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This was where she had to be more guarded. She wasn’t going to say much more than what he did. Names, what they did and where they lived.
“Quinn is ten years older than me. She lives in Lake Placid with her husband, Max. She’s a stay-at-home mom. She was hired as his nanny years ago when he relocated there. He was living in Rye before that.”
“What does he do that he was able to afford a nanny?” he asked.
“He’s a plastic surgeon. Max Hamilton. He had a practice here with his father. Or somewhere in New York City. I don’t have the details and didn’t ask much. He got custody of his kids in his divorce and wanted to give them a quieter life and he opened his practice there. Davy is eighteen and in college. Lara is sixteen. Then Quinn had a daughter, Jocelyn who is five and a son Carson who is three. I lived with them when I wasn’t in college and then before I moved here.”
“What about your other siblings?” he asked.
“Karl is next. He works in a manufacturing plant. I’m not close with him. I think he’s still around the Chicago area, close to my other brother Brett. Brett is married to Annie and they’ve got two boys. Scotty and Matty.”
“So you’ve got several nieces and nephews.”
“I do,” she said. “Though I’m closer to Jocelyn and Carson, as I used to babysit them when I lived there. I miss them. I talk to Quinn once a week and the kids get on and talk too. We video chat. Lara is a riot. She texts me a lot.”
“What about your parents?” he asked.
She knew this would come up. “I don’t know who my father is. We all have different fathers. I’m not close with my mother. We don’t talk.”
“Looks like we’ve got enough background on each other,” he said. “So tell me things you like to do.”
She was glad he wasn’t pressing for more on her family. With any luck it would stay that way.
8
TAKING NOTES
Braylon was no idiot. He knew when someone didn’t want to talk about details of their past and he’d let it go.
He got enough out of Lilian and he’d have to accept that for now.
She didn’t have to explain to him why she didn’t talk to her mother anymore. The fact that she didn’t know who her father was could play a huge part in it.
“I haven’t done much since I’ve been here,” she said. “I haven’t had time. I moved in early July. I haven’t been back home since.”
It was telling to him that home was with her sister.
“Do you plan on going home for the holidays?” he asked.
“Thanksgiving,” she said. “I’ll tell Quinn tomorrow when I talk to her. I bought my plane ticket last weekend. Don’t laugh at me.”
“Never,” he said seriously. “Tell me.”
“I was setting food up for a meeting for work and they had these pastries that looked like they’d been frozen and baked. I don’t know. I’m spoiled. Quinn is an amazing cook. She worked in restaurants before she became Max’s nanny. I still think she won him over with her cooking. He can’t cook and his last nanny couldn’t either.”
Braylon wanted to know more but didn’t ask. There would be time for that, he was positive.
“My mother made sure we could all cook,” he said. “I can do the basics, but I don’t much.”
“I’m sure you pick up things each day while you’re out,” she said, then paused to eat some of her fish that had been brought out quickly.
“I do,” he said. “I’ve got things for breakfast but normally skip it and then grab something at work.”
“Do you have your assistant get you something?” she asked, lifting her eyebrows.
“Only if she offers. I’d never ask,” he said. “I’m not like that. I’m a grown man and can take care of feeding myself.”
Lilian smiled. “I work with adults, but they have more fun bossing people around.”
