LITMIR.BIZ

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change in subject jarred a little, but she welcomed it. “We were roommates our freshman year. We lived together all through undergraduate school, then got an apartment together.”

      “You two are an unusual pair. You’ve got kind of a yin and yang thing going.”

      That caused her to laugh. “I’ve never heard it put quite that way before. But, yeah, we make a good team. Things were rough at the beginning, though. Melanie was out all night majoring in boys and beer, and I had to be up early for track practice. Unfortunately—or in our case, fortunately—University Housing didn’t allow for room switching until a few weeks into the semester. By then we’d worked it out. I guess we’ve rubbed off a bit on each other over the years—filling in the holes, so to speak. It’s going to be really tough to get used to not having her around all the time.”

      “Why move home now?” He relaxed back in his chair and casually draped an arm across the back of hers as he asked. The closeness of his body put hers on high alert, and she felt the fine hairs on the back of her neck rise to attention.

      Just focus on the conversation. “Nine Chicago winters too many. Anyway, after spending all those years wanting to get out of Alabama, it didn’t take all that long for me to realize how much I missed it. With Mel getting married and moving out anyway, the job offer seemed like fate or something. Moving while she’s on her honeymoon keeps the goodbyes from being all weepy.”

      Matt offered her the last of the wine, and she held out her glass. Full of good food and enjoying both the view and the company, she wasn’t in any hurry for dinner to end. He didn’t seem in a rush, either, so she relaxed back in her chair, enjoying the slight weight of his arm against her.

      “So what do you do with those degrees in computer science, Ella Augustine Mackenzie?”

      The shock of hearing her middle name nearly caused her to choke on her wine again. Then she remembered pulling her degrees out from storage under the couch last week for packing and leaning them against the wall. He must have seen them earlier. “Hey, Augustine’s a family name.”

      Matt snorted.

      “What’s your middle name, hotshot?”

      “Matthew.”

      “Oh.” So much for that witty retort. “What’s your first name, then?”

      “William.” A smug smile twitched at the corners of his mouth.

      “Lucky you. Well, William Matthew Jacobs, until two weeks ago, I was a software designer. Two weeks from now, I’ll be the design team head at SoftWerx.”

      Matt let out an impressed whistle. “I’ve heard of them. Congratulations.”

      Pride bubbled up inside her. She’d been so caught up in the wedding, she hadn’t had time to fully adjust to the idea of her success. “Your turn. How’d you end up in Atlanta?”

      Matt sipped at his wine and signaled the server for the check. “Strictly business. I, too, went to college out of state—Ohio State, actually—but for different reasons than you. Did Melanie tell you I have five brothers?”

      “Actually I’ve heard quite a bit about the Jacobs six-pack. I’ve even met a few.”

      “There you have it. I was tired of being ‘that youngest Jacobs boy.’ All five of my brothers stayed around here, so I had to be different and go out of state. I ended up at Penn for law school and got in with a local firm. They opened a new office in Atlanta two years later, and I was sent there.” He shrugged as if his job was nothing—the law equivalent of flipping burgers at McDonald’s. Something about the way he carried himself, though, made her think otherwise.

      “What kind of law do you practice?”

      “Mainly entertainment. I take care of a lot of the contracts for most of the major venues in town. A few local celebs keep us on retainer, as well.”

      “Anybody interesting?”

      “Couldn’t tell you even if I wanted to,” he teased her.

      “Do you like Atlanta? I haven’t been there in years.”

      “I love it.” His hand came to rest on Ella’s shoulder. Rusty or not at the flirting thing, as his thumb slid lightly over her skin, even she could recognize he was flirting with her. She shivered at the sensation as all her blood seemed to rush to her skin. Focusing on the conversation took on a whole new level of difficulty. “All the excitement of Chicago without all the snow,” he continued, and it took her a second to remember what they were talking about. “In fact, I’ve gotten a bit thin-blooded in the past few years, and I try to avoid coming up here at all in the winter.”

      She pulled herself together with a deep breath. “That must make coming home for Christmas a bit difficult.”

      “I don’t think anyone notices when I don’t make it.”

      “I don’t believe that for a second.”

      “Seriously, we are the Catholic family cliché. You think Brian’s family is bad? Mine’s worse.”

      “I think Brian’s family is nice—a little loud when they’re all together, but…”

      “Brian’s got nothing on my family when it comes to loud. My mom and dad have nine brothers and sisters, so I have, let’s see, um, twenty-two—no, twenty-three—first cousins. All my brothers are married and have two or three kids apiece. There’s at least fifty people at my mom’s house on any given holiday. That is the definition of loud.”

      She was such a sucker for the idea of a big family gathering—noisy or not. How could he be so blasé about it? “I’m sure they take note of who’s there.”

      “Well, my brothers and I look a lot alike, so short of actually calling roll…” He sighed. “Do you have siblings?”

      “No, it was just me and my grandparents.”

      “Consider yourself lucky. Everyone was at the house today, and it was an absolute zoo. It’s enough to drive a man crazy. I used to dream of being an only child. Sometimes I still do.” Matt was the picture of the aggrieved youngest child, and Ella sipped at the last of her wine to stifle a laugh.

      “And I used to dream about being in a big family. I mean, Mel’s family has adopted me, for all intents and purposes, but it’s not quite the same thing. I guess everyone wants what they don’t have.”

      “Usually I’d say you were right. Especially after a day like today.”

      This time she did laugh. She couldn’t help it. “Mel’s told me about your mother. I can’t imagine she’s too happy with the lack of grandchildren from you.”

      “I hear it all the time. Someday I’ll see what I can do about that. Right now it’s not really an option.”

      Ella wondered about that statement as Matt moved away from her in order to pay. The light teasing tone that had marked their entire evening evaporated once they started talking about his family. Mel hadn’t mentioned any rifts in the family—not beyond the norm, at least. Maybe he was just touchy about the whole get-married-and-have-kids thing. She could relate to that.

      With Matt’s arm gone, she missed the warmth that emanated from him. Although the restaurant temperature was comfortable, she shivered as the heat dissipated. Matt noticed.

      “Do you need my jacket?” He was already lifting it off the back of his chair and holding it out to her.

      “Your mama must have raised you right. Or else Southern manners have rubbed off on you.”

      “I will pass the compliment along to Mom.” He continued to hold the jacket out to her.

      “No, but thanks. I’m fine.” She wrapped her shawl around her shoulders as Matt shrugged into his jacket.

      But as they left the restaurant,

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