kelsey & Van

“Then why all this wine?” he asked.

“I have a theory, but I doubt you want to hear it,” she said.

“No reason to keep quiet now,” he said. “You haven’t yet.”

“Good point,” she said. “Maybe the wine will loosen my tongue up more.”

He found glasses and poured her one once he opened it in the kitchen. She’d opened the two bags of snacks and pulled some out to munch on.

She didn’t need fancy plates or serving platters. Not that Van was going to offer that.

“Well now,” he said, once they returned to the deck and took their seats “Our butts are in a spot. How many sips do you need to loosen your tongue?”

They’d sat in silence for a few minutes while she waited to see if he was really interested in knowing.

“I should keep quiet.”

“Or not,” he said.

“If you insist,” she said, sending him a bright smile. “The Barry I knew didn’t live like this. If I had to guess his style, I’d say dark wood and brown leather. Old Victorian style. This is light and bright and modern. Staged like one of those homes redone on HGTV that everyone drools over and wishes they could have.”

“I suppose,” he said.

“I think that Barry might have wanted to make it a place you’d not want to leave. But if you did, then he’d make it nice enough to sell at top dollar.”

She knew this house had to go for four millioneasily. It was huge. On the water and modern.

Hell, four million would still cause a bidding war.

She’d kill for this house and could tell that an ex-detective from Wichita was completely out of his element and yet still trying to make it his own.

“You’re probably right,” he said. “Not sure why he cared enough though.”

“Do you want to talk about this?” she asked.

“No,” he said.

“Then we can drink and look at the view and enjoy the place you get to call home.”

“We can do that,” he said.

After five minutes of silence she was ready to launch herself out of the chair and shake as if she had cooties crawling on her. Silence bites.

“How do you feel about the rules of dating?” she asked. She had to talk. She couldn’t hold it in another second.

He turned and lifted his eyebrow at her. “You stayed silent longer than I thought you would. You’ve got some control.”

“Oh boy, you have no idea,” she said, laughing. “Answer my question.”

“What is there to think about?” he asked. “I’m not sure I know what the rules of dating are. I’m not the one that has been on dating apps.”

“Touché,” she said. “And yet here we are in the same position with our pitiful dating lives.”

“Pitiful?” he asked. “I’m also not the one that was thinking of getting prison pen pals.”

“I wasn’t thinking of doing that. Just making a point that if I wanted a pen pal Icoulddo that.”

He put his beer down on the table between them. “What is your point, Kelsey?”

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