band. They were really popular in the 1990s. Maybe your parents were fans and that’s how you got the name?”
I shrug. “I have no idea. I’ve never talked to them about my name.” Or much of anything else for that matter .
“Why not?”
“Are you bored?”
“Why do you ask that?”
“Well you’re spending your time sitting here with me and asking a lot of questions.”
He holds up his mug. “And drinking wine. You can’t forget about the wine.”
“You obviously have nothing better to do, because I’m really not all that interesting.”
“Maybe I find you a little bit interesting.”
“Just a little bit?” Our eyes lock for a long moment.
“More than a little,” he admits before he takes another sip of wine.
I push my finger around the rim of the cup for a few seconds, hoping I can make it play a note. Anything to take the attention off of me and distract him from asking any more questions.
“Are you going to play with that wine or are you going to drink it?” he teases.
I take a long swig just for him.
“Tell me more about Mazzy.”
“You’ve pretty much just learned everything there is to know about me. I work. I have a sister. That’s my life.”
“You don’t have any interests or hobbies?”
I shake my head.
“What did you do in high school? Sports, clubs, theater, choir?”
I frown. “Do I look like a choir girl to you?”
“Not really.”
“I’ve always been too busy working. I’ve been working since I was sixteen. My sister and I got jobs at the pizza place in town and worked there pretty much every waking hour when we weren’t in school. Then when we graduated we got jobs at Haymakers, the bar in town. The Wilde brothers, who own Haymakers taught us as much as they could about the business. We’ve been waitressing and bartending even since.”
“What about your family?”
“You’ve already met my sister.”
“What about your mom and dad?”
I take a big sip of my wine. I don’t really like talking about my parents, but Austin seems intent on knowing everything about me.
“There’s not that much to say. They’re divorced. My dad got custody of me and my sister. We don’t see our mom.”
“Ever?” he sounds shocked.
I shake my head. “Nope.”
He leans in close and I can feel the heat between us surge. “Now you’ve piqued my curiosity. Why don’t you see your mom?”
I heave a sigh. “I have no idea why I’m even telling you this.”
“Maybe because you’re starting to like me.” He gives me a sly smile.
“Not even a little,” I tease. We both know we’re starting to like each other a lot more than we should.
“That’s too bad. Now about your mom…”
“Fine. I’ll tell you the sad story, but only because it’s obvious you’re used to getting your way with women and you’re not going to stop annoying me until I tell you.”
“Annoying? Really?” he puts his hand to his heart in mock dismay.
“Yes, annoying,” I repeat.
“You’re killing me, Kid. Absolutely killing me.”
“Do you want to hear the story or not?” I narrow my eyes at him.
He moves his hand in a princely gesture, which looks very odd coming from a guy who looks more like a badass biker than any kind of Prince Charming.
“Please continue,” he says in a fake high society voice.
I can’t help but smile at him. “Here you go. My tale of woe. When my mom left my dad she left me and my sister as well. She married another man and started a new family with him. Her new family doesn’t include me and my sister. My dad works as a chef in the city and he wasn’t home very much while we were growing up. My sister and I pretty much raised ourselves. It’s probably why we’re so close, because we really never had anyone else but each other. But I’m not a psychologist so I’m not going to analyze my life. It is what it is.”
“Thanks for sharing that with me.” He actually sounds sincere rather than his usual smart ass self.
“And what