B008KQO31S EBOK (31 page)

Elaine doesn’t talk about it much. She doesn’t talk about her mother’s family, who shunned her because of her mother’s occupation. Imagine, effectively being on your own at twelve. Elaine does talk about the parochial school where her mother sent her, that woman having saved every buck she could toward the tuition.

She told me one that her mother had never set foot on the school grounds, because she didn’t want Elaine “tainted”.

I guess it was easy to tell what Mom did for a living.

After her mother’s death, Elaine went on through private schools, then to art school, working like a little demon even as Mom’s capital was whittled away. She was determined that the rest of her family never saw a dime of it—and they were probably glad enough to have her stay away from them to cut loose the cash to a minor.

In the end, her mother gave Elaine got the start she had never had, making sure her beautiful daughter had better choices in life. Elaine made good ones. She got top grades, she worked harder than anyone I’ve ever met. She met all the right people and learned how to mingle amongst them, her roots undetected.

She told me once that it was the very least she owed her mother.

She probably also owed her affection for men to her mother, not to mention her blunt assessments. There were no illusions with Elaine, but that never seemed to affect her popularity. Men came out of the woodwork, like bees to honey, when Elaine entered a room. It was amazing to watch. But Elaine only entered relationships as an equal, with terms stated plainly up front. It might not be a cash transaction, but it sure as heck wasn’t going to be love.

Though she never admitted it to me, I know she was crazy about her mother. So, she’d been there and done that as far as getting her heart involved, and she wasn’t going back.

We met at a chamber of commerce mixer, when I was thinking of starting my own company. Networking intimidated me to death, so I thought I’d start somewhere where no one was likely to bite. Elaine was a revelation. She worked that room front and back, then went back and did it side to side. She talked to everyone, she laughed and she sparkled, and half the place had one of her cards within forty-five minutes.

I caught up to her in the parking lot and asked her to teach me how to do that. It wasn’t long until we were friends, and right around the same time, we became partners.

I still enjoyed watching her chat up society matrons, wondering what they would think if they knew where she had come from. Truth be told, I’ve seen more than one husband do a double-take when he first glimpsed Elaine.

I always wonder whether those men are remembering someone else.

* * *

I hit Elaine up that afternoon for an explanation about Jeffrey, but she stonewalled me.

“You don’t fool me,” I finally told her. “That one got away. That one mattered, or you wouldn’t be nearly so annoyed with him.”

I didn’t think she’d emerge from under the cone of silence, but I was wrong.

“Okay, you want the story? Here it is.” She flung down her marker and stared at me, antagonistic now that she had to surrender a secret. “We went out for a while. We hit my six date maximum and I told him that was it. He was persistent and I finally caved.”

“Why? Because he made you a present you couldn’t refuse?”

“No, that’s what was weird about it. I liked him. He was sexy.” She looked at her desk. “He was a bit uptight in public, but he was smart and sometimes funny. We had a good time together.”

“We are talking about Jeffrey McAllister here, aren’t we?”

“Don’t give me that, Philippa. He looks good. He didn’t always walk with a telephone pole up his ass.”

“Ah, I’m sensing my father’s influence here.”

“Maybe. Anyway, he kept breaking my six date barriers. I don’t even know how long we’d been going out when I decided to trust him.”

“Big mistake?”

“Go with your gut, Philippa. My mother told me never to trust a man with the truth, and she was right. That was the end of it.” Her features tightened and she picked up her marker, savagely untwisting the cap.

“What did you tell him about, Elaine?” I asked the question softly, not wanting to upset her more than she already was.

“Me.” She met my gaze steadily, her own very bright. “That was all it took, Philippa, to screw up everything. But if you can’t confide in someone, then why the hell would you spend your life with them?”

She went back to work, ducking her head quickly but not quickly enough that I didn’t see the tear glinting on her lashes.

I decided that Jeffrey McAllister and my father deserved each other.

* * *

Elaine scampered out on a mission mid-afternoon, leaving me alone with my pink-free drawings. They were taking a lot longer to finish than should have been expected, I guess because my heart just wasn’t in it.

The silence from Rosemount was deafening—I hadn’t talked to my mother since Wednesday.

It gave me the creeps.

Be careful what you wish for. How many times had I wished that my family would just disappear forever? More than I could reliably recall, and now they mostly had.

Except for Zach, who was more annoying than any brother had any business being. I was tempted to call and make sure the house hadn’t been struck by lightning or something.

But I would have heard about that. And they were probably waiting for me to buckle. Tomorrow would be enough fun for all of us. I forced myself to work and tried not to think too much. Job one was a lovely set of reworked drawings of Mrs. Hathaway’s garden, each devoid of the merest hint of pink. They looked deadly dull to me, but she was the customer.

Hopefully.

A pick-up truck sailed into the lot about four and I was distracted enough to take a good look. It was brand new, shiny, and a shade of dark blue that could have been called “twilight”.

And Nick was driving it.

He looked proud of himself when he strode up to the door, then surprised that I met him right there. I didn’t care that he’d bought himself a new toy—I wanted to know where my baby was.

“Where’s the Beast?”

Nick winced. “The Beast has gone to the big scrap yard in the sky.” He conjured up a paper bag and handed it to me.

It held the contents of the Beast’s glove box and the sight brought a tear to my eye. I sat down on the edge of a desk and fingered through the packs of dried out wipes, the registration, the plastic spoons. There was even a little sewing kit from a hotel and a spare pair of pantyhose, which must have belonged to Elaine because I was never nearly that organized.

If I’d known they were there, I would have used them. Yep, her size. I couldn’t have used them if I’d wanted to.

Nick put an arm around my shoulders and gave me a squeeze. “They wanted $6500 to fix it, Phil. That was too much.”

“I thought they’d give you a better deal.”

“Maybe they would have asked you two for more, I don’t know. But the Beast wasn’t worth half that.”

Beast in past tense. I’d have to get used to that.

“Besides the engine repair that bill would have covered, it would need brakes and shocks any time now. The exhaust was ready to fall right off. You could have spent ten bills easily and it would still have been an old truck, trying its damnedest to die.”

“
My
truck though. Better than nothing.” I looked at him accusingly.

Nick shook his head. “It wouldn’t have been better than nothing if it left you stranded again like yesterday, and it would have. What if that had been at night? Or out in the country?” He looked grim. “It wasn’t worth it, Phil.”

His protectiveness did nothing to take the edge off my disappointment.

I was still going to miss the old monster.

“You should have asked me.”

“I am. They’re waiting for a call.” He smiled crookedly. “Consider this my biased assessment.”

“I hate when you’re right,” I muttered and heaved a sigh.

“Someone’s got to be a realist around here.”

I was thinking about that truck. “Joel and I found the Beast on a used lot about four years ago.” I stared into the bag and gave it a little shake. The spare keys jangled in the bottom, a sad little sound since they’d never turn in the ignition again. “It was such a good deal, exactly what we could afford. It seemed as though it was destined for us.”

Nick smiled. “Waiting for you?”

“Something like that.” But now, my beloved Beastie gone forever. “You may think this is stupid, but I want to say goodbye.”

“I thought you might.” He touched my cheek, a fleeting gesture of affection that warmed my heart. “And no, I don’t think it’s stupid. I told the garage that I’d check with you about the Beast’s fate and at the very least, we’d come back to get the signage off the doors.”

He was being thoughtful, which always confused me. My brothers—and most of Rosemount—were always nice to me right before they played a trick on me. Suspicion is a learned response.

I slanted a look at the shiny new truck and tried to change the subject. “So you bought yourself a truck? Aren’t they woefully inefficient?”

“You said you needed one for hauling rocks and plants.”

I gaped at him, but he kept looking at the truck, his expression impassive. “You did not buy that for me!”

“No. It’s for your business.”

“That cost more than 6500 bucks.”

“True. It is pretty basic though.”

“So, if we can’t afford to fix the Beast, then we can’t afford that.”

“Put it on the books. Capital investment.”

“That won’t pay for it.”

“It’s a better investment than fixing the Beast, Phil. You won’t have to worry about it breaking down.”

“That doesn’t matter. Coxwell & Pope can’t afford that truck.”

“I know.” He shrugged with that casual air that was always a warning. “Fortunately, I can.”

“You’re not
giving
me a truck!” I suddenly had a very good idea what was going on here and I didn’t like it one bit. This was my consolation prize for rolling to my back last night. It would also be salve to his conscience now that the matter of Lucia was settled. He was going to walk away, guilt-free.

There was no point in mincing words.

“If this is for last night, you can take that truck, Nick Sullivan, and stuff it sideways...”

He crossed the room fast and caught my shoulders in his hands. His eyes were blazing. “Phil. This has nothing to do with last night. Don’t even imagine that it does.”

I believed him, even though it left me scrambling for another reason for his generosity. “It’s pity, then. But I don’t need any handouts to make this company work. We’re doing just fine, thanks.”

He folded his arms across his chest, his tone reasonable once more. “But you need a truck, Phil.”

Nuts. That fact was inescapable. I shuffled my feet for a minute. “Well, yes.”

“And you probably don’t have the cash flow right now to pay for one outright.” He wasn’t going to make this easy.

I chewed my lip, thinking of the repercussions if Mrs. H. backed out of her project. “We’ll get a used one,” I insisted, not at all sure that any fool would give us credit.

Nick shook his head, probably thinking much the same thing. “And the repair bills to match. Phil, you don’t need any new troubles.” He gestured to the truck. “This has a three year warranty.”

“And let me guess—it’s breathtakingly fuel efficient.”

He grinned. “Consider it my donation to the preservation of the environment.” He held up two fingers. “Two cup holders, just for you.”

I was tempted, but that didn’t matter. It was the principle of the thing. “You’re not giving this to us.” I stalked back across to my desk, not even wanting to look at the truck in question. I dumped the Beast’s bag of goodies in a drawer.

Of course, Nick followed me and perched on the side of my desk. His eyes were really green, which meant I was in for a fight. “Then you can call it a loan. No interest, pay me when you can.”

“That’ll be tough, since I won’t know where you are.”

“Send the check to Lucia.”

I studied him, distrusting his easy manner. “What are you up to? What’s changed? Am I supposed to drag you into bed and ravish you whenever you show up in exchange for the keys?”

“It wasn’t what I had in mind, but...” he teased. I looked away, my heart breaking.

Nick caught my chin in his hand, forcing me to meet his gaze.

He wasn’t joking any more. “Phil, I know where you’re at with this business. You’re on the cusp of making it work, but everything could still go to hell. It’s a bad time for your truck to have died and I understand that. I just want to help.”

“No one gives away vehicles just to help.”

His eyes started to smile. “Maybe they should.”

“Don’t be nice to me. It throws off my game.”

It could really throw my game—I could end up falling for this man and miss him like crazy when he walked off into the sunset. I was already pretty much there and if he kept on confiding in me and being nice to be, I’d be in very bad shape.

Worse than I suspected I was already going to be.

“Are you always so tough?”

“My mother told me to beware of men bearing gifts.”

“How about men trying to say thanks?”

I looked up with suspicion but he shook his head impatiently. “Not for that. For showing me a different side of things. I’d been beating myself up about that valley and you convinced me that I’m not as bad a guy as I thought.” His lips curved and my resistance melted. “So, let me do something good for you, Phil.”

“I don’t know, Nick.” I looked at the truck. “It’s awfully generous.”

“And you’re awfully overdue. When was the last time someone did you a favor?”

I must have looked blank, because I just didn’t know.

“See?” He bent and brushed his lips across mine.

That felt good. “It has to be a loan.”

“Mmm hmm.” He did it again and my knees started to buckle.

“With monthly payments, due on time or else.”

“Of course.” He had his eyes closed when he eased his mouth over mine again.

“No special treatment.”

“None.” This time he lingered and I nipped at his bottom lip.

“And...”