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I frown "You sound like a philosopher"

She frowns back "And you sound like you don’t respect philosophy very much"

"All philosophical questions can be answered with one concise statelass "Which is?"

" ‘Who gives a fuck?’ "

She laughs, and it’s an a sound

"Do you doartyourself, or just study other people’s work?"

Her cheeks blush "I sketch, actually"

My eyes are iht of the fireplace It’s an incredibly realistic likeness of young Riley, holding twin babies on her lap I noticed it when I first walked in--you can practically hear the childish, s voice

"Is that one of yours?" I point

Chelsea nods, still shy

"You’re good" I don’t give cohtly

Later, later--she talks about her brother

"Robbie was fifteen years older than me I was my parents’ midlife-crisis child My dad had a heart attack when I was about Riley’s age My h school" She sips her wine, a mischievous shine in her eye "I was kind of a wild child after that"

I raise lass "Weren’t we all?" I drink the Merlot "So, you lived with your brother after your parents passed away?"

She nods "Not here though We were in a smaller place off Cherry Tree It was just Riley and the boys then--and rew up together, then?"

"Yeah Rachel was like a big sister and a second mother all rolled into one She was incredible" And there’s a htens "She was the one who really pushed me to travel Study abroad I spent a semester in Rome, summers in Paris" Her eyes drop from mine self-consciously "God, I sound so spoiled Poor little rich girl, right?"

I shake ed and spoiled"

And Chelsea McQuaid doesn’t have a spoiled bone in her body She knows she’s fortunate, and she appreciates every blessing

"I’d love to take the kids to Europe one day To show the of a Lia one of the McQuaid kids, it’d be an hour, tops, before he’d be begging to send the the way her skin glows in the firelight And before I know it, it’s allass on the coffee table and yawns

"I should get going," I say, even though I don’t want to "I’ve kept you up past your bedtime When does the human alarm clock usually rise?"

"Ronan wakes up around six But" Her eyes trail oversleep over Thank you for the wine--the conversation I had a really great tireat tiht