Make Time For Love

by Louise Clark

  She grinned at nothing in particular. She could handle that. Heck, she was even looking forward to it.

  Her telephone rang. She stared at it for a moment, completely disoriented. The ringing stopped as voicemail picked up the call. She realized that her light was blinking and that one or more messages had been left since she and Cody had kissed…here in her office…during business hours…

  She sank down into her chair, resting her head in her hands. Dear heavens what was she thinking of?

  She had just been kissed by another NIT employee, in her office. Okay, her door was closed so the staff couldn’t see them. That was good. That it had been done at all was bad.

  She’d agreed to go on a date with said employee. That was good. She liked him and she wanted to get to know him better. He said he wanted a relationship with her. A man-woman relationship, not a ‘let’s work well together’ relationship. That was…good, maybe. It was certainly a complication.

  Then there was Uncle Andrew. He was another complication. A big one. Said employee didn’t know about Uncle Andrew. She groaned. If her relationship with Cody had just been a work association, there would be no reason for Andrew’s name to even come up. But in a man-woman relationship? Wouldn’t Cody expect to know her odder characteristics, like her ability to draw people through time?

  The possibility that Uncle Andrew might accidentally meet Cody Simpson made her sweat just thinking about it. Somehow she was going to have to convince Andrew to stay away, at least for the next little while.

  Andrew was supposed to be coming by tonight so they could compare dates. She’d talk to him then and convince him that he should do as she asked.

  What if he refused? Andrew liked to be clean. To do that he used her bathroom. He could be quite stubborn at times, particularly when something impacted directly on his comforts.

  She’d better have back up.

  Ignoring the flashing light that indicated waiting voicemail, she called her sister.

  Chapter 13

  “He can’t come anymore.” At her sister’s horrified look, Faith hastily amended her statement. “At least, not while I’m dating Cody.”

  “How are you going to stop him?”

  Faith chewed the inside of her lip. “I don’t know. Mom says that there’s no way to stop the beacon. She told me that if Andrew wants to come and he can find me, he will come.”

  “So, you’ll have to make arrangements that suit both of you.” Elizabeth opened Faith’s fridge door. “Don’t you have any milk? How am I supposed to make Alfredo sauce without milk?”

  “I ran out this morning. What suits Andrew is my bathroom, accessible to him whenever he wants it. We’re not going to be able to work out any compromises.” Faith watched Elizabeth as she rummaged around in the fridge, her back bent, her behind wiggling as she danced to some internal beat. “Look, there’s tomato sauce in the cupboard. We can use that on the pasta.”

  “No good. I want Alfredo. You’ve got the parmesan. Is there cream?”

  “I never buy cream. You know that.”

  “A girl can hope. Okay…” She pretended to roll up her sleeves, although they were enjoying a mid-June warm spell that had pushed the temperature into the eighties so she was wearing a skimpy tank top that showed off both her shoulders and her abdomen. “I’ll do modified Alfredo. Liz Hamilton’s own cream-based sauce with cheese. Now, what can I find in here? Is there plain yogurt? Cottage cheese? Honest to Pete, Faith. Don’t you keep anything useful in your fridge?”

  “Of course I do—normally. I’ve been distracted this week,” Faith said with considerable dignity.

  “Oh, right. Cody Simpson. From the sounds of the guy he’d distract me too. Ah-ha!” Liz pounced on a pot of sour cream, opened it up and sniffed to determine if it was still good. “Ummm, I can work with this. Okay, we’re in business. Oh, look, you have bacon! We’ll make it a creamy bacon and parmesan sauce.” She dumped the food items on the counter and rolled up her sleeves. “Out of the way! I am cooking!”

  “Uncle Andrew has also been on my mind,” Faith sat down at the kitchen table, feeling rather gloomy. “Liz, what if Cody and Andrew meet?”

  Liz dumped a half a pound of bacon into the skillet, then scooped butter into a pan. As it was melting she pulled out the canister that contained flour. She shook some into the bubbling butter, then whisked it into a roux. As she added sour cream thinned with water, she said, “Well, they’ll either like each other or they won’t.” She mixed the cream into the flour, careful to keep lumps from forming.

  “Liz!”

  Satisfied that the sauce was heating nicely, Elizabeth left it to thicken as she turned her attention to adding pasta to the boiling water. “Faith, Andrew can take care of himself. And—” She broke off as she fussed with the bacon, which was just beginning to sizzle.

  “And?”

  “Do you want to do a salad, Faith? I saw lettuce and tomatoes in your fridge.”

  Faith stood up. “Yes, I’ll do a salad, but you’re not answering my question. You were going to add something. What was it?”

  The bacon popped. Elizabeth turned down the heat then faced her sister. “Do you really want to get involved with a guy who won’t accept your special abilities?”

  “Who says I’m getting ‘involved’ with Cody Simpson?”

  “You do.” The bacon spat and Elizabeth turned back to the stove.

  Staring into the fridge, searching for lettuce and tomatoes, Faith sighed. “You’re right. I do want to get involved with Cody. But…I’m not ready to reveal I’m a Beacon. I want to wait, to see how the relationship goes, before I unload one of my weirder characteristics on him. Is that so bad?”

  “Nah,” said Liz, flipping the bacon. “Pass me the parmesan, would you?” Faith pulled out the pot of grated cheese, which she handed to her sister.

  Liz watched the pan as she whisked the cheese into the sauce. “Talk to Andrew, Faith. You two have been friends since you were teenagers. Ask him to back off for awhile.” She looked over at Faith and her expression softened. “He’ll understand.”

  “He’s courting Mary Elizabeth.” Faith washed lettuce, then tore the leaves into pieces she dumped into a pottery bowl. “This is it. He’s found—although he may not realize it yet—the love of his life. He’ll want to impress her. He’ll want to use the bathroom.”

  “So let him use the bathroom. Just ask him to use it earlier in the evening, like around five o’clock, after you’re back from work and before Cody shows up.”

  Faith sliced up tomato. “Could work.”

  “Okay, we’re done,” Liz said. “If the salad is ready, Faith, rinse the pasta while I put the sauce into a bowl.”

  Together they laid the table. Faith thoughtfully set a third place for Andrew, then she opened a bottle of wine and poured three glasses.

  Liz was ladling sauce into a bowl when Andrew arrived without fanfare, sauntering into the kitchen with the ease of one who assumes he is welcome. She smiled and indicated the full glass of wine. “Hi, Andrew. We’ve already started, so help yourself.”

  Faith glowered at him.

  Andrew picked up the glass. “My thanks, Miss Elizabeth.” He glanced at Faith. “Is there something wrong, Faith, my girl? Did your evening with your young man go wrong, then?”

  “No.” Faith brought the salad bowl over to the table. She thumped it down in front of Andrew, who was standing with one hand on a chair back, sipping his wine. “I like him, Andrew.”

  He looked from the bowl to Faith, a cautious expression on his face. “Well, that would be perfectly fine. Would it not?”

  Liz brought serving bowls of pasta and sauce over to the table. “It is and it isn’t, Andrew.”

  Andrew was frowning now. “You speak in riddles, both of you. Pray say what you must plainly so that I may understand.”

  Liz patted him on the shoulder. “I love the way you talk when you’re upset, Andrew. Have a seat. Dinner is served.”

  Looking grim, An
drew sat down at the table. Liz sat beside him, while Faith settled opposite. Food was passed, wineglasses refilled. “Let us be frank—”

  “Let’s,” Faith said. She had to swallow hard to ensure she had enough nerve to get the words out. “Andrew, you have to stop visiting me. For the next few weeks anyway.”

  She caught him just at the moment when he’d filled his mouth with salad. His eyes narrowed as he crunched the lettuce without any sign of enjoyment. “Why?”

  There was no gentle way to phrase this. Faith picked up her wineglass and saw that her hand was trembling. She put the goblet down with a thump. “I don’t want people to know that I’m a Beacon.”

  Andrew stared at her through those cautious, narrowed eyes. “You live in an enlightened age. It cannot be that you fear for your safety if the world should come to know of your skill.”

  “No.”

  “Then it must be some particular person who is the cause of this sudden decision. Is it the man you spent last evening with?”

  Faith fiddled with her pasta, pushing the noodles around on her plate with as much concentration as if she was counting her lifesavings. Finally she looked up. “Yes.”

  Andrew picked up his wineglass then leaned back in his chair. Raising the glass, he observed Faith over it. “I believe you feel the same way about this man—what is his name?”

  “Cody.”

  “Of course. The same way about this Cody as I do about Mary Elizabeth.”

  “I don’t know. How do you feel about Mary Elizabeth?”

  Andrew smiled. “She intrigues me. I desire to understand her, to know what she thinks, to spend my time with her.” He paused to sip again, then captured Faith’s gaze with his own over the rim of the glass. “Does that describe your feelings for this Cody?”

  Faith pushed her plate away. “Andrew, I’m not sure what I feel for Cody. All I know is that I want to be with him so I can learn more about him. I can’t do that while I’m worried that you might suddenly appear out of nowhere.”

  He stared at her for an endless time, then he looked down at his plate. He lowered the wineglass to the table, fiddling with it to make sure it was in the correct position. “I had not realized my visits to you were a burden, Mistress Hamilton. I will come to you no more, then.”

  “Andrew!” Liz reached out to him, pleading silently. “If you stop visiting there is no way Faith can contact you when she changes her mind.”

  “And when would that be? When she has no more use for this Cody fellow?”

  “That’s unfair, Andrew! I didn’t say forever. I just said for a while. Until I get to know Cody well enough to figure out if he’ll understand the Beacon. If he’ll accept that I’m different.”

  “What you are asking is insulting to our friendship.” There was anger in Andrew’s voice, carefully restrained, but there nonetheless.

  “I’m asking for a compromise,” Faith said, feeling a bit angry herself. “Friends compromise. They accept each other’s differences.”

  “And yet, you do not expect this Cody to accept you.”

  Faith wanted to protest, but she felt a despairing knot in her stomach. Andrew wouldn’t listen.

  He stood and pushed his chair back from the table. “I will miss you both,” he said as he bowed, very formally, and with finality.

  Liz whirled on her sister. “Faith, do something. Say something. Stop this!”

  The knot in Faith’s stomach tightened. She didn’t know how to keep Andrew from doing exactly what she’d hoped he’d do.

  Andrew smiled sadly. “Miss Elizabeth, can you not see? She is ashamed.”

  “There’s no reason for Faith to be ashamed of you, Andrew!”

  “It is not me, she is ashamed of, Miss Elizabeth,” he said gently. “It is herself.”

  “I don’t know why I’m here, Faith.” Elizabeth sat on Faith’s bed, watching as her sister dragged a brush through her hair.

  “You’re here,” Faith said, tossing her head to add a little element of muss to the hair she’d just brushed into sleek submission, “in case Andrew shows up.”

  “He won’t come.”

  “Ha!” Faith stared in the mirror. Behind her own image she could see Liz’s head and shoulders, hovering there, reminding her of the immensity of what she’d done. Liz believed Andrew would never return to this time period. Liz was wrong. She had to be wrong. Andrew would show up, if not today then another day. She had not sent him away forever. She wasn’t going to feel guilty about that and she certainly wasn’t going to accept his parting shot that she was ashamed of what she was.

  “I should leave before Cody gets here.”

  If anything, Liz was more upset by Andrew’s banishment than Faith was. Faith tossed the brush on the bureau and went over to sit beside her sister. “Liz, Andrew will be back tonight or another night to wash his hair or get his clothes dry cleaned or because another cow calved and he’s a mess. You don’t have to worry about him. Trust me on this. I know the guy. He likes our century. He’ll be back, no matter what he said.”

  “He doesn’t come forward just for the cleaning facilities, Faith!” Liz said fiercely. “Don’t you get it? He’s family! He comes because he loves us and he knows that whatever happens we’ll be there for him.” She crossed her arms over her breasts and glowered at Faith. “Or at least he used to know that. Now I’m not so sure.”

  “You’re making way more of this than there is.”

  Liz bounced to her feet. “Am I? If I was the one who was a Beacon would you cut me out of your life because you’d met a guy who wouldn’t believe or accept what I did?”

  “Liz, you’re my sister!” The doorbell rang. “Shoot, there’s Cody now.” She put her hands on Elizabeth’s shoulders and gave them a quick squeeze. “We can talk about this later, if you want, but I think we’re arguing over nothing. Andrew will be back.”

  Liz shook her head. Faith fled the room and raced down the stairs to grab the door, leaving her sister to follow more slowly.

  She greeted Cody with a big, cheerful smile she wasn’t really feeling. He looked great. Like Faith, he was casually dressed, but she loved the way his jeans hugged his slim hips. A lock of his dark hair fell over his forehead, adding a disheveled charm to the warm smile of appreciation in his eyes and on his lips.

  “Ready?”

  Faith nodded, then she remembered Liz. As annoyed as she was with her sister, she couldn’t walk out without saying good-bye. “Liz, we’re off! Let yourself out when you’re done. We can talk later.”

  Liz leaned against the banister, crossing one leg in front of the other in a casual stance. “You can bet on that.”

  Before Faith could close the door, Cody smiled over her shoulder and said, “Hi, I’m Cody.”

  Liz pushed away from the banister and ran lightly down the worn treads. Reaching the door she looked at Faith then back to Cody. “Apologies for Faith. Introducing family isn’t one of her stronger skills.” She held out her hand. “I’m Faith’s sister, Liz. Nice to meet you, Cody.”

  Strangling her sister would be too easy a death. “Liz!”

  Liz showed her teeth in a wolfish smile. “Can’t leave Cody with the impression that family isn’t important to you.”

  Faith shot her a lethal look. “We have to go.” She took Cody’s hand then turned her back on her sister.

  “Nice meeting you, Cody,” Liz said.

  Stiff with fury, Faith tugged at Cody’s hand as she crossed the porch and headed down the stairs. Liz was being a total jerk. Sure she had a grievance, but there was no reason to take it outside the family. What if Cody started asking questions she couldn’t answer, all because of Liz’s snark?

  “You guys have a good time tonight,” Liz called. The front door closed with an annoyed clunk. Faith relaxed.

  Once in the car Cody laughed and said, “I don’t have much experience in this, but I think you and your sister bicker really well.”

  Dragged out of her brooding, Faith smiled at him. “You d
on’t have any siblings, Cody?”

  He shook his head. “The only child of workaholic parents.” He changed the subject quickly. “So, are you ready for an evening of Mountain Madness?”

  Faith laughed. She pushed away the memory of Liz’s words and the expression in Andrew’s eyes. Tonight she was going to have fun, if it killed her.

  The Mountain Madness Music Festival was one of Cody’s favorite events. Held annually in a small town in the Berkshire Mountains, the festival took place over three nights, with the big night being Saturday. Because the event featured alternative music mixed with upcoming bands, you never knew what you were going to get.

  “I asked Mel to pack us a picnic supper that we could eat while we were waiting for the concert to begin,” he said with a quick smile in her direction. “They usually start late, but you never know. You’ve got to be prepared for anything at Mountain Madness.”

  “You certainly do,” Faith said, laughing. “Including the weather. A couple of years ago I went with my mom and sister. There was a monumental rainstorm. The stage was covered, so the musicians were okay, but we were soaked. We came home looking and feeling like we’d spent the evening swimming in our clothes, not at a concert.”

  He negotiated the exit to the Interstate. “You could have left early.”

  She made a good-natured, rude sound. “No way! So we got a little wet. It was a warm evening.”

  A part of him relaxed. Faith was so organized at work, so composed and controlled, that he had to know if that was all there was to her. Was she the kind of woman who would be flexible enough to enjoy an evening spent in the outdoors with mosquitoes, black flies, and thousands of people?

  He admitted to himself that he’d chosen tonight and this event deliberately. He wanted to see how Faith responded to the beat of the music, if she could lose herself in the sound. Above all he needed to know if she could adapt to the planned chaos that was the Mountain Madness Music Festival.