The Desire Variable | Rewrite

⸻ THIRTY-FIVE ⸻

An irresistible grin bends my mouth as I sip on my wine. Dear Lord, it's delicious. "I didn't even ask you how your sister's visit in town went," I say, bending to take a pig in a blanket.

"It was all right. Lucy can be very bossy and doesn't seem to have realized yet that I'm a grown man." His annoyance amuses me because it hits way too close to home. Tyler often forgets I'm an adult woman, too.

"Lucy is the eldest, right? Why was she here?"

"She is, yes. And she was in Seattle for a seminar. She's the head of her pediatric department, and because she's excellent at her job, she gets invited as a speaker nationwide. She rarely goes, but since I live here, she accepted."

"Where does she live?"

"She moved back to Denver when she finished her doctorate."

"Moved back? Are you Colemans originally from Colorado?" I ask, genuinely surprised.

"I was born there, yes. But then we moved to Seattle when I was around five. I'm the only one still living here. Emila moved to New York, and Juliet followed Lucy to Denver a couple of years after she left. My parents are always moving around, my father especially. Miriam is mostly in Denver but comes to Seattle a few months per year."

"Miriam?"

"My mother."

"You call your mom by her name?"

"She doesn't have a maternal bone in her body, so I stopped calling her 'mom' long ago."

His tone is detached, but I can sense the pain and resentment behind his words. I love my mom with all my heart, and she's exceptionally maternal. I can't imagine what it must be like to grow up with an emotionally indifferent woman. Is it why Lex is so cold and distant at first glance? It took a while for me to see everything underneath his facade, and cold or distant aren't among them.

I don't want to press him about his parents since the topic is clearly sensitive, so I ask, "Why did you guys move here?"

"My father needed to get closer to Alaska for work, and my mother refused to live there. Seattle was the best compromise they found. It was that or a divorce. In hindsight, my sisters and I realized a divorce would have been a preferable outcome."

"They didn't get along?"

"Worse. They ignored each other. They lived separate lives together and didn't even try to keep up with appearances. My father had his mistresses, and my mother had her occupations. The more he'd indulge in extramarital affairs, the more she'd spend on charities. The Colemans are renowned for their generosity when it comes to donations. Truly it's just Miriam getting back at her husband by hitting him where it hurts the most—money."

There's a moment of silence as Lex takes a pensive sip of his wine. I still remember how he told me he doesn't do relationships, and now I understand why. His primary reference regarding life partners is a disastrous one.

"Now, before my fucked up family history completely ruins the mood, let's switch to a much more interesting subject," he suggests, angling himself to face me better. "How did you become such a dork?"

An incredulous snort bursts out of me. "I'm not a dork!"

"Oh, please. I saw how you schooled Dakota when she thought Darth Vader and Kylo Ren were the same character."

"It doesn't make me a dork, but rather passionate."

"A passionate dork, then."

He's teasing me, his eyes lighting up with humor. Like him, I'm enjoying this little banter immensely, loving how comfortable we are. Nothing in Lex's attitude leads me to believe that being a dork is bad in his mind.