“I like it here, too. I like the crazy charm of this city. Maybe I even love it here, and so does Dorothy.”

“How long have you lived in the city?”

“Let’s see … we moved from Atlanta the year Dorothy was born. Regina landed a job in investment banking right out of grad school. I was just out of the military. The plan was to swap baby duties. I’d be with Dorothy during the workweek, and her mom took over while I did renovations after hours and on the weekends. It seemed like a good system, but it wasn’t so great for the marriage.”

“Sounds hard,” she said, trying to imagine the struggles of a young family. She felt like asking him a million questions but didn’t want to inundate him. Realizing he was single had caused such a swift realignment of her impression of him that she wanted to dig down a layer. Questions that would be inappropriate to ask a married man were suddenly possible.

“You’re looking at me funny,” he said.

They were unbalanced. After all the hours he’d spent in the bookstore, he knew everything about her. Yet he’d never leveled with her about his own life. It made her wonder what else he hadn’t told her.

“I feel like I’m just getting to know you,” she said.

“What? I’m an open book. Ask me anything.”

“How is it you’re so smooth at a black-tie event? Did you have some kind of fancy life back in Atlanta?”

“Ha. You could say that. Or you could say a phony life.”

“What was phony about it?”

“Damn, where do I start? My dad was in finance. The kind you’re picturing—big house in an old neighborhood, a staff, private schools, plenty of black-tie action. It was all great until Dad went to prison for fraud.”

“What? No.”

“Yep. My sister and I were teenagers. We didn’t know what hit us. Everything went away, practically overnight. The only money we had was in our college savings plans. So instead of college, Junebug went into treatment, and I joined the Marines. The only things left had no value, like how to wear a tux. Which fork to use. How to saber the top off a bottle of champagne.”

Natalie absorbed the information. It made her head spin. “Junebug’s your sister?”

“Yeah. June Barbara. She had some trouble with prescription drugs. Seems to be okay now.”

“I don’t know what to say.” What most fascinated Natalie about Peach was the way he seemed to take life in stride. Clearly he’d had his share of ups and downs—a massive family drama, a stint in the military he didn’t talk about, a divorce—yet nothing seemed to faze him. She wished she could be more like that.

A breeze lifted her hair, and she shivered slightly.

“Cold?” he asked. “You want my coat?”