by Laina Turner
“It went fine. It will be nice once the election is over and I can just focus on the job. The political game gets old after a while.”
It took all of Zach’s willpower not to laugh out loud at that comment. His dad thrived on playing political chess. Much to his father’s dismay, Zach had ever been attracted to the game. He had no interest in doing anything other than what he was doing now, though in his dad’s eyes, that was a waste of talent.
“Dinner is ready,” Pamela, Phillip’s housekeeper and cook, announced as she came into the room.
Zach and his dad stood and walked into the dining room, where Pamela had set the table for a dinner featuring center-cut pork chops, whipped sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts, and rolls.
“This looks fabulous, Pamela,” Zach said. “But, are you expecting more people? I’ll explode if I eat all of this.”
Pamela smiled. “I’ve seen the way you boys eat. I have no doubt that you can finish it all. And, I have strawberry rhubarb pie for dessert.”
Much like Rhoda at the firm, Pamela had been a fixture around Phillip’s house for as long as Zach could remember. She was the same age as his dad, in her early seventies, but showed no signs of slowing down, much like his father and Rhoda. After Zach had lost his mom, Pamela worked in their home full time, though once he’d gone off to college, she’d started coming in only three times a week. She cleaned, did Phillip’s laundry, and cooked dinner.
“It’s a wonder we don’t weigh five hundred pounds, Pamela,” Zach said.
“Oh, hush,” she replied, and Zach could see her blush from the compliment. “I’ve cleaned everything from preparing dinner, and the pie is on the kitchen counter. I think there’s vanilla ice cream in the freezer if you want some. And don’t forget to rinse your dishes and put them in the dishwasher. I won’t be in tomorrow.”
They told her to get home safely, then Zach and his father dug into their meal. The food was terrific, as expected. Pamela was an amazing cook. Her cooking and sense of duty were what had kept Zach coming for weekly dinners all these years. The men sat in silence as they ate, as was their custom. Zach assumed that his dad was so used to eating alone that he simply forgot that Zach was there. At least, that’s what he told himself, though even when he was growing up, his dad had never been much of a conversationalist. It was his mother who had always asked about his day and showed interest in what was going on in his life.
“I met someone new and we had coffee,” Zach said, in hopes of opening the lines of communication between them.
“Oh?”
“Her name is Kate, and she’s here visiting Claire. You know, the owner of May’s Cafe.”
Zach’s dad looked up from his plate and stared at him. “It didn’t take long for her to seek you out. Did she tell you why she’s here?” His tone was accusatory.
Interesting that all Zach said was her first name and his dad knew who he was referring to. Though, like Rhoda, his dad knew everyone, so him finding out Kate Hamilton was in town wasn’t that hard to believe. He should have kept his mouth shut. Zach did not like where the conversation was headed, not one bit, but he held his tongue, figuring it would be better to play off his father’s comments than to start an argument.
Zach shook his head. “She just said that she’d wanted to get away.”
“Did she tell you that her husband is Todd Hamilton?”
“She mentioned that she was in the process of a divorce, but she didn’t mention that she used to be married to him. I did recognize who she was, though.”
“You need to stay away from her. She clearly has an agenda, or she would have told you who she was.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Zach protested, his voice rising a little. “It’s not like she gave me a false name. What do you expect her to do? Say ‘Hi, my name is Kate, and my ex-husband is a criminal?’”
“Zach, you don’t want to get mixed up with her. It would look bad for the firm.”
“Why? She is not her ex-husband,” Zach insisted, wanting to defend Kate because his dad was making way too much of the situation.
“There’s no way she didn’t know what was going on, and I can’t have our clients, or my potential constituents, thinking that we’re fraternizing with someone who has broken the law.”
There it was. Phillip wasn’t worried about Zach. He was worried about his image.
“Shouldn’t we give her the benefit of the doubt?”
His dad pounded the table with his fist. “Her husband defrauded hundreds of people, including a couple of our clients. They lived the high life off of other people’s money. She can’t be trusted, and it wouldn’t look good for either of us if you were seen with her. So, I’m insisting you stay away from her.”
Zach had no intention of staying away from Kate. Even if his father had convinced him that he should, he wouldn’t renege on their thirty-day agreement. Zach knew that his dad was being unreasonable, but he also knew that arguing with him would be pointless.
18
Kate’s phone rang when she and Claire were in the kitchen drinking coffee together the next morning, a new routine that Kate was thoroughly enjoying. Though she knew that at some point she would need to move out, it was nice to have company after being alone for so long. Kate picked up the phone from the counter and looked at the display, frowning.
“Hmm, it’s Zach.”
She held her phone in front of her like it was a foreign object. She felt frozen. “What do you think he wants? I told him I wasn’t working Fridays.”
“No idea, but I bet I know how you can find out. Answer the phone,” Claire said matter-of-factly, and Kate rolled her eyes. Easy for her to say, Kate thought. She wasn’t the one with all the conflicting emotions.
Kate took a deep breath before answering. “Hello?”
“Kate?”
“Yes, this is Kate,” she said formally, wanting to kick herself for sounding like an idiot. Of course he knew it was her, the same way she’d known it was him.
“It’s Zach.”
“I know, I saw it on the display. How can I help you?”
“I was calling to see if you wanted to have lunch today.”
“Lunch?” she repeated, looking at Claire, who was emphatically nodding her head yes. She was clearly enjoying this.
“Yeah, that meal between breakfast and dinner.”
“If I say no, are you going to make me work for you for another month?” she teased, surprising even herself.
“No, but I thought I could take you to lunch, sort of as an I’m-sorry-I-blackmailed-you kind of thing,” he offered tentatively, and for some reason, Kate found herself feeling a little less angry at him over the whole blackmail situation. What he did hadn’t been right, but at least he was admitting that.
“Okay, I guess I can do lunch.”
“Great. Pick you up at noon?”
“Sounds good. Do you need the address?”
“Nope. See you at noon. And dress casually.”
“Where are we going?” she asked, but he’d already hung up.
“You have a date,” Claire chimed, the enthusiasm in her voice impossible to miss.
“It’s not a date. It’s just lunch.”
“A lunch date,” Claire teased. “You should be excited to go on a date.”
“Don’t get any funny ideas in your head. He’s a nice guy, and I could see us being friends, but that is it. I told you, no more men. Especially lawyers. Extra especially lawyers who blackmail,” Kate said, wagging her finger at Claire.
“Kate, just because your husband turned out to be a first-class jerk doesn’t mean you should swear off men and relationships. You’re in the prime of your life right now. You’re too beautiful and have too much to give to swear them off entirely.”
“Why would I want to open myself up to getting hurt again? I’ve already got amazing kids and I’ve got you. A man isn’t essential to happiness.”
“No, a man isn’t essential to happiness. But I’ll be the first to s
ay that while part of being a strong, independent woman is being self-sufficient, another part is knowing that you don’t always have to be alone. There’s nothing wrong with male companionship and having a partner in life.”
“I’m not looking for a partner in life. I’m just looking for some free food.” Kate knew that what Claire was saying made sense for many women, just not for her. She wasn’t willing to put herself in the position of being dependent on a man ever again, either emotionally or financially. And while she couldn’t deny that Zach was growing on her, and that he was definitely a good-looking man, she wasn’t willing to compromise her independence. At least, her brain wasn’t. Her body, though, might have had other ideas since he was quite attractive, and she wasn’t dead.
“I know you don’t want to get hurt again, but sometimes you have to take chances. I’m just saying, be open to it. Don’t shut yourself off forever.”
Claire finished her coffee, then rinsed her mug, setting it in the dishwasher. “I’ve got to get to work. You have fun with your non-date lunch date, and be ready to tell me all about it tonight.”
After Claire left, Kate topped off her coffee and sat at the counter, where her laptop was sitting. She’d done a little thinking since Claire had mentioned the idea of staying in Moonshire. After having met Claire’s friends, it sounded like it might not be a bad idea, even if just for a year or so until she could get back on her feet. As much as she hated to admit it, there was nothing left of her old life in New York.
Kate decided that before she got too excited about the idea, she should look to see what was out there in terms of rentals that she might be able to afford. The prospect was frightening, since not only did she have very little temporary income, but she also had very little money to her name.
She worried that no one would want to rent to her because of her financial situation, even if she could find a place in her nonexistent price range, especially in a tourist town where people vied for properties to rent and could afford to pay top dollar. As she started to wonder if the search would be more depressing than she could deal with at the moment, she heard her phone buzz with a call from her daughter Chelsea.
“Hi honey, how is everyone?” Kate asked as she answered.
“Everyone is doing fine. How are you enjoying Moonshire?”
“Honestly? More than I expected.”
“Good. You deserve a vacation.” Kate had a hard time thinking that way, but she appreciated that her daughter did. “And that’s not all you deserve, Mom,” Chelsea continued, firmly bringing Kate back to the conversation.
“Is something wrong?”
“I’ll say so. Why didn’t you tell us that the only money that didn’t get seized was what was left in our college fund?”
Kate didn’t know what bothered her more, the fact that her daughter sounded angry, or the fact that someone had told her about the final seizure. She hadn’t informed the kids because she didn’t want to have to, once again, discuss their father and what he’d done.
“I found out a couple of days ago and just haven’t had a chance to tell the three of you that you have money coming.”
“Mother, we don’t care about the money,” Chelsea said exasperatedly. “We care that Dad’s actions screwed you out of everything you worked hard for and that all there is left is this little bit. We talked and decided that we want you to have it.”
Kate was confused. “What are you saying? And who told you?”
“Who told me is not important. What is important is that Kellie, TJ, and I all talked, and we don’t want that money. That money belongs to you. In fact, if you look in your checking account, the money should already be in it. I moved it over.”
“How?”
“If I told you, I might get someone in trouble, so let’s just never speak of this again,” Chelsea said softly. “You deserve to have whatever you can to start your life over. We support you, and just want you to be happy.”
Tears rolled down Kate’s face, but for once, they were tears of joy. “Chelsea, honey, I don’t know what to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything, Mom. You took care of us our entire lives. Now we have the opportunity to help you, so just accept our help.”
“Thank you, sweetheart. Tell your brother and sister thank you, as well, and that I will call them.”
“I need to run. I have a call coming in on the other line. Talk to you this weekend?”
“Wouldn’t miss it.”
They hung up and Kate sat there in disbelief. She reasoned that it must have been Bob who had called Chelsea. He’d met her a couple of times when she’d gone to his office with Kate for moral support. By telling Chelsea, he would have violated attorney-client privilege, but Kate couldn’t be mad. The college fund hadn’t held much money, but at least now Kate had a little to get her life started again. She still felt guilty, but knowing her kids were there for her meant the world to her.
As much as she hated taking their money, she was grateful that the kids had unanimously decided that she should have it. It brought tears to her eyes that she had such amazing children. Even though she wasn’t ready to forgive their father for what he’d done to their family, she had to grudgingly admit that, together, they had done a good job raising their kids.
After the penalty for withdrawing money for something other than college, Kate figured she was left with enough to support herself for a year, as long as she lived frugally and got at least a part-time job to pay for groceries and any little things that she might need along the way. The need to live within a miniscule budget was yet another reason why New York wouldn’t be the right place for her future. Even though she’d spent the better part of her adult life there, between how expensive it would be and the many negative memories it held, she knew that it was right to leave it in her past. Before coming to Moonshire Bay, she had grown so tired of the glances and whispers from her so-called friends, and she realized that she didn’t care if she ever went back.
Kate opened up her laptop, connected to the internet, and typed in the URL for the real estate company in town that Claire had suggested. After about twenty minutes of searching through the many listings of rentals in the community, Kate felt disheartened. None were within her price range, not even close. All of them were better suited to big families with a high income rather than a single, middle-aged woman with little money. Shutting her laptop in frustration, she went upstairs to take a shower and get ready for the day.
Kate puttered around Claire’s house, watering her flowers and doing some weeding and cleaning, all things that were simple, mindless tasks that could keep her mind off of her financial situation. She glanced at her watch and was surprised to see how late it was. Zach would be by in thirty minutes to pick her up and she was filthy from all the chores. She ran inside and threw her brown hair up in a bun, then jumped in the shower for the second time that day so that she could clean the dirt from her knees that had come from kneeling in the flowerbeds.
She finished and wrapped herself in a towel, then put on minimal makeup. She chose to use just a little mascara, some eyebrow filler because hers had thinned with age, and a nude eye shadow. She put on her favorite body lotion, then ran over to the dresser to pull out some clothes. Since Zach had instructed her to dress casually, she picked a simple cream sundress with big yellow sunflowers. She loved the dress but hadn’t worn it often because Todd had called it, “a little too country.” This occasion seemed like the perfect time to wear it. She put in simple silver hoops and the silver cross necklace that she always wore, sprayed on a little perfume, and slid her feet into her silver flip-flops, just as she heard the doorbell ring.
She ran down the stairs and flung open the door as he rang the doorbell again. “Sorry for making you wait,” Kate said, panting a little from her sprint. “I was upstairs.”
If she hadn’t already been out of breath from running down the stairs, seeing him might have taken her breath away. He was dressed in a pair of gray chino shorts and a
yellow button-down shirt with the sleeves up that looked great against the warm tones of his skin. He smiled when he saw her, and it made her feel warm inside in a way that she couldn’t explain. The sensation made her nervous because she couldn’t let herself have feelings for him. It felt like too much of a risk.
“Do you have a camera in my bedroom?” Zach asked her.
“What?” she responded, looking at him curiously and feeling embarrassed. She wondered if he had noticed her staring.
Zach laughed. “I’m wearing a yellow shirt, your dress has sunflowers on it. We match.”
“Oh,” she laughed, feeling relieved. “Let me just grab my purse.”
“You won’t need it.”
“Okay then. I guess I’m ready.”
19
Zach opened his car door, stopping her when she made a move to get in.
Instead, he pulled out a picnic basket, then closed the door.
“You packed a picnic lunch?”
“Does that surprise you?” He enjoyed the look on Kate’s face as she realized what the plan was. He’d put a lot of thought into this picnic, wanting to impress her.
“I guess that will depend on what kind of food is in that picnic basket.”
“Are you doubting my culinary abilities?” he said in mock horror, enjoying the playful banter.
“Maybe,” Kate responded, and smiled at him. Her smile lit up her whole face, and it made him want to spend more time making her smile.
“Well, you are going to eat your words after you partake of my fine cuisine.”
“So, where are we off to?”
“Follow me.”
They walked down Claire’s driveway and turned down the road in the direction of the beach.
