Good Morning Heartache (7 page)

As she handed them to him,
their fingertips touched for a brief moment, and she was disturbed to find that
the warmth returned. It was good she was leaving soon. Ryan Webb was like a
drug she didn't need, and one she would surely regret having tried.

They both got to work at
their separate duties. He was done well before she was, so he bent back over
the kitchen table, staring at the big blue sheet of paper and making quick
notations.

When she finished, Alexis
placed her hands on her hips showing the slimness of her body through the
billowing white top and said, “I'll be back in a week to get more food.” Ryan
waved a hand at her that looked more like he was telling her to go away rather
than acknowledging her. Rolling her eyes in frustration, she clipped a leash on
Sam and headed down the stairs.

About halfway down she
noticed that the door was opening, and a forty-something man in dark wash jeans
and a navy t-shirt walked through the door. He was incredibly muscular, tanned,
and had soft brown eyes that matched the chestnut waves of brown hair that was
graying slightly at the temples.

He looked up, as astonished
to see her as she was him. Alexis was ready to take out her frustrations on
this lucky stranger when she spotted a wedding band on the hand holding the
door behind him.

Why were all the men around
her married? She huffed slightly as she pushed past him and out the door.
Alexis didn't have the patience for anything that wasn't lust. There was only
one ready solution to her current agitation, and it was resting peacefully in
the top drawer of her bedside table.

§

Daniel Montgomery startled
Ryan out of his thoughts. “Who was that?”

“Huh?” was all he could
muster in reply.

“That ten that just stormed
through the door. Did you get to meet her?” Ryan looked up briefly to see his
friend standing in the doorway with a paper bag in hand and a folder tucked under
his arm.

“Oh, yeah. Sorry. That was
Alexis. She was here to pick up the dog.”

“And you were obviously all
congeniality.”

If Daniel only knew how good
he was to her. “As much as was necessary.”

“It wasn’t enough.” Daniel
smirked. “You know you could use a woman like that in your life. We’re here for
two weeks, having a friendly face to socialize with in the evenings might be
nice.” Daniel was always giving him hell about finding the right woman and
settling down. No one understood that his career was more important than a
relationship. Women created conflicts and distractions. He was already
distracted by the petite brunette who kept showing up, and now he couldn’t
afford to be. Work was more important now, especially with the deadline he was
determined to meet. But if she had been there any longer he was sure he
would’ve helped himself to seconds.

“I’ve got
you
, don’t
I?” Ryan asked.

“You flatter me, but I’m not
the type of friendly face that you need. You’re wound tighter than a yo-yo.”

“I have work to do, so if
there is a point to this, could you get to it?” Ryan turned back to the
blueprints.

 Daniel sat down in a chair
and leaned back on its axis. “That is the point. You ignore a chick like that
for work. You need to loosen up.”

“I didn’t ignore her. I even
carried the dog food to her car.” They had a conversation like this at least
once a month. Usually on Sunday, when they were watching some game on TV and
some woman was in the kitchen with Daniel’s wife. He was sick of the blind
dates, but he didn’t know how or have the guts to tell his friend to knock it
off. So, he tried to change the subject. “Do you have the schedule on you?”

Daniel crossed his arms over
his chest. “I have it, but I’m not going to give it to you until you make me a
deal.”

Ryan finally looked up at
his friend. “What kind of deal?”

“I’ll give you the schedule
if you ask out that beautiful woman.”

“No.” Ryan glanced at the
blueprints and then stood up straight and turned to Daniel. Changing the
subject never worked. Ryan wasn’t sure why he continued to try. “What the hell
kind of business are you running if you aren’t going to give me the schedule
when I ask for it?”

“I dare you to ask her,”
Daniel said with a smile.

“You dare me? Like fourth
grade?” Ryan asked, incredulous.

“More like third grade but
sure.”

“Fine. Whatever. Just give
me the damn schedule.”

Daniel pulled a folder out
from under his arm and held it out for Ryan. Just as Ryan reached for it, he
snapped it back. “The next time you see her.”

He didn’t plan on seeing her
again. In fact, he planned on avoiding her, so there was no harm in taking the
dare.

“I’ll do it.” Ryan grabbed
the folder and opened it.

“Well, this is cause for
celebration. Speaking of which...” He pulled a bottle of Glenlivet from a paper
bag, one hand on the neck and the other on the base, like a waiter. “For you,
my friend.”

Ryan glared at him
unforgivingly and then turned back to the folder.

“You’re kidding me? How did
they pass you over for the promotion?” Daniel asked, thudding the bottle on the
kitchen table hard enough to make a noise but not hard enough to risk breaking
the bottle. “You’re the golden boy.”

“Apparently my social skills
are lacking. And a major project director needs good social skills.” He
responded without looking up. As it was, Ryan could hardly face the facts
himself; he couldn’t face his best friend with them.

“I’m sorry. Keep the bottle.
Sounds like you’ll need it anyway.”

There was a silence between
the two men for a few moments. Ryan couldn’t remember a time when he was more
embarrassed. His career was the one thing that he could always be proud of. He
worked hard, but apparently that wasn’t enough. If the work day wasn’t just
beginning, he’d go sit out on that deck, watch the wind blowing through the
trees surrounding the yard, and make love to that bottle of Glenlivet. He
glanced at the bottle. A 25-year-old single malt scotch. Daniel was a hell of a
friend even if he did pester him with women.

“This could be a good thing,”
Daniel said slowly, cautiously. He folded his arms over his chest. “I’ve wanted
to tell you this for a while, but I didn’t know how to broach the topic. I
think this is as good a time as any.” He paused, obviously surveying Ryan for a
reaction, but he didn’t give one. Ryan was too preoccupied to attempt to figure
out what Daniel was dancing around. “Lisa wants to move back out this way, so
she’s closer to her family. Plus, there are better schools for the kids.”

Ryan straightened up and
matched his friend’s stance. Daniel was a little bit taller and more muscular
than Ryan, but he wasn’t intimidated by him. “You’re leaving the city? You want
to live in a suburban hell hole like this?”

“We are thinking about a
town on the outskirts of Boston, about an hour from here.”

“Do you have a job?” Ryan
was shocked. He knew that Lisa wasn’t a fan of the city, especially of the
effect it was having on her kids, but the best jobs were in town. Boston wasn’t
that far, but it was far enough that most people wouldn’t have heard of the
great work Daniel had done. In this business, with the economy in its current
state, reputation meant quite a bit, and Daniel’s reputation was spotless.

“That’s what I want to talk
to you about. What I’d like to do is open a complete design and construction
firm. I would run the business end—talk to clients and such—while you would do
the designing to the customer’s specifications. It wouldn’t be glamorous…”

“No,” Ryan interrupted, “it
would be absolutely idiotic. I’m trying to earn respect in the architectural
world. I’m not going to do that by building little houses in Massachusetts. My
career begins and ends in New York. This project is a one-time thing for some
friends. I don’t even consider it part of my career. As a matter of fact, it
might ruin my career because I am not back in the city schmoozing some big
shot.”

“You don’t think that you
would earn respect by owning half of your own company? You’d have more freedom.
More control over the projects. It’s not going to be all little houses. At
least that’s my hope.”

“You’re the best contractor
in New York. Why would you leave that?” Ryan was in distress. This was
absolutely incomprehensible to him. He knew that no matter how many questions
he asked, he still wouldn’t understand.

“Some things are more
important, Ryan. If I can provide for Lisa and the kids, it's good enough for
me. My friends are also important, which is why I want to take you along with
me.”

Ryan shook his head and
threw his hands into the air. “You’ve absolutely lost it. You could commute.
Live in Connecticut. That’s a reasonable compromise.” Ryan couldn’t help but
take this personally. If he had any family, it was Daniel. Ryan knew that he
wasn’t socially adept, but Daniel never seemed to care. He was one of the few
people Ryan could get along with and trust.

“I want you to think about
this. I didn’t think that you would take to this idea quickly. We’re going to
use the next couple of weekends to look for houses while we’re out here. We
want to move before the school year starts.”

The sound of trucks crunching
the gravel of the driveway stopped the conversation at that, and Daniel left
the kitchen to greet the local crew he had assembled. They were in for a treat.
Daniel was a taskmaster. Unlike most contractors, he wouldn’t be caught dead
working on a job a day past the promised deadline.

Ryan couldn’t be more upset
right now, but what upset him most was that when he pushed the thought of
Daniel moving out of his head, his thoughts were filled with Alexis’s legs. The
shorts she was wearing only accentuated the tanned, long legs. The chunky
sandals showed all of the curves of her calves, and his fantasies managed for
several moments to distract him from his work.

It was the last thing he
needed. If anything he needed to be more focused. Daniel was wrong. Ryan didn't
need a woman like that in his life, no matter how badly he wanted it. As far as
he was concerned, Woman didn't just eat the apple, she
was
the apple.

Chapter 6

“What the hell are those?” Alexis set her iced tea on the
counter and walked over to her sister who was carrying several bags labeled “Neiman
Marcus,” “Guess,” and some other stores. “Did you go shopping?”

Alexis started to grab for
the bags to see what was inside, but Riley pulled them away from her and walked
around the couch to sit down.

“Yeah. So what? I needed
clothes. You made me throw mine away.” Riley sat down and started going through
her bags, throwing her new pieces on the part of the ivory sectional couch that
was perpendicular to where she was sitting.

Alexis was speechless as she
watched her sister fling shirts, jeans, and skirts all around her living room.
Her cheeks became hot, and she was clenching her teeth so tightly together that
she thought that she was going to crack one of her molars down the center. She
had offered to take her sister shopping that morning, thinking it would be a
good way to get to know her a little bit better.

Alexis turned away and
walked back into the kitchen. She turned to face the wall, closed her eyes, and
put her hands on the counter, letting the cool marble calm her as she took
several deep breaths.

She could handle living with
a seventeen-year-old for two months. It wasn’t going to be easy, but she could
at least survive. Alexis had quickly realized that she had little control over
how Riley behaved, and she was sick of trying to make things okay between them.
Especially after this. Alexis offered a dove, and Riley shot it.

Alexis opened her eyes,
thinking that she could go about her day, ignoring the personal “screw you” her
sister had just delivered to her wrapped in tissue paper from Victoria’s
Secret. But when what she saw next was the pile of dirty dishes that Riley had
been collecting in the sink since the night before, she pulled in another deep
breath, this time through gritted teeth, but it wasn’t much help.

When she turned back to her
sister, it looked like a department store had thrown up all over the great
room.

“You need to clean this crap
up.”

Riley stared silently at the
television as though Alexis hadn’t said anything. Alexis pounded across the
tile in her black and silver flip-flops. “Did you hear me?”

“Whatever,” Riley sighed
without looking at her.

Alexis picked up a sweater
that was on the floor in front of her and looked at the price tag. “This is
disgusting. Pick up your brand new, very expensive clothes and put them in your
room. Then wash the dirty dishes in the sink.”

“You’re out of your mind if
you think that’s going to happen,” Riley said, kicking off her sandals into a
new pile under the coffee table.

Alexis clenched her fists,
gripping the sweater tightly, to prevent herself from smacking her baby sister
across the face. “Fine,” she managed to say as calmly as Riley.

Alexis went to the pantry
and pulled out a big black trash bag, noisily opening it. Riley continued to
ignore her. She began picking up the clothes and stuffing them into the bag. It
wasn’t until she was pulling stuff off the couch that Riley finally looked to
see what she was doing. She stood up and grabbed some of her stuff.

“What are you doing?”

“These don’t belong here.”
This time Alexis didn’t look up. If she looked at Riley she wouldn’t be able to
stay calm. That much she was sure of.

“Stop it! These are my new
clothes!” Riley scrambled around the room, picking things up and throwing them
into the shopping bags.