Getting There

by Lyn Denison

  “It’s not just that she watches you, Kat. It’s the way she watches you. Know what I mean?”

  Kat shifted in her seat as her body reacted to the split second of wishful thinking as she allowed herself to believe that Jess Andrews might be interested, even attracted to her. “No, I don’t know what you mean,” she said, as much to quell her own ridiculousness as discourage Em.

  Em sighed exasperatedly. “Honestly, Kat! I don’t know that it’s safe to let you out alone. Just take it from me, Jess is interested in you, and it has nothing to do with the price of bricks and mortar.” She waved her hand to encompass the house. “Or in this case timber and, well, whatever.”

  “Now isn’t that going to please her husband immensely,” Kat stated sarcastically.

  “Mmm.” Em steepled her fingers and tapped them on her chin. “Something of a tangled web, I’ll agree.” She shook her head. “Not a situation you should step into lightly, Kat.”

  “Fortunately I have no intention of stepping into anything,” Kat remarked, not acknowledging the tiny surge of regret that rose inside her again. “Lightly or not,” she added for good measure.

  “Probably for the best. Complications abound there. But what an absolute bummer, love, not to mention rotten luck, because even I can see how great you two could be together.”

  Amen to that, Kate reflected to herself and firmly changed the subject. After their conversation about Jess, she and Em had visited Em’s parents and taken them out to lunch. They’d had a wonderful afternoon as Kat always did with Em’s family. When they’d dropped Em’s parents home, and Em had left as well, Kat had sat listening to the silence of the house. She should be doing some more work in the hour or so left before nightfall, but for the first time she’d felt a spurt of loneliness. Perhaps that’s why hermits became hermits she reflected. They kept away from people because interacting with people only reminded them how lonely they were when they were alone. Oh please, get a grip! Preferably on the jimmy bar and get to work.

  In the darkness of her room later that night, Kat sighed as she sought a comfortable spot on the airbed. In all seriousness, Kat acknowledged that although she liked some solitude, she probably would not enjoy living alone permanently. Was that simply needy? But she thrust that thought aside. It didn’t mean she needed a lover but—

  Jess Andrews’s attractive face appeared in her mind and she sighed, wishing her thoughts had remained nonspecific. Here in the dark of night, the pale moonlight dancing patterns across the floor, listening to the soft creaks of the old house, it was far too easy to allow herself to contemplate Jess being here, her smooth compact body warm beside Kat. She’d turn to Kat, fingertips playing lightly over Kat’s bare skin, and her soft generous mouth…sleep was a long time coming.

  Kat picked up the phone next morning and turned it over in her hand. Calling Jess Andrews about her quote should be a simple business call, but Kat’s tummy fluttered and she strode across the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water. She set the glass down and swore under her breath. She knew she was acting like a lovesick teenager and over a woman she’d only just met. No matter what the imaginative Em thought, Jess Andrews was way out of bounds, even if she did want to dabble on the dark side. Kat wasn’t into straight women’s experiments. End of story.

  Taking a steadying breath, Kat punched the phone number into her mobile. When she heard Jess’s voice she almost hung up.

  “Ah, it’s Kat. Kat Oldfield.”

  “Hi, Kat. How are you?”

  “Fine. I’ve had a look at the quotes and they look fine. I do have a couple of questions though.”

  “Okay. Shall I call by later?”

  “Well, I have a few errands to run, and I’ll pass by your office. On William Street, isn’t it?”

  “Yes. Number Sixteen.”

  “I could call in to save you a trip.”

  “That would be great. I’m in the middle of catching up on some paperwork so I’d appreciate it. As long as you’re not making a special trip.”

  Kat could see the smile she heard in Jess’s voice, and she experienced another wave of regret. “Paperwork. That sounds exciting.”

  Jess did laugh then and Kat smiled too. “Very. But unfortunately necessary.”

  “I guess. Well, I’ll probably be there in about an hour. Would that be okay?”

  “Sure. I’ll have the coffeepot on.”

  When Kat pulled her car into the carpark beneath Number 16 William Street she felt as nervous as a kitten. Ridiculous! She exclaimed out loud, feeling extremely foolish. She grabbed Jess’s quote, locked the car and strode towards the elevator.

  The Handy Andrews office was light, roomy and functional. At a large desk behind a computer screen sat Jess Andrews. She looked up as the door opened, and her smile widened when she saw Kat.

  “Hi, Kat! Come on in.” She stood up and pulled a chair up for Kat.

  Kat smiled and sat down. Today Jess wore a pair of blue jeans and a short-sleeved pale blue and white checked shirt. She sat back behind the desk and ran her hand through her hair. And in that moment Kat’s high-road convictions about not experimenting with the straight Jess Andrews did a fairly serious swerve and seemed in danger of crashing through the guardrail and ending up way down on the low road.

  “End-of-quarter toting up,” Jess said waving her hand at the computer. “What a headache.”

  Kat swallowed and nodded sympathetically. “I have friends who own an art gallery, and they say they have a complete character change when they do their tax statements.”

  “Exactly.” Jess looked longingly out the window. “And for me it always seems twice as bad when it’s a beautifully sunny day like today.” She stood up again. “But I promised coffee. Or would you prefer tea?”

  “Coffee would be fine.”

  “Okay. Just sit tight for a minute.” Jess went over to the doorway behind her and disappeared inside.

  Kat watched admiringly, wondering why certain people caught your eye while others didn’t. Shael believed you always followed your predisposed body types. Kat liked tall and dark, or as Shael put it, dark and dangerous. And both Ruth and Shael had been tall and dark. As to the dangerous, well, in the end they’d both proved to be damaging to Kat’s self-esteem. But, she acknowledged, they’d been similar in a lot of ways.

  Yet, Jess Andrews was as different as chalk from cheese. Apart from the physical aspects, Jess was bright and bubbly and seemed to have an infectious joy of life. But hadn’t she thought Ruth and Shael were bright and pleasant, too—in the beginning. And how well did she know Jess Andrews anyway? Jess was a businesswoman. Being less than pleasant to her customers would definitely be bad for business. If Kat got to know her it might well be a different story, one she told herself she’d already read and had no intention of reading again. She pulled her wayward thoughts together. Strictly business, she told herself and made herself smile as Jess returned with two mugs of coffee.

  “Jeanne, our office assistant, is away for a week, and she makes far better coffee than I do.”

  “I’m sure it will be fine,” Kat said, took a sip and nodded. “It’s great.”

  Jess grinned. “So,” she indicated the envelope Kat had rested on the desk, “what questions have you got for me?”

  They discussed the quotes, and agreed on the price and Jess promised to have the contracts drawn up by the next day.

  “Will you be home tomorrow afternoon? About four?” Jess asked.

  “Yes. But I can call back here if it’s easier for you.”

  “It’s okay. I have to be over your way about then anyway. Oh.” She reached over to the other side of her computer. “I meant to show you this.” She opened a manila folder. “This is a job we’ve just finished. It’s much like yours, and I thought it might give you an idea of our quality of workmanship.”

  “Perhaps I should have checked that out before I agreed to sign the contract,” Kat said with a laugh. “But in my defense I did check out your references.”


  “Good. We do take pride in our work, I can assure you.” She walked around to Kat’s side of the desk and showed her some before and after photos.

  Kat could almost feel the warmth of Jess’s body, but she made herself concentrate on the photos and Kat was impressed. The renovation was amazing. The last photo was of the finished house. Kat murmured appreciatively.

  “The final painting makes so much difference, doesn’t it?”

  “That’s outstanding. Seeing this makes me want to get started immediately.” She returned the folder of photographs to Jess. “We didn’t talk about a time frame, did we?”

  “We have a few teams of subcontractors working with us, and we have a week of smaller jobs to do but one big one we were due to make a start on has had to be postponed for a month. The owner broke his leg rather badly falling off his son’s dirt bike, and his wife has decided he needs time to recuperate before we remodel their house. So we can start Monday week as long as the plans come back from city council. We’ll submit them ASAP. How’s that?”

  “Great. And if you can list the things I need to finish demolishing to be ready for your start, that would be good.”

  “Well, seeing as you’re living at the house I suggest we do the en suite in the back bedroom before we demolish the other bathroom. That will be the least intrusive for you.” Jess put the manila folder back down on her desk as she crossed to take her seat.

  The folder knocked over a framed photograph that was standing on the desk, and Kat picked it up to right it. She glanced at it as she stood it back up on the desk. It showed two smiling children in a studio portrait.

  Jess was smiling again. “My kids.”

  “Oh.” Kat studied the photo.

  “Look like angels there.” Jess laughed. “But they do have their moments.”

  “How old are they?” Kat asked.

  “Miranda’s ten and Caleb’s eight. That photo was taken a couple of months ago.”

  The girl was dark and the boy fair like Jess. Kat glanced back at Jess. She scarcely looked old enough to have an eight-year-old, let alone a ten-year-old and Kat said as much.

  “Well, many thanks. I’m thirty-five.” Jess laughed.

  Kat was surprised. “I would have said early to mid-twenties.”

  “Oh, many, many thanks then. Don’t they say kids keep you young?” Jess shook her head. “Funny though, sometimes they make me feel fifty.”

  Kat laughed. “Well, they’re very cute and attractive kids.” Just like their mother, Kat wanted to add.

  “Must take after their father,” said a deep voice behind Kat and she turned around.

  A dark-haired man had entered the office and strode towards them. He wore similar light khaki shorts and shirt to the outfit Jess had worn when she first came out to the house. He was smiling, and Kat had to admit he was very attractive. He had the classic, chiseled features of the type of model who advertised outdoorsy products and adventures, soft drinks or four-wheel drives heading out over rough terrain. He looked fit and vital.

  No wonder the Andrews children were so attractive. They came from an extremely attractive gene pool.

  “They get their beauty from me and their brains from their mother,” he said with a self-derisive laugh. He held out his hand and Kat automatically shook it. “I’m Mark Andrews and you must be Kat Oldfield. Jess has told me all about you.”

  “She has?” Kat slid a glance at Jess but couldn’t quite decipher the fleeting expression on Jess’s face.

  “Talked about nothing else,” said Mark Andrews easily. “She’s been itching to work on that house of yours for years. We can see her eying it every time we visit Tom and Grace next door.”

  “I might have mentioned once or twice that it had potential,” Jess said dryly. “Anyway, Kat’s given us the go-ahead to start on the renovations.”

  “Fantastic.” Mark smiled. “I was going to say that we’re the best in the business, but no doubt Jess has told you that already, too.”

  “She did say something like that.” Kat smiled at Jess and she shrugged.

  “Good. And it’s all true.” He turned to Jess. “I just called in for that invoice for Bob Jefferson.”

  Jess lifted a pile of papers, sorted through them and handed it to her husband.

  “Thanks, love. Well, Kat, nice to meet you. No doubt we’ll run into each other on the job site.”

  “Yes. Nice to meet you too.” Kat said with a sinking heart. That was a propitious meeting, she told herself. A handsome husband was more than enough incentive to keep it strictly business between herself and Jess Andrews.

  “See you later,” he said and Kat watched as Jess’s husband gave a smile and left them.

  Kat replaced the photo of the Andrews children on the desk. “Well.” She made herself smile. “I see now why the children are so attractive. You and your husband are very good-looking.”

  “Thank you.” Jess gave a crooked smile. “And actually, Mark’s my ex-husband.”

  Chapter Four

  “Oh. I’m—I’m sorry. I thought—”

  Jess grimaced. “No need to be sorry. We aren’t. Mark and I are far better friends and business associates than we ever were as husband and wife.”

  “How long were you married?”

  “Hmm. The jury’s out there.” Jess laughed, although Kat couldn’t be sure there was no underlying bitterness. “We’ve been officially divorced for six years or so.”

  Ex plus husband. So what difference did the ex make, Kat asked herself as she drove home. Ex or not, that still meant Jess had been married. On top of that, Mark Andrews was obviously still in the picture. And although Jess hadn’t said why they’d divorced, Kat couldn’t quite see that the fact Jess was a lesbian would be the reason for their breakup. Mark Andrews didn’t look like a man whose marriage had broken down because his wife changed her sexual orientation. But, then again, she told herself, who would know looking in from the outside. Still, for a lesbian intent upon an uncomplicated life, a husband, even in the ex category, made Jess off limits as far as Kat was concerned.

  However, Jess Andrews didn’t look like a lesbian, no matter what Em had said. And what did a lesbian look like? Kat asked herself with a grudging laugh. She’d been told she didn’t look like a lesbian either. In fact, Shael’s mother had confided in Kat that she was so pleased Kat was sharing a house with her daughter and granddaughter because Kat didn’t look like a lesbian so people wouldn’t talk. If only there was a secret handshake or an “L” on foreheads that only other lesbians could see. It would sure take the guesswork out of the equation. X + Y + L on a forehead = Lesbian.

  Kat giggled and then stopped, suspecting she was bordering on the hysterical. At this rate if she didn’t keep her mind on her driving, she’d crash her car. And she could see the headlines now. DISTURBING INCIDENT ON CITY STREET. A car crashed into a light pole on a city street today. No one was injured in the mysterious accident, but an unidentified woman was seen running from the scene. A witness told police the woman was extremely attractive—Kat giggled again—and seemed to have an unusual L-shaped marking on her forehead.

  Kat’s chuckle turned into a full-fledged laugh. And we’d have to say the witness was obviously suffering from a serious case of denial. Kat stopped for a red light, still laughing, then sobered when she noticed the driver in the car beside hers eyed her strangely. She drove on, telling herself the best medicine for a case of hysteria was to go straight home and knock down another wall. And please, she implored herself, no comments about going straight home. She laughed again, realizing she hadn’t laughed so heartily at herself for a long time. She was still smiling when she parked the car under the house.

  She changed into her work gear and stood trying to decide which section on the veranda she should attack next, but only half her attention was on the job. She kept playing over the time she’d spent at Jess’s office and her meeting with Jess’s ex-husband. When her phone suddenly rang she answered quickly, thinking it
might be Jess.

  “Kat, it’s Shael,” said a familiar voice.

  “Oh!” Kat’s body stiffened. What would Shael want? From previous experience it wasn’t usually anything Kat wanted. “Hello,” she said reluctantly. She heard an irritated sigh.

  “It’s about Megghan.”

  “Meggie? What’s wrong with her?” Kat asked, concerned now.

  “Nothing’s wrong with her. You’re such a pessimist, Kat. Megghan,” Shael emphasized the name, “is fine. Well, fine, apart from driving me insane about coming to stay with you. And that’s what I wanted to discuss with you, to see if you’re free this weekend?”

  “Of course.” Kat tried not to sound too excited. “I told you she could come anytime.”

  Shael paused. “Megghan says you’re not at the flat anymore, that you’re living in the house Ruth left you.”

  “That’s right,” Kat said carefully.

  “She also tells me, with great excitement I might add, that you have no furniture.”

  “I do now. And I’m fixing the house up.”

  “Well, from memory the house needs a considerable amount of fixing up. And it’s way out of town.”

  “Not that far. From the CBD it’s about ten minutes further than where we lived.”

  “I meant it’s across town,” Shael said shortly. “And that presents a problem. Can you come over and collect Megghan? I don’t think I’ll have time to drive way out there.”

  Kat thought about Jess and the appointment they had about the contract. “Well, I can if it’s a little later. I have an appointment with the builders at four.”

  “So what time do you think you’ll be here?”

  “Probably seven. Maybe a little earlier.”

  “I’d appreciate it, Kat, if you can get here earlier. Tori and I have to leave by seven forty-five at the latest to make our flight.”

  “I see.”

  “We’re going to Sydney for a break. Tori— We’ve both been tired and need to get away. We’ll be back late on Monday so will it be all right if Megghan stays until Tuesday?”