Celebration's Family (Celebrations, Inc Series Book 5)

by Nancy Robards Thompson

  As with all his other calls, she let this one go to voice mail, too. If the guy persisted into next week, she’d call and let him down easy. She was simply too busy with the final stretch of fund-raising for the pediatric surgical wing.

  It was because of work.

  It certainly had nothing to do with Dr. Thayer.

  She turned down the long driveway on the property she shared with her brother and Pepper. Kate had a cozy two-bedroom bungalow situated a couple acres behind her brother and Pepper’s sprawling home. Kate had just enough time to pop into her house, grab a bottle of wine and get over to Pepper and Rob’s.

  When she rang the doorbell, her sister-in-law greeted her with a warm hug. The delicious aroma of something that smelled Italian and garlicky wafted out to tease her.

  “You’re here! You’re here!” she said. “I have been waiting all week to hear about the ten-thousand-dollar date. Rob’s not home yet. So we can have a little girl time. But he’ll be here any minute. So start talking. I am not even going to wait until we have glasses of wine in hand. Was it fabulous?”

  Kate had to resist the urge to say, “No, it was a train wreck.”

  She did an instant refocus, reframe, reminding herself that Pepper was like a romance bloodhound. That was commentary on her sister-in-law’s looks. With her long blond hair and brown eyes, Pepper was gorgeous. She was also persistent. Once she got the scent of possible love in the air, she was relentless in trying to bring the couple together. Obviously there would be no great romance between Kate and Liam, but Pepper, probably fueled by the notions that Maya had put into her head, was convinced that Liam and Kate were destined to be soul mates. That meant that Kate had to be careful what she said. Apathy was the only thing that would throw Pepper off the scent.

  “It was fine,” Kate said, doing her best to sound blasé, if not a shade unimpressed. “But it’s done and now we resume our regularly scheduled lives.”

  Pepper stood in the foyer frowning at Kate, clearly disappointed with the lack of fireworks.

  “It was fine?” Pepper asked. “Fine? That doesn’t sound good.”

  Kate pursed her lips before she spoke. “Honey, you have no idea.”

  “What?” Pepper asked.

  “Nothing.” Kate shook her head and gave her sister-in-law the open-palmed shrug.

  Pepper’s gaze narrowed. “There’s something you’re not telling me.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” Kate protested. “If there was something to tell, I’d tell you. He hasn’t called for another date. So obviously there’s nothing there. In fact, I’d like to return these.”

  Kate opened her purse and pulled out the brand-new box of condoms, smug and pleased with her cover.

  There. That should silence her. That’s what Pepper was fishing for. For all intents and purposes, everything was fine and nothing had happened.

  As Pepper and Rob’s son, Cody, appeared in the hallway, Pepper grabbed the box and tucked it under her arm.

  “Aunt Kate!” The young boy threw his arms around Kate’s middle and nearly hugged the stuffing out of her. “I’m so glad to see you.”

  “I’m happy to see you, too, sweetie.” Kate knelt down in front of the boy so she could be at eye level with him. “How was school?”

  She was glad to see Cody so strong. He had been through a series of operations that had helped him regain his ability to walk again after a tragic car accident that had claimed the life of Kate and Rob’s father. The crash had nearly cost them Cody, too.

  After Kate’s miscarriage, she’d consoled herself with the thought that, even if she didn’t have a child of her own, she was blessed to have her nephew, Cody, to love. He was enough. He was more than enough, because Kate definitely subscribed to the theory that the happiest people were satisfied with what they had. They didn’t waste time brooding over what eluded them.

  She had her little family. So even if she never found a love of her own, she was...happy. And she refused to let the image of Liam or the pang of what might have been shake her out of her good mood.

  The last thing she needed was to fall in love with a man whose heart would always belong to another woman. Cody was still here. That was a miracle. What right did Kate have to want for anything more?

  “Look what I brought you.” Kate pulled the candy bar out of her purse. “Give it to your mommy. Don’t eat it before dinner, okay?”

  Pepper was Cody’s stepmother. Rob’s first marriage had ended in divorce. Sadly Cody’s birth mother wanted nothing to do with the boy, which proved to Kate that some people were just not capable of love. Because how could anyone turn her back on such a precious kid?

  Of course the fact that Pepper loved Cody enough to make up for his natural mother’s failing proved that some people were capable of boundless love. But Kate knew that Liam wasn’t capable of boundless love. His heart belonged to his late wife and his daughters. And that was fine. It was a good thing she’d realized it before she’d slipped any deeper into the quicksand of unrequited love.

  “Mommy! Look what Aunt Kate gave me.”

  “Wow! That looks yummy. Let’s put it up here for now, and if you eat a good dinner, you can have some of it for dessert.”

  Cody happily obliged and then went off into the other room to play a predinner video game.

  * * *

  “It’s an unopened box of twenty-five condoms.”

  “Right.” Kate shifted in her seat, but took care to keep her face neutral.

  “The box I gave you was our lucky condoms,” Pepper said.

  Kate pulled a face. “Okay. I don’t understand.”

  “Clearly,” Pepper said. “Let’s suffice to say that we could call it the sisterhood of the traveling condoms. It started with A.J. and has been passed on to each of us. Everyone who uses a condom from that box ends up marrying the guy.”

  Pepper’s eyes sparkled.

  Kate had no idea that the box had been around. “If there are condoms left over, that must mean there’s not much action going on. And that means it’s a good thing we retired the box, because if it gets past its prime, it could become the box of unlucky condoms. That would not be an occasion to celebrate.”

  “So, you’re telling me you and Dr. Thayer didn’t...?”

  “I’m telling you that Dr. Thayer has too much baggage.”

  “Oh!” Pepper’s eyes widened. “Speaking of baggage, I found out the dirt on what happened between him and Kimela Herring.”

  Kate sipped her wine, not wanting to seem overly eager to hear the details. “Really?”

  Pepper set down the knife she’d been using to chop hearts of palm for their salad. “Remember how I told you that Kimela pulled some strings to get the girls into a residential slot with the Randolph Ballet in New York City? From what I understand, one of the girls is the better ballerina of the two. Is her name Calee?”

  Kate shrugged. “He has a daughter named Calee, but I’ve not met her, and I don’t know if she’s the better dancer.”

  Kate remembered thinking that Amanda didn’t look like a natural-born ballerina, but that didn’t mean the girl couldn’t dance.

  “Anyway, Kimela made sure that both girls were accepted into the program. From what I understand, with the kids essentially off at boarding school, she thought she’d be free to move in with Liam. Can you believe the audacity?”

  “Yes, he’d mentioned that Kimela didn’t ‘hear him,’” Kate said and immediately regretted the slip.

  “Really? Do tell.”

  “Oh, that was basically it. You know, I asked him why Kimela would bid ten thousand dollars on him. He’d said something about her being a friend of Joy’s and pushing a little too close for comfort. He claims that he doesn’t even want to date until after the girls are in college. That’s why we came up with the fake date in the first place.”

  Pepper was standing there watching Kate intently. She had her head cocked to one side and her hand on her hips. A bloodhound that had picked up a scent. Kate
felt as transparent as a picture window. Quickly she replayed the conversation in her head.

  To cover she added a brusque, “The guy is just emotionally unavailable.”

  “Maybe to Kimela Herring,” Pepper said. “But she’s about as subtle as a rhino charging the Serengeti.”

  Kate shrugged.

  “Give him time,” Pepper said. “I saw how he was looking at you after the auction.”

  “Well, yeah. I’d gone five thousand dollars over his budget. He was probably looking at me like he wanted to kill me.”

  “Kill you? No. Ravage you?” Pepper nodded. “Yep. And now you return a brand-new unopened box of condoms. Gosh, if I were Shakespeare, I might say something like the lady doth protest too much, methinks.”

  Pepper’s words hung in the air, and Kate could feel her face growing increasingly hotter.

  “Honey, it’s okay,” Pepper said. “In fact, it’s the most wonderful thing to be vulnerable for someone you love.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  On Saturday morning Liam thought he would have to hog-tie Amanda and carry her out to the car. He didn’t know what was going on in her head. Since Calee had been injured, Amanda had balked about going to her dance rehearsals. She kept saying she wanted to stay home with Calee.

  He wondered if her sister’s injury had reopened the emotional trauma she’d experienced when her mother had died in the car accident. He’d tried to talk to her about it, reassuring her that Calee was going to be just fine. But the reasoning didn’t seem to help.

  This morning she was fighting him tooth and nail.

  Normally he would’ve just let her stay home, but the dance school was nearing the final rehearsals for their end-of-the-year dance showcase. Plus they were already in a bind because Calee, who had been cast to dance several of the lead roles, was out for the rest of the season.

  Amanda had supporting roles that were just as important to the production as a whole. Liam was getting tired of telling her over and over that the other dancers were depending on her. If she missed a rehearsal, it would leave a hole in the dance, and it wouldn’t be fair to her castmates. She had to go. End of discussion.

  Reluctantly she got into the car and sulked the entire way to the studio.

  “Look,” Liam said as he pulled into a parking place and stopped the car. “You only have a few weeks left. You made a commitment, and you have to see it through. You know that’s our house rule.”

  “Can I quit next year?” she asked.

  Her question caught Liam off guard. She loved dance. It was probably just spring fever.

  “Is that what you want to do?” he asked. “It’s always been such a big part of your life, and you know Calee doesn’t want to quit.”

  It was true. While he’d had to force Amanda to go today, he nearly had to tie Calee down to keep her home. She’d begged him to let her go watch. But she hadn’t wanted to go in the wheelchair; she’d asked if she could just go sit in a regular chair. But Liam knew she’d end up hobbling around to go to the bathroom or to talk to friends. If she did that, she might end up injuring herself worse.

  Again Liam had to be the bad guy and make her stay home.

  Amanda simply shrugged off his question.

  “You don’t have to decide now. In fact, you have until sign-up in the fall to consider it. Maybe take the summer off and see if you miss it.”

  “Can I do horseback riding instead?”

  So that was what this was about? Kate’s offer for her to come out and ride. Irritation roiled in his gut. “I don’t know,” he said. If he did let her take lessons this summer, it would probably be best to find a place other than Macintyre Ranch.

  For some reason the reality of that didn’t feel quite right, either.

  “We can talk about it later,” he said. “You need to get inside so that you’re not late.”

  Amanda grabbed her big dance bag that contained the various shoes and dance gear she needed for the different numbers she was in...and, judging by the size, possibly the kitchen sink and a few farm animals. She shut the door without saying goodbye.

  Liam drew in a deep breath and backed out the car. He was really getting fed up with her attitude. But now, before this rehearsal she didn’t want to attend anyway, wasn’t the time to open that discussion. They’d talk about it tonight. Maybe the horseback riding could be a reward for a much-improved disposition.

  Kate’s face and how she’d looked that night as they had made love was stuck in his head. He glanced down at his still-bare left ring finger. He hadn’t in good conscience been able to put his ring back on since that night.

  He sighed. Maybe he was the one who needed time to sort things out. Obviously he was just as confused and out of sorts as his daughter.

  * * *

  On the third Saturday of each month, the Macintyre Ranch opened its stables to special-needs children in the Dallas area. The program called Kids’ Day was sponsored by the Macintyre Family Foundation and had been well received by the community as a service to aid in bully prevention and increased understanding of special-needs children. It was a two-pronged program: one branch bringing in the kids with special needs and the other securing children in the community who wanted to help.

  The program had been in place for almost a year and had gotten to the point where Kate could rely on her assistants to run it without her. Still, since she lived on the ranch anyway, she liked to drop by for an hour or so and watch the kids interacting.

  Animals were a great equalizer, something over which all people—no matter their abilities—could bond. The laughs, smiles and all-around goodness that came from Kids’ Day always restored her faith in humanity.

  They were hosting an unusually large group today, so Kate and her assistant, Rebecca, had rolled up their sleeves to help. They had just finished giving the kids a hay ride around the property and were going to pet a foal, when Kate thought she saw Liam’s daughter Amanda out of the corner of her eye over by the barn door. But when she looked around, the girl wasn’t there.

  This was getting ridiculous. First she had phantom sightings of Liam. Now she thought she was seeing Amanda?

  It had been one week since their date. Tomorrow it would be a week since the phone call in which he had firmly let her know where they stood. Actually where they didn’t stand; there was nothing between them.

  With a heavy heart she reminded herself that she needed to get over it and move on.

  She turned her full attention to the kids and helped usher them into the stable where Caleb, one of the ranch hands, was trotting out the chestnut foal.

  That’s when she saw movement in her peripheral vision again. This time she turned quickly, and there stood Amanda in plain sight. Her posture was slightly hunched. She looked awkward and uncomfortable in her pink Hello Kitty T-shirt. Below her denim shorts, her lanky legs a little knock-kneed, she almost looked a little like a foal herself. Her curly blond hair was pulled back into a tight ballerina bun. She’d moved closer to the group and didn’t duck behind the wide post she was standing next to, which is what she must have done before.

  Great. What was she doing here? Kate glanced around searching for Liam, but she didn’t see him. There was no way he would’ve dropped off his daughter.

  Even so, not wanting to take her frustrations out on the girl, Kate waved. Amanda waved back.

  Suddenly Kate sucked in a breath.

  Oh, no. Please tell me she didn’t...

  “The kids are settled,” Kate said to Rebecca. “Will you be okay if I leave for a moment? I need to see about something.”

  “Sure,” said Rebecca. “Take your time. I’ve got you covered.”

  “Thanks, Becs.”

  Kate walked over to Amanda. “Hi. I’m surprised to see you today.”

  The girl flashed a shy, sheepish grin and ducked her head a little. “You said I could come out and ride sometime.”

  “I did, didn’t I?”

  Amanda nodded. “Can I? Right now?”
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  “Well, as you can see, we have a pretty full house.”

  “Who are those kids?”

  She motioned for Amanda to follow her as she told her about the Kids’ Day program.

  They sat on the porch steps of her brother’s office. Rob was out of town today on business. Kate figured this was probably the best place for Amanda and her to talk.

  “That sounds really cool,” Amanda said. “Can I help you with the kids and ride after they leave?”

  “Amanda, does your dad know you’re here?”

  The girl nodded her head vigorously. A little too vigorously for someone telling the truth.

  “He does, huh? How did you get here?”

  The teen ducked her head again, then glanced up at Kate from beneath long, naturally dark lashes she’d obviously inherited from her father. The memory of Liam’s blue eyes and how he’d looked at Kate—before last weekend—made her feel as if she were the only person in the world he did see. That revelation struck her forcefully.

  “I walked.” Amanda’s voice was thin.

  “All the way from your house?”

  The girl didn’t answer.

  “That’s a very long walk. I’m surprised your dad let you walk all that way alone.”

  Amanda shrugged and looked away.

  Kate was horrified by the thought that the girl had walked here. The road between the ranch and Liam’s house was mostly a two-lane highway. But then Kate had a thought. It was odd that the girl was wearing a shellacked ballerina bun with her casual clothes.

  Something didn’t add up.

  Kate fished her cell phone out of her pocket. “I think you should call him and let him know you made it safely.”

  The girl recoiled from the phone that Kate was trying to hand her. “Oh, no, I don’t need to do that.”

  Amanda looked as if, were she to touch it, the thing would burn her. Kate had an inkling that calling her dad and telling him that Amanda was at the ranch just might do that.