Beauty and the Brooding Boss

by Barbara Wallace

  “It’s only coffee and turnovers,” she reminded herself.

  Farley was running around behind the counter, grumpy as ever as he accommodated orders and questions. When he saw Kelsey, he gave her a quick wave followed by a dramatic roll of his eyes when a customer asked if he used organic flour. Kelsey waved back. “Popular today,” she commented.

  “Big fund-raiser’s kicking off at the Music Center this weekend. Everyone and his second cousin’s in for it. And every one of ’em’s got special orders,” he added, slapping the cutting board with a loud, overly enthusiastic whack of his knife.

  Kelsey shared a smile with the young girl at the counter. “I’ll take a half-dozen turnovers,” she said.

  “Kelsey, is that you?”

  She was taking her bag from the clerk when she spotted Tom Forbes coming towards her, charming smile firmly in place. “What a pleasant coincidence. I was going to call you this afternoon.”

  “You were?”

  “I’m here for the concert this weekend. I thought maybe you’d like to join me.” The smile got a little wider. “You still owe me that rain check.”

  “Right, rain check.” She thought that had been a way to save face, she didn’t really think he would follow up.

  “So what do you say? Think you can get away?”

  “Well, I…”

  “Please don’t say no.” He flashed her an exaggerated pout. “My poor heart won’t take a second rejection.”

  Kelsey laughed. Somehow she doubted that was the case. “Are you trying to make me feel guilty?”

  “Whatever it takes,” he replied. “Do we have a date?”

  One dinner wouldn’t hurt, right?

  She was about to say yes when suddenly she caught sight of Alex at the other end of store. Dark and serious, he was studying a bag of coffee beans like it contained the secret to life incarnate. A small piece of her insides tumbled.

  Dragging her attention back to Tom, she gave him a polite smile. “Flattering as the guilt trip is, I’m going to have to pass.”

  “Even if it means breaking my heart?”

  “’Fraid so.”

  Tom shook his head, and shook off the rejection like she expected he would. “Guess I’ll simply have to drown my sorrows alone.”

  “Somehow I don’t think that’s going to happen,” she replied with a smile.

  A shiver of awareness passed over her. Looking up, she saw that Alex was looking in their direction. “My boss looks ready to go,” she said. “I better catch up.”

  Tom glanced over his shoulder. “Alex Markoff? That’s your boss?”

  “Yes.” His instant recognition took her aback.

  “You said you worked for a writer, but I had no idea….” Tom drifted off in thought for a second, before adding, “I thought he was holed up somewhere like a hermit.”

  “Never underestimate the lure of coffee and turnovers.”

  “He doesn’t look happy that we’re talking. In fact,” Tom said, pursing his lips, “if I didn’t know better, I’d say he looked jealous.”

  As if. More likely it was his suspicious nature coming home to roost. “Impatient,” Kelsey answered. “I told you, he’s ready to go.”

  “Is he the reason you can’t have dinner?”

  Although asked with a smile, the question had a pointedness to it that she didn’t like. “I have to go,” she said. “Enjoy your concert.”

  Alex was lost in thought on the drive back to Nuttingwood. So lost, Kelsey wanted to squirm from the uncomfortable silence. If it weren’t so Alex-like, she’d think Tom was right and he was jealous.

  The silence was deafening. A hundred and eighty degrees from the rest of their day. Do not chatter, she chided. Just go with the silence.

  “Turnovers smell good. The clerk said they were fresh out of the oven and still warm. Maybe I should have gotten more than a half-dozen.”

  So much for going with the silence.

  “That guy from the store a friend of yours?” Alex asked.

  “Acquaintance.” She could hear the suspicion in his voice.

  “Your rain check from the other night.”

  “Yes. He wanted to know if I would attend the concert at the Music Center with him.”

  They reached the large pine tree. Kelsey turned to the right, pleased she was finally recognizing landmarks.

  Too bad she didn’t feel as confident regarding the man beside her. “Would that be a problem?” she asked.

  “What you do on your spare time is your business,” he replied with a shrug.

  Her insides tumbled again, only this time the fall was heavy and hard. Of course he didn’t care. Why would he? Tom’s comment simply put thoughts in her head. “Thank you for respecting my privacy.”

  “No problem.”

  They drove the rest of the way home in silence.

  Kelsey assumed Alex would disappear as soon as she put the car into Park. To her surprise, he didn’t. He stayed in the passenger seat, his long fingers tracing the hem on his hiking shorts. “You going straight to work?” he asked suddenly.

  What work? She still hadn’t gotten any new notebooks. “Why? You need me to do something?”

  “No.” Some kind of conflict seemed to play across his profile, as if he were having an internal war. She figured he was debating asking a favor. Never in a million years did she expect his next question. “Do you want to go for a walk?”

  “A walk?” she repeated. With him?

  “It’s a hot day. The woods are cooler and you’re right about the turnovers smelling good and since it is lunchtime…”

  “Wait.” She had to make sure she wasn’t hearing things. “You want me to go on a picnic with you?”

  “I thought I might eat the turnovers in a cooler location and figured, since you did all the driving today, I’d ask you to join me. But,” he shrugged, “if you’ve got other things to do, or get ready for…” He reached across his body for the door handle.

  “No, I’ll go,” Kelsey said, stopping him. “Give me a minute to change first though.” She flicked the edge of her peasant skirt. “This isn’t the best outfit for walking in the woods.”

  As he looked her up and down, she told herself the flutter of excitement in her stomach was unnecessary. “Fine. I’ll meet you at the edge of the garden in five minutes.”

  With more enthusiasm than she should have, Kelsey raced upstairs to her room. Since she preferred skirts and sundresses, she didn’t have a lot of clothes suitable for walking in the woods. She settled for a pair of royal blue track shorts and a bright pink tank top. Her hair, she fished in a ponytail through an old baseball cap she wore when running. Hardly the most stylish of outfits.

  Then again, like Alex said, it was simply turnovers in a cooler location. He wouldn’t even notice. That is, if he was still waiting. She’d taken longer than five minutes. Snagging two bottles of water on her way through the kitchen, she headed toward the garden.

  Alex was leaning against the garden shed when she arrived, looking like a slinged sentry. He looked so comfortable standing there she had to, yet again, quell her insides. Especially when she imagined his eyes scanning her appearance.

  “Lead the way,” she said with a smile. “I’m starving.”

  While she’d known there was a path leading up the mountain, she didn’t anticipate how picturesque or how well traveled the path would be. Pine tree branches formed a canopy that shielded them from the sun while brown needles formed a soft carpet beneath their feet. Occasionally light would break through a gap and a white shaft would beam down on the ferns and underbrush that littered the ground. It was an otherworld of coolness, lush and green.

  Kelsey had never seen anything like it, not Central Park, not even the view from her window, though that came close. No wonder Alex disappeared into here every morning.

  “Is this where you fell?” She was afraid to speak too loud lest she disturb the tranquility.

  Alex pointed to a bend in the path. “Up there. I
was watching a red squirrel jumping around the branches and caught the toe of my shoe.”

  The idea of somber Alex Markoff distracted by a squirrel made Kelsey giggle, earning her a questioning look. “Do you think the squirrel realized he nearly derailed the year’s biggest literary comeback?”

  “Is that what Stuart’s calling it?”

  “Among other things. A lot of people have been waiting for a follow-up to Chase the Moon.”

  “Good old Chase the Moon.” Reaching up with his good arm, he pulled back a pine branch blocking their path. “My prize-winning albatross.”

  Kelsey ducked beneath the needles. “I’m sure there are a lot of writers in the world who wouldn’t mind bearing that kind of burden.”

  “They can be my guest.” Alex let go of the branch. It whipped into place with a loud thwap. “Sometimes I wish I’d never written the book. Life would be a lot easier, that’s for sure.”

  The last sentence wasn’t directed at her, but to the trees. Kelsey thought of the notepads that weren’t appearing on her desk and of the dark, pain-riddled pages that had. “You don’t want to write this book, do you?”

  “Writing isn’t the problem. It’s publishing I hate. Publishing and everything that goes with it.”

  Remembering those articles, she understood his reluctance. “Surely this time will be different though.”

  “Why? Because this time I’m not married?”

  The bitterness in his voice didn’t escape her. “I mean this time you’ll know what to expect.”

  “Forgive me if I don’t take comfort in the thought.”

  They resumed walking in silence, albeit more weighted than before. Every so often Kelsey stole a glance in Alex’s direction. She wished she could read his thoughts but like always, they were shrouded.

  Then, suddenly, as if reading hers, he spoke. “It’s funny how life works. You start writing because you have stories you want to share with the world. Once you get your wish though, everything changes, especially if your story becomes The Next Big Thing.” He announced the words to the air with his hand. “Suddenly, life stops being about the words and more about you. What you did, where you went, who you were with. What you can do for them. It’s easy to get lost.”

  “I can see why a person can become jaded,” Kelsey replied carefully.

  “Jaded is the tip of the iceberg.” He stopped suddenly, and setting the paper bag on a nearby rock, turned to face her. “I know full well I’m a nightmare to share a house with.”

  The admission, a blip compare to his other admissions, went straight to her heart. “Really?” she joked. “I hadn’t noticed.”

  He met her attempt at deflection with serious eyes. “Most people would have told me where to go by now.”

  “Don’t think I haven’t been tempted.”

  Alex reached out and plucked a pine needle from her hair, his touch soft as a whisper against her cheek and setting off a freefall inside her. “Then I guess I should be grateful you’re so patient.”

  Unsure what else to do, she tucked her hair behind her ear while Alex retrieved the turnovers and led on. Compliments? Openness? This couldn’t be the same Alex Markoff. Suddenly, in this magical forest, he was different. They were different. Something was pulling them together. Connecting them.

  But she didn’t do connections.

  What was going on?

  The question dogged her for another quarter mile. Until Alex paused and held up his hand. “Hear that?” There was a soft rumble in the distance, like wind gathering speed through the trees. “We’re here.”

  He led them up and around one final bend, to where the path opened. Kelsey’s eyes widened and all her questions vanished in a fog of wonderment. “Oh my,” she whispered.

  They were at a side of a mountain river. The rumble she’d heard was the water racing down the slope, splashing over rocks in a rush to reach the end.

  “Pretty amazing, isn’t it?”

  “Amazing doesn’t begin to cover it,” she replied, awestruck.

  To her right, a pair of large flat boulders formed a natural ledge on which a person could perch overlooking the current. She watched, impressed, as Alex made his way across to the edge and sat down, his long legs dangling above the water. For a one-armed man, he was amazingly agile. Then again, he spent all day in these woods; he probably knew every rock and crevice by heart.

  Suddenly she realized where they were. This was his sanctuary. She picked her way toward him, each step feeling like she was traveling sacred ground. That he would share this place with her of all people… Why, she wanted to ask.

  Instead she sat down beside him. “Is this where you write?”

  “Sometimes. Other times I head a little further upstream. The sound of the water drowns out my thoughts.”

  “Funny, I would think you’d need your thoughts to write.”

  “Not all of them.”

  Kelsey could buy that. Lord knows she had thoughts and feelings she’d like to drown out herself.

  Alex dug into the bag and handed her a turnover, and she handed Alex a water bottle. They sat and ate, swinging their feet in the air, the cadence instinctively in sync. There was something very childlike to the moment, and Kelsey suddenly felt more carefree than she had in years. Maybe ever. She studied the pattern made by the water swirling beneath their feet, imagining Grandma Rosie and her debt being swept away in the whitecaps. “Is the water cold?”

  “Stick your feet in and see for yourself.”

  “Is that a dare?”

  “I don’t do dares.”

  “Right. That’s why you won’t answer my question.”

  “I’m not answering because you might have a different assessment.”

  In other words, see for herself. Which meant yes, the water was cold. Different assessment her foot. It was a dare.

  Feeling him watching her out of the corner of his eye, she slipped off her sneakers and socks. Then, scooting as close to the edge as she could without falling, she carefully, slowly dipped her toes in the water.

  “Holy cow, that’s freezing!” Felt like she stuck her foot in a bucket of ice.

  “I take it back, we did have the same assessment,” Alex remarked.

  Damn if his eyes weren’t sparkling. If she hadn’t a good grip on the rock, their impact might have knocked her into the water. “You could have simply told me.”

  “You would have stuck your foot in anyway.”

  “No, I wouldn’t.”

  “Yes, you would. Because I would have.”

  “That your way of suggesting we’re alike?”

  “Aren’t we?”

  She’d recognized that fact days ago. Seemed unlikely. After all, they were from completely different ends of the spectrum. Rich and successful versus poor and rootless. Hermit versus nomad. And yet, here they were, sitting on a rock in a world that, to Kelsey, felt suddenly very small and right.

  She drew her knees tight. “Sure don’t get to see sights like this in Throg’s Neck.”

  “That where you grew up?”

  “Among other places.” She waited, grateful he didn’t ask for a list. “How ’bout you? Did you always live in L.A? The clippings, remember,” she added when she shot her a sideways look.

  He shook his head. “I grew up in New York. We moved to L.A. a few months before…”

  Kelsey didn’t need for him to finish. She knew what he meant. “Do you miss it?”

  “L.A.? Hardly.”

  “Sorry, dumb question, right?”

  “No. There were parts of California I loved. Like driving along the coastline and watching the ocean.” Looking at the cascades swirling below them, Kelsey could easily see him doing just that. “But I guess I’ll always be a New Yorker at heart.”

  “Have you been back? I mean, since your marriage…”

  “No.”

  “What about your family?” She was probably pushing her luck asking such personal questions, but the intimacy created by their surroundings m
ade her press anyway.

  “My father was in the Twin Towers. My mother followed a year later.”

  Leaving him alone. “They weren’t there to see your success.”

  “No,” he answered, his voice wistful and heavy.

  “I’m sorry.”

  He shrugged. “Life happens.”

  “To some more than others.”

  “Ain’t that the truth.” Kelsey watched as Alex took a long drink, withdrawing into his thoughts. What goes on in that head of yours? she wondered. It felt like such a lonely place.

  So much silence gathered between them that for a moment, she thought he forgot her. That is, until he spoke again. His voice was low, barely audible above the rushing water.

  “She thought it would make her a star.”

  The comment wasn’t what Kelsey expected. He had to be talking about Alyssa.

  “I’d sold the movie rights to Chase the Moon. She figured my wife would have the inside track for the lead. I was foolish enough to think there was affection behind the ambition. But then I had a lot of misconceptions about people. Like I said, it’s easy to get lost.”

  His confession broke her heart. He was, in her mind, being hard on himself. A man alone, without family or anchor to celebrate his fame, pursued by a sexy desirable woman. No wonder he got caught in her web. She wanted to reach out, cover his hand with hers and tell him he wasn’t alone, but she refrained lest she scare away this rare show of vulnerability. “What made you realize—”

  “That Alyssa was just using me?” He paused, chewing the inside of his cheek for a second. “I think I always suspected, I simply didn’t want to see it. Alyssa was always about going out and being seen. At first it was novel, and of course, I wanted to make her happy, but I never enjoyed it.”

  Thinking back to the photos on the Web, Kelsey could see it. The discomfort behind his sober expression. “Guess she didn’t think much of you writing a short story during a dinner party.”

  “Oh good Lord, no,” he said with a laugh. “That, I think, might have been the final straw. That and the fact Chase the Moon got stalled in preproduction. Hard to piggyback on your husband’s fame if there’s no part.”

  So she left and used the divorce to piggyback instead. Her and his so-called friends. Leaving Alex alone again.