Page 46 of S.O.S. Billboard

When she returned to the car not ten minutes later, having purchased everything for her blackened shrimp dish, Billboard started in immediately upon pulling back into traffic.

“You’ve only had three boyfriends?” he asked. “And you’re…how old?”

They hadn’t previously discussed any of this stuff, and O’Shea settled back to share. “I’m twenty-eight, and I have very discerning tastes.”

He groaned. “You’re just a baby.”

“A baby who had the responsibility of adulting since she could walk,” O’Shea reminded him. “Sometimes it feels like I never had a childhood.”

“Something we’ll have to remedy,” he responded cryptically. “but first, were those boyfriends anything serious?” he posed.

Was the man jealous? If he was, he wouldn’t be for long.

“Nope,” she gave over. “The one in middle school was to get kissing out of the way. The guy in high school was to get fucking out of the way, and the boyfriend in college, I soon learned, had no intentions of learning where a woman’s clit is located. That asshole lasted all of two weeks, and that was one week too long.”

Billboard almost choked on that information, but recovered nicely.

“Okay then.” He cleared his throat. “I, uh, didn’t know where that was going, but I’m…relieved, I guess? Now, you mentioned your less-than-stellar parents. Can we talk about them?” He raised a brow.

“Nope. Not yet,” O’Shea stated determinedly. “That stuff’s at the bottom of my sharing list. But I promise we’ll get tomytough stuff when you’re ready to parcel out your hidden-down-deep garbage pile.”

“So, a few years from now, then?” Billboard attempted to quip.

O’Shea didn’t let up. “Uh, not even close. I’ll be long gone if I haven’t managed to pry the lid off your shit-jar before that.”

“Great,” he huffed. “I’ll see what I can do.”

His entire body, however, had gone rigid, even though the banter appeared outwardly to be lighthearted.

“Fine.” O’Shea pretended not to notice his discomfort. “Now it’s time for me to throwyoua few softball questions.”

“Okay,” he agreed warily.

He’d said his father had died when he was young, but that might be part of Billboard’s trigger, so O’Shea avoided that.

“I know you’re an only child, and you’ve talked about your grandmother who passed, but do you have any other extended family? Cousins? Aunts and Uncles?”

His shoulders relaxed, and his lips quirked up.

“I have two aunts and two uncles on my mother’s side. As well as seven cousins,” he gave over with a huge grin. “They all live in Vermont, and are a lively bunch. I visit when I can, and they come to see me, but we don’t get together nearly enough.”

O’Shea immediately placed a road-trip to Vermont on her wish-list.

That smile of Billboard’s told her he not only enjoyed his relatives’ company, but that he felt joyful and comfortable around them, which was something she wanted for the often-taciturn man. Selfishly, however, she also wanted to see if Billboard’s cousins were all like him; larger than life, and had any insight into his problems.

Continuing her questioning, she wondered about Billboard’s propensity to travel. “Do you like to go places? Drive? Fly? Take a train or a bus?”

He wrinkled his nose. “No trains or busses,” he revealed. “But I love to drive, and flying is good because it gets you where you’re going, quickly.”

She knew he was a helicopter pilot, so…duh.

“Best trip you’ve ever taken?” she asked.

“That’s easy. For my Mom’s sixtieth birthday two years ago, I took her to Greece.”

“Wow.” O’Shea couldn’t imagine. “The farthest I’ve ever been is Canada. I’d like to go to Europe someday.”

“Maybe we…?” Billboard started and stopped, obviously thinking twice over what he’d been about to offer.

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