So Many Men... (11 page)

Pizza with the Project Mentor teens had been as harrowing as Tess had feared. The strain of keeping a composed facade was taking its toll and she was grateful that he had to leave to do his rounds at the hospital.

She pressed a kiss to his cheek. “I’ll be fine. You go do what you need to do.”

“I can stop back by later.” He wrapped one arm around her and pulled her close. “We can pick up where we left off this morning. There’s all kinds of new places
to try here.” He glanced around the apartment. “You have some interesting nooks and crannies.”

“And a sister who might pop in at any moment. Actually, I’m a little worn-out. Could I take a rain check?”

His disappointment reached out to her and she almost changed her mind, but weariness pressed on her and she smiled apologetically. “I guess you’ve just worn me out, Dr. Davies.”

“Okay.” He kissed the top of her head. “I’ll let you off the hook for tonight. I’m on call tomorrow and I need to put some time in at the clinic downtown, so I’ll call you when I can.”

Her heart swelled with warmth for this man as he pulled her close and kissed her, his beautiful mouth telling her just how much he would miss her. She stood in the door as he moved down the hall, stopping to toss her a sexy smile before he turned onto the landing.

She sighed and leaned against the doorjamb for long moments after he’d gone. What to do with all these confusing new feelings? This relationship with Mason was getting more complicated all the time.

Taking a deep breath she locked and bolted the door, then stared at her quiet apartment. It was so strange to be here alone. When was the last time she’d been on her own on a Saturday night?

“This is as good a time as any to see if Erin wants to do something,” she said to no one in particular as she punched in her sister’s cell phone number.

Erin answered on the fourth ring, just when Tess was ready to hang up. “Erin McClellan here.”

“Erin, hi. It’s me, Tess.” Tess shifted uneasily. She
hadn’t spoken to her sister since their disagreement the other day. “So, it’s Saturday night. Want to see a movie or something?”

A long silence buzzed across the line. “No, more to the left… I think I like the green one better, don’t you? It picks up the stripe in the couch.”

“Erin?”

“Sorry, Tess. Josh and I are trying to finish up the duplex this weekend, so we can start on the house for that neighbor of Nikki’s next week.”

“Oh, so you
are
working.”

“Yeah… No, not you, Josh. Not that—yes, oh, that’s good. What do you think?”

“I guess I’ll let you go.”

“Tess?”

“Yeah?”

“I know I said I’d make myself available, but I need to get this project finished. I am really swamped. You understand, don’t you?”

“Oh, sure. No problem. I’ll see what Nikki’s up to tonight.”

Erin laughed. “You’re going to call her on a Saturday night? You don’t think she and that hunky man of hers might be a little busy?”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Well, I’ll let you go. Tell Josh I said hello.”

“Are you all right? You sound a little down or something.”

“Just tired.”

“Josh said to tell Mason hi for him. So how come Josh gets to meet him and not me?”

“Josh is working on the fund-raiser with us.”

“Speaking of which, wasn’t there something you wanted to ask me?”

“There was, but you’re busy and then we got into that argument.”

“So ask me.”

“Josh already asked you, didn’t he?”

“Maybe.”

“So, do you want to or not?”

“Do I want to what or not?”

“Look, Erin, I am too tired for this. Do you want to do the decorations for the ball or not?”

“Josh says that everyone who’s anyone will be there. That it’ll be a great place to showcase my talents as a designer. Is that true?”

“It is if he has anything to do with it.”

“Okay, I’m in.”

“You are?”

“Yep.”

“Just like that?”

“I said I’d do it. Now that Josh is helping me, I think I can manage it. It isn’t like it will take the same kind of time the duplex or the house in Coral Gables will take. And it sounds like a great networking opportunity.”

“It is.”

“Then I’m on board. I’ll even donate my services and provide everything else at cost, since it’s for a good cause and all.”

“Thanks, Erin, that’s great. I really appreciate it. Mason and the DCWC will be thrilled. I’ll give the decorating committee your number.”

“Wait, Josh, don’t. That’s not straight. Look, Tess, I’m sorry to blow you off like this, but I’ve got to help
him with these valances. Why don’t you go ahead and give Nikki a call? She said we don’t call her as much since she moved out and she misses that.”

“She did?”

“Yeah, we had lunch yesterday.”

“You did?” Envy flickered through Tess. “Why didn’t you guys call me?”

“We did. You didn’t pick up on your cell.”

“I must have let the battery die again.” She didn’t mention that they could have called the nursery. For once she and Erin seemed to be having a civil conversation. Maybe she shouldn’t push it.

“Okay, I’ll see what Nikki’s doing.” She bid Erin goodbye, then punched Nikki’s home number.

Nikki answered on the second ring. “Tess?”

“Hi, am I interrupting anything?”

“Like I’d answer the phone if you were.”

“What’s Dylan doing?”

“Watching football. I’m so glad you called. I thought about calling you, but I figured you’d be busy on a Saturday night, especially with a new guy to keep up with.”

“Actually, I needed a little break. It’s getting…I don’t know…complicated.”

“Why don’t you come over? I’ll mix up some margaritas and you can tell me all about it.”

Tess sighed in relief. “I’m on my way.”

A
N HOUR LATER
T
ESS LEANED
toward Nikki, fingering her empty margarita glass. “So, what do you think? Have you lost the gift?”

Nikki drew a deep breath and relaxed against the cushions of her favorite oversize chair she’d brought into her new home. Here, in the recently renovated and decorated master bedroom, the chair seemed to fit better than it ever had in the apartment they’d shared.

Nikki shook her head. “Honestly, I’m not sure. I don’t seem to attract men the way I used to. And I don’t seem to
feel
things about people as much as I used to, either, though it almost seems that sense with Dylan has grown even stronger. I seem to feel everything he feels to an extreme degree. Do you know what I mean?”

To an extreme degree.

Tess nodded. Exactly the way she’d describe her experience with Mason. Just the way Aunt Sophie had theorized.

“Would it be such a bad thing? To lose the gift?” Nikki asked. “It was always more a curse than anything to me. Sure, it proved a blessing with Dylan. I honestly believe it helped him and I’m grateful for
that, but I was barely aware that I had those abilities when I met him. It wasn’t like I was very attached to them. I only accepted the gift once I believed it could help him.”

She shuddered visibly. “I hate to think what would have happened if I hadn’t met Dylan. The gift hasn’t been nearly so kind to me as it’s apparently been to you.”

Tess frowned. “No regrets, then? About choosing Dylan over the gift—if indeed that’s what’s happened.”

Pure happiness radiated from her sister, but even without her sixth sense Tess read Nikki’s contentment in the blissful expression on her face.

“I’m happy for you, Nikki. Your engagement to Dylan seems to agree with you.”

“It’s a good life. You should think of trying it yourself. Find some nice guy to settle down with.”

A shiver of foreboding swept over Tess. Settle down with a nice guy? Like Mason? “I can’t imagine what that might be like. I don’t even know if it’s an option for me.”

“I hear you’re giving your minions a break. Or they’re giving you one, however that works.”

“It’s weird. It has been strangely quiet around the apartment lately—when I’ve been there, that is. I guess I haven’t been there much on the weekends. The break wasn’t intentional. It seems that things just quieted down over the past week.” She inhaled a breath. “Ever since I hooked up with Mason.”

Did that have any significance?

“So tell me all about your new love. I hear he’s knocked you for a loop.”

“Who told you that? Erin? There she goes telling you things she has no idea about.”

The corners of Nikki’s lips lifted. “I don’t know, that seems a pretty heated response.”

“It is no such thing.”

Nikki regarded her with raised brows.

“The only thing that I’m heated about is that little sister of ours talking about things that she doesn’t know anything about.”

“So he’s not special? You weren’t gushing? Erin said you were definitely gushing.”

“Gushing? That’s just a matter of opinion. Mason is…he’s different. Special, yes. They’ve all been special, though, so it’s hard to say. He cares about things the way most people don’t. And these kids—I’m blown away by these kids he works with. He’s just…amazing…and the patience he has. He sets his mind on something and— I don’t know how I fit in. I feel things I’m not sure I want to feel, and I get all— Am I making any sense?”

“I’ve never seen you so flustered by a man.”

“Who says I’m flustered? I am not flustered.”

The phone on the side table rang. Tess started and Nikki frowned as she reached to answer it. “Hello?”

Tess folded her arms and sank back against the cushions of the chair Dylan had bought to match Nikki’s. Tess was
not
flustered. So what if Mason was different from the rest? What did that have to do with anything? It certainly didn’t mean she was planning to settle down with him—or anyone else for that matter.

“Wait, Thomas, say that again.” Nikki plugged one ear and pressed the phone closer to her other ear.

Tess sat forward. Tension lined Nikki’s face. A feel
ing of apprehension crept over Tess. Had something happened to Thomas? She cocked her head in question, but Nikki gestured for her to wait.

“Okay, well…I know… Just see if you can— I know… I know.” She rolled her eyes and Tess relaxed some. Nikki was more frustrated than upset.

“Okay… Okay… We will. No, we will. Tess is here with me…. Yes, I hear.” She flinched and pulled the phone away from her ear and a loud crashing sounded from the earpiece.

What was going on?

“Okay, Thomas, yes, we’re coming…Yes, now. I promise. No, don’t try to get in the middle of it. We’re on our way.” She glanced at Tess and raised her eyebrows in question.

“No way.” Tess folded her arms and sat back. No way was she getting involved in whatever craziness Thomas had gotten himself into.

Nikki hung up the phone and stood. “Come on. I’m not doing this alone. You’re coming with me.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Yes, you are. Maggie is much more likely to listen to you than to me.”

“Maggie? I thought she was still hot-tubbing her way through Europe.”

“Apparently, she got in last week.”

“Last week?” Tess asked, stunned. “Why hasn’t she called? Has she called you?”

Nikki’s cheeks colored. “I don’t know. Dylan took a break from his classes and we haven’t been accessible.”

Tess groaned but rose to follow her sister. “So where are we headed? What exactly is going on?”

“You don’t want to know.”

Tess groaned inwardly. “You’re probably right, but tell me, anyway.”

Only after grabbing her purse and ushering Tess out the garage door did Nikki answer. “Seems Maggie moved in with Aunt Sophie.”

“What? What do you mean moved in?”

“Beats me. Something about she’s tired of being on the road and it isn’t like she has a place of her own to roost.” Not a trace of derision laced Nikki’s voice, a far cry from a few months ago.

“Okay, for just a minute let’s say I buy that she’s ready to roost. What is so wrong with her staying with Aunt Sophie? Doesn’t she pretty much use that as a home base, anyway?”

Nikki shrugged as they reached the car. “Apparently this is different.”

“How so?”

“It seemed Thomas was dodging pots and pans. He wasn’t really up for any detailed explanations. One thing’s for sure, though.”

“What’s that?”

“Maggie and Aunt Sophie are killing each other.”

“W
HAT THE HELL IS GOING
on here?” Tess stared open-mouthed at Aunt Sophie’s kitchen.

Dirt splattered the floor amid shards of broken pots and mangled herbs. A bowl of fruit lay on its side, its contents sprawled across the counter. Pots and pans littered the wooden floor.

She stared at first her mother, then Aunt Sophie, who sat at opposite ends of the long oak table. Thomas was
nowhere to be seen. Nikki straightened the fruit bowl, then started to retrieve the contents.

“Well?” Tess asked again.

The two women sat in silence. Nikki waved a banana. “At least they’ve calmed down.”

Tess shook her head. “Where’s Thomas?”

Sophie gestured out the back door, which stood ajar. “As soon as the storm in here settled he stomped out back to light up his pipe.”

“Aunt Sophie, I would expect this from Mom—” a derisive snort sounded from her mother’s end of the table “—but I am shocked to witness this kind of behavior from you.” She gestured to the disaster around them. “What is all this?”

Aunt Sophie’s shoulders heaved. “Ask your mother.”

Tess turned to Maggie, who waved her fingers in the air, then she pointed to Sophie. “She started it.”

Sophie gasped but managed to hold her tongue. Tess pressed her palms to the table. “I don’t care who started what. Why are the two of you fighting?”

Maggie rose, her red hair loose and wild-looking. “It doesn’t matter. It’s over and I’m leaving.”

Sophie glared at her. “And where will you go?”

“Tess will take me in. Nikki’s old room is still available, right girls?”

Tess shifted. “Not until you tell us what’s been going on here.”

“I’ll tell you.” Thomas spoke from the back door, his pipe in hand, smoke curling from the bowl. “They’ve lost their minds. That’s what’s happened.”

“Just her.” Maggie shook her finger at her sister. “My mind is fine. Maybe I should have known she’d be this
way. I ask for one small, little favor and she can’t handle it.”

“One small, little favor?” Sophie’s eyebrows arched and her face turned scarlet.

“What kind of favor?” Nikki asked as she finished filling the fruit bowl, then grabbed the broom and turned to the broken pots of herbs.

Sophie glared at Maggie and folded her arms. “You’ll have to ask her.”

“It isn’t anything any
loving
sister wouldn’t do for another.”

“Now, Maggie.” Thomas went to her and gripped her shoulders. “Sophie loves you. Whatever the two of you are in a tizzy about, there’s one thing for sure. The two of you do love each other and you’ll work this out.”

Maggie shook her head. “I should never have come here.” One large tear rolled down her cheek. “It was a huge mistake. I thought for sure she’d understand.”

She turned to Tess. “Look, I am really tired. Can I come stay with you or not?” She raised her arms, then let them flop to her sides. “Otherwise, I’ll go find a hotel.”

“No.” Sophie rose, then moved to her sister’s side. Thomas draped one arm protectively around Maggie’s shoulders and pulled her close. A sound of frustration rose in Sophie’s throat. “You’ll stay here.”

“No.” Maggie lifted her chin. “Not unless you agree to my terms.”

Sophie shook her head. “We need to discuss this rationally. And right now, you are not rational.”

“No discussion. I’m not the one being irrational.” Maggie turned to Tess. “Yes or no, Tess?”

“No,” Sophie repeated. “You’ll stay here. I’ll grant your favor.”

Maggie’s shoulders slumped as though she’d been relieved of some great burden. “Thank you, Sophie. You won’t be sorry. I promise.”

“I’d better not be.” Sophie’s voice shook and a feeling of unease settled over Tess.

In her entire life she had never seen her aunt anything but calm and serene. What could possibly have happened to throw her so off kilter?

Try as she might, she couldn’t seem to
read
either her mother or her aunt. Not that she ever had, but given today’s development, it had been worth a try. She turned to Thomas. He scratched his head, seemingly as confused as the rest of them.

“If it’s okay with all of you, I’m going to bed.” Dark rings circled Maggie’s eyes and she did indeed appear ready to collapse.

“No, it’s not okay.” Tess frowned first at her mother, then her aunt. “We deserve an explanation.”

Shaking her head, Sophie glared at Maggie, who ran her hand over her face, then turned toward them. “You’re right. You deserve an explanation, but for now you’re not getting one. I will decide when to tell you anything.”

“Wait,” Nikki said. “You two have some secret and you’re just not going to tell us?”

“That’s what makes it a secret, dear.” Maggie moved toward the stairs. “Good night, all. I really do need to get some rest.”

“Here, I’ll walk you up,” Thomas offered, and she nodded, leaning into him as they moved up the first step.

After they’d gone, Tess turned to Sophie, but before she could utter a word, Sophie raised her hand to silence her. “This is between your mother and me. It’s the way she wants it, so it’s the way it’s going to be. At least for now.”

“Aunt Sophie…” Nikki set down the broom to move to Sophie’s side. “You know if there’s anything either of you need from us, all you have to do is ask.”

“I know, sweet girl.” Sophie cupped Nikki’s cheek, then gestured to Tess. “Come here, both of you. Your old aunt needs a hug after all this drama.”

Tess complied and Sophie wrapped her arms around them both. For just a second a flicker of fear passed through Tess. She straightened, but the sensation was gone so quickly, she couldn’t tell if she had imagined it, or exactly where it had come from.

Had she gotten a reading from her aunt?

“Now, you both run along. I’m sorry you got dragged into this. Poor Thomas didn’t know what else to do but call in the troops when he walked in on us.”

Tess caught her aunt’s eye. “Are you sure the two of you will be okay?”

“Of course.” Sophie straightened and smoothed her cotton dress. “Aren’t we always?”

“
You
certainly are.” Nikki leaned in to kiss her on the cheek. “Mom looked exhausted. Is she okay?”

A shadow flickered across Sophie’s eyes, but again passed so quickly that Tess wasn’t sure it had actually been there. The reading from her own gut had her shifting uncomfortably.

“It’s good to hear you call her that. She’ll be fine.” Sophie smiled, though it seemed forced. “She just needs a little rest. It seems it’s taking her a little longer to get
over her jet lag this time, but she’ll be fine.” Her smile brightened, seeming even more unnatural. “I’ll look after her. There’s absolutely nothing for you two to worry your pretty heads about.”

“Okay, then, if you’re sure, we’ll get going.” Nikki nodded to Tess.

Tess kissed her aunt’s cheek. “You call if you need us, okay?”

“We’ll be fine, dear. Remember, Thomas is a shout away if we need him. Bless him for moving into the neighborhood, where we can see him more regularly.”

Tess nodded, then followed Nikki out the door. They walked in silence to the car, and drove a mile or more before Nikki turned to her, her hands gripping the wheel. “Did I imagine it, or did you feel it, too?”

The sense of unease twisted Tess’s stomach. “Did I feel what?”

Nikki turned back to the road and shrugged, though her grip on the wheel didn’t loosen. “You know, that sense of mine isn’t working anymore the same way it used to. I probably imagined it.”

Tess kept her gaze on the road. A streetlight flashed by. “Imagined what?”

“I don’t know. For just a second there— It’s probably nothing, but I thought that maybe I sensed this flicker of fear from Aunt Sophie.” She glanced at Tess. “Did you get any of that?”