Page 20 of Liar & Champion
“Which is why you shouldn’t be gallivanting around your house at all hours of the afternoon. Why don’t you put up your feet?” he said, putting a pillow on the table and lifting my feet. “Now, I will tell you all about the charming females that I encountered today.”
I rubbed my hands together. “Oooh, I sense a good story.”
“Josie Morton has a very old family. She told me all about it while we walked across the green towards the tennis court. She loves tennis and hiking, only not hiking outdoors, but on the treadmill with a nice elevated incline.”
“The two of you could treadmill hike together every week! It would be so romantic, and you wouldn’t even have to be together. I know Josie. She’s actually a sweetheart. She’s somewhat lacking in creativity, but she is genuinely kind.”
“She seemed very kind, if a little uninspiring.”
“There are worse things.”
“Indeed. That brings me to Christina Smallfield.”
I waited for him to elaborate, but he didn’t say anything. “Are you going to finish, or are you just waiting for me to give you an overview on her character?”
“If you could explain her motivations to me, I would be very grateful.”
“Hm. Well, she wants all the best things, and there’s nothing wrong with that. She has been dating a man from Harvard who comes from a lot of money, but she’s always looking for something better. You’re certainly better looking, and if your mother is as wealthy as I think she is, you can offer a little bit of everything.”
“Money and looks are everything?”
“Money buys all the things you want, and looks can get you everything else. I’m not speaking personally, because I value experiences over things, but for her, things and appearances as well as position are tops. That means that she’s always pulled together, and she’ll appreciate how gorgeous you are. She’ll perform well for your mother, because she’ll want to please someone in a position she wants to ingratiate herself with, so she’ll probably follow the rules of your mother’s assignment perfectly. She’s actually a pretty good choice, and she really is beautiful.”
“With perfect breasts,” he said, raising a brow.
I rolled my eyes. “I shouldn’t have said that, but since I did, you may as well know that they’re completely natural, if youcare about that kind of thing. Most men seem bewilderingly preoccupied with breasts.”
He smiled at me charmingly. “There are less interesting things to consider. Aren’t you going to cover her shortcomings?”
I hesitated. “That feels like gossip. If you could fill out the form on what you want, I’d be better able to steer you away from personalities and traits that wouldn’t mesh well with you, but I believe that everyone has strengths and weaknesses, because no one’s perfect, and no one’s a lost cause.”
He studied me. “Michael Dupre isn’t a lost cause?”
“He’s psychotic. If you got him on the right blend of medication, he’d probably be lovely.”
He grunted, looking unconvinced.
“Anyway, let’s start with personality,” I said, putting the notebook on my lap. “Do you prefer introverts or extroverts? Quiet or loud, shy or outgoing?”
He stared at me for a long time. “Can I like variety?”
I considered then I nodded and wrote down, “Emotional and moody.”
“Hey, I didn’t say emotional and moody, although that’s okay from time to time, but I don’t want a woman who’s a computer with only one set of programming. I want the full range of emotions.”
I tapped my lips. “You aren’t making this easy.”
He shrugged and put his feet up on the coffee table next to mine. “If it were easy, it wouldn’t be worth it.” That was written on the coffee mug on the table between our feet. He had yellow and blue striped socks while mine were yellow with pink kitten faces.
I harrumphed. “Schooled by an inanimate object. I’m clearly amazing at this. What do you want to do with your girlfriend? Do you want to attend sports or art? Opera or death metal? Grocery stores or organic farms?”
“Those are all equally valid options.”
“Meaning that you wouldn’t go to any of them?”
“Meaning that I’d be more interested in the woman than the thing we’d be doing, if she was the kind of woman I was interested in.”
“Then do tell, Nix. What kind of woman are you interested in?”
