“I have a hamburger stand to run and want to shower and change before starting my day. And you have a factory to keep you busy. This was nice, but playtime is over.”
“Why do I have a feeling you’re referring to something besides watching a movie and eating Italian?”
“Because you’re a smart man.” Skylar found her bra and donned it along with her T-shirt. Her panties, on the other hand, were more elusive. “Get up,” she ordered Aaron, exasperated. He was still lying there as if he hoped she’d change her mind.
“Something wrong?”
“I can’t find my panties, and I’m not leaving without them. Besides, you wouldn’t want Melanie to find women’s underwear in here, would you?”
The comment galvanized Aaron, who hastily began searching around the cushions. He found them deep in the couch and held up the offending bit of peach silk and lace that matched her bra.
“These do not look as if they belong to a woman who flips hamburgers for a living.”
She snatched them. “I may have to dress practically on the outside, but there’s nothing wrong with being feminine underneath.”
“Hey, I approve. You have no idea how much.”
Skylar had a pretty good idea—no doubt he was far more conversant with sexy women’s lingerie than she would ever be. She pulled the panties over her hips and shook out her shirt. The cotton wasn’t as wrinkled as she’d expected since the garment had ended up over a lamp—when sex was involved, Aaron still didn’t spare much concern to where clothes landed.
She shimmied her jeans on and went hunting for her shoes and socks. Their location couldn’t be blamed on Aaron; she’d kicked them off herself, long before things had gotten hot and heavy.
He just stood there, unconcerned about his nudity, watching her with a faintly appreciative, but mostly worried, expression.
“Don’t look so nervous,” she told him in exasperation. “I’m not going to get domestic and fix you breakfast or start thinking about decorating possibilities for the house. This was a onetime thing, never to be repeated.”
“Maybe that’s what I’m worried about.”
“Ha. I know you, Aaron Hollister. Sleepovers are the closest thing to a commitment you’ll ever make. What am I forgetting... Oh.” She tucked her shirt into her jeans and put the photo album into the backpack.
“Can’t I keep that for a while?” Aaron asked.
“And risk Melanie seeing it? I don’t want to know what she’d think if she found an album filled with pictures of Karin. And she’d promptly tell Karin, too. Their imaginations would run wild.”
“I’ll put it in my bedroom. There’s a master suite on the other side of the living room. Melanie never goes in there.”
Skylar shook her head. “It isn’t worth the chance. Anyway, I told you I’d send the pictures by email. And we have other albums, as well—this one is more of a scrapbook, with certificates and ribbons and such.”
“That’s one of the things I like about it. Kind of a tour through Karin’s childhood. Did she actually stage a rebellion and refuse to dissect a live frog in junior high?”
“No, that was me,” Skylar returned drily. “I got expelled for a week, but they did stop using frogs in science class. Karin is the one who got the students to go on strike in the cafeteria because they were serving net-caught tuna. They were going to expel her, too, but I told them if they had as much sense as a seventh grader they wouldn’t be environmentally irresponsible in the first place. They changed their minds and gave her a citizenship-of-the-month award.”
Aaron chuckled. “Like mother, like daughter.”
“You’d better mean that in a nice way,” she warned.
“I do.”
“Well, I’ve got to get going. I’ll see you at the school when the bus arrives, or would you like me to bring Melanie home?” It wasn’t easy sounding brisk and unemotional. The sex had been spectacular, and she didn’t want to be uncomfortable about it, but this was Aaron. The commitmentphobe. The guy who came from a family of snobs who’d despise her background.
He was also the guy she couldn’t stop thinking about.
“Why don’t I pick up the girls?” he suggested. “You’ve spent all your free time the past two days helping me get the family room ready.”
“I prefer meeting Karin myself. And I might as well give Melanie a ride at the same time.”
Aaron was silent for a moment, and Skylar figured he was annoyed that she still didn’t want him alone with Karin without her being there, but then he smiled.
“Okay. I’ll see you here at the house. I’ll get more food and we can all eat together. And don’t say it’s not necessary—at the very least you deserve to see Melanie’s face when she sees the family room is more than an empty cave now.”
It was an argument she couldn’t resist. “Fine.”
Skylar dug her keys from her backpack as she hurried out to the truck. Yet no matter how much she rushed, she couldn’t escape the thought that had been nagging at her for days.
She had to protect her daughter from the truth, but was that fair to Aaron? His growing affection for Karin was unmistakable, and it must be hard for him to think he’d never be more to her than her friend’s brother.
* * *
THE KIDS WERE tired and noisy on the school bus, but the teachers and parent chaperones didn’t try to settle them down except when something went flying through the air. Karin sat with Mellie in the back, and they compared notes on the souvenirs they’d gotten at the different places they had visited.
Mellie had mostly bought books for herself and a glass paperweight for Aaron; Karin had gotten two T-shirts, a ball cap and gifts for her mom and Grandma Grace and Grandpa Joe. She’d also picked out a key ring for Aaron, but wasn’t sure about giving it to him.
Funny, in the beginning Mellie had always said half brother when she talked about Aaron, but not anymore. Of course, it would be weird saying half all the time. And family was family, no matter what. She and Mellie had decided that even if they didn’t get to live together, they were going to be sisters.
They got back to the school late, and her mom was waiting with the rest of the parents, but they didn’t see Aaron.
“It was fantabulous,” Karin said when they’d gotten off the bus and her mom had hugged them both. “Can we go back and walk across the Golden Gate Bridge?”
Her mother laughed. “I guess so. Melanie, Aaron planned to be here, but I told him I’d bring you home. We’re going to have dinner together at your house.”
Mellie looked relieved, and Karin knew she’d been worried about being forgotten. “Okay.”
Karin was quiet as they waited for their duffel bags to be unloaded from under the bus. She didn’t think Aaron would have forgotten Mellie, but there must have been times when somebody had forgotten her, or she wouldn’t have been worried about it.
That was crummy.
Her mom had been extra clingy since the accident, but Karin couldn’t remember ever being forgotten, even before then. And she could always call Grandpa Joe and Grandma Grace if there was a problem. Mellie didn’t have anyone like that.
“What was that for?” her mom asked when she gave her another hug.
Karin shrugged. It wasn’t something she could explain. But as lousy as it was not to have her dad any longer, she had it lots better than Mellie.
When they got to Aaron’s house, his snooty Mercedes was in the driveway. Karin wrinkled her nose. Okay, so it wasn’t cool like a sports car or a little SUV, but he must be her mom’s age. He was probably too old to care about being cool.
They put Melanie’s duffel bag in the entryway of the house and went toward the kitchen when Aaron called them to come back there. As they rounded the corner, Karin’s eyes widened when she saw the family room.
“Ohmigod,” Mellie exclaimed.
“Do you like it?” Aaron asked.
“It’s awesome.” She went around, looking at everything and smiling.
“I can’t take much of the credit—Skylar picked out the furniture. I thought you should have a place to hang out besides your room.”
Mellie ran over and threw her arms around his neck. “Nobody ever did anything this nice for me.”
“Then it’s time somebody did. Go check out the classic movies on the shelves. I hope they’re the kind you like.”
She sniffed. “I will.”
“You could have the best slumber party in here,” Karin said, plopping down on the couch. Just then she looked up at her mom and saw her cheeks were red. Aaron had a funny expression, too, and Karin realized they’d hardly said anything to each other.
An odd feeling went through her. She was sure her mom had been uptight the past few weeks because of Aaron. They fought an awful lot, but she was sure they’d smooched a few times on the front porch. And now they were acting really funny...as if they’d done more than smooching.
Only that couldn’t be right. Everyone in Cooperton thought he was obnoxious. Didn’t they?
Karin hugged a sofa throw pillow to her chest.
Okay, not everyone in Cooperton.
Mellie thought Aaron was okay, and people in town didn’t seem to dislike him as much as before. Karin chewed on the inside of her lip. Her mom had said she should make up her own mind about Aaron, and he didn’t seem obnoxious. He listened, and it was nice to have someone who didn’t look sad when she talked about missing her dad, the way everybody else looked because they missed him, too. Well, Aaron had said it was also because they were worried about her.
She just didn’t know.
And even if she liked him a bunch, that didn’t mean she wanted him going to bed with her mom.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
WHEN SUNDAY MORNING dawned cold and rainy, Aaron tried to be glad he didn’t have plans with Skylar and the girls. Still, even though Skylar and Karin weren’t available, maybe he could do something with his sister.
“I can’t—I have a test tomorrow,” she said when he asked. Though she’d eaten breakfast, she was already munching a slice of leftover pizza. Next to her was a cup of hot chocolate. All in all, he didn’t think she minded studying; she was ensconced in the family room in front of a crackling fire and had a well-stocked refrigerator and microwave nearby.
Pleasure filled him. Everything had seemed so perfect the previous evening with everyone enjoying the newly furnished family room. It was nothing dramatic, just a movie night, yet he had never been more contented. All the money and success in the world couldn’t buy that feeling, and he’d wondered...he’d never been willing to risk his heart, but was it the only thing that would make him happy?
Maybe.
And maybe he had even more in common with Melanie than he’d thought, because the enticements of home and family were becoming almost as irresistible as Skylar.
“Well, since you have to study, I’ll probably go to my office,” he said. “Be careful if you put more wood on the fire.”
“I will.” At the last minute Melanie jumped up to give him a kiss, and the warmth stayed with Aaron as he stepped outside into the damp air. A scatter of dry leaves blew past. Surprised, he looked up at the stately trees arching over the house. They were gilded gold; autumn was finally in full swing.
He drove to the office with the dismal feeling that he was the only person in Cooperton who had nothing better to do. The factory didn’t operate on Sundays—a holdover from an era when Sunday was respected as a day of rest—and it seemed forlorn. Skylar and Karin were having the Gibsons over for dinner, and even his grandparents would be enjoying a gracious meal, superbly prepared by Mrs. Ryland. He had a standing invitation to eat with them, but despite the improvement in their relationship, he wasn’t comfortable there. While they were genuinely regretful of the cold, disciplined way they’d raised him, the past wasn’t easy to undo.
In his silent office, Aaron handled various tasks, ending with a memo for Peggy to distribute when she came in the next morning. It modified yet another employee rule he’d made since returning to Cooperton, and he grimaced as he clicked Send. He ought to have found out why things were done a certain way before establishing new policies and radically changing things.
Skylar was right.
He’d founded his decisions on distrust. Hell, many of his employees had ancestors who’d worked at Cooper Industries since the day it started. Generations of families, loyal to their employer, and they’d pulled each other through the Great Depression and two World Wars. He couldn’t treat them the same as he would an employee anywhere else; they’d stayed through both the good times and the bad.
He figured trust issues also explained the difference between the way the town used to treat his grandfather and the way they treated him. George had been fiercely protective of both Cooper Industries and Cooperton, while Aaron suspected everyone was convinced he would sell both town and company to the highest bidder. To turn things around, he’d have to treat Cooper Industries as more than an unavoidable task on his way to something better.
Aaron got up from the desk and paced restlessly.
The truth was, he’d always had an exit strategy—both at work and with the people in his life. Did that make him more similar to his father than he wanted to think? There were different kinds of commitment, and he had avoided them in his own way, at the same time patting himself on the back for not being like Spence.
How had he turned out so different from Skylar, when they’d both seen such lousy relationships growing up? She’d barely survived the horrors of her parents’ marriage. She could have taken the money from Spence or given Karin up for adoption and had a more glamorous life. Instead she’d made a happy marriage. And for all the gut-wrenching sorrow Karin and Skylar felt at losing James Gibson, Aaron didn’t think they’d trade their years with him for anything in the world.
A few months ago he wouldn’t have believed that kind of devotion was real. Now he did. And it would be extraordinary to have someone who cared about him that much.
So maybe Skylar was wrong.... Maybe sleepovers weren’t the closest thing to a commitment he’d ever make. But there were two sides to the kind of commitment he was thinking about, and she might not have any interest in making one with him.
* * *
“DO YOU THINK Karin is upset with me for some reason?” Aaron asked Skylar on Tuesday evening.
He’d gotten into the habit of dropping by for a short time after Melanie was in bed, just to sit on the porch and talk. And it was just talk—Skylar hadn’t allowed anything more intimate than a handshake since they’d slept together. She’d even moved the cushioned porch swing to a less private spot.
“I can’t imagine why she would be. Why do you ask?”
“It’s just a feeling. I keep wondering if she guessed that we...” He let the words trail.
“Don’t even think it.”
The swing drifted back and forth, with Aaron occasionally giving a push with his foot to keep it moving. It was cold, reminding him the Thanksgiving holiday was on Thursday, and he was worried that it would be just as disappointing to Melanie as Halloween had been.
She’d wanted full-size chocolate bars for the trick-or-treaters, so they’d gotten stacks of them, and she had sat by the front door in her costume, waiting for each ring of the bell. But while dozens of hobgoblins, fairy princesses and Darth Vader–clad kids had gone by in the street, few had stopped. She’d disconsolately eaten one candy bar after another until the floor around her feet was littered with wrappers.
It was his fault.
Their house was where the real ogre lived. He was no longer Cooperton’s favorite son...if he’d ever been. Aaron had a growin
g disillusionment about his popularity when he was younger. Skylar had accused his buddies of being toadying and weaselly, and looking back, he could see they probably had been more interested in his money and Ford Mustang than friendship.
“How about us all doing something tomorrow night?” Aaron asked after a few minutes of silence. “Unless you’ll be too busy with holiday cooking.”
“The Nibble Nook is closing early—I can cook in the afternoon. By the way, I...uh...talked with Grace and Joe about it on Sunday. I know you have reservations to eat at the Meadowlark Inn, but they’ve invited you and Melanie to come for Thanksgiving dinner.”
“How do you feel about that?”
“Fine.” She cast him a glance. “Well...not fine, but I’ll live with it. They know about you, by the way.”
Aaron wasn’t sure he should accept, but Melanie would be ecstatic if she could spend Thanksgiving with her friend. “It’s very generous of your in-laws. We’d love to come.”
“Good. What do you have in mind for tomorrow?”
“Ice-skating. I couldn’t believe it when I found out the old rink is still operating. Or is that something Karin used to do with Jimmie?”
“It should be okay. She goes often with the youth group or friends, and one of the parents throws a birthday party there every year. We’ve only been there as a family once or twice since moving back to Cooperton.”
“How old was Karin then?”
“Almost five. When Jimmie and I got married, his parents gave us the Nibble Nook as a wedding gift. We commuted until Karin was school age, but didn’t want to be working in one town, with her attending school in another.”
The references to Jimmie Gibson were getting easier for Aaron. He still struggled with a mixture of jealousy and resentment toward the other man, but the feelings were fading. Jimmie was the guy who’d stayed up nights when Karin had a tummy ache, soothed her tears when she skinned her knee and loved her with all his heart.
What Aaron mostly felt now was gratitude. James Gibson must have been one hell of a guy, and in a curious way, Aaron was sorry they’d never met.
Winning Over Skylar Page 26
