by T. E. Woods
Sydney smiled. She liked Natalie’s apparent inability to filter whatever it was she was thinking.
“No. Like you, I don’t think I’m built for an office job.”
Aaron returned to the table and placed a short glass filled with more booze than any bartender at Hush Money or Ten-Ten would have poured. Natalie’s “usual” was a double of whatever amber liquid swirled around the ice. Natalie immediately took a greedy sip. She gave another wink as she set the glass back down.
“Perfection, Aaron. As always. Thank you.”
“You’re quite welcome, Ms. York. Will there be anything else, ma’am?”
Natalie shook her head. “You know my pacing. Be a good lad and make sure I don’t run dry.”
Sydney watched Natalie trace every step the young man took back to the bar.
“Look at those thighs,” the other woman commented when Aaron was out of hearing range. “Toughest thing about aging, I guess, is hearing a young man like that call me ma’am.”
“Aging? You have dozens of years before you need to think about that.”
Natalie took another sip from her drink. “That’s easy for someone who looks like you to say. But I inherited my father’s shoulders and my mother’s freckles. It was cute when I was a kid playing goalie on the lacrosse team. But my fortieth is twenty-two months away. Nothing cute about anything after that.” She looked at Sydney, a whisper of sadness in her eyes. “That was something Miranda could never understand. She was like you. A natural knockout. I guess when you’ve never had to worry about your appearance it’s something you simply can’t understand in others. How could you?” She offered a pinched smile. “I was the one who polished her up, you know. I’ll bet you were surprised to see every trace of Montana homespun gone from her.” She reached for her glass. “Who taught you? I mean no offense to Big Sky country, but I don’t tend to link it with sophistication. How’d you learn to hold yourself the way you do?”
“People change as they age, I guess.”
“Are you like Miranda as relates to that work ethic Daddy’s always yammering about? Do you sing for your supper?”
“If I did, I’d starve to death. I’m a business owner. I have a couple of restaurants in Madison.”
Natalie’s face reflected she was interested, if not impressed. “You don’t strike me as the roadside diner type. What kind of restaurants?”
“One’s a fine-dining establishment. Madison is the state seat. We catch the politicos, the tech-industry folks. And, of course, the university types. I was lucky enough to lure a top-flight chef. He keeps them coming back.”
“What’s it called?”
“Hush Money.”
Natalie swallowed quickly to keep from choking. “I love it!” she chortled. “You have a wicked sense of humor, lady. You said two restaurants. What’s the other one called?”
“It’s a different kind of place. Caters to the police officers, firefighters, EMTs, the kind of people who keep Madison safe. I call it the Ten-Ten.”
Natalie’s eyebrows shot up. “Firemen? I’ve seen those calendars. You may have just given me a reason to visit Madison. All those hunks in one place?”
“And a full bar. I’d love it if you came. Drinks on me.”
Natalie’s smile vanished. “I’m afraid my traveling days are done. Daddy’s dead set on having me step into Miranda’s shoes. I blame this all on her.”
“Oh? How so?”
“Before Miranda came along, my father was all business. Well, besides that church thing of his. Daddy never cared what Mother or I did. Just so long as it didn’t interfere with him swapping flower bulbs all over the world. Then Miranda shows up. At first things weren’t so different. More money, of course, but Mother and I still operated on our own. And I so enjoyed having Miranda down at the guesthouse.”
“Would she join you and your mother on outings?”
“Miranda?” Natalie looked like Sydney had just suggested they all move to the moon. “When I say she was like a sister, I meant between the two of us. Do you have sisters?”
Sydney felt an impulse to say she didn’t know. To tell this woman that she’d wondered far too often if she had siblings out there. “No,” she said instead. “I’m an only child.”
“Miranda and I were close. Secrets, advice, wardrobe tips, that sort of thing. But she was always my dad’s go-to girl. Daddy left me to Mother. He had his Miranda.”
“Was that tough on you?”
“You mean did I feel any rivalry for my father’s affection?” She took another drink, this one longer than her previous sips. “Daddy’s always been more like a wallet than a parent. After Mother died he seemed to pull even closer to Miranda. He was never mean to me or anything. I was more like a possession he housed.”
“Did your relationship with Miranda change after your mother died?”
Aaron came back to the table, another tumbler on his tray. He traded it for the now-empty one in front of Natalie and looked over to Sydney’s still-full wineglass.
“Will there be anything else, ma’am?”
Sydney saw the subtle flinch on Natalie’s face. It was swiftly replaced with a wide smile.
“You’re doing just fine, Aaron. As always. Thank you.”
This time she didn’t watch him walk away.
“Where were we?” she asked Sydney.
“You were telling me how your relationship with Miranda changed after your mother died.” Sydney didn’t know what she was digging for, but she hoped if she lifted enough shovels out of the sand, a treasure might turn up.
Natalie didn’t let drinking interfere with talking. “We were solid. She started this whole get-in-shape kick with my dad. He ate it up. Any idea coming from Miranda was like a message from on high. The two of them had ImEx. And the church. I’m sure my father would have loved to see me as involved as Miranda, but that’s just not in the cards. I think having Miranda so wholeheartedly into that scene kept him off my back about it and I was grateful for that. Truth be told, I was sad when she moved out of the guesthouse. But she’s entitled to her own life.” Natalie snorted. “Didn’t stop her from having an opinion on mine, that’s for damned sure.”
“Oh?”
Natalie leaned forward, bumping her drink with her elbow. “Did you know about her kid? Back in Montana, I mean. Were you a part of that?”
“I met Steel for the first time the day Miranda arrived in Madison. He strikes me as a fine young man. Smart. Quite talented musically.”
“Really? Miranda liked old-time rock and roll. Beyond that, she never struck me as having an interest in music.”
“Perhaps he gets it from his father.”
“Did you know him? The kid’s dad? You guys all hang together as teenagers or what?”
“I didn’t know him back in Montana. We met in Madison.”
“So you know him now.”
“I do.”
Natalie shook her head. Her fingertip smeared the alcohol she had spilled on the table. “No one here had a clue. Not a single clue she had a kid. When I think of all the preaching Miranda gave me…and all the while she’s sitting on this kind of secret….” Rather than finish her thought, Natalie opted for another drink.
“Preaching?”
“You and Miranda must have been the best-looking girls in high school. I’ll bet the two of you mopped the floors with every football hero on the plains. But she comes here, and nothing. I mean nothing. No dates. No romance. Maybe she took care of her needs on the sly, I don’t know. But I used to be amazed that she had no interest in men whatsoever. I even wondered if she was gay. But she didn’t have any girlfriends, either. I figured she was one of those asexual people you read about. But, man! She sure was a priss when it came to my love life, I’ll tell you what.”
“Is that what you mean by preaching?”
Natalie didn’t look at Sydney as she spoke. Instead, she focused on some sort of middle distance, as though she was talking to herself. “I never had any illusions about why men were attracted to me. You take Daddy’s money out of the equation and I’d be lucky to have some beer-bellied hick in a stained T-shirt look my way. Instead, I had the pick of the crop. And I like ’em handsome. Miranda watched over me. More mother hen than sister. This guy drank too much. That guy had a bad reputation as a player. She never could understand how men in our circle didn’t work for a living. Miranda used to say Daddy had more than enough money, but he still went to work every day.”
“Did she like Brice?”
Natalie snorted and took another sip. “Brice is my third husband. She tell you that?”
Sydney shook her head.
“Well, he is. My first husband…oh, how I loved him! Chest as broad and flat as a slab of granite. Race cars were his thing. Came from a good family. They’d lost all their money in bad investments, but their reputation was solid. Miranda told me he was only marrying me for Daddy’s money.” A smile slipped over her lips. “Wanna know what I told her?”
“Yes.”
Natalie slapped the table. “I told her thank God for Daddy’s money! Good Lord, that man knew how to fuck.” She paused. “But then I caught him one night. Down in the garage I had built for the two new rally cars I bought him. All those long hours with his lead mechanic, Pablo. I found out it wasn’t just the engine they were greasing, if you catch my drift.”
“Oh, Natalie. I’m so sorry.”
Natalie shrugged. “S’okay. Mother was alive then. She took me to Florida for six months. Miranda was nice enough to never rub it in my face.”
“What about your second husband?”
“Shep? I met him on that trip to Florida. Brought him back like a souvenir beach towel. Dressed him up, took him to the club, and showed him off.”
“Did Miranda like him?”
“Shep didn’t work. I told you Miranda doesn’t like people who don’t punch a time clock. He was good to me when Mother took ill. Looked real handsome in the receiving line at her funeral. We lasted another six or eight months after that.”
“Did he leave?”
“Shep?” Natalie picked up her glass and drained it. She looked toward the bar. “Where is that boy? His timing’s off.” She raised her empty glass into the air. Seconds later, Aaron trotted over with a fresh one. Natalie graciously accepted his apology, took a long drink, and continued with her story. “Shep’s problem was that he wouldn’t leave! The man was pretty to look at, but damn! Try to talk to him about anything other than body sculpting or energy supplements and his face hung there like a wet bar rag. It was me who cheated on him! What happened? He forgave me and wanted us to go to counseling! Cost me three hundred thousand to get rid of him.” She was quiet for several moments. “Again, once Shep was gone Miranda never once whispered I told you so.”
“How’d you meet Brice?”
“At the club. He’s a fraternity brother of Chip Walton. The Waltons have known my family longer than I’ve been alive. I think my mother and Mrs. Walton had secret plans to marry old Chip and me. But he knocked up Stephanie their sophomore year at Brown and that was that.”
“What did Miranda think of Brice?”
“You’ve seen him. Handsome enough to be a fragrance model, don’t you think? Nobody at the club would ever guess he comes from nothing. His dad worked the line at the GM plant. Mother was a schoolteacher. Brice was a scholarship student at Brown. Worked nights and weekends to pay for the frat house. Miranda said he probably figured Greek Row was his ticket out. He’d become friends with guys who were the sons of money. Meet their sisters or their cousins. Marry well. I remember her using that phrase: marry well. Well, he married me. This time Miranda insisted on a pre-nup. ImEx was booming. And since it was all thanks to her, how could I refuse? She lectured me on how she and Daddy didn’t work as hard as they did just to let some piece of dead wood get everything. I went along with it. After all, my track record sure didn’t suggest I’d be seeing my golden anniversary with anyone.”
“What did Brice think of it?”
“He didn’t care. I make more off my trust fund in a single quarter than anyone in his family ever saw in a year. We live in Daddy’s big house. Eat his food. Play golf and tennis at his club. We use Daddy’s condo in Florida. I don’t think Brice gives a flying fig about all those zeros he could have had if we ever split up. He’s got simple needs. Give that man a few hours in a magic store and he’s happy as a lark.” She paused. “As it turns out, that pre-nup’s probably going to come in handy. Brice is beginning to bore me. For all I know, I’m wearing thin on him, too. Something tells me he might be getting a little action on the side.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be.” Natalie sounded resigned to her lot. “It’s the nature of things in my pretty, pretty world.”
“Did you ever wonder if there was anything romantic between Miranda and your dad?”
Natalie took another drink and shook her head. “I wondered, of course. But nothing like that ever happened. Not that my dad wouldn’t have welcomed it. He was so lonely after Mom died. Miranda became everything to him. But, no. She didn’t seem to have a sexual bone in her body. That’s why the news of her past with this Clay guy hit us all cold. And a kid? I used to dream up ways I’d lecture her when she got back.”
“But she never came back.”
The hardness returned to Natalie’s green eyes. “No. No, she never did.”
Chapter 36
THREE YEARS AGO
“I’ve always liked this building.” Brice Cortes smoothed a hand over his blue blazer as he followed Miranda into the living room of her condominium. “I have a buddy who used to live here. Quite the party pad. He’s married now. He and the wife bought a place in Grosse Pointe. Won’t be long before the kids start popping out, I guess. But man, that brother was quite the swordsman in his day.”
Miranda pointed toward the sofa and urged him to sit. “Can I get you anything?”
Brice gave her a long, appraising look. His dark eyes lingered on her breasts long enough that most women would have been uncomfortable.
Miranda stood still and let him look.
“Little early in the day to be drinking,” he replied. “But you go ahead.”
She took a seat in the chair across from him. “You and Natalie seem to be getting along well.”
Brice crossed one lean leg over the other. He picked a piece of lint off his gray flannel trousers. “Is that what this is about? You’ve invited me up to your lair to learn if my intentions are pure?”
“I was hoping we could get to know one another. Natalie is very dear to me.”
“She told me. Daddy brought you home one day. Put you up in the guesthouse. Gave you a job. Natalie told me her instructions were to brush the hayseed off you. You’re from out West somewhere, right?”
“Montana. Ever been?”
Brice’s handsome face twisted. “Montana? Where the men are men and the sheep are nervous? No, dear. I’ve not had the pleasure of riding the range.”
She let the insult slide. The men were, indeed, different in Montana. And she missed them. “I’ve felt a certain need to protect Natalie. Since her mother died she’s seemed, oh, somehow rudderless.”
He huffed out a laugh. “Are we talking about the same girl? Natalie York knows exactly where she’s going. And it’s usually straight to the nearest bar.”
“That’s an odd thing to say about a woman you love.”
“Is it?” He turned his attention to examining his freshly manicured fingernails. “Perhaps I should be more careful.”
“Perhaps you should. It’s a short drive back to Detroit.”
“But a world away.” His smile was confident.
&n
bsp; “Yes, it is.” She wondered if Natalie saw beyond Brice’s self-satisfied smirk. Here was a man who thought he’d arrived. After all, Alden York’s daughter had fallen under his spell. “Do you think you’re going to marry her?”
“That’s a conversation best kept betwixt Natalie and myself, don’t you think? Besides, you’re much too young to be playing mama bear.”
“Will you be inviting your parents to the wedding?”
Brice’s smile lost a few watts. “So, it’s not my intentions you want to discuss. It’s my lineage. Do we have a pot-and-kettle situation working here?”
“We have a frank and direct conversation working here.” Miranda leaned back and sighed. Brice made her appreciate men like Alden York. Alden was kind and honest. She knew those to be rare qualities in men. Brice and his ilk were far too common. Ambitious and entitled. So deluded by their own sense of self-importance they viewed others, particularly women, as tools to be used to reach whatever end they felt was their due. Men like that bored her.
An image floated into her consciousness. A tall young man with square shoulders and thick black hair. Gray eyes as powerful as a Montana thunderstorm. Arms so strong they could hold her forever.
She pushed the image away and returned her attention to the common weed in front of her.
“There will be a pre-nup, of course.”
“You’re the family attorney now?” Brice asked. “Did Natalie put you up to this?”
“Natalie doesn’t have the sense God gave a goat when it comes to a pretty face. And yours is as pretty as you think it is.”
He nodded. He’d mistaken her observation for a compliment.
“Natalie listens to me,” she continued. “And if you’re smart, you will, too. This is a big opportunity for you. Don’t blow it.” She paused to make sure he was paying attention. “I’m prepared to suggest Natalie offer you a monthly allowance that should more than adequately suit your miscellaneous needs. You’ll have no living expenses, of course.” She waved her hand to include his entire ensemble. “And I can see you’ve already become familiar with how generous Natalie can be when it comes to shopping trips.”
