by SUE FINEMAN
“What about the new house?”
“Come on, Dad. I can’t build a house now. I can’t afford to build anything.”
Andy walked out to his car. He needed to be alone, and it was impossible to be alone in that house. Julie’s presence filled every room, whether she was in it or not. His pillow smelled like her hair, her makeup sat on the bathroom sink, and her soft laughter echoed in his mind.
She didn’t ask him to share her house as he’d shared the condo with her. He thought she’d forgiven him for calling her Paulina when they made love, but maybe she hadn’t. Maybe she didn’t love him as much as he thought she did. Maybe it was best they go their separate ways, at least until he figured out what he’d missed in Andrew’s life.
He hadn’t had a vision since Otis died. Did that mean something?
What was he going to do without a paycheck? How could he pay his loan payments? Instead of using his savings to start the new house, he’d have to use them for living expenses until he figured out a way to earn a living.
Without thinking about where he was going, Andy drove to the cemetery. He stopped in front of the black iron fence and opened the rusty gate. Andrew’s family was buried here. Otis’s family. With a heavy heart, he read the names on the stones, from Henry Jefferson down to little Anna Marie Jefferson. He walked down to where they’d buried Otis and stared at the raw grave. They’d patched the grass, but it would take time for it to grow together.
“I wish we’d had more time together, Otis.”
Andy drove to another section of the cemetery, where his family was buried. He visited Pop’s grave and a grandmother he’d never met, then walked down to the Taylor family plot. Beside Charity and her infant daughter, Andy’s parents had buried the bones of Andrew Jefferson. Andy stared at Andrew’s grave and tried to will himself to have a vision, something to tell him what to do about those unresolved issues. But the vision wouldn’t come.
He’d lost his job and the woman he loved.
Would he lose his life, too?
<>
Julie heard Andy in the bathroom before dawn the next morning. She lay in bed waiting for him to finish. They needed to talk before she moved out, but he was too upset last night.
Andy finished in the bathroom, and by the time she brushed her teeth, he was gone. Was he avoiding her? Why else would he leave the house so early in the morning? He didn’t want to see her or talk with her.
The sun peeked over the horizon when Julie loaded her suitcases in the trunk of her car. She could see her breath in the cool morning air, but there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. It was a good day to move, if only her heart didn’t feel so heavy.
After a leisurely breakfast with Hannah and Donovan, Julie called her mother. “Mom, I’m moving today. If you’re not too busy, I could use your help placing my furniture.”
“You want my help?”
“Sure. Here comes the moving truck now. We should be at the house in an hour or so.” She gave her mother the address of the rental and walked out to meet the two men in the truck.
Two hours later, the men carried in the last of Julie’s furniture—her desk—and Mom pointed to the spare room. There were boxes piled everywhere, but the move had gone smoothly. She still had to pick up her work files from Andy’s condo and return his key. In a few days, after his anger subsided, she’d call him about it.
After lunch, Julie drove her mother to the house on Manor Drive. She wanted her mother to see the house Brent had prepared for his wife-to-be. “The movers will be here soon. You can help me pack the kitchen and the linens. It’s all going to the Hospital Guild Thrift Store.”
“Why give it away?”
“I don’t want it, Mom. I’ll get a nice tax write-off, and someone will get a good deal on a new set of pots and pans.”
Julie unlocked the front door and carried boxes inside while her mother wandered through the house. Minutes later, Mom walked into the bedroom where Julie was packing the linens. “The furniture is a little stark, but you could—”
“I sold the house. The buyers are taking possession next week. Did you see the secret room?”
“What secret room?”
“The one Brent fixed up especially for me. The buyers are going to fix the door and remove the bars from the window.” As she talked, Julie found the lever and the back of the closet opened. “Whatever you do, don’t close that door.”
“What’s wrong with it?”
“It won’t open from the inside. There’s no way out.”
Mom walked in and stared at the bars on the window.
“Brent expected me to live in this room. Most of my things were here—Grandma’s rocking chair, photo albums, jewelry.”
“Oh, my God. He’s sick.”
“Yes, he is. I didn’t know how sick until I saw this room.”
Mom stood quietly for a moment before saying, “I was so wrong about him. So wrong. I hope they keep him in that hospital forever.”
“So do I.” Brent Bosch was a very sick man and a danger not only to her, but to everyone in his path. Between the mental illness and his violent temper, he was a scary person to be around on a good day. The doctors might be able to help him with medication, but someone would have to make sure he took it. Even then, Julie would never trust him.
After they packed the linens from the bedrooms, Mom asked, “Julianne, are you in love with Andy Kane?”
Julie wasn’t surprised by the blunt question. Mom was worried her only daughter would end up like Granny. Visions of her grandmother’s work-roughened hands came to mind. Granny had died in her fifties, old before her time, worn down from heavy smoking and eking out a living to support herself and two kids. She had no skills, no education to speak of, and no one to lean on in the hard times.
“It doesn’t matter how I feel about Andy, Mom. Right now, he has other things on his mind.”
<>
Andy worked late Friday and most of the weekend to finish the designs he’d started for Mike’s company. Monday morning, he met with Mike and Craig to go over the work.
“Are you sure you don’t want to stay, Andy?” said Craig.
“It’s time to move on, maybe start my own business.”
“That’s not as easy as it sounds,” said Mike.
Andy had been burned, and without confidence in his boss and co-worker, he couldn’t work there any more. But he didn’t want to cut his ties completely. Until he was established on his own, he’d need referrals, and these two men had more work than they could handle on their own. “If you want to send work my way, I won’t turn it down, but I’ll work from home.”
“Understood.” Mike shook his hand.
Walking out of the building, Andy wondered if he’d made a huge mistake.
After all those years of study, what if he couldn’t find work as an architect again?
Chapter Twenty-One
Julie spent the weekend getting settled in her new house and watching Cassie sniff around her new yard. The dog missed the farm. Julie missed it, too, but not as much as she missed Andy.
Monday afternoon, she signed the papers to sell the house Brent had bought for her. The prison he intended to lock her in. The selling price was one million, three hundred thousand, with the buyer paying all the closing costs. A huge chunk of the money would go for taxes, but that couldn’t be helped. She negotiated with the bank for a higher interest rate on a savings account and had the escrow company wire the money there.
In the past three years, Julie had sold many homes, but none in this price range. None that belonged to her. The interest alone should be enough to support her until the real estate market picked up. Tempted to start shopping for a house to buy, she decided to wait and talk with an accountant and a financial advisor first. She’d take her time deciding how to spend the money.
Tuesday morning, after checking in at the office, Julie took Cassie out to the farm. Otis had left her some things, and she wanted to pick them up while Andy was at work. He obviou
sly didn’t want to speak with her, and she didn’t want to run into him. Not today.
While Cassie ran around wagging her tail, Julie found the key to the trailer on top of the porch light and let herself in. It looked exactly as she’d left it the day she drove Otis into the city, right down to the breakfast dishes in the drying rack on the sink.
She packed the crystal ball and looked through the rest of his mother’s things. Aside from an assortment of pretty scarves, there wasn’t anything worth keeping. The gypsy’s clothes were shabby, her coat threadbare. Otis’s mother probably hadn’t been clothes shopping in years. Julie put all the clothes in the trash and packed the scarves around the crystal ball. Maybe there was something of value in those trunks in the barn, but she doubted it.
In the barn, she climbed the ladder to the loft and wondered how to get these trunks and boxes down without help. She was still up there when she heard a car outside. A minute later, Charlie walked in and asked, “What are you doing up there?”
“Trying to figure out how to get these things down without pushing them over. How on earth did Otis get them up here?”
He pointed up to a metal thing hanging from the ceiling. It had a rope running through it, and one end of the rope was looped over a wheel-like thing in the loft that had a crank on it. The other end of the rope was wound around a bracket on the wall near the barn door.
“Andy can help me get them down, but not today. He has a job interview today.”
Job interview? “He has a job.”
“Not any more. He had a major disagreement with his boss and quit.”
“Because of the guy who was stealing his designs?”
“There were two of them stealing. Andy filed a formal complaint with a professional organization, but that doesn’t help him find a job. I still think he should go out on his own. Billy will defer his loan payments until he gets established.”
Now she understood why he was so upset last Thursday when he got home from work.
“Why didn’t he tell me?”
Charlie shrugged.
Julie shoved the smallest box toward the ladder and carried it down, then went up for another one. Charlie brought the other two boxes down, but the three colorfully painted trunks remained in the hayloft.
The dogs barked and Julie went to look. The puppies were running around Cassie, barking and wagging their tails. Playing. Julie smiled. “Cassie loves it here.” Julie loved the farm, too, but aside from claiming what Otis had left her and checking the mail for bills to pay, she didn’t have any right to be here.
“Mom will keep Cassie if you want.”
“I know, but I’d like to keep her for now. After what Brent put me through, I’m still a little skittish on my own. If Andy wants her back now, I’ll get myself another dog.”
“Andy doesn’t know what he wants.”
“I know,” she said mostly to herself. He’d been giving her mixed signals all along. He wanted her, but he didn’t. He’d asked her to stay, for now, yet he’d clearly shut her out.
Dark clouds roiled in the distance, a storm on the way. Julie shivered as the puppies scampered around her. She should start for home before the rain started. Having the smell of wet dog in her car wouldn’t be good for business.
The wind picked up and dust from the dirt where the house used to be swirled, mixing with the colored leaves blowing off the maple trees. Someone had removed the dead flowers, but the little white cross remained, a reminder they’d lost a good friend.
<>
Andy’s interview went well, but the River Valley Architectural Firm wasn’t hiring. The owner of the firm had heard a rumor about the two yahoos who’d gotten themselves fired and wanted details. Apparently Byron had brought them a portfolio of work and represented it as his own. One of the designs was of Billy’s house, which was in the newspaper magazine one Sunday, along with a picture of Andy and the reporter’s praise for the design. The house had also been featured in Architectural Digest that year, and Andy was named an up and coming architect, someone to watch in the years to come.
Although the man seemed impressed by Andy’s talent and work ethic, he said they couldn’t take on another architect now. “Come back when the housing market picks up and we’ll find a spot for you.”
Andy shook his hand and left. No matter how much they liked his designs, if they didn’t have enough work, they couldn’t afford to hire him. But Andy couldn’t afford not to work. If this had happened before he bought the farm, it wouldn’t be such a big deal. He had a loan to pay now. Promises to keep. Responsibilities.
The rain came down in waves, blowing across the road so hard, cars kept blowing into the other lanes. Not a good day to be on the road.
Andy drove back to the condo. He couldn’t afford to live there any longer. Between the payments on the farm and the rent payments for the condo, his savings would be gone in no time. He needed to make his money stretch until he started earning a paycheck again, and he had no idea how long that would take.
After working on the farmhouse design for the rest of the afternoon, he drove to Livingston Avenue for dinner with his family. Sadie Belle met him at the door, tail wagging. He reached down to pet her. The puppy had her mother’s sweet disposition.
“She missed you today,” said Mom. “Charlie took her out to the farm this morning. He said she had a nice romp with Wilma and Cassie.”
Andy’s chin came up. “Julie was there?”
“Yes, she was checking the mail and sorting through Otis’s mother’s things. I called and invited her and her parents for Thanksgiving, but she said they had other plans.”
Dad came in, shaking off water. “Miserable day,” he muttered. “How did the job interview go?”
“They aren’t hiring. Byron was there last week, trying to pass off my designs as his own. He made the mistake of including Billy’s house in his portfolio, and this guy I interviewed with had seen the newspaper article. Idiot! The architectural community in River Valley is like a small town. Everyone knows what those two did, and nobody with any sense will hire them. If Byron tries to sell one of my designs and I find out about it, I’ll sue the bastard.”
Dad shrugged out of his raincoat and hung it by the door. “Andy, Mom and I have a proposal for you. Why don’t you open an office here? You can use Pop’s room. Livingston Avenue is a major street, and everyone knows this house. Once you get your own business established, you can open an office downtown or wait until we get the inn built and put it out there.”
“It could be two or three years before we get the inn built, and it’s a huge imposition having an office here, especially for Mom. Besides, I may need to live here for a few months, and I can’t afford to pay rent until I start selling designs.”
“We’re not asking for rent,” said Mom. “We just want to help you get your business started.”
“Get your license and permits or whatever you need,” said Dad. “Then we’ll fix Pop’s room and work on publicity.”
Andy looked from his mother’s eager face to his father’s. They seemed excited about this plan. “Are you sure?”
Dad nodded.
“What about Billy’s condo?”
“Billy has been talking about selling it after you get your house built, so he’ll sell it a few months sooner.”
They had it all figured out. Dad was angry before about Andy quitting his job, but he didn’t seem angry now. He and Mom had come up with a solution. “Andrew Kane Architecture?”
Dad grinned. “Sounds good to me.”
It sounded pretty good to Andy, too. “I don’t know anything about the administrative end of running a business.”
Mom shrugged. “So you’ll learn.”
“Yes, I guess I will.” He’d need an accountant and a business advisor.
While Mom finished dinner, Andy walked into Pop’s room with his father. The hospital bed was gone and the other bed was still in the basement. All the rooms in this house were spacious, and this one was no e
xception. There was plenty of room for a drafting table, computer desk, file cabinets, and whatever else he needed. If he needed a place to consult with clients, he could use the library. It was right across the hallway. He’d hang his designs on the wall in there.
The major drawback was having people tromping in and out of his parents’ home. Then there were the dogs, and there was no handicapped entrance. Not that he had that many handicapped clients, but he didn’t want to keep anyone out. Insurance. Phones.
“Do you really think I could make this work, Dad?”
“I don’t see why not. You’re the mayor’s son, a talented architect. People will want to see where we live, and once you show them your work, they won’t want to go to another architect.”
Might as well take advantage of the free publicity he knew they’d have by opening a business here. Zoning wouldn’t be a problem, since there were various businesses on Livingston Avenue—an accountant in the next block down and a beauty shop a few houses beyond.
Andy took a deep breath and jumped in with both feet. “Okay, then. For the next two years, you have a non-paying tenant.”
Even as he worried about the logistics of opening a new business, an enormous weight lifted off Andy’s shoulders. He wouldn’t have to pay rent while he got himself established. Dad was right about the publicity aspect. His name was Andrew Jefferson Kane, he was a damn good architect, and his father was mayor of the city.
He could make this work.
He had to make this work.
<>
After dinner, Andy drove out to Billy’s house. “Billy, we need to talk.”
“About your job?”
“Yeah.”
They walked into the family room, a comfortable room with a big-screen television, and sat down. The kitchen was visible beyond the breakfast nook. The house was huge, but they lived mostly in these rooms. Andy wanted the same kind of layout in the farmhouse.
“Mom and Dad offered me a place to open my own business, but I can’t afford to pay rent on the condo, so I’m moving home while I get the business started. I wanted to give you a few months notice before I moved out, but—”
