by Syndi Powell
The boys ran into the room, heading straight for the beanbags. They sank into them and clapped their hands. “Movie, movie!” they cried.
Donny smiled and took a seat on the couch before pulling Jo down on his lap. “This is perfect. Better than I had imagined.”
John pointed to the sectional. “I chose this since you could fold it out to use for guests if you need to. And the fabric is treated to keep it free from stains and sticky fingers. Wipes off with a wet cloth.”
Jo covered her face and started to weep. Cassie sat down next to her. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s too much. We had hoped and dreamed, but it’s more than I expected.”
“And you haven’t seen it all.”
Jo shook her head. “I don’t think I can take any more tonight. We’ll save the rest. Come on, Donny. Boys, take my hand. We should go.”
Donny stood, reluctantly it seemed, since he had perhaps hoped to see more. “The boss has spoken.”
The Tanners made for the living room and Cassie and John followed them. The couple seemed to be trying to soak it all in, even though Cassie knew the team was still hours away from finishing. Furniture still needed to be moved into place. Decorations put out. Pictures hung. Donny put one arm around one of his sons and the other arm around Jo. “Thank you for doing this for us.” He glanced next door at the dark, lonely-looking house. “Any word what will happen with the Murphys’ place?”
Cassie frowned. “The Murphys?”
Jo nodded. “The family that would have moved in beside us. Nice couple with a little girl. The wife is going through cancer treatment, and the medical bills eat up what savings they might have set aside for a house. They were really looking forward to moving in.”
John looked at Cassie, and she knew what he was thinking. That they needed to finish up the work on that house. That there were things more important than winning. She rubbed at her temples. “The Belvedere Foundation hasn’t yet shared what’s going to happen.”
“It’s a shame.” Donny hiked one of the boys onto his hip. “We should leave so you can finish things here.” He tried to smile, but his eyes watered. “We really appreciate what you’ve done for us. Thank you.”
Jo stepped forward and engulfed Cassie into a tight hug. “Thank you for everything.”
Cassie and John stood on the bare covered porch that still needed to be decorated to watch the Tanners get their boys into the car and drive away. She waved as they drove off, then turned to John. “We finish this house first, then we go next door. Agreed?”
He smiled and stepped forward to kiss her quickly. “Agreed.”
He walked into the house whistling, and she touched her lips. Then she pulled out her phone and called the Buttuccis. “I’ve got another job for us to do after the judging. Are you in?”
* * *
LATER THAT NIGHT, John reviewed the house, checking each detail. He turned off the lights as he visited every room. He found Cassie sitting on the sofa, looking out the front window. He took a seat next to her. “What are you thinking?”
She turned to him, and the sadness on her face surprised him. He’d expected her to be happy that they’d completed in time. True, it was well after midnight but they had finished what they had set out to do. All that was left was to present the house to the judges for their review and hand the keys to the Tanner family. She should be ecstatic. He reached out and cupped her cheek. “What’s wrong?”
She sniffed and shook her head. “Nothing. The house is beautiful.”
“So why the tears?”
“I’m not crying.”
“You look like you need to.”
He sat back on the couch and waited for her to answer. “I’m fine,” she repeated, staring out the window again.
It was a lie. Maybe one that she wanted to believe. But working on this house had changed her. It had certainly changed him. He had entered the contest as a means of exploring a different career opportunity. To go down a different path than the one he’d been on for so long. To see if there was something else out there for him professionally.
But working on the house had opened up more than just his career path. Designing the house with her had shown him the possibilities with her, as well. He could see a future with her. And as more than someone he could renovate houses with. He saw a chance for love, too.
The question was, did she?
She glanced at him. “I’ve never had a project that I put everything into before. And now it’s over. I guess I’m sad that it is.”
He reached over and took her hand in his. “It doesn’t have to be over.”
She nodded. “I know. We’re going to finish the house next door, but after that...” She shook her head. “Starting my own company depends on the outcome of this contest.”
It sounded like the perfect opening for him. “What do you see in your future?” Who did she see, he wanted to ask, but chickened out at the last moment.
“I love taking houses and making them beautiful. I love the smell of sawdust and the tapping of hammers. I love that when I’m done, I’ve created a place for a family to live and grow in.” She leaned her head back on the sofa. “But sometimes I wonder about what kind of place I could build for my own family.” She looked around the living room. “I’d like to come home to a place like this someday.”
“You have a house that you’re working on.”
“It’s not the same. I don’t have the eye you do for design.”
“I could give you some suggestions.”
“But I’d still come home to an empty house.” She pushed off the sofa and stood, wrapping her arms around her waist. “It’s late, and we have to meet the judges here at ten tomorrow morning. We should go.”
She shut off the lamp beside the sofa, sending the room into darkness. John followed her outside and waited while she locked the door. The porch light made shadows play on her face as she moved to step off the porch. He reached out and touched her hand to stop her from leaving. When she turned to him, he put his hands on either side of her face and lowered his mouth to hers.
He took his time kissing her. Testing. Teasing. Tasting. She matched him kiss for kiss, bringing her hands up around his neck to pull him closer. He complied and dropped his hands to span her waist and fit her body next to his.
Finally, they broke away and he kissed her gently on the forehead. His heart felt full, something he’d never experienced before. “We’d better stop here.”
She took several deep breaths and nodded. “Yes. The neighbors got enough of a show.”
He kissed the top of her head. “You don’t have to be alone, Cassie. There’s something between us, and I think that-”
Her ringing phone interrupted whatever else he had been about to say. She stepped away to answer the call, but then suddenly looked at him with shock. “Can you repeat that one more time?” She closed her eyes and nodded. “Thank you. I’ll be right there.”
When she hung up, however, she stood there as if frozen in place, clutching her phone. “My father just turned himself in.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
CASSIE SAT IN the passenger seat of John’s car as he drove them to the police station where they’d detained her father. Despite her gratitude that he’d offered to drive her there, she couldn’t face him. She’d hoped that this day would come. That her father would face the charges against him and come back to his family. Now that he had done exactly that, she wasn’t sure what she should be doing.
But she did know what she felt. Anger. White-hot fury surged in her veins, growing to a raging fire as they approached the police station. It made her almost blind, unaware of the buildings and streets they passed. She sat silently, unsure if she could voice what she was thinking.
John touched her arm, and she turned to him. “We’re here.”
She looked out the windshield
to see the police station in front of them. Nodding, she got out of the car and followed him to the lobby, where she gave her name to a sergeant. “Mr. Lowman is currently giving his statement to the detective, but you’ll be free to see him once he’s finished.”
“My mother?”
“She’s with him.”
Cassie raised an eyebrow at this. She had expected that her mother would show up, but not to sit with him while the detective questioned him. Had she brought a lawyer, too?
The station door opened, and Andromeda ran toward them. The sisters hugged each other tightly. “Thank you for calling me, Andie.”
Andie looked over Cassie’s shoulder. “Have you seen him yet?”
She shook her head. “Mother’s with him and the detective.”
“I can’t believe he came back.” Tears slipped from the corners of Andie’s eyes. “I thought we’d lost him forever.”
“I know.” Cassie led her sister to a chair and sat with her, holding her hand. “But he’s doing the right thing.”
“The right thing would have been not to steal in the first place.”
Cassie winced, then looked to John. He’d been so kind to drive her there, but she didn’t want him watching her and her family fall apart. “You don’t have to stay. I can get a ride home from my family.”
He nodded, his expression soft, caring. “If you need anything, call me.”
She gave a weak smile and turned her attention back to Andie, who pawed through her purse before pulling out a tissue to dab her eyes. She put an arm around Andie. “We’re going to be okay. So is Daddy.”
She watched as John walked to the exit and paused before leaving the station. She had wanted to call him back, to ask him to stay. But it wasn’t fair to get him involved in this mess with her family. Now that he was gone, she missed having him there. She dismissed those thoughts because they disturbed her. Brought up more questions than she was willing to explore.
“John was sweet to drive you here.”
“We were finishing up at the house when you called.”
Andie pulled out another tissue from her purse and handed it to Cassie. “You might want to wipe the rest of the lipstick from your mouth. Looks like it got smeared by kissing.”
Cassie colored but accepted the tissue. “We’re just friends.”
“Based on the color on his lips, I’d say that you passed that line a while ago. And don’t tell me you always wear lipstick. I’ve been trying to get you to put on makeup for years.”
“We’re not here to talk about me and John. We’re here for Daddy.”
Andie gave a shrug. “Feels safer to talk about your relationship with John instead.”
Safe wasn’t a word that Cassie would have used to describe their relationship. She mentally replaced that word with friendship. They were friends. Partners. Coworkers, really. So why was she still thinking about the way he’d kissed her? It hadn’t felt safe in his arms earlier. It had felt scary. But an exhilarating scary. As if she was standing on the edge of something important. Something life changing. All she had to do was trust in herself and in John. But that would be a risk, a dangerous one. It was much easier to stay right where she was. That was safe. That was smart.
A door opened and their mother walked out, followed by Detective August. Cassie glanced behind them to see her father sitting at a table, his head in his hands, gaze fixed on the flat surface in front of him. The door closed behind them, and she shifted her eyes to her mother. She held her arms out to both her and Andromeda.
The three of them hugged for a long moment. “How is he?” Cassie eventually asked.
“Tired. Sad. Perhaps a little defeated.”
“Can we see him?” Andie’s voice shook with emotion. “For just a minute?”
Their mother looked at Detective August, who gave a short nod. “But one at a time and only for a minute or two,” he told them. “We’ll be transporting him to a holding cell shortly.”
Cassie motioned to Andie. “You should see him first. You’re the oldest.”
Andie gave a weak smile and put a hand on Cassie’s shoulder. “Thank you.”
After her sister followed the detective into the interrogation room, Cassie turned to her mother. “How are you doing?”
Her mother ran her fingers through her hair, giving it a fluff. “It’s two in the morning and I’m standing in the middle of a police station wondering what is about to happen to my husband, your father.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
Her mother’s chin quivered, then stilled. “I’ll be fine.” Her back seemed to straighten, making her taller. “I’m stronger than this situation.”
Cassie nodded. “You always have been.” Her mother’s eyebrows lifted in what might have been surprise. Cassie put her arms around her mother and squeezed. “I didn’t see it before, but you’ve kept this family together. We look to you for strength. Encouragement. And we don’t thank you nearly enough for it.”
“Cassandra, I don’t know what to say.”
“Then don’t say anything. I love you, Mother.”
The hug tightened as her mother pulled her closer. When the interrogation room door opened, the spell was broken and they stepped apart. Andie exited, holding a tissue to the corner of one eye. She gave a nod to Cassie.
Detective August opened the door for Cassie, and she took a seat across from her father. He looked even older than when she’d seen him a few weeks before. Sympathy replaced the anger she’d been feeling earlier. “Daddy.”
“Well, you got what you wanted.” He brought up his head and placed his cuffed hands in front of him on the table. “Isn’t this what you wanted to see? Turning myself in and off to jail?”
“What I wanted was for you to be the hero I had in my mind.”
“Now you know I never was.”
“You could still be.”
He shook his head and put his hands back in his lap, the handcuffs clicking against each other. “What’s done is done. Nothing I can do to change it now.”
“What did the detective say will happen?”
“I go before the judge and face up to the charges.” He dropped his gaze back to the table. “I’m looking at ten to twenty years in prison. This is probably the closest you’ll get to me for the next decade.” He shook his head. “I’m no hero. Never was. You need to let go of that, baby girl.”
A knock on the door, and they both turned to look at Detective August, who stood in the doorframe. “Let’s go, Miss Lowman.”
Cassie stood and stared down at the part in her father’s hair. The gray turning to white near the roots. She wasn’t sure if she should hug him. Kiss him on the cheek and tell him she loved him. Because he was right. They wouldn’t be this close again for a long time. Making up her mind, she walked around the table and put her arms around her father’s shoulders. “I love you, Daddy. Don’t give up on being my hero.”
She placed a swift kiss on the top of his head before leaving the room, not daring to look back. She didn’t want to remember her father that defeated. She wanted to cling to the image of the two of them working side by side as they framed a new window. Or painted a room, singing along to the radio and laughing when one of them sang the wrong words. She wanted to cherish her earliest memory of her daddy lifting her high in the sky as she spread her arms out to fly.
Could he ever be that same man again?
* * *
JOHN HAD HOPED to arrive at the house before Cassie the next morning, but the sight of her truck parked at the curb dispelled that idea. He parked behind her and grabbed the note cards he’d written last night when he couldn’t sleep. He had one for each room, pointing out the unique features of the design. He hoped the place would impress the judges.
He exited his car and strode up the sidewalk to the house, noting with satisfaction that the flo
wers Mrs. Lowman had planted had bloomed and accented the edge of the new covered porch. Things couldn’t look better.
If only Cassie did. Dark circles under her eyes and the hollows in her cheek told him that she had not slept much the night before. She had dressed up for the occasion in a short-sleeve blouse and skirt in a soft peach color, with strappy sandals. He whistled at her. “You clean up good.”
She tried to smile but failed. “I borrowed this outfit from my sister.” She eyed him curiously. “You don’t look so bad yourself.”
“What? This old thing?” He put a hand to his tie and straightened it. “A good luck gift from my mother.”
“We don’t need luck. We did our best. Now it’s up to the judges.”
Cassie took a sip of her coffee while John wondered if he should address the elephant in the room. After all, news of her father turning himself in had been broadcast on every radio and television station that morning. Even the newspaper he’d read with breakfast had pictures of him before the scandal had hit. “Cassie—”
She shook her head. “Don’t.”
“I was just going to say—”
“Please, John. I need to keep my focus here.”
He gave a short nod. “Okay. Later then.”
The Tanners arrived next without the twins. Jo gave each of them a hug while Donny kept things to a handshake. Jo rubbed her hands together. “I can’t wait to see everything.”
Donny put his arm around her shoulders. “Patience, Jo.”
“You know that’s not my strong suit.”
A knock on the front door, and everyone turned to see Mr. Belvedere, who was wearing a navy suit with a long-sleeve buttoned-up shirt and bow tie, this time red with navy polka dots. He adjusted his spectacles and greeted each of them by name. “We’re just waiting for our other two judges.”
