by Sherri Hayes
“Yes, but I’m a high-powered lawyer. Perks of the job, you know.”
Abby rolled her eyes. “I saw you sent me enough work to keep me busy for the rest of the evening.”
“Nothing pressing. It should be fine until tomorrow. Take the evening and relax. I’m sure you earned it.”
The microwave beeped, and she took her food over to the table. “That I did. I know we drove by all the properties the other day, Max, but they’re worse than we thought.”
“How so?”
She took a bite of her chicken and made him wait until she’d swallowed for a response. “Some of the properties need all new sod and mulch. And I think some trees might have to come down, too. Trent said he’ll have a proposal to you by Friday, but given all the notes he took and some of the stuff he said, it’s going to be extensive.”
Max was quiet for too long.
“Max? You there?”
“I’m here.” He paused. “Trent, huh? So after spending a day with the guy, you’re on a first name basis? He must have made quite an impression.”
“Oh. Um. Not exactly. We kind of know each other. We grew up together and . . .” And he’s Chris’ brother.
Of course, Max realized she wasn’t telling him everything. “Did he do something, Abby? Do I need to make his life a living hell?”
Abby shook her head and grinned. “No. Not at all. The Daniels family was great to me. Better than I deserved.”
It was then that Max seemed to put two and two together. “Wait a minute. Was his brother . . .”
“Yeah.”
“I see.”
They sat quietly for a long time. She pushed the plate away. Her appetite had completely disappeared.
“Do you want me to find someone else to work with this landscaper? My first choice is you, but I don’t want you to be uncomfortable, Abby. That’s the last thing I want. If I’d known he was—”
“Max, it’s fine. I’m fine. It was a long time ago.” It was a long time ago, but that didn’t stop her from reaching for the charm that dangled from her neck. She closed her eyes and clasped the tiny lamb in her fist.
“That may be, but you aren’t fooling me.”
Abby took a deep breath. “Really. I’m good. Trent is a great guy. I’ll be fine.”
“Okay. Well, if you change your mind—”
“You’ll be the first to know.”
After they hung up, Abby took her uneaten chicken and put it back in the refrigerator. What she needed was a glass of wine and a good book. That would get her mind off the past. At least, that’s what she was hoping.
Chapter 3
Friday morning, Abby sat at her desk outside Max’s office trying to weed her way through the purchase orders she’d found the day before. There were receipts for everything from printer ink to comped lunches. Everything was mixed together without any apparent rhyme or reason. They’d all been stuffed in a boxed underneath the desk.
Abby was so absorbed in what she was doing that when the phone on her desk rang she jumped. Taking a deep breath to calm her racing heart, she answered it. “Maxwell Collins’ office.”
“This is Chuck over at the Perimeter Building. We’ve got a problem over here. Mr. Collins said he wanted to be notified personally if—”
“Yes, I’m glad you called,” Abby said. Given how out of control things were at all the properties, Max had wanted the property managers to call his office directly if there was a problem. “What seems to be the issue?”
She jotted down all the information Chuck gave her. For some reason the toilets on the fourth floor weren’t working and nothing he’d done so far had been able to fix them. They were going to need to call a plumber.
As she was hanging up the phone, the elevator dinged. Abby saw two women from their sales department exit. They were deep in conversation and didn’t even bother to look her way as they hurried down the hall in the opposite direction.
Shaking her head, she focused on the task at hand. She needed to call a plumber and get them over to Chuck so the toilets could be fixed. What she didn’t need, which was exactly what she’d been doing since she got there, was to keep an eye out for Trent. He said he’d have the proposal to Max by Friday. He never said he’d be dropping it off personally. For all she knew he would be sending it via courier or having his office manager, Trinity, drop it off. She had to admit she was curious about Trinity, even though she knew she had no right to be.
Ever since he’d dropped Abby off in the parking lot, he hadn’t been far from her thoughts. None of the Daniels family had. Growing up, she’d spent more time with them than she had her own father. They were her lifeline—what she’d clung to when her world had been flipped upside down.
How were they? Were any of his brothers married? Paul had been engaged to Melissa when Abby had gone off to college. Did they get married? Were they still together? She thought she’d read somewhere in the sports pages that Gage had recently gotten hitched—in Vegas if she remembered correctly. It was hard to think of Gage, the baby of the family, all grown up with a wife.
She blew out a breath and started searching the Internet for a plumber, but it didn’t keep her mind from wandering. Trent didn’t wear a ring, and he hadn’t mentioned a wife, so she was pretty sure he wasn’t married. Then again, maybe he was. He was thirty-one years old, one year younger than her, and one of the best guys she’d ever met. Surely he’d found someone he wanted to share his life with by now.
Then there was Chris. She’d tried not to think about him at all, but seeing Trent had brought everything rushing back. As much as she hated to admit it, she was curious. What had happened to him? Had his life turned out how he wanted it to?
What about Marilyn and Mike? They’d been surrogate parents to her, taking care of her when her father couldn’t be there.
Thinking of her dad left a deep ache in her chest. It had been ten years and she still missed him as though it were yesterday. He’d been a good dad. He’d done his best as a single parent after her mom died. She still remembered how they’d go to the range and shoot for hours on his days off. It was their time together and she’d cherished it.
A shadow fell across her desk and she glanced up, blinking the moisture from her eyes. Her pulse raced as Trent stared down at her, looking more handsome than she’d ever seen him. Gone were the casual work clothes he’d worn the last time she’d seen him. Today he wore a dark gray suit and tie. His hair was slicked back, tamed into submission, all except one strand that seemed to want to rebel. It brushed against his forehead, begging to be tucked back into place.
Where had that thought come from?
“Are you okay?” he asked when she continued to stare at him.
She swallowed. “Yeah. Fine. You just—you startled me, that’s all.”
He smiled and her stomach fluttered against her will.
“Looks as if Max is keeping you busy.” Trent nodded to the stack of papers she’d been going through.
She had to get her head on straight and fast. “You could say that. It’s another parting gift from Mr. Collins’ former assistant. I don’t think she had an ounce of organizational skill.”
He peered over her shoulder. “Confetti?”
Abby followed his gaze to the receipt directly on top of the pile. Sure enough, it was for confetti, streamers, and several other party items. Given the date, Abby was guessing the supplies were for Mr. Collins’ birthday. That was only a guess since there was no notation whatsoever saying what the stuff was used for. “Confetti. And just about anything she ordered for the last two years.”
Trent opened his mouth to say something, but they were interrupted when Max came out of his office. “Abby, can you call—”
He stopped in his tracks when he saw Trent.
“Mr. Daniels. I didn’t realize you’d be stopping by today.” To her horror, Max moved to stand a few feet in front of Trent and folded his arms across his chest. There was an air of protectiveness about his stance that Abby d
idn’t miss.
Apparently, Trent didn’t miss it either. His eyes narrowed a bit as if he was analyzing the new information. That was different. The Trent she remembered would have been too laid back to care. He would have brushed off the posturing and either walked away or continued on, pretending not to notice.
“I told Abby I’d have the proposal ready for you today. I came by to drop it off.” Trent handed the envelope to Max, neither of them adjusting their posture. “You can look it over and let me know if you want to move forward.”
Max opened the envelope. He scanned the information, flipping through the pages.
Trent stood there waiting, seeming completely unaffected by whatever it was Max was playing at. Then again, not even she knew what her boss and friend was doing. He’d always been somewhat protective of her, but this was a little much, even for him.
A few minutes later, Max placed the packet of papers on the corner of her desk, reached for a pen, and swiftly signed his name. He handed the packet back to Trent. “How soon can you get started?”
Trent tucked the papers back inside the envelope. “We can begin on Monday.”
Max held Trent’s gaze and nodded. Then, out of the blue, Max turned his attention to her. “When you’re finished here, I need you to call Phil in accounting and let him know I need to see him in my office ASAP.”
“Sure.”
With a final look in Trent’s direction, Max headed back to his office and shut the door.
Trent raised one eyebrow. “I thought you said you were just friends.”
“We are.” Abby had to admit that Max’s actions had irritated her. They were going to have to have a talk about that. Trent hadn’t done anything to warrant Max’s attitude. “I honestly don’t know what’s gotten into him.”
“Maybe he wants to be more than friends. You’re a beautiful woman.”
She felt her cheeks heat. “I don’t think of him in that way.”
“Are you sure he knows that?” The teasing glint in Trent’s eyes eased some of the tension that had been building in her chest.
Abby grinned up at him. “Positive.”
Their gazes held for a long moment before he cleared his throat. “I should get back to the office. Trinity has some paperwork she needs me to go over.”
Abby tried not to analyze why the mention of his office manager irked her.
“I should probably call accounting,” she said, pushing away the feeling.
He grinned and backed toward the elevator. “I’ll see you around.”
She waited until Trent had stepped into the elevator and the doors closed before marching into Max’s office. They needed to talk.
She didn’t bother knocking. He was on the phone. From the sound of it, he was most likely talking to one of his partners back in New York. She leaned against the doorframe and waited.
Max knew she was there. He said goodbye to Eli and hung up the phone before addressing her. “Were you able to reach Phil?”
“I haven’t called him yet.” She was trying to hold on to her temper. For whatever reason, she couldn’t seem to shake her agitation.
“Could you do that, please? I really need—”
Abby stepped farther into the room and closed the door behind her.
He looked up from his work and his brow furrowed. “Is something wrong?”
“Yes.” She placed her hands on her hips and took a breath that did nothing to calm her. “You mind telling me what the hell that was all about out there?”
He picked up a paper from his desk, avoiding her gaze. “I don’t know what you’re referring to.”
Abby rolled her eyes. “You know exactly what I’m talking about. Why were you acting like a caveman in front of Trent?”
“I—”
“If you say you don’t know what I’m talking about, I swear I’ll throw something at your head.”
A sly smile tugged at his lips. He leaned back in his chair and folded his hands in front of him on his desk. “Okay, fine. I might have been a little over the top.”
“A little?” Her voice rose in pitch.
Max sighed. “I don’t want to see you hurt again, Abby. I was there, remember?”
“Trent didn’t do anything.”
“No, but his brother did.”
No matter how many times she’d tried to explain that none of what had happened was Chris’ fault, Max had always blamed him. “You know that’s not true.”
Max shrugged.
She sighed. “Can you please be nice? If I have to work with him I’d prefer not to have to spend half the time trying to explain why you’re acting all territorial.”
He was quiet for a long moment. “I’ll try.”
“Thank you.”
Abby turned to go. She was halfway to the door when he spoke again. “Be careful, Abby.”
She didn’t bother looking back.
***
Trent made a pit stop at his house to change out of his suit before heading to the office. He made it a point to dress up when meeting with new clients. It made a better impression. Granted, this wasn’t his first meeting with Maxwell Collins and given the recommendation he’d received from Mr. and Mrs. Baxter, he didn’t think he was in any danger of losing the account. If he was being honest, however, donning a suit for the second time in a week didn’t have anything to do with his newest client and had everything to do with Abby. Seeing her again had brought all his old feelings to the surface. He thought he’d moved on—buried the hope of her ever viewing him as more than Chris’ little brother—but being near her still did crazy things to his insides.
Trinity was digging something out of a filing cabinet when he walked into the office. She pulled a file out of the metal box and bumped the drawer shut with her hip.
“Holding down the fort?” he asked.
“You know it.” She glanced at him, and then went back to reading whatever was in the folder. “How’d it go?”
“He approved the plan. We start on Monday.” Trent strolled over to her desk and sat on the edge, facing her. “I need you to double the order of sod and mulch for the next couple of weeks. We’re going to be blowing through what we have until we can get these properties up to par.”
She nodded, not looking up from her reading. “Who do you want me to reassign?”
“Alan and Craig. They work fast and will make sure things are done right.”
She tossed the file on her desk before walking over to the coffeemaker they had set up in the corner. “That’s going to push back the Harris job by a day or two.”
“I know.” Trinity had a bowl of candy on her desk and he helped himself to a peppermint. “I trust you to smooth things over.”
“Let’s just hope Mrs. Harris is willing to be charmed.” She chuckled as she took a seat behind her desk.
He leaned in closer to her and lowered his voice as if he were confessing some big secret. “You could sweet talk the pants off anyone, Trinity. Even little old ladies.”
“I know.” She sighed dramatically. “You’re quite lucky to have me.”
“Quite.” Trent grinned. He and Trinity had always had an easygoing relationship. It made work, even the parts he detested, less dreadful. “So what is it that you needed me to look over?”
For the next two hours, they went over the inventory reports from the previous month. Something wasn’t adding up and Trinity wasn’t able to find the problem. They’d gone over it together—twice. He’d even gone out to the sheds and done some recounting of his own. The figures didn’t match. Granted, it wasn’t by much, but it still bugged him. His guys were required to log what they removed from the sheds in the yard every morning and what they returned with every night. It could be as simple as something getting marked down wrong. They were all usually very good at keeping track since he was a stickler for such things, but no one was perfect.
“I’ll talk to the guys when they come in . . . remind them to make sure they take an accurate count of what they take and
put back.”
Trent nodded. “If you find something, call me. Otherwise, I’ll see you on Monday.”
“Have a good weekend.”
He hopped into his truck and drove into the yard where they kept all their supplies. It took about fifteen minutes to load everything he needed into the back and log it on the inventory sheet. He’d told his dad that he’d help replace a tree in their backyard that hadn’t made it. Mike Daniels loved to work in the yard, but he didn’t have the best luck when it came to plants.
On his way to his parents’ house, Trent decided to take a little detour. Okay, maybe it wasn’t so little, but he felt compelled to drive by their old house.
The first thing that struck him when he turned down the street he’d grown up on was that it hadn’t changed all that much. One of the houses had new siding and another had put up a fence. Other than that, it was exactly like he remembered.
He pulled along the curb and put his truck in park, leaving the engine running. As he sat there, he could almost see him, Chris, and Abby chasing each other on the front lawn. Gage was sitting close to the porch playing with one of his toys and Paul was working on his bike with their dad.
Trent shifted his attention to the house Abby had lived in with her father. The memory of her racing down the sidewalk to greet her dad when he’d come home from work filled his vision.
His buddy . . . his friend. That’s how he’d thought of her until he was fourteen.
It had been a long, boring summer. Abby had gone away to some camp. Chris had gotten his driver’s license. And Trent had been left to his own devices for the first time.
He remembered the day she’d returned as if it were yesterday. She’d climbed out of her father’s car when she’d seen him and run down the street to greet him.
Trent had known right then that something was different. He’d reacted to her in a way that he hadn’t before. She’d changed over the summer and his young male body had taken notice.
But he was young and he hadn’t understood what it was exactly that he was feeling. He’d made some excuse that he needed to go help his mom in the house and had left her standing on the front porch looking confused. Trent had felt horrible about how he’d treated her, but he didn’t know what to do.
