Make Time For Love

by Louise Clark

  Ava put her hands on her hips. “He’s a fraud. He knows no more about computers than I do, and that isn’t saying much.”

  Faith dropped the report on her desk. She swallowed hard. “Ava, I—”

  Ava showed her teeth in a malicious smile at odds with her doll-like features. “Either Cody Simpson knows Andrew is a fraud or the good Dr. Simpson isn’t the computer whiz he claims to be. Either way, I have him.”

  Faith stared at her, appalled.

  Ava swept on. “I don’t think Simpson can cope. He’s behind in his projects, you know. He’s costing us money and he’s doing nothing to deserve that big fat salary he’s being paid. Ralph doesn’t seem to mind that Cody isn’t making any progress, but when I tell him Cody Simpson can’t be trusted and why, he’s going to want to make sure that Simpson delivers.” She laughed. It wasn’t a nice sound. “That means Dr. Simpson won’t have a free hand. No more skipping meetings. Or giving verbal reports that consist of ‘it’ll get done’. He’ll have to put the status of his work in writing. Weekly, at least. Daily, preferably. Oh yes, I have him now. Cody Simpson will regret foisting his phony intern on this company.”

  Faith stared at Ava. Her eyes glittered with the fury of a fanatic, while the tension in her body told of emotions on the edge of explosion. Ava would carry through with her threats. She would take away what Cody most valued about working at NIT, an unstructured environment and creative freedom. She would make his working life miserable.

  She would make him quit, all because he had helped Faith out.

  Faith couldn’t let that happen. She couldn’t betray him that way. She took a deep breath, then plunged into the murky depths of Ava’s plotting. “Andrew is my cousin.”

  “He’ll regret…What did you say?”

  Faith swallowed hard. Ava’s cheeks were red with emotion. Her eyes bored into Faith and her mouth was a straight, hard, line. She’d heard what Faith had said and she’d caught the implication. She was not happy. “Andrew is, well, he’s the family problem. He never sticks at anything except, ah, playing computer games. The family thought, we thought—I suggested!—that maybe if he came into NIT for a week or so and learned what it was like working with computers, he’d pull his life together and go back to school. Get a degree. Make something of himself. I asked Cody to take him on as an intern. He said he would.”

  Ava’s eyes had narrowed as she saw her quarry slipping away, but at the end of Faith’s blurt of information she began to smile. “No problem. I’ve still got him. He’s shown considerable irresponsibility in taking on a person with no skills whatsoever. He should have checked Andrew out. Ralph won’t like this.”

  Faith took another deep breath. Forced it out. Sucked in a second. Then plunged deeper. “He did. He interviewed Andrew.”

  “You know, Ms Hamilton, I’m still not convinced. Had Simpson done a proper interview he would have learned of your cousin’s inadequacies.”

  This was it. The muck at the bottom of the pit had her fast. There was no way out. “I knew that Cody was having a hard time doing his own work and fixing the computers down here, and I played on that. I coached Andrew on what to say to Cody to make him think Andrew would be useful. It’s not Cody’s fault Andrew couldn’t cut it. It’s mine.”

  Ava bought the explanation. Her eyes glittered with a thwarted rage that needed an outlet somewhere. She held out her hand. “I am disappointed in you, Ms. Hamilton. I thought you were a team player. Well, you’ve shown me differently. Give me your office keys, please.”

  Faith stood frozen. Ava’s hand twitched, demanding those little pieces of metal that were the symbol of the regular world Faith had always longed to succeed in. To surrender them to Ava was the end of her dream of fitting in, of being normal.

  Her eyes locked with Ava’s. She reached into the pocket of her slacks, found the ring, pulled it out. Then hesitated. She didn’t want her dream to end this way, at the hands of Ava the Oppressor.

  Ava’s hand twitched in a ‘gimme’ motion.

  Faith still hesitated. Could she do this?

  Of course she could if it meant protecting Cody and saving his job. She dropped the keys into Ava’s outstretched hand.

  “I am going to see to it that you are fired.” Ava’s fingers curled over the metal, then she pulled her hand back with a flourish, snatching Faith’s dreams away at the same time. “For some reason Ralph Warren has a soft spot for you. But when I tell him what you’ve done, you’ll be finished here.” She swept out of the room, triumph in her thrust-back shoulders and the tilt of her head, fury in every staccato step.

  Faith sat down at her desk before her knees buckled. Ava might or might not be able to follow through on her threat, but her last comment showed her insecurity. She could plan and plot, but ultimately Ralph made the big decisions.

  That cheered Faith a little, but not much. She’d been an accidental participant in Ava’s battle with Cody all along. If Ralph decided to keep her on it would probably be because he’d decided to fire Cody, which wasn’t what she wanted at all. No, the best she could hope for was that Ralph fired her. End of job at NIT. End of dream of being normal.

  Tears of anguish welled up. She shut her eyes tight to keep them at bay. She didn’t want Cody or Andrew or anyone in the bullpen to see puffy eyes and tear streaked skin and wonder why she’d been crying. They’d ask questions, questions she didn’t want to answer. The people she supervised would feel sorry for her, or angry with NIT, neither of which would do the organization any good. Andrew would assume she was upset because of her need to succeed in the real world and would feel guilty that he’d been the cause of her loss. And Cody?

  Cody would fight for her. He’d storm out after Ava and he’d face her down in a battle so huge the whole place would shake. Two tyrannosaurs fighting over the fate of a rodent-sized mammal.

  The image brought a hiccup of brightness to the gloom she was feeling. She opened her eyes and rubbed away the tears with her knuckles. To help her through this Cody didn’t have to do battle for her. In fact, she didn’t want him to. This was her fight, not his. But the knowledge that he would defend her, the belief that he cared for her, the way she had come to care for him, was a balm to the pain she faced at the destruction of her dream.

  Sooner or later Cody would have to confront Ava. The glee in Ava’s voice when she figured she had him cold had proven that, but he couldn’t do it over Faith, or when he was filled with anger on her behalf. He’d have to fight Ava over his own issues.

  She took a deep breath. When she came in on Monday morning it would probably be to retrieve her personal things from the office, but Ava would make sure she couldn’t get into the computer files, so she’d better clean them up now, while Cody and Andrew were still busy in the bullpen.

  Turning to her computer she did a quick scan of her e-mail, deleting the ‘personal’ folder, then she went on to her document files and dumped her few private ones into the trash. As she shoved the mouse around and fiddled with computer files, thoughts of Cody filled her. He had a wickedly sharp intelligence and he always noticed things, even though he didn’t seem to at the time. It was going to be tough to keep him in the dark about this, but she had to, at least until she had come to grips with her own feelings.

  Her files were in the trash now. She stared at the little icon, her mouth twisted into a smile that was bitter rather than amused. More important than her files, the virtual trash can also held her dreams. She moved the pointer onto the icon. Her finger rested on the mouse, hesitated, then clicked. A dialogue box came up, advising her that the files would be deleted permanently, giving her the opportunity to change her mind. She stared at the screen, aware of time passing. The choice had to be made. Yes or no. Decide now.

  She swallowed hard, acknowledged the knot in her stomach that was making her feel sick, and the cold sweat that had turned her body icy. Then she clicked okay and the files were gone.

  Reaction set in. She stared at the screen for what seemed like a
long time, but probably wasn’t, searching for the despair she expected to feel. It wasn’t there. What was filling her was a kind of relief.

  Relief? Really? Couldn’t be. Or could it?

  She had hidden behind the goal of being normal for so long that she had forgotten what mattered in her life. A loving family who supported and cared for her. Success in her chosen profession, because she reached for the heights and wasn’t afraid to take risks. A man who was her partner in all things, who loved her with an intensity that understood and accepted her for what she was. Nothing more. Nothing less.

  Instead, she’d been aiming low, telling Andrew to stay away, building a relationship with Cody that was based on a lie—or at least an omission—all because she was afraid people would find out she wasn’t normal.

  Well, that was about to change. She logged-off the computer with a sense of finality that was empowering. It was time for her to come out of her protective burrow and show Cody just exactly who she was and how she felt about him. It was time for commitment.

  The screen went dark. Faith grinned. Commitment wasn’t something that could be rushed, though. She’d make a weekend of it.

  She’d start tonight, after Andrew went back to his own time. She’d show Cody that she wanted him, that the passion they’d almost shared after the Mountain Madness concert was real and only the beginning. She’d seduce him. Coax him into bed, give him herself, let him see parts of her she’d kept hidden.

  She straightened the papers on her desk, recycling some, sorting others, putting file folders back in the cabinet. Tomorrow night she’d implement the second half of the commitment plan. This part was tougher, scary where tonight’s agenda was pure joyous anticipation, for she would have to tell him about her special power. How he reacted would decide their future together.

  To make sure Cody accepted her, she’d pull out all the stops. She’d invite him into her world in a way that was as seductive as the passion they were going to share tonight. Candles, she mused, getting into the planning. Warm lighting, flowers, Celtic or new age music to give an ‘otherworldly’ quality. A special meal using the fragile, hundred-and-fifty-year-old china she saved for Andrew’s visits that had to be washed by hand.

  She shoved the drawer into the file cabinet. It closed with a slam.

  A new dress to signify change and a beginning. She began to hum. The dress would have to be fancy, the kind that shouted it was for a special event, not every day wearing. Heels, definitely spike…

  The sound of footsteps had her turning. Cody was there, in her office, closing the door. He stood, legs apart, arms loose by his sides, body straight and tall. His features were set in hard, concerned lines, and he appeared ready to take on whatever danger presented itself. She smiled and the worried expression in his eyes eased.

  “I saw Ava leave here looking like she’d just won the lottery.” His gaze swept her office, rested momentarily on her bare desk, then on the blank computer screen, before it came back to her face. “What happened? Are you okay?”

  A quick stab of pain came, then was gone. Faith sauntered over to Cody. She linked her hand with his, raised it up so she could hold it in both of hers while she smiled into his eyes. “Everything is fine. More than fine. Andrew has been fired, but since he was going home tonight anyway, it doesn’t matter.”

  She was very close to Cody. She could feel his tension. His body was responding to her, but he wasn’t quite ready to let go of the problem at hand.

  “Your desk is clear and your computer is shut down, like you’re leaving.”

  Butterflies took flight. She smiled enticingly and moved a little closer. “I am. Andrew has to leave and I’m going to drop him off. That means I’ll have the evening free. Want to come pick me up? About seven o’clock?”

  That little half-smile she loved chased the concern from his eyes. “I’ll make a reservation at Mel’s.”

  She couldn’t resist it, she traced the shape of his mouth with the tip of her finger. “No. Not Mel’s. I want you to take me to your place.”

  Understanding smoldered into life. Just to make sure there was no confusion, she reached up, caught his head between her hands, and pulled it down so she could kiss him.

  There, in her office. A teasing, tempting kiss that told him exactly what she had in mind for the evening. He let her play for a time while he eased his arms around her, then he caught her hard against him and kissed her with a passion that had a promise of its own. When he released her, he laughed. “Go,” he said. “I’ll see you at seven.”

  She grinned back at him. “I’m looking forward to it.”

  Chapter 23

  There was an elation about Faith he’d never seen before, as if she was living life for the first time. And yet, beneath the laughter there was a fierce edginess that smoldered, waiting for an opportunity to explode. When he’d picked her up at seven sharp and she’d told him that Andrew had gone home to see Mary Elizabeth, Cody told himself she was just relieved that Uncle Andrew had decided to resolve his relationship with his girlfriend. And yet…

  Something else had happened today. He could see it in the shadows in her eyes and the way she brooded when she thought he wasn’t looking, as he drove them both to his place on Beacon Hill.

  So what was it that was bothering his Faith? The obvious answer was Ava’s dismissal of Andrew. In itself that was no surprise. What was amazing was that Andrew had survived until Friday before he was caught. Though the man was absolutely fascinated with the little things of twenty-first century life—Cody could still laugh at the scene in Faith’s office when Andrew got himself stuck in the window—his complete absence of knowledge about computers was really strange. Andrew was of an age to have grown up on computer games and even if his family hadn’t had the money to invest in a computer of their own, back in the days when a PC cost about the same as the family car, he would have had friends who had computers or seen them at work.

  Come to think of it, what exactly did Andrew do? And where did he live?

  Yes, Andrew had a lot going for him as a major irritant, but Cody didn’t think it was Andrew who had caused that underlying intensity in Faith tonight.

  So that left her job or her boyfriend.

  Cody liked the idea that he could be important enough to Faith to influence her moods. This afternoon in her office she’d told him she wanted him to take her to bed tonight. At least, he thought at the time that was what she had in mind when she said she wanted to see his place and then kissed him, there in her office, where she worried about every damn little thing. He could be wrong though. She might just want to check out his apartment to see what kind of place he had. Or maybe how well he kept up that place.

  The thought of that had him in a cold sweat as he drove along the Longfellow Bridge, heading across the Charles River from Cambridge to Boston. Faith was so neat, so careful about how she kept her house and he was so untidy. He forgot to put his clothes away and he didn’t make his bed. Not only did he get preoccupied and not put things away but his place was dusty. He lived in Beacon Hill, a city neighborhood surrounded by major arteries. The roads were busy, the traffic was constant. There was air pollution and some of it seeped into his apartment as dust. It was inevitable.

  As he turned onto Charles Street he cleared his throat. “Faith, about my apartment.” He risked a glance at her. She had been looking out the window at the river, but as he spoke she shifted in her seat so she could see him better. She smiled at him. His heart did a flip. He plowed on. “It’s old.”

  “Most of the houses on Beacon Hill are.” There was amusement in her voice.

  “It was remodeled into apartments thirty years ago. I’m on the top floor.” He turned off Charles onto his street.

  “So have you got a great view?”

  He found a space, pulled in and from long experience expertly maneuvered the car so it was tight against the curb. “Yeah, I do. I can see the Charles River from my bedroom window.”

  “I like the soun
d of that,” Faith said, opening her door.

  Her voice was warm, rich, and inviting. Cody felt himself heat up as he followed her out of the car.

  He took her hand as they walked from the car to his building.

  She looked around thoughtfully. “Which house is yours?”

  “The one with the stone planter by the steps. My downstairs neighbor likes to fuss with stuff that grows. I think he’s a closet gardener.”

  Faith laughed. “A useful person to have around.”

  As they reached his house, he tried to see it from her eyes. Would she notice the trim around the doors and windows had been freshly painted? Or that the iron railings on either side of the stairs were free of rust? Would she appreciate the way the stone steps had aged over the decades, so that there was a dip in the center of the treads?

  The apartment was his home, but not in the way Faith’s house was her home. He slept here—sometimes—he worked here—sometimes—it was big enough for his needs. He didn’t love the place, the way Faith loved her old farmhouse, but it was his and he wanted her to like it.

  Because if she liked his house, it meant she liked him. Right?

  They reached those old, worn steps without her saying anything. Cody told himself it didn’t matter, but he began to wonder if she was going to ask him to turn around and take her back to Lexington. “Are you ready to come in?”

  The look she gave him almost melted his socks. Oh, yeah. This was going to work.

  His apartment took up most of the third floor and included a loft that had originally been part of the attic. Standing in the hallway, he hesitated. “Faith.”

  She smiled at him in a warm, encouraging way that said she cared about what he had to say.

  He wanted to tell her that he’d do anything for her to keep her in his life, but he didn’t know the right words. He’d tried to show her by helping out with her strange relative, Andrew. He knew that she’d never let her home get into the state his was, with dust and clutter everywhere, so he wanted her to know that it didn’t have to be that way. That he was open to change.