Ties That Bind (5 page)

Calmer, she reassessed the situation. Surely
Jack would have confronted her had he known. What about Liz and
Jessica? Was her confession of an almost one-night stand enough to
engender that kind of loyalty? Someone would have said something.
But this did present a new dilemma – if Gavin noticed, someone else
was bound to. Could she really keep the secret until after the
wedding? Should she just slink away and hope they all forgot
her?

The thought of leaving her new home was even
more revolting than the thought of being discovered. She took a
deep breath and whispered, “He doesn’t know.”

“Oh,” Gavin blinked, not sure what to make of
that. “Well that explains a lot.”

“At least I think he doesn’t,” Kate
amended.

“Oh. How did you….”

“So are we going to kayak or what?” She
jumped up abruptly, effectively closing the conversation. He
obliged by following her quietly. By the time they’d reached the
vendor, he’d regained his train of thought enough to procure them a
boat.

“No kayaks left,” he told her apologetically.
“But I know how much you wanted to go out, so I got us a
canoe.”

“Wow. That’s a relief,” she told him
dryly.

“Don’t worry, we’ll stay in the family fun
zone – it’s perfectly safe.”

“I’m not scared,” her chin jutted out just a
bit. Okay, maybe she was just a little. Were there sharks in the
bay?

“I even got you a plastic bag for your
purse,” he proudly produced an airtight container, dropping his
wallet in it before handing it to Kate. “Just in case.”

“I can’t believe you’re making me do this,”
Kate muttered, immensely proud when she got into the boat and away
from the pier without tipping. She couldn’t help eyeing his camera
nervously. How much would it cost to replace that thing if it did
end up in the bay?

He still blessed her with silence, although
it was somewhat unnerving because she got the impression he was
sizing her up or maybe just processing it all still. But even that
couldn’t keep her from appreciating the sheer beauty of the bay.
There was something magical about being out here, a part of it all,
instead of just watching from a distance. She was startled by the
click of his camera.

“I wish you wouldn’t do that,” she
frowned.

“As pretty as you are when you pout, it’s
ruining my shot. Try not to scowl at me so much.”

“I’m not pouting,” she protested, her mind
vaguely registering the fact that his accent could make an insult
sound seductive. He could tell her that her family was comprised of
three-headed pigs and she would think it sounded sexy if he said it
in that accent. “Okay, maybe I am just a little bit. But you really
shouldn’t ruin this beautiful moment taking pictures of me.”

“It’ll be kind of hard to do a photo shoot of
you experiencing San Francisco if I can’t take pictures of you.
Besides, there was a youthful innocence in your face just then that
was quite captivating.”

“Youthful? Ha,” she practically snorted. Sore
subject these days – being surrounded by beautiful
twenty-somethings was making her feel really old.

“Yes, youthful. Why, how old are you?”

“You’re not supposed to ask a lady her
age.”

“Ladies aren’t supposed to snort.”

“Fine, I’m thirty-two,” Kate shuddered a
little when she uttered the words aloud. When had she become a
salad-eating, burger-dreaming woman who feared growing old? Her
self-perspective was changing so fast she could hardly keep up
these days.

“How have you managed to stay out of the home
this long?” he tried to be serious but couldn’t help laughing.

“Oh shut up,” she snarled then straightened.
“Wait a second, how old are you?”

“Twenty-five,” he stretched his legs out in
front of him, not a care in the world. Kate stared at him in
horror. Was cradle-robbing genetic? She was this worked up over a
guy who was barely out of college?

“What?” he eyed her warily when the shock
didn’t quickly dissipate.

“I didn’t realize. I’m sorry. I didn’t
realize…” she stammered.

“What?”

“I… You’re so young.”

“Well you’re not exactly ancient,” he
reminded her.

“What does the name Rick Springfield mean to
you?”

“Excuse me?”

“Sorry, wrong answer – Jesse’s Girl.”

“Have you completely lost your mind?”

“Quick, name the first Aerosmith song you can
think of.”

“Pink.”

“Really? Pink? That’s the first one?”

“You pressured me!”

“It’s not only a wrong answer; it’s a bad
wrong answer.”

“You’ve totally lost me.”

“We are from two different generations. I’m
X, you’re Y.”

“There’s a joke in there about chromosomes,
but I think I’ll just hold onto it for now.”

“Do,” she leveled her gaze on him, confident
that this new knowledge would strengthen her resolve to stay away
from this particular bad boy. Then he cocked his head to the side
and gave her that crooked little grin and her heart went on another
rampage while her stomach completely erupted with butterflies.

“So Grandma,” he began slowly, waiting to see
if she’d take the bait and continuing only when he was sure she
wasn’t. “Why haven’t you told Jack he’s your father? How long have
you known?”

“That again? Can’t we talk about this
later?”

“You evade a lot.”

“True,” she pondered that, acknowledging the
truth in his statement. “I suspected it when I came here. I didn’t
know for sure until I met him on Monday... the eyes and all. It’s
uncanny.”

“So why don’t you tell him?”

“What would that do to his relationship with
Tara? What if he didn’t want me around after that?”

“Do you think he won’t want you?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted in a small
voice. “Maybe he didn’t want me before. Maybe that’s why my mom
left.”

Gavin sensed the pain her words caused so he
let the subject drop, for the moment. “I don’t know Grandma; you’re
pretty cute… for a grandma that is….”

“That’s it.” Kate pulled her oar in and
lunged for him. She wasn’t sure what she’d do with him when she got
there, but visions of her hands and his neck danced through her
head.

“Kate, the boat,” he warned.

“Should have thought of that,” she retorted
even as she felt the boat tip. A split-second later she felt the
jolting cold of the bay surround her. She came up sputtering. Gavin
was soaked through but somehow managed to hold his camera above
water. Together they righted the boat. She noted with a certain
amount of relief that the bag with their things was still securely
tied in place.

He set the camera on the seat and hopped in –
how he did so without tipping again was a wonder to Kate. Following
suit was a more daunting task than it seemed. He grabbed her hand
and leaned back, preparing to balance the boat as she clambered
aboard. Once there, she sat down and contented herself to glare at
him for a full minute before she realized she was only wearing one
purple heel.

“My shoe!”

“Excuse me?” That infernal lip-twitch nearly
drove her to violence.

“My brand new shoe… it’s gone,” Kate stared
in disbelief at her bare foot.

“Hey, you lunged.”

“You called me grandma.”

“Because I wanted you to see how ridiculous
you were being.”

“You said Pink.”

“You’re crazy. Fortunately for you, I have a
thing for crazy women. Especially old ones.”

She debated pouncing on him again but he held
his hands up in surrender.

“Sorry, I couldn’t pass that up. It wasn’t
fair,” he admitted.

“Or nice,” she added. “Do you have any idea
how much of my grocery budget I spent on that shoe? Go get it.”

“You go get it,” Gavin tossed back, and then
quickly amended. “Kate you’re not going to find it. It’s at the
bottom of the bay by now.”

“Maybe it’ll float back to the surface,” she
was getting desperate.

“Yeah, I’m not waiting around for that
one.”

“That’s two-hundred dollars worth of
shoe!”

“Why did you spend four hundred dollars on a
pair of shoes?”

“Because I was being frivolous. Why do you
care how much I spent on my shoes? You and your stupid ideas.
Canoeing. Really. Who does that?”

“Only the insane, obviously.”

“Obviously,” Kate leveled her fiercest gaze
on him. He ducked his head too late to hide a smile.

“Should we go back so we can get some dry
clothes?” He suggested.

“Probably. You look pretty bad,” Kate
surprised herself with a giggle.

“You’re kind of bedraggled yourself,” he
chuckled. Their eyes met for a moment then they both laughed out
loud – and kept laughing the entire way back to the pier. By the
time she clambered out of the boat, her sides ached from the
giggling and the cold.

She did pout a little when she had to take
off her lone shoe to walk evenly.

“Sorry about your shoe,” Gavin tried to look
sincere.

“No you’re not,” Kate rolled her eyes. “But
it was a really good shoe.”

“Come on, my place is right around the corner
and you’re barefoot.”

Kate was curled up on Gavin’s couch, sipping
a cup of hot tea and waiting for him to reappear. He’d allowed her
the first hot shower. Now she sat in his sweatpants and tee-shirt
while he did the same. She had been happy to note that she swam in
his clothes and had to admit she’d be a little sad when hers were
dry.

His building looked a little like hers, but
definitely had a heftier price tag. His loft was easily three
levels and the entire back wall was windows. The ceiling seemed to
soar above her. It was bright, clean and sleek where hers was
darker with exposed brick and wood. Artwork and photographs hung on
the walls. It was obvious this immaculate room didn’t get much use.
The kitchen and bedroom seemed to tell a different story. Kate
could see the clutter from her vantage point. She couldn’t begin to
imagine functioning in that kind of mess. Even dwelling on it now
made her a little claustrophobic.

And then Gavin reappeared to lean casually in
the doorframe of his room. He seemed to be contemplating something.
The possibilities made Kate’s stomach do a flip-flop.

“Where are we going for lunch?”

Ah, so it was his stomach on his mind. Just
as well.

“Now that you mention it, I’m starving,” Kate
sat down her cup and stretched lazily. “Nothing like a good swim to
work up an appetite.”

Her temporary absence of a scowl earned her a
bright smile from Gavin. “Well we can’t let you starve. How about I
make us some omelets?”

“Have you perfected your breakfast skills for
the ladies?” She smirked.

“It’s not a revolving door you know,” he
rolled his eyes.

“You seemed pretty accomplished the other
night,” she wanted to wince at the memory of what she’d almost
done.

“Do you often follow guys up to their
studio?” he asked pointedly.

“Certainly not,” she gasped. “I never do that
kind of thing. Why do you think I came to my senses and high-tailed
it out of there?”

“That wasn’t very nice of you to sneak out
like you’d just lifted the family silver, by the way,” he scolded
gently. “But if it was a first for you, why do you assume it wasn’t
for me?”

“I saw the crowd around you,” she reminded
him.

“Ah, them,” he actually blushed. “They didn’t
want me. They wanted the version of me created by their
imaginations. It’s a little lonely, actually.”

“Oh,” she pursed her lips in thought. “Do I
believe that?”

“I can’t tell you that. But it is what it
is,” he ducked his head in his fridge and reemerged with some eggs
and bacon. “I promise you those women could care less that I’m the
youngest of four boys, I’m crazy about my nieces and nephews, and I
still shudder with fear when my mother says my middle name because
I know it means I’m in trouble.”

Kate realized that she hadn’t even thought
about his family once in the past few days. Was she as bad as the
crowd of admirers? Now that he’d mentioned it, she knew that she
did care – very much so. She padded barefoot over to the island in
his kitchen and found a perch on a stool.

“Tell me more.”

The corner of his lip pulled into a smile and
he nodded once.

“Want some coffee?”

“Please.”

“Gabriel is the oldest. He has three girls –
the youngest is the little girl in that black and white with the
daisy.”

Kate nodded, well aware of the picture he
spoke of. “I love that one. What’s her name?”

“Emma.”

“Very pretty.”

“Gabriel and his wife have been married for
almost ten years now and they’re obnoxiously happy. Devon is
second. He and his wife have two sons. Their relationship is a bit
more… tumultuous but I think they like it that way.”

“Tumultuous can be entertaining,” Kate
acknowledged, her eyes tracing the contours of his back through the
tee shirt he’d thrown on after his shower. It still clung to him
from the moisture. Her fingers itched to follow the path of her
eyes.

“At times,” he turned to meet her gaze. “But
comfortable like a favorite pair of jeans is good, too.”

“So who is number three?” Kate smiled
dreamily; his stare was like a drug.

“Darrin,” he impulsively reached out and
touched her cheek lightly. “He’s the family daredevil. He and his
wife are too busy climbing mountains and going on safaris to have
kids. It’s driving my mum crazy. With Jill’s fiery red hair, Mum
was really hoping for a redheaded grandbaby.”

“Then what does she say about you being
single? Sounds like your brothers were all paired off by your
age.”

“She wants me to be happy,” he smiled
ruefully. “And to find someone already.”

“Does she realize twenty-five is still young
by today’s standards?” Kate returned his smile.