Page 31 of Kiss and Tell

She grinned, grabbing the syrup and butter before joining him at the table.

She held the syrup away from him. “We still haven’t gotten to theManPowerpart.”

“I was just getting to it.” He reached for the syrup, the two of them engaging in a playful tug-of-war that ended when Miles’s arm brushed against her breast, and he abruptly reared back as if he’d touched an open flame.

She blinked a couple of times to try to clear the lust, then handed him the bottle.

Miles recovered more quickly than her. “One of the original producers onJudge and Rockystarted working on a new cable show,ManPower, and she suggested that I audition. I told her I’d never been in front of a camera before, but she insisted I try out. She said someone with my voice and looks should be heardandseen.”

“Was she flirting with you?”

Miles shook his head. “She’s in her late sixties and has been happily married to her wife for over a decade. They’d dated nearly twenty years before that and were probably the first couple in line to apply for a marriage license the second gay marriage was legalized in California.”

“Obviously you got the part.”

“I did. They’d already chosen Joey, so they were auditioning a bunch of people with him for the cohost position. The second I met him, it was like we’d known each other our entire lives. Joey said he knew within three minutes of me walking into that audition that he wanted me to get the job. Our rapport must have come through because they called to offer me the gig before I even got home from the audition.”

“That’s so awesome. Now,thatshow I’ve watched from the start. Swear,” Lucy said, crossing her heart. “Sam was watching the trailers on his phone in the brewhouse one day, mentioned we should check it out, and we did. One show in and we were addicted. None of us had a clue that Uncle Rex had written to suggest Stormy Weather Farm for an episode. He said he didn’t want us to be disappointed if nothing came of the request. You could have knocked Levi down with a feather when your producer called to see if we were interested and to set up filming. We celebrated our asses off that night and paid for it the next morning. Even so, no regrets.”

Miles wiped his mouth. “Joey’s family, the Morettis, are big fans of celebrations too.”

“What about your family?”

“Not so much. I mean, we do the biggies—Christmas and Thanksgiving—but the rest…” He shrugged. “Even birthdays when I was growing up were low-key. I usually just got a card, a small gift, and Mom made my favorite dinner. I think I told you my parents were divorced.”

She nodded.

“Money was always tight. Dad gave her as much child support as he could afford, but he struggled to hold down a job due to some issues with depression.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

“He and Mom split right after my little sister was born. I was only five, so I don’t remember a whole lot about him living with us. Truth is, when I think back, all I remember about my dad is him yelling. The house was quieter and nicer after he left.”

Lucy rarely talked about her own parents. She’d been young when they passed away, but still old enough to remember the yelling. “My parents were in the process of getting divorced when they died.”

Miles’s eyes widened. “I didn’t realize.”

She grinned sadly. “Yeah, I know. The Storms really are one big happy family…now. But it wasn’t always like that.”

“You said you were ten when they died?” Miles asked.

She was touched he’d remembered that, that he’d listened so closely to her story about her grandparents the other night.

“I was. And just like you, a lot of my memories of them involve fights and yelling.”

“That couldn’t have been easy for you.”

Lucy moved the last few bites of her pancake around on her plate, too full to eat any more. “My mom met Dad by chance. She’d just graduated from college and embarked on a cross-country road trip. She was a photographer. Her car broke down when she was driving through Gracemont. Dad stopped to help her and…she never continued her journey. According to Granddaddy, the two of them had a whirlwind love affair, falling hard and fast, married within three months. Nine months later, I arrived. I was a honeymoon baby,” she confided.

“You’re not kidding about whirlwind.”

“The first six or seven years of my life were idyllic. Growing up on the farm with my sisters and cousins, fishing in the creek, playing hide-and-seek in the vineyard, riding bikes. It was a great childhood.”

“What changed?” Miles asked.

“Mom,” Lucy said simply. “Farm life isn’t for everyone, and I guess she started regretting that she’d never finished that cross-country trip. Once resentment kicked in, things at home were less happy. They would get into these yelling and screaming battles. Dad couldn’t understand why she’d married him and had kids if she was so unhappy. He’d grown up on the mountain, and like the rest of my family, he couldn’t conceive of anywhere else being better than right here. Mom would yell back, tell him there was more to life, that they weren’t tied to the land, that he could get a job anywhere.”

“Where did she want to move to?”

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