by Pat Warren
Kate could smell liquor on his breath. He’d apparently had a head start, but maybe the drink had loosened his tongue. “You were at your father’s?”
“I’m still staying with him. I’ve got a lot of irons in the fire, but I’m taking my time choosing the right investment. For now, I’m using his place as a central base.” He pulled the foil off the champagne, then loosened the wire binding.
Kate tried to sound mildly interested. “How’s the party going?”
Johnny draped the towel over the bottle and started easing out the cork, all the while studying Kate. “If you mean how’s Aaron doing, he’s just fine. Living it up, drinking, dancing. He can be a hell of a lot of fun when he wants to be.”
So Aaron was enjoying the evening. Good for him. Kate crossed her arms over her chest. “That’s nice.”
“Yeah, my brother was quite the party boy until Stephanie came along. She put a crimp in his style, but he wanted her bad enough to stop his drinking and carousing. Man, he really loved that woman. Still does, don’t you think?” The cork gave with a little pop, and vapor whirled out of the opening. Quickly, he began pouring.
“I wouldn’t know,” Kate answered. “Listen, don’t pour any for me. I told you, I’m not in the mood.”
“Ah, come on, Katie. What’s the harm in toasting in the new year? We’re just two lonely people here. Let’s keep each other company, eh?”
She decided to play along for a few minutes, not to appear rude. She took the glass he handed her, clinked it to his and sipped. It was cold and tart and very good.
Johnny turned on the boyish charm. “Can I see your tree?” He hooked two fingers around the neck of the bottle and carried it into the family room, setting it down on the coffee table. “Big sucker, ain’t it?” he commented, gazing up at the tree.
Kate sat down in the far corner of the couch, where she’d been sipping her tea, and put down her glass. It wouldn’t do to drink much around Johnny Carver. She had a feeling he was the sort who’d take advantage. She only wished he’d get the message, that she had absolutely no interest in him and it would be best if he left. Still, he was Aaron’s brother, and she merely worked for Aaron. She must remember that.
Johnny sat down on the middle cushion of the couch, not too close but not far away, either. “So, what’s a nice girl like you doing all alone on the biggest night of the year?”
She shrugged. “It’s just another night to me.”
He drained his glass and picked up the bottle. “Drink up. The night is young.” He poured more and was annoyed when she refused to let him top off hers. “Kate,” he began, trying for sincerity, “don’t you like me?”
“I don’t know you,” she answered carefully.
“We can change that.” He shifted slightly closer. “I’m a nice guy, not a brooder like my brother. We could have some good times together.”
This was a discussion she didn’t want any part of. “I think it only fair to tell you that I’m simply not interested.”
He reached to stroke two long fingers along her cheek. “Why not give us a chance, get to know me?”
Her blue eyes suddenly frosty, she met his gaze. “What part of the word no don’t you understand?” Quickly, she stood. “I think you should go. I’m tired.”
Annoyed with her rejection, Johnny slammed down his glass, ignoring the champagne that sloshed onto the table. “Fine. Your loss.” He got to his feet somewhat unsteadily. “You’ve chosen the wrong brother to fall for, Katie, my girl,” he told her as he made his way to the front door. “You’re wasting your time waiting for Aaron to come around. He’ll never get over Stephanie.” He grabbed his coat and yanked open the door, then turned back to her, his handsome face suddenly hard. “All you are is someone handy to warm his bed, but he’ll never love you.”
Tears sprang to her eyes, but she pushed them back. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of a reply or a reaction.
With a sneer, he stepped outside. “You’re probably a cold fish, anyhow.” He got into his car parked on the curved driveway and gunned the engine noisily before racing off, wheels squealing.
Blinking rapidly, Kate closed the door. Johnny Carver was drunk. He was just babbling on because she’d turned him down. That was all, she told herself as she gathered up the glasses, cup and bottle, taking them to the kitchen. She wouldn’t pay any attention to anything he’d said.
She’d just finished cleaning up when she heard the front door open. Moving into the front hallway, she saw Aaron taking off his coat. For a long moment, their eyes locked, neither saying a word.
“Was that Johnny I passed outside the gate?” he asked, knowing full well it was but wanting to hear what she’d say. He hated the way she looked, eyes too bright, a sad look about her beautiful mouth. What in hell had Johnny said to upset her?
“Yes.”
“What did he want?”
“Me,” she said quietly. Turning, she ran up the stairs.
He should go after her, Aaron thought. He should take her in his arms and apologize for his brother. He should tell her it was eating him alive, this distance between them.
But he couldn’t. It would only complicate things. He had to do this, had to make her unhappy enough to leave. She needed to get on with her life, find someone who could love her the way she deserved to be loved.
Wandering back to the kitchen, he saw the open bottle of champagne. He guessed that Johnny had brought it to her, probably thinking she’d willingly jump into bed with him. He didn’t know Kate Spencer.
Aaron reached for one of the glasses on the drainboard and poured himself some of the bubbly. He hadn’t been able to finish the Scotch at his father’s, his mind too preoccupied. Now he sipped the champagne and wished he had someone to share it with. Not just any someone. Kate.
He strolled into the family room, gazed out at the frozen river, then at the embers in the fireplace. Like the embers of his life, smoldering, dying. He sipped champagne and tasted bitterness.
Aaron heard the foyer clock chime twelve times. Midnight. “Happy New Year,” he said to his reflection in the window. He set down his glass, turned and went upstairs to his large, solitary bed.
Chapter Eleven
The Book Tree was located in a section of Grosse Pointe known as the Village. Variety stores, trendy restaurants and specialty shops stretched along both sides of a broad, tree-lined street. Kate found a parking space across the street from the bookstore she’d operated for George Spencer for two years and checked it out.
It seemed that her cousin had made few changes since taking over in August. But then, Pam’s heart wasn’t in bookselling. She’d agreed only to please her father. Kate had phoned her this morning and asked if Pam could spare the time for lunch. It was January 2, and she badly needed to talk with someone. Fortunately, her cousin had welcomed the idea.
So Kate had asked Fitz to watch Jamie for the day, and the older woman had quickly agreed, since Kate rarely took time for herself. Aaron, of course, had left the house early, presumably gone to his office. He’d spent most of New Year’s Day behind the closed doors of his study. Jamie had been cranky, with another tooth about to break through, so Kate had put her to bed early and gone to her own room. She hadn’t felt like eating dinner, refusing Fitz’s invitation to join her in the kitchen. She had no idea if Aaron went down. The year had started out swimmingly.
With a sigh, Kate walked across the street and stood for a moment examining the window display. Decorating had been her specialty, for she’d truly enjoyed changing things around every few weeks, highlighting local authors, building displays around seasonal themes. Pam’s window seemed unimaginative and thrown together in a hurry. Perhaps her cousin was too preoccupied to notice or care.
The bell over the door jingled as Kate went inside. A tall young man she didn’t recognize was behind the counter ringing up a sale. Glancing about at the various book dumps and postholiday sale tables, she made her way to the back and spotted Pam pulling books fro
m one of the shelves. “You’re working awfully hard,” she said as she reached her side.
Pam turned, her face lighting with a welcoming smile. “Kate.” She pulled her cousin into a hard hug. “Oh, I’ve missed you.”
Kate closed her eyes on an unexpected rush of tears. She’d badly needed to hear that, to know that there was someone who missed her. “Same here,” she said, pulling back to look Pam over. She’d never been terribly pretty, her face angular and thin, her nose too long and her hair straight as a stick and mousy brown. But things had changed.
“You look wonderful,” Kate told her. Pam’s face was fuller, her brown eyes bright with a healthy glow and her hair softly permed. She even had a more stylish pair of glasses. “Could love had brought about this change?”
Pam laughed, not the hesitant sound she used to make but a confident chuckle. “Does it show?”
“Does it ever. So, tell me, when do I meet Mr. Wonderful?”
A disappointed frown flickered over Pam’s features. “Eli’s in Ann Arbor on a story. I so wanted you to meet him.” She linked her arm with Kate’s and led her into the back room, where her small office was located. “Never mind. This just means you have to come back soon.” She paused to study Kate. “How are you? You sounded sort of strained on the phone.”
Unbuttoning her coat, Kate shrugged. “I’ve been better. Where shall we go for lunch?” Her tale of woe would wait.
“How about Tomasino’s? We can pig out on pizza. Remember how we used to do that nearly every Wednesday night?” It had been their dinner date for girl talk, and Pam had truly missed those chatty get-togethers. She sensed something was bothering Kate, something new. “A back booth where we can talk. Okay?”
“Sounds wonderful.”
The root beer was foamy, the cheese gooey and the pepperoni had a spicy tang to it. Pam closed her eyes in ecstasy. “This is heavenly. You know, I haven’t been here since you left.”
Kate chewed with remembered satisfaction, surprised she was hungry. “I haven’t had pizza in months, either.” She wiped her hands. “So, tell me all about this Eli who’s changed your life.”
Eyes dancing, Pam talked for some time about the redheaded reporter who was, of course, perfect in every way. “I realize I’m no expert, but Eli seems too good to be true. He’s honest and thoughtful and caring. He makes me laugh, which I think is so important. I’m nuts about him, Kate, as if you couldn’t tell. But I’m scared. What if I’m wrong?”
Kate sipped her root beer before answering. “Wrong? What do you mean? You suspect he’s an ax murderer with a dozen buried secrets? I don’t think so. If he’s all you say, and the chemistry’s there, too, then go for it. But who am I to say? My track record’s abysmal.”
“Ah, yes, the chemistry.” Thoughtfully, Pam set down her pizza. “There was no chemistry between you and Evan, was there?”
“No. That’s why, when we broke up, it was more a relief than anything terribly hurtful. Chemistry’s awfully important.”
“You mean like your hands get damp when you’re with him and your heart pounds when you touch him and when he kisses you, you feel as if your head will blow off?”
Kate laughed. “Sounds more like a case of the flu, but yes, something like that. Is that how you feel with Eli?”
“Mmm, yes. Multiply that by several thousand. But I have a question. If Evan didn’t do that for you, how do you know how it feels?”
“I read a lot.” Kate kept her eyes on her plate.
“Yeah, sure. Come on, give. Who is he?” When Kate didn’t answer, didn’t even look up, Pam decided to press a little. “Is he the reason you look so sad?”
Kate let out a trembling breath. Isn’t that why she’d come to see Pam, to talk things over and perhaps get some insight in hearing her own story stated out loud? So she told her cousin and dearest friend about Aaron and about the past four months, leaving out the seduction scene and other intimate details. She felt that Pam could read between the lines. By the time she’d finished, the pizza had grown cold and her appetite had fled, mainly because the story lacked a happy ending. “No matter how I wish things were different, I can’t win in a contest with a dead woman and all of Aaron’s memories and feelings of guilt.”
“You think he cares for you, but he won’t admit it because it seems like a betrayal to his dead wife?” Pam thought the idea absurd.
Kate leaned back, feeling weary. “I don’t know how he feels because he won’t talk to me about his feelings. Except that one time when he told me quite clearly that marriage wasn’t for him.”
“What was his childhood like?” Pam asked.
“His mother walked out, leaving his father to raise two small boys. He’s never forgiven her, or forgotten, and he feels a sense of abandonment even now.”
“I can relate to that. I felt the same for years. Of course, my mother died, but Dad even blamed her for that, since she’d gone walking in the rain and gotten pneumonia. As if she’d deliberately gotten sick and died to make his life inconvenient.” Pam leaned closer. “But you know, Kate, since talking all that over with Eli, I’ve come to realize that Dad was wrong to brainwash a child’s mind, to try to turn me against my poor dead mother’s memory.”
Kate couldn’t have agreed more. “After the last six months and the way he’s treated me, there isn’t much I’d put past him.”
“That reminds me.” Pam opened her purse and handed Kate an envelope containing a folded sheet of paper. “Here’s the paper he asked me to have you sign.”
Kate read the legal document slowly, then looked over at Pam. “Have you read this?”
“No. What is it?”
“It’s a release form relinquishing all rights to my parents’ estate. Your father told me that nothing they owned had my name on it and that my adoption papers were lost. Why would he need a release form if that were true?”
“Good question. Listen, Kate, I’m only delivering the darn thing. If you don’t want to sign it, don’t. I told you months ago that if I were you, I’d get myself a lawyer to look into this whole affair. He’s my father, but I’m not sure he has your best interests at heart.”
No, Tom Spencer had always had his own interests at heart. And Pam’s. But maybe that was about to change. She sensed a new confidence about her cousin. “Don’t tell me you’re actually standing up to him these days?”
Pam made wet circles on the tabletop with her rootbeer glass. “Eli wants me to move in with him. Dad doesn’t want me involved with him, says Eli’s not good enough for me, that one day I’m going to be a very wealthy woman.” Troubled brown eyes looked up. “Kate, what good is money if no one loves you?”
How true. William Carver had money, prestige, position—yet was a lonely man. And his son was following in his footsteps. But Aaron would have to figure that out for himself. “None that I can see. Do what your heart tells you, Pam. It’s time that man stopped jerking you around.” She glanced down at the document. “And me, too, for that matter. I’m going to keep this and take your advice. I’m going to hire a lawyer.”
“Good for you.” Pam motioned to the waitress to bring them coffee. “Now, let’s get back to your employer-slash-lover. He is that, isn’t he?”
They’d always been each other’s confidante. “Yes, but I don’t know for how much longer. As you said, Aaron cares, but he doesn’t want to care. I think he’s planning to fire me because I make him feel things he doesn’t want to feel again.”
“He’s afraid you’ll leave him, like his mother did and his wife, too. Even though the wife had no choice. Do you know why the mother left?”
Kate accepted the coffee and took a taste. With Fitz around, she mostly drank tea, so the brew tasted extragood. “I don’t know for sure, but rumor has it, from what I gather from Fitz, that she left Aaron’s father for another man.”
“Why? Is he as controlling as my father?”
“No, not at all. But he’s a workaholic.”
“That’ll do it. Is Aaron a
lso?”
“He was when I first moved in. But gradually, he began coming home earlier, spending time with his daughter and with me. We did things together with Jamie. Oh, Pam, she’s so adorable. She’ll be a year old in a couple of weeks. If I have to leave her, I don’t know what I’ll do.” Tears threatened again, and she blinked them back.
Pam reached to squeeze her cousin’s hands. “Confront Aaron, when the time is right. Tell him how you feel.”
But Kate was hesitant. “I don’t know.”
“I’m going to confront Dad. I’m sick of living over the bookstore in that small apartment where he has a key so he feels free to drop in on me anytime without knocking. I’m going to move in with Eli and tell Dad afterward. I’m also going to give him notice that I’m putting the Book Tree and the building up for sale. I never asked him to deed it over to me in the first place. I’ve always believed he did that to wrestle it away from you, because he knew his brother wanted you to have it. I want to use my degree in library science, to get a job I want. There’s nothing wrong with running a bookstore. But it’s not my choice.”
“Wow. You have come a long way. Eli’s good for you.”
Pam smiled. “Yes, he is. I wish I could say that Aaron’s good for you.”
“So do I.” Kate glanced at her watch. “I really enjoyed this, but I’ve got some shopping to do before driving back. I want to get Jamie something special for her birthday.” Something the little girl could keep to remember her by when Aaron sent her packing.
Pam rose, walking with Kate to the front of the nearly deserted Italian restaurant. “This has been great, but I wish you were happier.”
Kate gave her friend a sad smile. “One day, I will be.”
Aaron lay in bed wishing he had a cigarette. He’d stopped smoking after meeting Stephanie. As a nurse, she’d been adamantly against cigarettes, so he’d finally given in. After the first month, it hadn’t been too bad. He rarely had the desire anymore.
