A Little Slice of Heaven (15 page)

“
Dammit, Kyle, what do you want me to say? I’m sorry, okay? None of us expected this.”

He ran his fingernails through his hair, tingling his brain into mega-thought-mode. “Whether we expected her to pull this maneuver or not, we have to do some major damage control. Privately. And right now.”

“
So, what? What do you want me to do?”

Ideas whirled at lightning speed, like a strobe light inside his brain. Most of his thoughts, however, were destructive and useless. Finally, he stood and, as if the change in stance shifted something loose, his logical side grasped the obvious. “Call Colette, tell her you’ve heard from me, and I’m all right. Tell her to stop talking to the goddamn press!”

“
O-okay.” Rory’s shaky breath whistled through the receiver. “Are we going to call off the wager then? Are you coming home?”

“
Hell, no. A deal’s a deal. I’m gonna do my time.” Before Rory could continue the argument, Kyle slammed the phone on the receiver and returned to the living room. With a trembling hand, he raked his hair, and his knees buckled when they hit the couch. He sank into the lumpy cushion and stared at the television screen until the image of his sister softened and blurred into a mélange of colors.

Thanks to the high-pitched buzz in his ears, he didn’t hear another word of her interview. Only the ringing of the damn phone broke through his subconscious. Once again, he forced himself up and into the kitchen to pick up the receiver. “Hello?”

“
Kyle? It’s me, Gianna. Did I wake you?”

“
No.” This could prove to be a long day. He sank into the kitchen chair.

Her long exhale whooshed through the receiver. “Good. I have wonderful news. Your sister is looking for you. I saw her on TV this morning. She wants you to go home. All you have to do is call her, and she’ll come get you.” If this was such wonderful news, why did Gianna sound like she’d announced the death of a loved one?

“
I’ve already called to tell her I’m fine,” he lied.

“
You have? So I guess you’ll be leaving us.”

Poor Gianna. She couldn’t hide her feelings, even when she tried. Everything reflected in her voice, her soft eyes, her sweet lips... “No,” he said to stop the images.

“
No? I don’t understand—”

“
There’s nothing to understand. Colette and I have never been close.” Just the thought of his sister made his fingers curl into a tight fist. “And we’re certainly not going to become close now.”

“
Oh, Kyle, all families fight,” she exclaimed. “My parents and I have had some real beauties in the past. Trust me.”

“
Really?” Hard to imagine her parents faced any more difficult task than protecting Gianna from her own naïveté. “What nefarious activities did you get into in your sordid past?”

“
Never mind.”

He could hear her indulgent smile framing the words, belying any frustration.

“
The point is, when push comes to shove, your family will always stand by you, no matter what.”

Yeah, right.
“Maybe your family’s always been supportive, Gianna, but when I needed help, my sister turned her back on me.”

“
Well, she obviously wants to make amends now.”

“
I don’t think that’s possible.” In his opinion, Colette’s gesture was way too little, way too late.

“
Reconciliation is always possible,” she retorted. “She’s your sister, for heaven’s sake.”

“
She ceased to be my sister when she slammed her front door in my face a month ago.” The memory still left a bitter taste, and he smacked his lips to dispel the acid. “I owe her nothing. All I have at this moment, I owe to one person and one person only.
You
took me in.
You
gave me a place to stay and a job.
You
stood by me. And now, I owe you something in return.”

“
No, really. You don’t owe me anything.”

Lord, he could almost
hear
the blush rising in her cheeks. “Yes, I do. I promised to be your date for the wedding next week. Remember?”

“
Oh. Right. The wedding…” Her voice trailed off for a moment, and then returned with forced cheer. “Listen, just think about what I said about the importance of family, all right? You should go home. You belong there.”

“
Right now, I belong here.” Not that she could see him, but he stood, pointing to the floor, confirming his resolve.

“
Well, right now, I have my own family to deal with. My parents’ plane lands in about two hours and I’m picking them up at the airport. Enjoy your day off, and I’ll see you at the restaurant tomorrow at eleven.”

Enjoy his day off? Impossible. His sister’s stupidity had blown the day to bits. The moment he said goodbye to Gianna and placed the phone on the hook, the ringing began again. Jeez, he hadn’t had this many telephone calls since Black Thursday hit Hong Kong back in 1997. “Hello?”

“
Kyle? I hope I didn’t wake you. Do you know who this is?”

The name struck his brain with laser precision. Hayley. Good God, even Hayley saw his sister’s public appeal? Didn’t anyone listen to the radio in the morning? Then again, with his luck, Colette probably purchased airtime on every station on both the AM and FM dials.

“
You didn’t wake me. I had to get up to answer the phone anyway.”

She giggled a little too hard. “I’m sorry. I should have realized—”

“
What do you want, Hayley?” The last thing
he
wanted was another lecture on the importance of family. And from of all people, definitely not Hayley. Since she knew so little about him, what could she say?

“
Sorry,” she repeated. “Um, well, um, I just thought since the restaurant was closed today, and Gianna would be spending the day with her family, um…”

Spit it out already!
He rolled his eyes toward the fluorescent lights in the ceiling.

As if she’d heard his unspoken demand, she blurted, “Would you like to have lunch with me today?”

“
Lunch?”

“
My treat,” she added hastily. “I’ll show you photos of houses available in the area, you’ll say they’re not what you’re looking for, and I’ll write the afternoon off as a business expense. This isn’t a date, just two people using a timely opportunity to get better acquainted. Okay?”

“
O-kay,” he drawled, his mind scrambling to figure out an explanation.

“
I mean it, Kyle. I’ve got no hidden agenda. Gianna’s my best friend and I—”

“
And you always ask your best friend’s employees to lunch, right?”

“
You know what?” Solid steel laced her words. “Forget it. Forget I called. Go back to sleep. Enjoy your day off.”

He laughed. Who knew he could push her buttons so easily? “Oh, no you don’t. You made the offer. I’m accepting.” Why not? If he stayed inside these walls with the phone ringing every thirty seconds, he’d go insane. Even spending the afternoon with Hayley held more appeal than sitting here trying to figure out how to dig out of the muck Colette’s little performance had poured on him.

“
Well,” she grumbled, “if you’re going to be a butthead, forget I offered you anything.”

A butthead? No one had ever called him that before. At least, not to his face. Oddly, he didn’t take offense. Hard to argue with the truth. He
was
acting like a butthead. “I’m sorry, Hayley. I woke up to a crazy morning, and I took it out on you. Lunch would be great. Thanks for the offer.”

“
That’s better,” she said. “And you’re welcome. I’ll pick you up at twelve-thirty. We’ll go to the Inn on the Sound. They’ve got great food and even better water views. Okay?”

“
Fine. I’ll see you then.”

Shaking his head, he hung up. Never in his wildest dreams could he have predicted he’d have a lunch date with Hayley Jeffords. What in God’s name did she want from him?

Chapter Eleven

“
I saw your sister on the news this morning.”

Wow. The waiter had barely left the table after taking their orders when Hayley moved in for the kill.

“
No warm-up question or introduction of the contestants? We go straight to the lightning round?” he retorted. “Let’s get to the goods then. You want to know about my sister and me?”

“
No.” She sipped her cosmo. “Not particularly.”

His jaw dropped. “You don’t?”

“
Kyle, I haven’t spoken to my mother in three years. Do you care?”

“
No,” he parroted, right down to sipping his vodka martini. “Not particularly.”

She smiled. “Me, neither. I only care about Gianna. I want to know what’s going on between you two.”

The waiter appeared and placed a basket of warm rolls in the center of the table. The yeasty smell floated straight through Kyle’s nostrils and into his empty stomach, eliciting a loud, rude rumble.

After one sharp look in his direction, Hayley thanked the waiter, paused until he was out of earshot, and then spoke in a hushed tone. “More importantly, I want to know about the whole bit with Bergdorf’s and the Spalon de Soleil.”

Uh-oh. He forced a confused expression. “What would I know about Bergdorf’s and some spa?”

“
Don’t play innocent.” She tipped her martini glass toward him. “You’re not that good an actor. I know you had something to do with the sweepstakes. I want to know why.”

Smooth iced vodka became drain cleaner, scraping his gut. “What makes you think I had something to do with it?”

Her grin turned mirthless as she traced the outline of her glass with a fingertip. “Because I had a reporter friend call Bergdorf’s Public Relations Department. They know nothing about a shopping spree and makeover prize, but they confirmed this year is their eightieth anniversary. Nice touch, made the sweepstakes concept more believable. Your idea?”

Okay, time to come clean. “The anniversary part? No.”

Hayley’s piercing blue eyes fixed on his face like a deer fixes on headlights. “I didn’t think so. This Lucinda Barrows came up with that one, didn’t she?”

What happened to the woman who hemmed and hawed her way through the invitation to lunch? In her place sat a barracuda with a keen sense of purpose, razor sharp teeth, and a finely honed tongue. And the barracuda wanted an answer. Now.

“
Yes.”

“
So?” Folding her arms on the table, she shifted forward. “How’d you pull off this scam and why?”

“
A friend owed me a favor, and I called it in.”

Like a chess player pondering her next move, she stroked her chin. “Hmmm. A friend and a favor. Sounds familiar. This wouldn’t be the same friend who owed you a tuxedo, would it?”

He could have sworn he heard the
Jaws
theme as Hayley honed in on her target. But he brushed off the weirdness as if a goldfish swam by. “What if he is?”

“
Nothing.” The intense focus of her gaze relaxed, and she actually smiled. “But I’d like to meet him if an opportunity arises. Must be nice to have a friend who pays his debts with tuxedos and shopping sprees.”

“
Look, Hayley, this really is none of your business—”

One manicured claw shot up, bracelets tinkling. “Wrong-o reindeer. If something has to do with Gianna, it’s my business. She’s more than my best friend. We’re like sisters. I’ve known her since we were five years old. Where were you when Frank told her their relationship was over by getting down on one knee in front of Gianna and her entire kindergarten class to propose to her assistant? On the golf course somewhere? In some big budget meeting?”

An invisible cinderblock smashed his chest, sucking air from his lungs. “Jesus! This worm really did that?”

“
He really did.” Lifting her martini glass by the stem, she swirled the contents.

“
No wonder she left teaching.”

Hayley slammed the glass down, clinking it against her bread plate. “She didn’t leave teaching. She quit working in that school. Do you blame her? I can’t imagine how she bore that agony until the end of June. The pitiful looks she endured every single day, the whispers behind her back, and a goddamn diamond flashing under her nose hour after hour after hour. But she refused to leave those kids before the school term ended.” With forked talons, she grabbed a warm roll, shredding bits of bread with ferocity. “So, I’ll ask you again. Why did you make up this sweepstakes thing?”

Kyle imagined Frank’s head sat in her hands. A massacre of crumbs littered the forest green tablecloth. Picturing his own head among the mess, he looked out the wall of windows. Directly below them sat the rocky beach, and in the far distance, sailboats scattered over the shimmering Long Island Sound. To the right, a family of swans waltzed over the water’s surface, peaceful and placid. He kept his gaze on the swans until his blood pressure calmed. Then he faced an expectant Hayley.

“
Well?” she prompted.

Checkmate. “I wanted to do something nice for her. After all she did for me, I believed getting her a new look for this wedding was the least I could do.”

“
The least you could do,” she murmured. “Okay, I can see that. I’m still not a hundred percent sure how you pulled the whole thing off, but I’ll let you keep that secret for now.”

Thank God. Who knew Hayley would prove such an intriguing challenge? “Good. Are we done with the interrogation now?”

“
Not quite. I want to get a few things straight between us first.” With the flat of her hand, she brushed crumbs into a neat sawdust pile. “You don’t like me, do you?”

After all she’d dragged him through since this meal began, he had no desire to pull his punches now. She wanted honesty, he’d give her honesty. “Not particularly.”