Anything but Love

by Celya Bowers

  She called her son to the kitchen. “Dylan, time for lunch.” She heard his footsteps before he entered the large room. “How many times have I told you not to run? Aunt Kendall is going to get you if you break anything.”

  He sat at the table. “Sorry, Mommy. We’re going to the movies today with Aunt Doll?”

  “Yes, baby, this evening, and then we’re going to eat.”

  “Yeah!” Dylan clapped his hands.

  It did her heart good to see him so happy. The events of the last few weeks were a distant memory, thank goodness. Now if she could just get through the divorce with no scars, everything would just be fine. “Now eat your lunch.”

  Dylan nodded and gobbled the sandwich in record time. Jami still didn’t understand how he could eat a sandwich with no meat. The phone rang, interrupting her musing. She picked it up on the second ring. “Hello.”

  “Kendall?”

  Jami recognized the voice of James Matthews, the snake. “I’m sorry, she’s not in,” she said in a short tone.

  “Jami?”

  “Yes.”

  “What are you doing there? Where’s Kendall?”

  “Neither of those questions are your concern, James. I will tell her that you called.” Before he could utter a retort, she ended the call and smiled to herself. Kendall was right. Revenge did feel good.

  CHAPTER 24

  Two days after the first PSA ran, Kendall got her first phone call concerning a donation for InfaCare, which was remarkable in itself since it was Sunday. By the time she got to work Monday morning, her accountant was calling her with good news.

  In just a few days the hospital had gotten over a hundred thousand dollars in donations. It was a far cry from the several million she needed for the cancer wing, but it was a step in the right direction.

  She didn’t have long to enjoy her celebratory moment. Jami walked into her office with excitement on her round brown face. “Kendall, the board wants to meet with you this afternoon. They want you to film another PSA with Cole, but this time they also want it with Holly.”

  “Are they serious?” Kendall rose and walked around her desk. The last thing Cole wanted was to be in the same room with Holly.

  Jami nodded. “Yes. They think it would look better with her boasting of your accomplishments. And before you object to her, the board has already cleared it with her superiors.”

  “Cole is going to have a fit when he finds out.” But if it would get more donations for the hospital, then the ends justified the means, or at least she hoped so.

  Jami grinned. “Maybe not. If you can persuade him to do the PSA, the donations for the hospital will start pouring in like hail in Texas tornados and you can get the cancer wing built.”

  “And in what way do I have to persuade him?” Kendall stared at her friend. “Does this have anything to do with me dressing up in something slinky?”

  “Could be. It would be for the hospital. Think of all the children you can help. And it would only cost you one night of incredible sex.”

  Kendall thought of the last encounter she’d had with Cole. He’d knocked her socks off, and then some. It took every ounce of her willpower not to admit how much she loved him. “That’s a pretty high price tag.” But she couldn’t let the kids down. They were depending on her. “But you’re right, the kids need me.”

  Jami patted her on the shoulder. “That’s my girl. Take one for the team.”

  The two women looked at each other and thought of Jami’s play on words. They laughed until they cried.

  * * *

  Holly Banton left the production meeting with a plan of action. She could kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. Maybe with Cole being forced to talk to her, she’d actually have a second chance at him.

  She just needed a few minutes with him and he’d be begging her to come back. Rumor had it he’d bought a house in Arlington, but that could quickly be changed and he’d return to New York to be with her.

  She walked into her office and sat at her desk. She was on her way back to the top, and this time nothing was going to stop her.

  “Holly, got a minute?” Herb Kelly stood in her doorway with a small stack of papers in his chubby hands.

  “Sure, Herb.” She put away her notes on Dr. Kendall Matthews and motioned him inside.

  He sat down in the oversized leather chair and exhaled. “It’s about Dr. Matthews.”

  “What? Don’t tell me she doesn’t want to do the interview. I’ve already got her phone interview recorded. It’s too late to get someone else.” She placed a nervous hand over her chest, hoping her chance at reclaiming her fame hadn’t been shot to hell.

  Herb raised his chubby hand. “No, no, nothing like that. They’ve started running the PSAs on the hospital and so far have gotten some good results. They want to record another one and would like you to be in it and list Dr. Matthews’s accomplishments. Apparently she doesn’t like to talk about herself much. I’ve already agreed. I also thought you could interview Coltrane Highpoint to show there are no hard feelings between CNT and him. You two have mended fences, right?”

  “Yes,” she lied. “I told you all that is old news. Cole and I are friends.”

  “Good. Set everything up and give me your timetable. I want this to go on without a hiccup. I’m sending the film crew with you to document it.”

  Holly nodded, guessing what her boss didn’t tell her. Word on the street was Cole had just inked a seven-figure book deal from the very publisher that gave him the push when her story broke two years earlier. “Of course. I’ll make arrangements and get back to you.”

  He stood and prepared to leave her office. “I’d hate for anything to go wrong with that interview, Holly. Not only is your job riding on it, but so is mine. The network can’t afford any more publicity about erroneous information. Make sure you get good, solid quotes.” He opened the door and left.

  Holly counted to ten, then fifteen, twenty. She counted all the way up to fifty before slamming her manicured hand against her desk. How dare that excuse for a boss talk to her like she was a rookie reporter on her first assignment. Granted, the network had taken a beating with lawsuits when the scandal broke about her stories. They were just covering their own backs, she reasoned.

  She would just have to show them all. She would get perfect, reliable, and verifiable quotes. This was going to be the best story about a charity hospital since St. Jude’s, she promised herself.

  * * *

  A few nights later, Max sat at his favorite bar drinking away his sorrows. Or maybe not. It could be viewed as a celebration of sorts. He’d finally done it. He’d made the decision, and this time he was sticking to his guns. Not even the lure of millions from Caitlin’s dysfunctional family could stop it. This time he had proof.

  “Hey, man.” Cole slid on the barstool next to him. “I heard you’re trying to break the state record for beer consumption. Kendall’s really worried about you. Me, too. Jami was in tears tonight. Max, what’s going on with you?”

  He finished his beer and ordered another one. “Not much. I just decided to get a divorce from my wife of ten years. I know you’ve heard this before, but this time it’s going to happen.”

  Cole gasped. “Max, are you sure?”

  He took the folder the private detective had given him earlier that day, the folder that would free him from the marriage from hell. “Yeah, Cole. I’m real sure.” He handed him the folder. “Take a look for yourself.”

  Cole squinted his eyes at Max, but opened it anyway. After coughing to cover his surprise at the subject matter of the pictures, he looked at Max. “I think you have a good case for alienation of affection. Who’s the guy?”

  Max shrugged. “Who cares? Probably someone from the country club, or maybe the pool guy. The point is, I can get out of the marriage and be with Jami, and there’s nothing Harry Campbell can do about it.”

  “Whoa, big guy,” Cole said. “You need to take care of this one step at a time. Believe me, th
e last thing you want is a scandal. And I know you don’t want Jami’s name dragged through the mud.”

  “I know. Caitlin’s dad is notorious for fixing trials, getting people to take a hike, or paying people to lie on his behalf. This has to be clean. That’s why I hired a private detective.”

  Cole nodded. “I get it. You received the pictures at work, didn’t you?”

  “Yes. I had always figured she was sleeping with someone, and now I have proof. She was actually cheating on me.”

  “That’s why you were snapping at Kendall and Jami today?” Cole signaled the bartender for a beer. “You know, there are easier ways to deal with hurt than to take it out on the people you love.”

  “Big talk,” Max shot back. “Have you told Kendall how you really feel about her?” Max took a long swig of beer. “You’re going to mess around and let that no-account ex worm his way back in her life.”

  “Max, you don’t know what you’re talking about. Kendall doesn’t have any feelings for James. There’s no way that can happen.”

  “I know you don’t think so, but stranger things have happened. I just don’t want you to lose her. You guys are great for each other.”

  Cole shrugged. “This is about you, Max, not me. What are you going to do?”

  Max often wondered if he were walking a tightrope without a net below. “I know I want to get out of this sham of a marriage. Caitlin doesn’t love me.”

  “How do you know that?”

  Max hated to admit this to another man, but he needed to get it off his chest. “She tells me so. Every day. She says she only stays married to me to keep her dad off her back.”

  “How did you guys meet?”

  Max remembered the beautiful woman he’d met eleven years ago. Caitlin had been vibrant, full of life, and sexy as hell. But it had been an act. “Actually, we met in college. We were both mature students, and I guess we kind of bonded. We studied together, and before long the study sessions started to include breakfast. About six months later, her dad made me an offer I should have refused.”

  Cole snapped his fingers. “Let me guess, he offered to pay for you going to school if you married his daughter.”

  Max felt like a prostitute now. “Yeah. Back then, I was fresh out of the air force, and I had school covered. But I still needed a job. He made it possible for me to totally concentrate on school. The house was our wedding present, cars were birthday presents. Everything was taken care of. Credit cards, utilities, car insurance, all the bills went to him.”

  Cole shook his head. “Why did he feel the need to have to sell his daughter?”

  Max laughed, remembering the past and hating himself for his moment of weakness. “Caitlin has a rebellious streak. She’d been through several less desirable men when I came along.”

  Cole patted him on the shoulder. “Max, that’s awful. I now understand her father’s motives. He’s trying to preserve the family name. A divorce is going to rock the facade of the proper family and Dallas upper-crust society.”

  “This time money is not the answer. The next few months will be tricky, but I’m hoping those pictures will speed up the process.”

  “Did you sign a prenup?”

  “No.”

  Cole laughed. “A man that on the ball didn’t have you sign a prenuptial agreement before you married his wild daughter? You know you could get half of her estate.”

  Max grinned. “Caitlin doesn’t have any money of her own. She’s a daddy’s girl to the bone. Why do you think we have a live-in nanny for Carson?”

  “She only had the baby to make you happy?”

  “Back then we were still trying to make it work. Foolishly we thought a baby would cure the problems in the marriage. Boy, were we stupid.”

  * * *

  Cole thought he had had a great idea. Or at least it felt good at the time. After Kendall told him she’d never been to a professional baseball game, Cole decided he would take everyone. Little did he know that little gesture was like the firing of the starter pistol to his and Kendall’s mothers.

  His mother had nothing but one insane idea after another when she learned of the outing. The day of the game she came over to give him some last-minute advice. Cole was in his home office hoping to finish at least a chapter of his latest book before he and Taylor left to pick up Kendall, Jami, and Dylan. Max and Trey, Kendall’s nephew, were meeting them at the ballpark.

  Martha marched into the office and took a seat in a chair next to the desk. “Are you ready? This is your first real outing with Taylor and Kendall. How do you think Taylor is going to react with Jami and Dylan also being there? And who invites all these people on a date?”

  “Mom, it’s just a baseball game, not a date. There will be at least seven people there with us.”

  “See what I mean? Did you remember the car seat for Dylan? You know the law.”

  “Yes, Jami is going to switch the one in her car. There’s plenty of room for him in the back. And yes, I have the tickets. And yes, they’re near the bathrooms. We’re sitting between home plate and first base, two rows back.”

  “Wow! Taylor is excited,” his mother said. “That’s all he talked about yesterday when he came over to the house. I can’t tell you what a joy it’s been having him visit us. I’m learning quite a bit about this hippy-hop thing. You know he wants more brothers and sisters.”

  Cole knew exactly what his mother was doing. He had, in fact, planned for this little moment. Martha wasn’t going to miss one chance to tell him how he needed to be married and that he should marry Kendall. But this time he was going to beat her at her own game. He opened his desk drawer and extracted an envelope, handing it to his mother. “Just in case you wanted to have some fun this evening, here are tickets for Zenora and Evan, too.”

  His mother smiled. “I must be getting old. I didn’t see that coming.” She took the tickets. “You just might see me out there.”

  Cole watched his mother walk out of the room. Tonight was going to be something. He just hoped he lived through it to tell the story to his grandchildren.

  Two hours later, Cole doubted if he would ever live through the night, let alone be able to tell his grandchildren how he’d outsmarted his parents. He hadn’t really expected his senior citizen mother to show up, but as usual she’d outsmarted him.

  Kendall laughed. “I guess you’re going to have to move your hand or I’m going to tell your mama.”

  Cole had his hand planted on Kendall’s thigh and had no intention of moving it. In fact, he moved closer to her. “My mama would applaud my efforts,” he whispered in her ear. “I guess I should tell you I invited your folks, too.”

  She stared at him, mouth hanging open in surprise. “How could you invite that woman? Our mothers will be planning the wedding before the Rangers get another hit. I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.”

  He knew only one thing to do to shut up her tirade. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her. She laughed against his lips but didn’t pull away. She increased the pressure and moaned against him. He heard clapping in the back of his mind, but ignored it, until he heard his son complain.

  “Dad, this is so embarrassing. Could you guys please stop!”

  Cole reluctantly pulled away from those soft lips and shot his son a baleful look. His son stared back at him, but pointed to the screen over right field. Cole finally looked at the screen and gasped. “Oh, my God.” There was an instant replay of him and Kendall kissing like lustful teenagers for everyone at the baseball stadium to see, including Kendall. He was in the doghouse now, he knew. Kendall didn’t go for public displays of kissing. “Sorry, babe.” He moved away from her. “I had no idea they were filming.”

  Kendall smiled and pulled him closer to her. “It’s a little late for that, Cole.” She kissed him quickly on the lips. “Thank you.”

  Okay, he was totally confused. “Why are you thanking me?”

  Kendall held his hand close to her body. “I thought I would be embarrassed by
the whole kissing scenario, but I wasn’t. I can actually laugh about it.”

  Cole was relieved. “Okay. But if you really want to thank me,” he said, enjoying the slow smile adorning her face, “you could give me a more private kiss later.”

  “No, you invited my parents. You’d better hope they don’t show up.”

  Cole didn’t want to think about the “what if” of that threat. “Too late, baby. Here they come.” He nodded to her parents being led to their seats by the usher.

  Kendall bowed her head. “Thank goodness they didn’t see that kiss.”

  Cole nodded, knowing the likelihood of them seeing that kiss was pretty good.

  “Was that you guys kissing like Cole was going off to war?” Zenora asked as she sat in front of the now embarrassed couple. “You were really going at it. I was very proud.”

  Kendall looked at him with an unreadable expression on her pretty brown face. “Just great. You’ve got my own mother thinking I’m a freak.”

  “It was my fault, Zenora,” Cole said. “We got a little carried away.”

  She waved away his comment. “Hey, you have one life. Live it. How many women can say their daughter was caught on the JumboTron screen smooching with a prominent author?”

  Cole chuckled. Leave it to Zenora to make a moment of unbridled passion sound like an everyday occurrence.

  * * *

  After a grueling day of trying to get some background information on the charity hospital, Holly relaxed in front of her TV, hoping to catch the last of the baseball game. Baseball was her one vice. She loved the New York Yankees and followed them religiously. She attended the games when she could, and when they were on the road she was glued to her TV set.

  She turned on the TV and quickly found the game. It was the bottom of the seventh and the Texas Rangers were leading by two runs. She picked up her notes on Dr. Kendall Matthews and began skimming them. The only blip in this woman’s past was her no-account ex-husband who didn’t know how to keep his pants zipped. Since the Rangers were at bat her attention wasn’t on the game until she heard the kissing song. The cameras skimmed the crowds, catching couples in an awkward moment. She remembered the last time she’d attended a game with Cole. She’d tried to get him to kiss her, but he wouldn’t.