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skepticism.
    “I was four. Abandoned by my mother at a hospital. My adoptive mother was the doctor on call who found me.”
    He leaned forward and suddenly became serious. “Did you ever find out why she abandoned you?”
    “She died.” Rosa said it without emotion. Devon and Reuben Clayton were the only parents she’d ever known. Her biological mother had no face in her mind and no attachment to her affections. “The police tracked her down. She was an alcoholic. When they found her, she was very weak. She didn’t live long after they got her to the hospital. She did ask for me once. She called me Rosa. My parents kept the name.”
    Adam ate and drank without commenting. Rosa had the feeling he wanted to say something, but didn’t.
    “What about you?” she asked. “Are you an only child?”
    “I like the way you put that,” he said. “Only children are usually self-centered and spoiled.”
    She let the comment hang in the air. From what she’d seen he had all the earmarks of exactly that.
    “I used to wish I had brothers and sisters, but I don’t.” He paused. “And I don’t think I’m spoiled or self-centered.” His eyes came up and bored directly into hers. “You, on the other hand, have to be the baby of the family.”
    “Why would you say that?” Obviously he’d assessed her as she had done him. He hid it better than most men.
    “There’s a certain amount of spoiling in you, too.”
    “Not with my brothers around.” Rosa shook her head. “They made me work for everything.”
    “You mention your family a lot.”
    She became conscious of the smile on her face and the memory of growing up with a houseful of people. “I do,” she said. “They’re the best family in the world. There’s always someone to argue with, someone to laugh or cry with, someone to tell your stories to.”
    Adam dropped his head a moment. Then he sighed.
    “I’d opt for a large family. They’re so much fun in the long run,” Rosa continued.
    “There’s nothing I can do about that. If my parents had had more children, maybe the siblings would be here to help out with my father.”
    “You mentioned him before. He didn’t look ill. I pictured a bent-over man leaning on a cane.”
    “He has a heart condition and he won’t take care of himself. He insists on riding every day and I have to make sure he takes his medicine regularly.”
    She looked down with a tiny smile, remembering the older version of Adam Osborne and the rose he’d presented her with during the party at Vida’s. She hadn’t seen him since. And suddenly she missed the older man.
    “Why are you smiling like that?” Adam asked.
    “Are you sure he’s not doing it on purpose?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “My older sister is a child psychologist and she says it’s not unusual for children to act helpless just to get attention.”
    “My father’s not a child.”
    “You’re taking care of him. You have to get home to make sure he takes his medication. I bet you check to see if he’s eaten, too. And if he’s in bed at night.” She stopped and checked his expression. He gave her a quick nod. “So, who’s the parent and who’s the child?”
    He didn’t answer. Rosa knew he wasn’t ready to concede that his father was running his life, and she wouldn’t push it.
    “I thought your sister was the psychologist.”
    “She is. I used to date a psychologist. I guess some of both of them rubbed off on me. Disregard everything I said.”
    Adam checked his watch and stood up. His face showed that he’d spent more time with her than he expected to. “I’m sorry I have to cut this short,” he said. “I have several errands I need to run.”
    Rosa knew he was going to check on his father. She stood, too, and cleared the food from the table, taking it into the house. When she turned, Adam was behind her holding his plate and glass.
    “Thank you,” she said, accepting the dishes. For a moment their hands touched. Rosa moved hers away