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Yeah, right. I chuckle dryly.
“Has she been bothering you lately?” he asks carefully.
I shrug, not wanting to go into the details of how Johanna still reaches out to me. Her contacting me at all is annoying, and the rate at which she won’t give up is becoming bothersome. “Whatever she might want to say to me will be a lie.”
“I hate liars,” he growls.
I nod and fold my arms over my chest. “Yeah.” About that. He’s not even aware that Aubrey was fibbing about giving up on teaching. Her words come back to me. People change their minds. Yeah, they do. “Does Aubrey seem wishy-washy to you?”
He widens his eyes in surprise. “You go from my question about Johanna to wondering about Aubrey?”
I’m more interested in finding out info about the raven-haired beauty who can’t stand me than I am about rehashing details about the ex I want to forget. “Does she?”
He furrows his brow. “Wishy-washy? No, I don’t get that impression from her. I only know a little bit about her from how she helped Lauren get out of that wedding. And whatever Lauren’s told me.”
That’s how I feel. I recall Aubrey aiding us with the “great escape” from that ceremony at the vineyard. I have the little information I saw online to rely on, but that isn’t enough to know someone. It irks me that I want to know about her, but I prefer indulging this curiosity about her over talking about my life and drama in New York.
“Listen.” Caleb clears his throat and glances at me. “Aubrey isn’t like us, all right?”
I face him, waiting for him to tell me this intel to my face.
“I don’t know everything about her, but Lauren’s given me a bit of background.”
“How is she not like us?”
He hesitates for a second. “She doesn’t have money. She didn’t come from money either.”
Caleb grew up wealthy from his many generations of success at Thatcher Metal Works. I also was raised with my family’s wealth, but I’ve far surpassed it on my own. Still, I hate to think that money is a great divide. It is, no matter what, it is, but I don’t like it.
“Her parents passed away in a car accident when she was eighteen. From what I know, they were close. She was an only child.”
So, not like the proper parents I have and distance myself from—a mother and father who are still alive but not interested in my life. Unlike Caleb, too, whose father recently passed away and whose mother ran off from the responsibility of being a parent after he was born.
“Lauren and Aubrey are like sisters,” he tells me. “They met in college. Lauren says that’s the only time in her past that she ever felt free, that she ever felt like she was discovering herself and being her. Aubrey got into the same college with scholarships, and she fought hard to maintain good grades to keep them and obtain her degrees. They never would’ve crossed paths if not for meeting in college. They come from different circles and backgrounds, but they’re like sisters. They’ll stay like that, too. She’s family to Lauren, more than her real family was.”
I snort. “And definitely more than the family she almost married into.”
Caleb laughs once without mirth. “Yeah. For sure.”
I sigh, gazing at the majestic views far in the distance. It’s like I’ve been transplanted into a whole new universe, one where I now feel like shit for goading this woman and replying with snark in kind.
“So…” He shrugs. “I don’t know. Go easy on her, all right?”
I frown. “I’m not going to let her give me attitude.”
He rolls his eyes. “No. I’m not saying you should. Honestly, I was surprised when she showed up. She was in a bad mood yesterday. It sounds like you were acting like an asshole on the road, and that’s on you.” Now he slants his brows in disapproval. “Which you need to apologize for, but maybe something’s going on with Aubrey. Lauren commented before we headed to dinner that she seemed extra upset.”
I wonder what it could be. If it’s not just a damn aversion to me, then what?
I rub the back of my neck, feeling a bit uncomfortable about how much I want to know.
This is not the time to start anything with anyone…
I bet I could tell myself to think again a hundred times and I still won’t shake how intrigued I am.
Clearly, Aubrey hasn’t had an easy life like Caleb or I have, and I can’t assume to know her. She’s made it obvious she hates me right off the bat, too. Regardless, I’m convinced her sassy attitude and the way she tries to avoid me isn’t an accurate portrayal of the woman she really is deep down.
She’s hiding herself. I can tell she is, but I really want to get to know that woman.
