Double Take (20 page)

Kait flushed, relieved that Trev was not present. She simply could not bear his hostility now. “Hi, sweetie,” she said, hurrying over to kiss her niece’s baby-soft cheek. She felt eyes upon her, and looked up to see Elizabeth’s cool regard. Instantly, Kait knew that Elizabeth was fully aware of what had happened last night.

She felt her color increase. Had Elizabeth heard them in the living room? Or worse, had she heard them in the bedroom? And why the hell did she have to look so miffed and disapproving? What did it matter to her if Trev was sleeping with his wife?

Except, of course, Kait was not his wife.

Guilt and depression overcame her.

Kait forced a smile. “Good morning. It looks like snow.”

“It never snows this early in the year. We’re in Virginia—not Colorado,” Elizabeth said, turning away.

Kait walked over to the coffeemaker. Sam had her back to her still, blending her drink yet again. She poured a coffee, added whole milk, and turned. “I am ready for a truce, Elizabeth,” she said.

Elizabeth shut off the faucet, whirling. “I beg your pardon?”

“I want to lay the past to rest. I apologize for my sins—every single one of them. I want to start over.”

Elizabeth stared.

Sam had turned off the blender. Clad in black leather pants, her black leather vest, and a white T-shirt, she turned and stared. She was wearing a rope cuff on one wrist, a beaded bracelet with a dangling cross on the other wrist. A huge silence fell over the room.

“What sins?” Marni demanded, sliding out of her chair. “Mommy, have you sinned?”

Kait smiled gently at her. “Honey, it’s just a way of speaking. No, I haven’t sinned. But I’ve made mistakes, and now I am apologizing—for every single one.”

Elizabeth hadn’t moved. She said, “You’re still taking milk in your coffee. You’re wearing jeans. And now this—this odd proposal.” Clearly, she was almost but not quite speechless.

“Are you religious, Elizabeth?”

She started. “You know very well that I go to a Lutheran church every Sunday.”

“Then you also know that it is hardly godly to refuse the kind of apology I’ve just made.”

Elizabeth nodded stiffly. “You win, Lana.”

“This isn’t about winning. This is about forgiveness.”

Elizabeth turned away. Kait sipped her coffee and met Sam’s baleful stare. “You’re still angry with me?”

Sam nodded, but she seemed completely in control of her anger. In fact, she seemed more wary than mad. “You told Dad, and Uncle Rafe.”

“I did what I had to do, Sam. Your welfare is more important than keeping a secret—one which is illegal and wrong.”

Sam folded her arms over her breasts. “My welfare,” she said grimly. “Are you still going to lend me that dress?”

Kait hesitated. That dress was stained and it now needed a dry cleaning. “Yes. When do you need it by?”

“Saturday,” she said. “Gina’s party is Saturday.”

Tomorrow was Saturday. “I’ll take it to the cleaners when I drop Marni off at school.” She would pay anything for overnight service.

Sam’s tight expression eased. “Really? You’re really going to lend it to me?”

Kait nodded. She felt her own face soften. “You will be beautiful in it. Wait till Trev sees.” Then she felt ill all over again.

Sam became curt. “I don’t care what he thinks.” She grabbed her juice and strode away.

Kait stared after her. How long would it take Sam to forgive Trev for striking her?

Marni suddenly ran after her sister. “Sammy! Wait! You forgot to give me the magic cards!”

When she was gone, Elizabeth spoke. “Why are you lending her that dress? Why did you apologize to me?”

Kait sighed. “She’ll be lovely in that dress.”

“I know what you’re up to. Trev knows too. You think to change his mind about the divorce, don’t you?”

“No, I don’t.” Kait walked over to the refrigerator.

Elizabeth followed. “Well, it won’t work. This time, he’s through.”

“Great. I’m glad to see you’re so happy that the man you consider a son is getting a divorce.” She took out a jar of peanut butter and one of jam.

“You’re the worst thing that ever happened to him, and I will do anything—
anything
—to make sure he is finally free of you.”

Kait stiffened. There had been venom dripping in Elizabeth’s tone. Slowly she turned to face her.

“I mean it,” Elizabeth said.

And Kait wondered if Elizabeth hated Lana enough to want her dead.

Marni was in school, and the beautiful black Donna Karan dress was at the cleaners. Kait had gone to the grocery store, desperate for Pepperidge Farm Milano Cookies, and then to a drugstore for some cosmetics—she wanted to buy her favorite Maybelline mascara and Pantene shampoo. After doing her errands, on impulse, she’d gone back to the mall. There, she had found Sam a beautiful patchwork leather jacket, one that seemed to suit her somewhat rebellious and bohemian style perfectly. It was now lunchtime—in another hour she could pick Marni up to bring her home.

Kait glanced around a food court, debating between McDonald’s and pizza and wondering what she might buy Marni before leaving the mall. As it was Friday, the mall was rather busy, far more so than it had been the other day. Pizza Hut won, and she veered toward the counter.

Then she saw Sam.

Kait halted in her tracks, more than surprised, because she had assumed that Sam was in school all day. She stared, but there was no mistaking the tall, lanky blonde with the long, fine hair in the black leather pants and vest. It was Sam, all right, and she was with a boy.

Kait ducked behind a column.

They had their backs to her. They were standing between the Pizza Hut and McDonald’s, chatting. Kait wanted to assume that the boy was Gabe Jenkins—his hair was dark, like Gabe’s in the photographs—but it was hard to say. He was very tall for a sixteen-year-old—he was an inch or two shy of six feet, she supposed.

Sam half turned, but so did he. The boy grabbed her and they kissed. It quickly became a long and lingering embrace. Kait had to look away. Anyone who kissed like that could not be a virgin. She was more than uncomfortable—she was concerned.

She hoped they were using birth control.

“See ya!” Sam’s happy voice rang out.

Kait peeked around the corner and saw Sam fully flushed and smiling and oh-so happy. The boy—no, the young man—was definitely Gabe Jenkins. He was also smiling, and in person he had too much sex appeal for someone his age. But there was also something disturbing about him—something that she had not seen in the photos.

At first she couldn’t define what was bothering her. But then she knew. It was trouble with a capital
T,
just as Trev had claimed.

Gabe’s smile faded. He looked dark and sulky standing there, staring after Sam. He also looked too old for her—Kait had assumed they were the same age, but this boy had to be seventeen or eighteen.

Kait ducked back behind the pillar as Sam hurried past. Was she going back to school? Should Kait follow her—and ask her why she wasn’t on campus? Or should she leave well enough alone?

Maybe she didn’t have any more classes. It was Friday, after all.

The last thing Kait wished to do was violate Sam’s trust again. Stumbling across her and Gabe had been a coincidence, but Sam might not see it that way.

Kait turned and saw Gabe disappearing behind the McDonald’s counter and then duck into a back room. She hesitated, realizing he must work at McDonald’s. A few moments later she saw him step out behind the counter, wearing an employee uniform.

Her mind raced. She did not want to cause any more discord, not in the family and not with Sam, but Sam had had a gun. That was serious business, indeed. This seemed to be a golden opportunity to check out Gabe, more subjectively than Trev ever had. And she was doing so only because she cared. She still thought that Sam had lied to protect Gabe and that the gun was really his, not hers. If Gabe was bad news, she wanted to find that out, and there was no time like the present.

She walked over to the counter.

He looked up, not smiling. He had fair skin and blue eyes. His hair was jet black and wavy and far too long for her personal taste. “Can I help—?” He stopped. “Get the hell away from me!”

Kait recoiled. “What?”

He leaned on the counter, his eyes wide, his cheeks flushed. “Get away from me—before Sam sees us!”

Kait was stunned.
“Us?”

Anger distorted his handsome face. “I said get out of here, Mrs. Coleman.” He spat out her name. She saw hatred in his eyes as well as rage. And something else: fear.

Lana knew Gabe Jenkins. What did this mean? What could it mean? “I need to talk to you,” Kait said, as calmly as possible. But she was reeling. Surely “us” did not mean “us” in the biblical sense. After all, Gabe Jenkins was in high school. He wasn’t a boy, but he wasn’t man either.

“Well, I’m not talking to you,” he snarled.

“Sam’s gone. Did she go back to school?”

He cursed. He looked around, said, “Cover for me,” to another employee, and he pushed out through the swinging door of the counter. Kait wound up following him over to the column where she had been hiding. He faced her, hands on his hips, fists clenched. “I told you to never come near me again!” he cried.

It was hard to think, to breathe. “This is the last time,” she assured him.

He looked as if he didn’t believe her. “I’m working,” he spat. “I’m not partying with you!”

Oh, dear God
. Kait looked at him and was afraid of whatever truth he hid. It couldn’t possibly be what she was thinking.

But Lana had done something to make this boy hate her—and fear her. Kait wet her lips. “This isn’t about a party.”

His face collapsed, flooding with relief.

It was hard to stand up straight, to remain calm, composed, assertive. “I found the gun, Gabe.”

His head came up. His eyes were wild. “I know. Sam told me. She tells me everything.”

“Do you love her?” The question was impulsive—this wasn’t why she had approached him.

“Like you give a damn?” He was incredulous.

“I don’t like her protecting you. I don’t think much of a boy—a man—who hides behind a woman’s skirts.”

“I don’t hide, not behind anyone, not from anyone,” he said harshly. “What do you want? Why are you really here?” Fear flared in his blue eyes again.

“I want to know if the gun is yours,” she said.

“Are you nuts? This is bullshit,” he was shouting. Then he leaned close, and he was suddenly intimidating. “If you think you can lure me off somewhere and have some fun, you’re wrong!”

Kait flinched. Was that what had happened? Surely Lana, her sister, hadn’t seduced a seventeen- or eighteen-year-old boy?

“I’ve been sick for weeks,” he said fiercely. “I hate myself more than I hate you! At first I tried blaming it on the beer and wine. But I’ve been drinking since I was twelve. I can hold my liquor! You’re hot for an old woman, really hot, but I love Sam, and now you’re going to hold this over my head forever! Aren’t you?” he asked desperately.
“What do you really want?”

Kait was ill.
Her sister had seduced Gabe Jenkins.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “Is the gun yours?”

“No,” he said. “And you know it. You know damn well whose gun it is, so I don’t understand any of this. This is some kind of new game, isn’t it? I have to go.” He started to leave.

Kait gripped his arm. “What do you mean, I know whose gun it is?”

He gave her another incredulous look, yanked free, and rushed away.

Kait had a very bad feeling, worse, she remained ill at heart. Lana had seduced Sam’s boyfriend. Why would she do such a thing? And how could she do such a thing? And in that moment, Kait was struck by a searing comprehension: Lana hadn’t changed.

The teen who had stolen other girls’ boyfriends and laughed about it had become a woman who took lovers as she chose—married, unmarried, boys as well as men. The teen who had lied to her parents in order to do as she chose now lied to her husband and family for the same selfish ends. Kait had spent her entire youth trying not to see the bad in Lana, trying to believe in what had to be good. Now, staring after Gabe Jenkins, after all that had happened at Fox Hollow, her belief in her sister collapsed.

It more than collapsed; it vanished into thin air.

She slowly bent and picked up the shopping bag filled with her Milanos, the drugstore items, and Sam’s wild leather jacket. It was time to go get Marni.

It was déjàvu.

“Look, Mommy, the police are here!” Marni was delighted as Kait parked the Porsche. “Is it Uncle Rafe?”

Kait wet her lips, about to reply, when Trev and Rafe stepped out of the house and onto the veranda. Both men looked very grim. “Why, he’s here,” she said as gaily as possible. But she remained thoroughly shaken—and heartbroken. No amount of mental debate could convince her that her twin sister had any redeeming qualities. She had run out of excuses to make for Lana. She didn’t even want to hear her side of the story.

Kait slowly got out of the car. Sadness and depression had made her feel old and heavy. Marni climbed eagerly out of her side and Kait reached into the back for her shopping bag. She realized she was also numb. Not turning, she heard Marni running up to the house, calling for Trev and her uncle, and a moment later she heard her happy squeals. Kait somehow slammed the driver’s door closed—the effort to do so, huge—and turned, sick with trepidation.

Trev was saying, “Elizabeth just baked some brownies, sweetheart. Go inside.”

Marni ran off. The two men were alone on the porch. And clearly, they were waiting for her. Her heart stopped. They were waiting for her for a reason. And whatever that reason was, it wasn’t going to be pleasant. It wasn’t going to be good news.

Kait was dry. She wished for a glass of water. She slowly started up the path and then up the house’s front steps, filled with dread. She had reached her absolute limit—she knew she could not handle anything more.

Rafe was staring at her as if she were a convicted ax murderer. But it was Trev who made her stumble. His eyes were dark with anger.

“Trev?” she heard herself say, a whisper. What did he now think she had done?