“What’s your location?”
“The newsstand outside the Farrar-Chase building.”
“I’m on my way.” He got dressed faster than he’d gotten undressed earlier, explaining to Jenessa in a few terse words what was going on. Hunger was forgotten. Sex was just a lingering memory that clung to him like a faint scent. A dull ache in his tired muscles. All that mattered now was finding his niece. “If you’re coming,” he told her, “get dressed.”
Mitch parked illegally two blocks away from the imposing Farrar-Chase building. The traffic had been a bitch, and there wasn’t a free parking spot for half a mile. The revelry on Independence was showing no signs of abating. Firecrackers were still going off at random intervals, people were shouting, blowing horns, banging on trashcan lids and generally giving in to the excitement.
He held Jenessa’s hand tightly, making an effort not to run; if he broke into a trot, she’d certainly not be able to keep up. A live band was playing in the center of the promenade, pointlessly, he thought, because music blared from bars and storefronts. Businesses set up booths along the street, which was closed to traffic, and were handing out branded knickknacks, horns, spangled hats and streamers. A carpet of burst balloons and confetti lay at their feet like dead leaves.
The din was chaotic, but it was nothing compared to the panic growing inside him as the thickness of the crowd fully hit home. How would he find Ruby? And what had happened to her in the first place? He couldn’t bear to imagine the many dark and gruesome ways a pretty 12-year-old girl could come to grief on a night like this.
He found Hugh and his family easily. They were huddled against a shuttered newsstand near the entrance to the towering office building. As Hugh had said, the two boys weren’t with them. Probably still out scouring the Avenue for Ruby. Brianna was clutching her mother’s hand, her round face pale with fear.
He sprinted the final few yards to their side. Jenessa almost collided with him as he stopped in front of Hugh. He should have introduced everyone, but there was more on his mind. Instead, they exchanged nods all round. “Anything?” he demanded.
“I’m sorry.” Hugh shook his head and looked down at his watch. It was one-thirty. Ruby had missed another rendezvous. “Think we should call the cops?”
Mitch scanned the crowd. Frustration, fear and anger at his own helplessness wrapped around him, more penetrating than the cold. He’d been hoping it wouldn’t come to that, but the situation was way past one of a straying pre-teen. Something had gone wrong. He turned to Jenessa as if asking her opinion. Too breathless to say anything, she nodded.
He took his phone out, and was on the verge of hitting 911 when Hugh’s began ringing. His friend had it on the second ring. “Axel?” he barked.
Mitch realized he’d stopped breathing.
Hugh’s shoulders went limp, but from relief, not defeat. “Okay. Stay where you are. We’re on our way.” He clicked the phone shut and gave Mitch a shaky grin. “She’s all right. Axel and Ryan have her. She was coming out of the coffee shop on Jubilee. The boys are keeping her there. Let’s move.”
The small group snaked down the Avenue, shouldering their way through the crowds. Mitch’s relief was so huge he was almost weak. But questions replaced his fear. Had she been just one block away the whole time? Why? And with whom? And why had she missed rendezvous?
The coffee shop was closing its doors as they approached, with two exhausted-looking workers inside turning over chairs while another flipped the Open sign to read Closed. Ruby was standing, flanked by the two older boys, hugging her arms around her chest. Whether it was from the cold, or a self-protective gesture against his impending ire, Mitch couldn’t tell.
As the Banner family crowded around each other, loudly analyzing the episode, Mitch snatched Ruby up in a rough, relieved hug. “What happened? What were you thinking?”
Ruby pulled away, her eyes darting from him to Jenessa. She tried to speak, but couldn’t make a sound.
“It’s okay,” Jenessa encouraged. “Your uncle just wants to be sure you’re all right. Are you?”
No answer.
“Did someone hurt you?”
The pinched, pained shake of the head did nothing to allay Mitch’s fears. Newspaper headlines zipped past his eyes, screaming evil stories of victimization of young girls. He wanted to throw up. If anyone had touched her, he was going to pound them into the afterlife.
He dropped to one knee before the young girl and took hold of her hands, pleading. “Ruby, sweetheart, please. Tell me. Did anybody . . . ?” The question was too nauseating to finish.
“No.”
“Then what . . . ?” If she hadn’t been taken by force, there was another possibility. Did his little girl have an admirer? A boyfriend? Couldn’t be. She was too young. He couldn’t voice the question.
Jenessa asked it for him. “Were you meeting someone?”
Ruby’s mouth worked, and again, Mitch felt that dark anger burn a trail across his soul. He half-hoped this boy was overage, so he could beat him to a smear without a twinge of conscience. Again, he was too sickened to ask.
Bless Jenessa and her feminine wisdom. Standing right by Mitch’s side, she touched Ruby’s cheek. “Was it a boy?”
Ruby’s eyes were like double moons; wide, anxious. She shook her head.
“We won’t be mad,” Jenessa promised.
Speak for yourself, Mitch thought.
When Ruby found her voice, it was cracked and hesitant. “It was . . . it was Mom.”
Mitch spluttered. “You went to meet your mother? Coral was here?”
Ruby nodded miserably.
“But she’s in rehab! Did she get another day pass?”
A vigorous shake of the head.
“What, then?”
“Uncle, please,” Ruby begged. “Don’t be mad. If I tell you, don’t be—”
Too late, he thought. But he asked steadily, “What’d your mom do?”
“She left.”
“She broke out?” he gasped.
“Walked out,” Ruby insisted. “Walked out. There’s nothing to ‘break out’ from. It’s not a jail. My mother’s not a criminal!” Her voice was thin and shrill above the noise.
Jenessa stroked Ruby’s hair, moving to stand behind her to offer support and comfort. Over Ruby’s head, she signaled him. Calm down, she advised wordlessly.
He reached within his depths to find patience. He could have pointed out that since Coral’s rehab stay was court-ordered, she could most definitely wind up in jail if she got caught leaving without permission. But that would only further distress the girl. “Okay, so your mom got out—left. But how’d you . . . did you bump into her here?”
Ruby steeled herself against the wrath to come. “She asked me to meet her at the coffee shop. Tonight.”
“And how’d she. . . . ”
“She called me.”
He felt like he’d been kicked in the gut with rugby cleats. “At home?”
“Mm-hm.” As brave as the girl was, she couldn’t keep her eyes on his face anymore. She let her gaze drop to the sidewalk.
“Your mother called you at home while I was there? When?”
She shrugged. “Couple of times.”
“She told you she was leaving? You two planned this together?”
No answer.
Mitchell spun around, took a few steps to release some of the energy churning inside him, and turned back to his niece. “Ruby, you know that’s wrong. You should’ve come to me. You should’ve said something. It’s dangerous for you to be alone with her—”
“She’s. My. Mom!” Ruby shrieked, her fists balled, rising before her like she was ready to fight. “She’s my Mother! She wanted to see me. She said she came on Christmas night, and you made her go away. Why? You’re mean!”
He tried to explain patiently. “I made her go away because seeing you without supervision is illegal. Plus, she was out past the time on her day pass. She could’ve been arrested.”
“It’s not the same.” He wished he could explain it more clearly, but couldn’t find the words. He sought refuge in his authority. “And you’re not to see her or speak to her again without my permission.”
Laying down the law to a kid that age was like dangling a trussed cat before a pit bull. Ruby snapped at it in rebellion. “I’ll see her whenever I want.”
Resistance met with greater resistance. “Not likely. You’re grounded.”
Ruby squeaked an incredulous “What?”
“You took calls from your mother without notifying me.” He counted off Ruby’s misdeeds on his fingers. “You met her without my permission. You ducked out on the Banners without telling anyone where you were going. You lied to all of us.”
“How could I be lying? Huh? How could I lie when I didn’t say anything?”
“Sometimes, not saying anything is another way of lying.” He rounded off the list of reasons for Ruby’s punishment. “You missed rendezvous twice. So you’re grounded. Let’s go.”
“Go where? I’m spending the night with Brianna!”
He shook his head slowly. “Not anymore. Like I said: you’re grounded.”
“Aw, man!” Ruby stamped her foot and looked about to cry. Jenessa slipped her arms around her and gave her a reassuring hug.
Mitch turned to Hugh and offered him his hand. “Guess we’re going to call it a night.”
“You sure?” Hugh said. “It’s no problem us taking her home, if you want to get on with . . .” He glanced at Jenessa over Mitch his shoulder. “ . . . your evening.”
Mitch looked at Jenessa. This wasn’t how he’d seen the rest of the night going, but they both knew playtime was over. When she communicated her wordless understanding, he shook his head. “That’s okay, man. Ruby needs some time to think about what she did. I’m dropping Jenessa off and then Ruby and I are going home.”
“Well, you guys have a good night. And I’m sorry again about . . . losing her.”
He slapped Hugh reassuringly on the shoulder. “Wasn’t your fault. Nights like this, anything can happen. And kids, once they set their mind to something. . . . ”
The men parted, and the Banner family moved away. “Ready?” he asked. He held out his hand to Ruby, but she stubbornly clasped hers behind her back, glowering at him. Her rejection pained him, but he sympathized. Life is hard when you’re twelve, especially if your mother wasn’t there for you. He understood why the girl had done what she did, but that didn’t mean he was going to stand by and let her put herself in danger. If he had to be Bad Uncle tonight, so be it.
He felt a wave of warmth ripple through him when Jenessa stepped between them and grasped both their hands, like the cream filling between two cookies. That she was willing to play peacemaker, while at the same time offering Ruby a feminine reassurance he couldn’t possibly emulate, brought a new, fresh awareness of how wonderful she was. He wanted to hug her. He wanted to tell her how much he appreciated being with her tonight, all of it, even the scary part. As soon as they were alone again, he planned to tell her. He planned to show her.
As they neared his car, a voice stopped them. “Jenessa?”
They spun around to find its source: a woman in an opulent fur coat and hat. She looked familiar.
“I knew it had to be you,” the woman was saying. “That blond hair’s like a beacon in the darkness.”
Then he remembered: Tony Goodman’s wife, Vera. He’d met her at the Christmas party. And she was with her husband.
“Jenessa!” The owner of Bianchi’s boomed. He was as bundled up against the cold as his wife. “How nice to see you. Happy New Year!” Then he noticed Mitch standing beside her. The bushy unibrow popped upward into the rim of Tony’s fur hat, but he recovered fast. “Mitchell, good to see you, too.”
As Mitch smiled his welcome, Tony’s eyes dropped to the pair of clasped hands between them. Mitch heard Jenessa let out a soft gasp. The hand that had been squeezing his, her thumb grazing the backs of his knuckles, went limp. Then it was gone from his grip, coming up to finger-comb her mussed hair. It was a self-conscious gesture, and Mitch knew her discomfort had to do with more than just her appearance.
He gave her a sidelong look, hoping his dismay and embarrassment weren’t obvious to everyone. She studiously avoided it.
“Out for a little . . . family outing?” Tony probed.
“Uh, not exactly, no.” Jenessa said hastily. She made another nervous swipe at her hair, and then tugged at an earring as if checking that it hadn’t fallen out.
“All righty, then.” Tony’s joviality now had a slight edge. He shook Mitchell’s hand—the one Jenessa had been holding five seconds ago—and wished him a Happy New Year, too. Mitch regained his composure and scrounged up the good manners to respond in kind. He could hear Jenessa and Vera Goodman exchanging superficial pleasantries but he might as well have been hearing them from the other side of a granite wall. Correction: the granite wall had fallen on him.
Jenessa was ashamed to be seen with him. At least, with her people, the higher-ups at Bianchi’s. She hadn’t minded being demonstrative in front of the Banners, but they were his people. The crew from his side of the tracks. He heard the conversation being wrapped up and nodded vaguely in the direction of the Goodmans as they went on their way.
He felt Ruby’s eyes on him, puzzlement surpassing her anger. She was still clinging to Jenessa’s other hand, and she must’ve noticed her attempt to put distance between them. Ruby was old enough and smart enough to understand her uncle had romantic feelings for this new woman in his life. For her to have witnessed this humiliation was unbearable.
Jenessa’s face was blank and startled, as if she’d just snapped out of a trance. As if she’d been standing on the sidelines watching a woman disavow the man she’d spent the last few hours making love with. She mouthed the words “Oh, my God,” and brought her fingers to her lips. Her dazed eyes searched his out.
He looked away, furious and wounded. “Let’s go,” he said tersely.
He prayed she wouldn’t say anything; he wouldn’t have been able to bear it. She didn’t. When they got to the car, Ruby and Jenessa climbed into the back, which was fine with him. If there’d been a glass panel between the front seats and the back, he’d have rolled it up. He wanted desperately to get away from her.
He turned the radio on, but the music was way too cheerful, so he punched the power button and they rode to Jenessa’s house in silence. The wide streets of Augustine were brightly lit. Large, well-tended homes were for the most part quiet, except for one house at the top of Jenessa’s street, from which music flowed. He guessed that must’ve been the party she’d planned to go to before he’d turned up.
He stopped abruptly at her door, tires skidding on a patch of ice, so he had to roll back to bring the car in line with her gate. She was fumbling with her door handle but he was out of the car and at her side. He held the door open for her, his back stiff, his face frozen.
She stepped out but didn’t walk away. Frosty puffs of breath curled from her mouth, calling his attention to the lips he’d kissed so ardently. Something moved deep in him when he remembered the way that mouth had worked on him. He thought of how hot it had felt wrapped around him and how hard he had to struggle not to let go as she tortured him with her teeth and tongue.
She’d betrayed him with that same mouth.
“Mitchell,” she began. Her voice was barely audible.
He shook his head roughly, afraid to speak. And whatever she was going to say, he didn’t want to hear it, either. Everything she’d left unspoken, he’d heard loud and clear. She reached to touch him but he opened her gate, standing next to it like a doorman.
“Please,” she begged. “Just let me—”
“No.” And in case she didn’t get the message, he added, “Sleep well.”
&nb
sp; The look on her face told him a good night’s sleep was the last thing she’d be getting. Too bad. His own bed wouldn’t be a welcoming place, either. He watched her as she walked up her path, and when she was safely inside, he shut the gate and left.
12.
Jenessa’s heels clacked on the tiled floor of the main lobby at Bianchi’s. One hand held her briefcase; the other clutched a stack of papers to her chest. With both hands occupied, she wasn’t able to look at her watch, but she knew she was late. She’d overslept. When had she fallen asleep last night? One? Two?
These past two weeks had been a tornado, a frantic series of meetings, brainstorming sessions and late nights. The situation at Bianchi’s had hit the fan in a most spectacular fashion. The employees who felt slighted had wasted no time in contacting the media who, in turn, had no compunction about dragging Bianchi’s dirty laundry out into the open. News of the layoffs was one thing; times were tough, and people lost their jobs every day. But for it to have happened over the holidays, while Bianchi’s executives lined their pockets with hefty bonuses, had stirred up outrage. Bianchi’s, one of the darlings of Santa Amata’s local business community, was now the object of much scorn and anger. And it was Jenessa’s job to win the public’s favor again.
She pounded on the elevator button, and when it didn’t magically appear after five seconds, she spun around and took the stairs. By the time she made it to her fourth floor office, she was breathless. She barreled in, almost spilling her armload of files.
Merlin leaped to his feet like a pop-up duck at a shooting arcade. “Jenessa! You’re late!”
“I know,” she puffed as she ran into her inner office and slammed down her papers and briefcase. “That’s why I’m running.”
“Mr. Cooper’s already waiting.”
“I’m sure he is,” she murmured under her breath. A man like Mitchell would be a stickler for time. Aloud, she said, “I’m on my way there right now. I think Mr. Cooper can keep his pants on until then.” She grimaced. An unfortunate choice of words. “I mean, keep his shirt on.”
The Irresistible Mr Cooper Page 11
