Black Ties and Lullabyes (15 page)

Bernie couldn’t believe Teresa had just said that.

Jeremy, lucky to have
her
?

Then again, why not? Maybe it would do him good once in a while to look at a woman as something more than a repository for silicone, bleach, and Botox.

To dig a little deeper and find out what a woman was like on the inside. To have his brain chal enged by a woman who read something more than Facebook entries and cereal boxes. But he clearly didn’t believe in the importance of any of that, and she doubted he ever would.

“Thanks,” Bernie said. “I appreciate al that. But to tel you the truth, I’m the one who looks up to you.”

“Huh?”

“Why do you think I’m here? Because you’re real y good at something I don’t have a clue about.”

“You know I’l help you any way I can,” Teresa said, then gave Bernie an offhand shrug. “And you never know. Maybe Jeremy wil , too.”

Maybe. But she wasn’t about to count on that. If she wasn’t careful, she’d start to depend on him, and pretty soon he’d realize that she and the babies were too big a drain on the lifestyle he’d so careful y built, and she’d be al alone again. In fact, it had been days since he’d last been at her apartment, tel ing her she needed to move. Was it possible he’d already reconsidered his role in al this?

She didn’t know. She only knew that the biggest mistake she could make in this situation would be to count on anyone but herself.

“Even if he did want to be a part of al this,” Bernie said, “it’s probably not a good idea.”

“Why not?”

“Because Jeremy Bridges is the most infuriating man I’ve ever met. If we stay in the same room for too long, we’re liable to kil each other.”

“Then how did the two of you ever… wel , you know.

Get together?”

“That was why it happened. Because he’s so infuriating.”

“I don’t understand.”

“One night when we were together, he made me mad.
Really
mad. For the first time in two years, I told him exactly what I thought of him, and God, did it feel good. But then everything went a little crazy. I remember we were arguing, and al of a sudden he was kissing me, and before I knew it…”

“Ah,” Teresa said knowingly. “Anger sex.”

“Anger sex?”

“Anger and passion. Potent combination.”

“
God,
I wish somebody had told me that.” Bernie dropped her head to her hands. “I’ve never done anything like that in my life.
Ever.
And now look what’s happened.”

“Yeah. You’re going to have two beautiful babies.” Yes. She was. And if only she’d learn to think as positively about it as Teresa, she might actual y get through it.

“Mama!”

Bernie whipped around to see Matt rol to his hands and knees and start crawling back toward Teresa.

When he reached the coffee table, he put both hands on it and pul ed himself to his feet. Teresa held out her hands.

“Can you walk to me, sweetie? Come here. Walk to Mama.”

He took one shaky step, then a couple more, before fal ing into Teresa’s arms. She scooped him up and plunked him onto her lap.

“Yay!” she said, clapping her hands. “You did it!” He grinned and smacked his fists on his thighs, bouncing up and down, his diaper rustling. Teresa nuzzled his neck and made growly noises until he squirmed and squealed and giggled. Bernie basked in the moment, thinking if only she could conjure up the maternal feelings that seemed to come so natural y to Teresa, she’d be okay.

And she felt that right up to the moment Matt threw up al over again.

Teresa instantly pul ed back, but the damage was already done, and her nose crinkled with disgust. “Oh, God. I would have sworn he didn’t have any left in him.”

Bernie winced. “I guess it’s like shaking up a soda.”

“Uh… yeah. You might want to keep that in mind for the future.”

“I wil ,” Bernie said as she rose from the sofa.

“Gotta go.”

Teresa smiled. “Don’t blame you a bit.”

“Thanks for the advice.”

“Any time. And Bernie?”

“Yeah?

“I know everything seems a little crazy right now, but someday soon you’re going to look back on al this and say it was worth it. Wil you trust me on that?”

“Yeah,” Bernie said. “I hear you.”

She left the house and got into her car, feeling just a little bit better about everything. Calmer. More in control. With a better perspective on motherhood. On life in general. She decided she’d go home, haul out those catalogs again, and this time it wouldn’t look like a sea of stuff she had no idea how to navigate.

She’d pick and choose wisely, make a list, and feel as if her life was in order again.

Ahh.
She felt so much better.

Then she got home and saw the fence, and everything went nuts al over again.

At first, Bernie couldn’t believe her eyes. She blinked.

Blinked again. It was stil there, an eight-foot wrought-iron fence separating the street from the scraggly lawn of Creekwood Apartments. For a moment, she thought she’d taken a wrong turn and ended up at another apartment complex. She actual y turned to look at the battered sign so she could make sure she was in the right place. The workmen scurrying around stil had a ways to go before the place would be completely encircled, but that seemed to be the plan.

She pul ed over, rol ed down her window, and cal ed out to a fifty-something guy in a grungy basebal cap with sweat rol ing down his temples.

“Hey! What’s with the fence?”

“Upgrading. The gate goes up next. Control ed entry.”

Bernie blinked. “Here?”

The guy shrugged. “Believe me. I double-checked the address.”

She couldn’t believe it. Farnsworth had final y decided to put a little money into this place? Granted, a new coat of paint for the siding and fil ing a few potholes would have been a better start, but maybe this was his way of doing something visible to improve things that the residents could feel good about. And she felt pretty good about it herself. She felt even better when she pul ed into a parking space in front of her apartment and started up the stairs. The handrail that had been half pul ed out of the wal was gone, and in its place was a brand-new iron railing screwed so securely to the wal that it could withstand a nuclear explosion.

She stared at it in awe for a moment, then looked over her shoulder at the building across the parking lot, where she knew there were others that needed replacing. But al she saw were the original rickety, rusty ones. She walked to the next building to check it out, but al the handrails there were the original ones, too. After a little more investigation, she came to the conclusion that hers was the only one that had been replaced.

That was weird.

Okay, so maybe Charmin had designated hers to be replaced first since she’d been the one screaming about them on everybody’s behalf. But the new fence was something else entirely. That was a generalized safety issue the owner real y wasn’t obligated to address.

Wait a minute. A
safety
issue?

She stood there a moment longer, turning that over in her mind. And the more she thought about it, the more she smel ed a rat.

She pul ed out her phone. Hit speed dial six. A few moments later, Jeremy picked up.

“Bernie. How nice to hear from you.”

“A fence. A control ed-entry gate. A new handrail,” she said, as she strode back toward her apartment.

“Do any of those things sound familiar to you?”

“Familiar? As in, did I have anything to do with them?”

“Yes.”

“Of course I did.”

For a moment, Bernie was speechless. “Then it
was
you?
You
got the owner to do those things?”

“Yep. And he was actual y pretty easy to persuade.”

“But it’s not your place to persuade him!”

“But it was a piece of cake. See, it turns out the owner sees things my way. And he’s such a nice guy, too. Handsome, intel igent, successful…” Bernie stopped at the foot of the stairs leading to her apartment. Farnsworth was neither handsome nor intel igent, and what man could be considered successful if he ran a place like this?

“Bridges?” she said, a shiver of suspicion running up her spine. “What did you do?”

“What do you mean, What did I do?”

Then she felt sil y for even thinking it. “Never mind,” she said with a tiny laugh. “Even you couldn’t have gone that far.”

“Gone how far?”

“Far enough to buy my apartment complex.”

“My God, Bernie. Do you think I’d actual y
do
that?”

“Oh, al right,” Bernie said. “That was crazy. I was dumb to even think it.”

“No, you weren’t. I bought your apartment complex.” For at least the count of three, Bernie was stunned into silence. Then it al came pouring out. “Bought it?

You bought it? The
whole thing
?”

“One doesn’t general y buy half of an apartment complex.”

“No. No way. You couldn’t have bought it. Not that fast.”

“It’s amazing how motivated one sel er can be, particularly when he’s looking at a cash sale. A standard contract, an expedited title search, thirty minutes at a title company, and voilà. Done deal. I’ve been looking to buy a little commercial real estate, anyway. And the price was certainly right.”

“You didn’t buy it as an investment,” she said hotly.

“You bought it because you’re a big, fat control freak!”

“Hey, if you wouldn’t listen to me and move out of that hel hole, what else was I supposed to do?”

“Are you completely out of your
mind
?”

“I bet you liked those improvements just fine until you found out I was the one behind them.”

“You mean until I found out what a manipulative jerk you are?”

“I try to protect you, and this is what I get?”

“I don’t need you to protect me!”

“Get used to it, Bernie. As long as you refuse to make the right decisions concerning our babies, this is how it’s going to be.”

Bernie heard the line click. He’d hung
up
? She held out the phone, staring at it in disbelief. Then she hit speed dial six again.

“Yes, Bernie?”

“Smal flaw in your plan,” she said.

“What’s that?”

“You seemed to think my neighbor across the way was a little iffy. What are you going to do about the riff-raff you think is already inside the gates?”

“Ah,” he said. “That’s where the armed security guard comes in.”

Bernie’s jaw dropped. “Armed security?”

“Ostensibly for the entire complex, but just between you and me, he’l be focusing most of his attention on building six. See what an advantage it is to have friends in high places?”

With that, he hung up again. Bernie stabbed speed dial six.
Again.

“Bernie,” Jeremy said. “So nice to hear from you.

It’s been ages since we’ve talked.”

“You know what? I think you were right in the first place. I need to move.”

“Nah. You’re not going anywhere. See, I checked out the local rental market. Turns out you’re actual y getting a deal there. As undesirable as your complex is, it’s at least borderline livable. If you were to pay that price anywhere else, you real y would be living in a slum. Give those workmen another few days, and you’l have a nice fence around the property and a shiny new keycard for access. Now, won’t that be nice?”

And then he hung up on her for the third time, and for the third time, the sudden silence infuriated her.

She gritted her teeth and dialed him back to give him an even bigger piece of her mind. But this time al she got was his voice mail.

“Damn it,” she muttered, stuffing her phone back into her pocket. She’d had the opportunity to toss him down the stairs a few days ago. Why the hel hadn’t she taken it?

She walked up the stairs toward her apartment.

Ruby stepped out onto the landing.

“Nice handrail, huh?” she said.

“Yeah,” Bernie muttered. “Nice.”

“And did you check out the fence we’re getting with the gates and al ? You must have told Farnsworth you were going to blow his brains out, or something. Did you hold a gun to his head like in the movies?”

“It wasn’t Farnsworth.”

“Then who?”

Bernie unlocked her apartment door, then turned back. “You remember that guy who was here to see me a few days ago? The gorgeous one with the bad attitude?”

“The father of your baby?”

Bernie winced. Would she ever get used to hearing those words? “Yeah. He bought the place. He’s our new landlord.”

Ruby screwed up her face. “Why would he buy a crappy place like this?”

“Because he was born to piss me off.”

“Nice things around here piss you off?”

“You have no idea.”

“Wel , they sure don’t piss me off. Not for one minute. Would you tel him that while he’s at it, I got a few things in my apartment that could stand to be fixed? Like maybe my leaky shower and the ants in my pantry closet. And I’m not so crazy about the holes in the carpet, either.”

“Sorry, Ruby. I don’t think he’s interested in—” And that was when it struck her.

Jeremy was the new owner. As far as she knew, Charmin was stil around, but Bernie had already determined what a bottleneck she was. And if she was a bottleneck, who was left for the tenants to go to with their problems?

Why, the new owner, of course.

• • •

He didn’t even want to know what was going on with his home phone.

As the day had worn on, he’d come to two very important conclusions. He was sick to death of his own ringtone, and Bernadette Hogan had been born to piss him off.

It was almost five o’clock. She hadn’t answered her phone al day, but by God, that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to keep trying. Heaven forbid he inconvenience her.

He grabbed his phone and dialed her number for the umpteenth time. Final y, after five rings, she came on the line.

“It’s about time you answered your phone,” he snapped. “God knows I’ve been answering mine.”

“Oh?”

“Don’t play stupid. I know what you’re up to.

Eighteen voice mail messages on my cel phone alone. My
personal
cel phone. How did they get that number, Bernie? You want to tel me that?”

“Who are ‘they’?”

“You know who ‘they’ are! The tenants at that godawful apartment complex!”

“So today it’s godawful? Yesterday it was a good investment.”

“The cal s are coming to my office phone, too,” he said, standing up to pace across the room. “After today, Ms. Keyes is going to be demanding a raise.”

“Stop being a tightwad and give it to her. She’s worth more just for putting up with you.”

“How about my home phone, Bernie? What’s going on there?”

“With luck, there were so many incoming cal s that the lines melted.”

“Then it
was
you,” he barked into the phone. “
You
gave them my numbers!”

“Wel , in al fairness, you are the new owner. I’ve always heard it’s best for a landlord to have a cordial relationship with his tenants.”

“Cordial relationship? Al they were doing was complaining! Stopped-up drains. Nonfunctioning appliances. Holes in the wal . Bugs. Everybody had something.”

“So what does that tel you?”

“That Creekwood Apartments is a disaster area!”

“Exactly. And now you’re the owner, which means it’s your responsibility to fix al of it.”

“I’m not fixing a damned thing. In fact, if I’m smart, I’l bul doze the place and sel the land it sits on. And then I’m going to throttle you for having the nerve to give out my confidential phone numbers.”

“I’m the mother of your children. I thought your goal was to protect me.”

“I’l wait until the babies are born.
Then
I’l throttle you.”

She sighed. “I suppose you’re going to insist on coming over here to have a word with me about this.”

“You’re damned right I am.”

“Wel , whatever you do, don’t come tonight.”

“Wil you be home tonight?”

“Yes, but—”

“Then I’m coming tonight. I’l be there at seven o’clock.”

“Bridges! No! I don’t want you here. Wil you just—”

“Seven o’clock, Bernie. We have some talking to do.”

Jeremy punched the button to disconnect the cal and tossed the phone to his desk, trying to remember the last time he’d been this livid about anything. It was going to be a monumental pain in the ass to have his phone numbers changed, but if he didn’t, he’d be a sitting duck. Al those people would have carte blanche to disturb him night and day, seven days a week, and the thought of that was intolerable.

At seven o’clock that night, Max drove Jeremy into the parking lot of Creekwood Apartments. Jeremy eyed the partial y constructed fence on his way in, a wrought-iron creation that looked total y out of place surrounding an apartment complex like this one. But if a security fence was what it took to show Bernie just how serious he was about her safety, he didn’t care if it looked like the Great Wal of China wrapped around a pup tent.

Jeremy could tel Max was curious why they were going to Bernie’s house, but he didn’t ask questions.

He’d probably just cal Bernie later to make sure Jeremy had stayed in line. But Jeremy didn’t want to stay in line. He wanted to throttle her just as he’d threatened, which meant Max would throttle him. But as mad as Jeremy was right about now, he decided it might be worth it.

He got out of the car. Three parking spaces away, a pair of teenage boys leaned against a beat-up Camaro, smoking and trying to look tough. They were eyeing his Mercedes with a hungry look, most likely scoping it out for anything stealable. Given the security features on the car, they couldn’t make off with much, but they could sure break a few windows trying. Then Max got out of the car and stood next to it, and suddenly those tough guys had someplace else to be. At least with him on the job, Jeremy felt relatively certain he’d come back downstairs later to an intact vehicle.

He climbed the stairs to Bernie’s apartment, admiring the new handrail he’d had instal ed. He hoped it had made an impression on Bernie, but knowing her, she’d refuse to touch it just to spite him.

A moment later, he rapped his knuckles against her door three times.
Sharply.

He heard a commotion inside, and it was a little while before she final y came to the door. The moment she opened it, he breezed past her into her apartment. “Sit down, Bernie. We have some talking to—”