Lost and Found (27 page)

Mack and his daughter were in the front hall.

“What are you doing here, Gabriella?” Mack asked.

“I called Mrs. Thompson. I wanted to ask her to send me a jacket I left behind the last time I was home. She mentioned that she was going to clean today because you had arranged for a realtor to stop by this afternoon. I couldn’t believe it.”

“How did you get here?” Mack asked calmly.

“I took the bus from Santa Cruz to San Francisco and then caught the ferry—” Gabriella broke off, staring at Cady. “Who are you?”

“Good morning.” Cady smiled down at her. Gabriella’s eyes were so like Mack’s, it was impossible not to smile. “I’m Cady Briggs.”

“You’re
her
.” Anguish and fury etched Gabriella’s pretty face. “You’re the freelancer who screwed up that job he did for Notch and Dewey. This is all your fault.”

“Gabriella.” Mack spoke quietly, authority vibrating in his voice. “That’s enough. Have a seat in the living room. Cady and I will get dressed. We’ll have breakfast somewhere and talk.”

Gabriella clenched her fists at her sides. “Why would I want to eat breakfast with your mistress?”

“I said that’s enough, Gabriella. Sit down and pull yourself together. You’re too old for this kind of tantrum.”

Cady winced but said nothing. This was not her daughter, she reminded herself.

“You did it because of her, didn’t you?” Tears thickened
Gabriella’s voice. “You’re selling our home because you’re having an affair with her. Is this one of those middle-aged crazy things that men go through?”

“Sit down.” Mack turned toward the stairs. “I told you, we’ll talk later.”

“How could you do it, Dad? How could you put our home on the market?”

Mack did not respond. He took the steps two at a time. When he reached the balcony, he brushed past Cady. His jaw was rigid.

“Sorry about this,” he muttered in a low voice, pausing at the bedroom doorway. “I always leave word where she can reach me when I’m away from home.”

“Of course. Only natural. Don’t worry about it.”

Down below, Gabriella stomped into the living room and disappeared from view.

“She’s a lovely young woman, Mack.”

“She’s behaving like a teenage brat at the moment.”

“It’s always a shock to discover that your parents have a sex life.”

“This isn’t about my sex life. It’s about the house.”

“Whatever.” She started toward her own bedroom. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll get dressed, too. But I think I’ll let you and Gabriella have breakfast together without me, if you don’t mind.”

“No. I want you there.”

“It will be awkward.”

His mouth twisted. “You’re right. What the hell was I thinking? It’s not fair to ask you to sit through an unpleasant scene with a temperamental kid. I’ll deal with Gabriella. She’s my daughter, not yours.”

Cady hesitated. “Don’t be too hard on her, Mack. She’s obviously very upset about this. And she’s at a difficult age.”

“I’ve got news for you, Cady. Speaking as a parent, I can assure you that all the ages are difficult.”

A wistful sensation drifted through her.
Speaking as a parent
. She could not do that. “You’re the expert, so I won’t argue. All the same, promise me you’ll go easy. Speaking as a
woman
, I can tell you that she’s genuinely hurt and probably a little afraid of the future.”

His expression didn’t soften much but some of the bleakness faded from his eyes. “Okay, I’ll keep it in mind.”

He closed the door.

She went on down the hall toward her room. She had her hand on the doorknob when something made her pause and look out over the balcony again.

Gabriella was watching her from the curved entrance to the living room. Her face was flushed and tight with anger.

On impulse Cady took her hand off the doorknob and went toward the staircase. This was probably not the smart thing to do, she thought. This was not her problem. She and Mack were casual lovers, at best. A couple of ships passing in the night.

She winced. All right, so maybe the sex wasn’t exactly casual. But the relationship certainly could not be described as serious. It wasn’t as if she was going to have a permanent role in the lives of Mack and Gabriella. Better to stay out of this situation. Let Mack and his daughter work through their issues.

Gabriella did not move when Cady reached the bottom of the stairs. She stood there, glowering resentfully, shoulders hunched, arms tightly folded, cheeks damp.

“Gabriella?” Cady kept her voice low. “Would you like to talk privately with me?”

“Why would I want to talk to you? We don’t have anything to discuss.”

“I disagree. We seem to have a mutual interest in your father.”

“Stay away from him. This is all your fault. I knew something happened on that last job. I
knew
it.”

“Why does that worry you?”

Gabriella tensed. “It doesn’t worry me. He won’t keep you around long. He never gets serious about any of his women.”

“Because of you?”

“Because of my
mother
.”

“No,” Cady said. “I don’t think so.”

“He loved her.”

“Yes, of course he did.”

“How do you know that?”

“It’s not hard to tell.”

For a moment Gabriella looked bewildered. “Why would he talk to you about my mother? He never talks about her to his one-night stands.”

“Maybe he told me about her because I told him a few things about my first marriage.” Cady went past her toward the kitchen. “I think the pop-psych people call it ‘sharing.’ What’s all this about a realtor coming to your house today?”

“You know what it’s about.” With obvious reluctance, Gabriella trailed after her. “He started talking about selling our home after he came back from that job you screwed up.”

Cady picked up the kettle and went to the sink to fill it. “Gabriella, you’re not tracking here. You just told me that your father never gets serious about any of his female friends. Now you tell me I wield enough power over him to force him to put a house on the market? For the record, I’m not in the real estate business.”

“If that’s supposed to be funny—”

“Forget it.” Cady put the kettle on the stove and switched on the burner. “Want some tea?”

“No.”

Cady picked up a package of English muffins. “Want one?”

“No.”

“Okay.” She took one of the muffins out of the package, separated it and dropped both halves into the toaster.

Gabriella watched in ill-concealed irritation. “Dad said we were going to eat breakfast out.”

“You and your father can have breakfast together. I’m going to eat here. I’d rather not get involved in your family quarrel.”

“Dad and I don’t quarrel. We never quarrel.” Gabriella’s lip trembled. “At least not about important stuff like this.”

Cady nodded. “Probably because your father usually goes out of his way to make you happy.”

Gabriella shot her a fierce look. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing much.” Cady took some cream cheese out of the refrigerator. “Just out of curiosity, what do you do to make him happy?”

There was a short, shocked silence before Gabriella sputtered back into words.

“Don’t make it sound like I manipulate him,” she hissed. “That’s not how it is.”

“It’s called guilt-tripping and something tells me you’re very, very good at it.”

Gabriella paled. “Why do you say that? It’s not true. I don’t try to make him feel guilty.”

“Why do you think he put the house up for sale?”

“I don’t
know
.” Gabriella sounded anguished now. “Something is happening to him. He’s been acting weird for a while and it got a whole lot worse after he hired you to consult on that last project.”

“Maybe he’s doing the same thing you’re doing in college.”

Gabriella stared at her. “The same thing? What’s that?”

“Getting on with his life.”

There was a short, stark silence.

“But why does he have to sell the house to do that?” Gabriella demanded.

“I don’t know.” The kettle was whistling. Cady picked it up and started to pour boiling water. She had put enough loose tea into the pot to serve two. “But we’re a couple of smart females. I’ll bet between the two of us we can figure it out.”

M
ack looked at the man in the mirror above the gleaming white sink and wondered how he was going to explain things to Gabriella. The truth was, he couldn’t even explain them to himself. But some part of him had known that this day would come. He just hadn’t known when it would arrive.

Life never stood still, no matter how hard you tried to hold onto it. He could only hope that someday Gabriella would understand that.

Meanwhile, things were going to be unpleasant. In the past he had had little trouble keeping his relationships discreetly in the background largely because he’d experienced no compelling need to place them at the center of his life. But Cady was different. He doubted if anyone could ever keep Cady tucked out of sight for long.

He leaned over the sink and splashed cold water on his face.

“
H
e won’t marry you, you know.” Gabriella stood at the window, gazing fixedly out into the mist. “He never marries any of his women.”

Cady carried the two cups of tea to the table and put them down. “This may come as a surprise to you, but I don’t consider myself to be one of your father’s women.”

Gabriella raised one shoulder in a jerky little shrug. “You think you’re special?”

“Uh-huh.”

Gabriella spun around. “Why?”

Cady went back to the counter to get the English muffins. “Probably because I don’t suffer from low self-esteem. Are you sure you won’t have some tea? I made enough for both of us.”

Gabriella glared at the cup, hesitated and then took two steps to the table. She picked up the tea and went back to her vigil at the window.

“If it’s any comfort to you,” Cady said, “your father and I have never discussed marriage.”

Gabriella flashed her a searching glance and then, apparently somewhat mollified, she went back to the view.

“Let’s talk about the house.” Cady picked up her own cup. “You go first. What’s your theory of why he’s going to put it on the market?”

Gabriella gripped the cup very tightly. “I don’t know. I just know it has something to do with you.”

“I don’t think so.” Cady watched Gabriella’s stiff shoulders. “I think it has something to do with you.”

“Me? But I don’t want him to sell it.”

“What’s the house like, Gabriella?”

“What’s it like?”

“How many bedrooms? Is the kitchen big or small? Is there a garden?”

Gabriella hesitated. “Four bedrooms. Two baths.” Her voice softened. “There’s a big, old-fashioned kitchen. Dad and I used to cook dinner together after Mom died. The garden is huge. Lots of shrubs and flowers and a lawn. I had my high school graduation party there.”

“Sounds like a nice place.”

“It is. It’s our home.”

“It also sounds like it might be a little empty without you.”

Gabriella flinched. Her head came up very fast. “I go home during breaks.”

“But the rest of the time your father is there alone?”

Gabriella’s very feminine jaw set in a stubborn line that was vaguely reminiscent of Mack. “Dad likes it that way.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“He travels more now.” Gabriella’s voice took on a defensive note. “So he’s not home alone all the time, if that’s what you’re trying to say. And he dates sometimes.
Lots
of women. No one person in particular.”

“You’ll be going back less and less often now, though, won’t you? Eventually you’ll graduate. Get a job. Craft a life for yourself. You’ll probably get married. Start a home of your own. You’ll never really live in that nice big house again, will you? That’s not how life works.”

“You don’t understand.”

Cady took a slow sip of tea and lowered the cup. “I live alone.”

“So?”

“For the most part it’s okay. I’m used to it. I’ve always been alone in my condo, you see.” She paused a beat. “There’s plenty of room.”

“Plenty of room?”

“There aren’t any memories around to crowd me. I don’t run into an image of a little girl hiding behind the couch every time I walk into the living room. I don’t have to share the kitchen with a memory of someone who used to help me cook dinner and clean up afterward. I don’t have a garden so I don’t go into it and think about how lovely my daughter looked the day she celebrated her graduation from high school there.”

Gabriella’s teacup froze in midair. She turned, a stricken expression on her face. “Ghosts and memories? You think that’s what it’s like for Dad?”

Cady looked at her. “Why don’t you ask him?”

S
ome time later Mack got behind the wheel of his car. Gabriella slid into the seat beside him.

“You don’t have to drive me all the way back to Santa Cruz,” she said. “I can take the bus.”

“It’s no problem.” Mack reversed out of the villa’s driveway. “I’ve got some business with a client who lives in the mountains. We’ll stop by his place on the way.”

Cady stood at the edge of the drive and waved. He rolled down the window.

“I’ll be back in plenty of time for dinner,” he said.

“All right,” she said. “Drive carefully.”

Jeez. Did they sound like a couple that had been married for years and years, or what?

He smiled to himself in spite of the tension vibrating from his daughter and pulled out onto the narrow road.

Gabriella was very intent beside him. She had been unnaturally quiet all through breakfast. He had come downstairs expecting a storm of tears and accusations. Instead he had met only a strained silence. Taking the hint from Cady’s expression, he had not launched into a lecture.

“She’s different, isn’t she?” Gabriella said. “She’s not like the others.”

“No,” Mack said. “She’s not like the others.”

“Are you going to marry her?”

Something inside him tightened. “We haven’t even come close to the subject of marriage.”

“That’s what she said.”

“It’s the truth.”

Gabriella bit her lip. “She also said that I should ask you something.”