Rock Me All Night by Katherine Garbera Page B

the store her grandparents ran in Brooklyn. “My great-grandmother.”
    Jack went over to study the picture, looking completely at home. Only when they sat down at the table to eat did Lauren feel awkward. The day had been a strange one and she was still adjusting. She was also tired from the early-morning shift.
    â€œThis is good. I had no idea such results were possible in only thirty minutes,” he said.
    â€œFlattery will get you everywhere,” she said.
    â€œIt’s sincere.”
    â€œI know.” And she did know. Or was starting to get to know him well enough to recognize that Jack didn’t tell social white lies.
    She noticed he hadn’t stopped looking at her kitchen walls, which were covered in pictures. She had some prints that Duke had sent her from Florence. Some pictures of her parents grilling at their house. Some of her brother and his family. She settled deeper into her seat and realized that she’d surrounded herself with them.
    What was his family like? She didn’t want to ask him any questions, given the way he’d reacted when she’d mentioned his father’s accident earlier today. But then, she knew he didn’t like to share anything personal. Those details seemed to slip out unexpectedly.
    â€œMy grandmother taught me to cook. My mom was always too busy to learn, and Grandma thought she’d never have a girl to teach what she’d spent a lifetime perfecting. I can’t explain it, but it was so special when I was with her in the kitchen.”
    â€œYour family is full of traditions and togetherness,” he said. In his voice she heard something that sounded almost like longing, but that couldn’t be right. Jack Montrose had everything any red-blooded American man could want. Why would he envy her?
    She’d never thought about it but he was right. Her family had a ton of traditions that were more like rituals sometimes. “I’m sure you do, too. Didn’t you say your mom called all the time?”
    â€œYes, but my family is nothing like yours. My mom was an orphan and my dad…well, let’s just say he had a falling out with his family before he made it big.”
    Lauren’s heart ached at what he didn’t say. Only because she knew Ty as well did she realize how little family the Montrose men had. It was really the two of them and their mom. “Did they accept him once he was famous?”
    â€œThey tried to. But old Dave wasn’t one to forgive and forget, so he said screw them—except with more vulgarity—and we haven’t spoken to them since.”
    â€œI could talk to my mom if you all want to go on her show. She’s big into healing those kinds of rifts.”
    â€œNo. We’re not really into the spotlight.”
    â€œWhy not?”
    â€œProbably because my dad always went after it,” Jack said. She knew he didn’t want to say more. She remembered a picture in Ty’s office of him and Jack wearing identical American-flag suits and standing next to motorbikes. Though she wasn’t going to ask any more questions, she’d bet that they had been made to perform after their father’s accident. How people could treat their own kin so shabbily she couldn’t understand.
    â€œI’m sorry you didn’t have any grandparents. My grandfather loved to spoil Duke and me. He was always slipping us candy and cutting up with us at the dinner table. I can’t imagine not having that.”
    â€œYou don’t miss what you never had.”
    Jack didn’t say anything else but continued eating his meal.
    â€œThanks for the Manilow CD.”
    â€œDid you listen to it?”
    â€œHell, no. I told you men don’t like him.”
    â€œHa. How about I send you a CD you will like?”
    â€œOf what?”
    â€œMy biggest requests.”
    â€œYou have that?”
    â€œYes. Last Christmas the station made a CD of my show and we sold them