DEMETRIA

I hated to admit it, but the night hadn’t gone as badly as I expected. The last thing I thought Marion would do was fly me to Santa Barbara just to celebrate my birthday. When he first mentioned a birthday dinner, I knew he was serious, but still, I refused to make anything easy for him.

Dinner turned out to be amazing, though, the kind of food that spoiled me for anything else. It started with Marion wanting to know everything about me, but I wasn’t ready to reveal too much. Not ...