“Reese is twenty-two, not sixteen. I’m hoping Rosemary doesn’t have to find out.”

“What about Walker? What do you think he’ll have to say about one of your friends hooking up with his little brother?”

Marlow was embarrassed just imagining what Walker might make of that. “I hope he doesn’t have to find out, either.”

Claire finished her wine, set the glass aside and hugged her knees to her chest. “I noticed that he avoids looking at you when he’s around. Is there a reason? Or am I reading into it?”

This comment surprised Marlow. Aida never would’ve noticed. But Claire was more thoughtful, more observant. “We have a bit of...history,” she admitted.

“And you haven’t mentioned that? You’ve been holding back when you’re so intimately familiar with our dirty laundry?” she teased.

“There’s nothing to talk about. Not really.”

“What happened between you two? And when?”

Marlow was feeling a slight buzz, but she didn’t put her glass down because she was finally able to relax and start enjoying herself after stewing about Walker through dinner. “We had several...encounters.”

“That sounds interesting. What kind of encounters?”

“He had a thing for me while we were growing up. The first time he tried to kiss me, I was sixteen and he was eighteen.”

“And you weren’t interested?” she said in surprise.

“Not in the least.”

“Is something wrong with his personality? Because he’s gorgeous.”

“There’s nothing wrong with his personality. I’m ashamed to admit it, but I thought he was a step down. He’d been around since I could remember, so he wasn’t anything special to me. I had big hopes and dreams, and I didn’t want any boy, least of all Walker, to get in my way.”

“Maybe you weren’t ready when he made that move. It was too soon.”

“Yeah, well, he made plenty of other moves, both before and after I went to college. He was too devoted to me. That’s why I never gave anything back. I was a little bitch when I was growing up.”

“You were probably dealing with your own issues—the normal challenges of puberty mixed with trying to grow up so fast. Being put ahead two years in school couldn’t have been easy. Having a father who was a US senator probably put a lot of pressure on you, too.”

Leave it to Claire to put the best possible spin on it. “It doesn’t matter. I shouldn’t have acted that way. I really had no excuse.”

“You were just a kid. Don’t be too hard on yourself. Did he stay in touch after you got your law degree and opened your practice?”

“No. But he was always around for bits of the summer or holidays when I came home. With time, I think he just...started to hate me for real.”