Balancing Act (3 page)

Zach fished all evening from the pier. Tessa helped bait hooks in between watching other people and, she had to admit, thinking about her new boss.

She had seen many of Seth’s moods during this first week, most of them unpleasant, but today something had rattled him. Whatever was in that envelope she had given him wasn’t good. She checked off what she knew. One of his sisters lived in North Carolina–she’d seen the address in the computer file. Preston. No. Anna was what it had said. Dr. Anna Barlow, without the Barrett attached. Something in that envelope must have involved her. It had shaken Seth. While he often growled orders and paced around like a caged animal, she’d never seen that look of angry frustration.

Tessa didn’t like unsolved puzzles. Her mind went back to the package. The size, the weight. A plain manila envelope with Seth’s name typed on the outside. A CD or DVD? And if so, of what? Something involving Anna. What else did she know from the computer contact information? There was a child, she remembered. A baby.

“Tessa!” Zach interrupted her thoughts. “I’ve caught something. Come help.”

She jumped up and coached him through landing the fish he had on the line–a bluefish that put up a good fight. Not huge as fish went, but he worked the line enough it turned Zach into one happy ten-year-old. That was enough for Tessa.

By the time they headed home Sunday afternoon, they were both tired. Zach pulled out his Gameboy and played it, more out of habit than actual interest.

They were about halfway home when he looked up, game forgotten for the moment.

“Will I have to go live with Aunt Kathleen and Uncle Edwin?”

Tessa was used to the questions that often seemed to come out of nowhere. She glanced over at him, then turned back to the road. What on earth had started him worrying about that? Sometimes she wondered at the depths at which his brain was always working. It bothered her that a ten-year-old should even have to consider where he might be forced to live.

“No,” she said with more confidence than she felt. “You’ll stay with me. That’s what you want, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. Aunt Kathleen smells like that porta-potty perfume, and Uncle Edwin smokes
cigars
. Yuck.”

Tessa laughed. Zach had a way of making her look at things on the most basic level. She reached over and ruffled his hair, and he grinned back at her. They were covered in salt spray, flushed from the sun, and Tessa was happier than she’d been in a long time.

Those feelings of peace and contentment lingered as she ran up the stairs Monday morning. She slipped her heels back on before she left the stairwell and smoothed the skirt and jacket of her business suit. In a matter of minutes, she carried a steaming mug of coffee to Seth.

He sat at his desk, an ever-growing pile of snapped-in-half pencils lying in front of him. When she set the cup down, he grunted. As she started to remove the pile of broken pencils, he snapped, “Leave them. Leave me. I don’t want to be disturbed.”

Tessa, unruffled, turned on her heel to go.

“Will there be anything else this morning, sir?” From the relative safety of the doorway, she figured he wouldn’t dare throw anything at her–not that he had, but she’d heard rumors of such things happening to some of her predecessors.

Seth glanced at her from under thick blond brows drawn together in a forbidding frown. “No. As I said, I don’t want to be disturbed.”

Whatever had so upset him Friday afternoon must still be an issue, even after the visit to North Carolina. Tessa went to work on several reports in the works. There was another trip to arrange for Seth later that week. Since his brother, Brandon, wasn’t expected back until the end of the week, she would have to book a commercial flight. She scribbled the number for his travel account down on the back of an envelope as she began to work on the trip, but was prevented from doing anything else when the elevator doors opened and an athletically built man with wheaten hair and gray eyes stepped off. He was dressed in a navy sport coat and tie, not in the formal, conservative suits Seth preferred.

“I’d like to see Barrett,” the man said. “Please tell him it’s Chris Stevenson. He’ll want to see me. It’s about his sister Anna.”

Tessa invited him to take a seat as she stalled for time. Then she punched the intercom button.

“Mr. Barrett?”

“What?” he snapped back. “I thought I told you I was not to be disturbed this morning.”

Tessa grimaced. A gut-feeling told her this visit was tied to that package. She pushed open the door and stepped into Seth’s office.

“What the hell is it, Teresa?”

“Tessa,” she corrected him, knowing he was provoking her on purpose. “It’s Tessa, sir.”

“Whatever.”

“I think you will wish to see this visitor,” she added.

“Someone gave you permission to think?” Seth goaded her. She knew it, but she wasn’t rising to the bait. One temperamental person on this floor was enough. Instead, she glared right back at him.

“His name is Chris Stevenson. He said he wished to see you about Anna.”

Seth stood up. He towered over her, but she didn’t give ground.

“Why the hell didn’t you say so?”

“Because you didn’t give me a chance?” she suggested.

Seth frowned. She frowned back.

“Show him in.”

She smiled as sweetly as she could. “Right away, Mr. Barrett. Shall I bring you both coffee?”

“No, but you might want the first aid kit handy.”

Tessa did pause then, casting a questioning look at him. He was serious. Okay, maybe his temper was as bad as rumor had it.

She glanced back at Chris Stevenson and said, “Mr. Barrett will see you now.”

With a silent blessing on the man’s continued good health, she held the door for him and then shut it as he walked into the office. Even from outside, she heard Seth. His words left her in no doubt both what it was about and that finding the first aid kit was a necessity. She also located an ice pack to be on the safe side. God knew, she had gained experience dealing with fights while she worked with juveniles. And this seemed to be a very similar occasion.

She had gathered all the supplies when Seth’s voice came over the intercom.

“Tessa?” He added emphasis on her name. “Please bring two cups of coffee and a bag of ice. Oh, you better bring the first aid kit too.”

“Yes, sir.”

Tessa refused to show any surprise at all upon seeing the bloody handkerchief Stevenson held to his nose. She handed him an ice pack, keeping her expression the same as if she had been giving him a letter to sign.

Seth almost smiled. “Thanks, Tessa. That will be all.”

“Yes, sir, Mr. Barrett.”

Tessa returned to her desk and shoved her personal mail back into her oversize purse before she returned to what she was working on. Arrangements for the trip for Seth. She looked up the account number again and soon had everything booked. He would take the corporate jet later that week instead of a commercial flight, so all she needed to manage were rental cars and the hotel suite.

Chris Stevenson left a short while later, the ice pack still on his nose. Tessa watched him with curiosity until he disappeared in the elevator.

“Tessa!” Seth barked over the intercom. She started. “Get in here. Bring the laptop.”

Seth worked like a demon until lunch. Whatever had distracted him was now forgotten.

“Check my calendar.”

Tessa replied without needing to think. “You have a one o’clock appointment with Barrett senior and a supplier is coming in to make a pitch at three.”

He stared at her, narrow-eyed, but Tessa just returned his look with a bland expression.

“I don’t even want to know how you do that. It’s a little scary.” He stared out the window for a moment. “Cancel the supplier. Damn. I don’t suppose there’s any way you can make that one o’clock with my father disappear.”

She tilted her head and gave him a steady look. “I can, if you’re serious.” At his nod, she asked, “May I use your computer, sir?”

Seth stood up and moved from behind the desk. “Help yourself.”

Tessa sat down and logged into the company system. She moved through several different screens, alternating between typing and clicking the mouse until his father’s calendar popped up. A minute later Tessa sat back.

“There. The one o’clock is rescheduled for Wednesday and it will look like his secretary entered it that way last week. Is that okay?”

Seth arched an eyebrow at her. “Something you learned at Smith?”

“High school.”

“Hmm. I suppose you were a straight-A student.”

Tessa slanted a sideways glance at him as she stood up and started to move past him. “Yes. Legitimate A’s.”

Seth locked up his desk and closed his briefcase. “I’ll be gone the rest of the afternoon. If you’d like to take the day off, you may.”

Tessa smiled. “Thank you, Mr. Barrett, but I believe I’ll get those reports finished for you before your trip.”

“Yes, right.”

Seth was in a better frame of mind the rest of the week. He left Thursday morning for Chicago and Minneapolis and wasn’t scheduled to be back in the office until Monday morning. So Tessa at last had a chance to become acquainted with her workspace. She learned her way around the filing system and reorganized it. The revolving door of secretaries had left things in a shambles.

She was tidying up her desk before going out to lunch when Brandon came out of his office down the hall. Instead of heading straight for the elevators, he strode toward her. Tessa glanced at him, finding him a less vibrant version of his brother. Though they were almost the same size, his eyes were hazel rather than the gold of Seth’s, and his hair was darker, as if his blond was attributable to the sun rather than heredity.

“I was going out to grab some lunch. Want to come with me?” His voice was pleasant, not the bark of his elder brother.

Tessa smiled. “I don’t think that would be a good idea, Mr. Barrett.”

His brows lifted. “Afraid of what others will think? Or afraid Mr. Cantankerous will bite your head off?”

Tessa arched a brow in return. “Neither. I just see no need to wave the red cape in front of any of the bulls in this building.”

Brandon grinned, then broke into a full-fledged laugh. “You are so exactly what my brother needs. Please don’t leave. Now, all kidding aside, I’m running down to the deli on the corner. Can I get you anything?”

“A chef salad would be great.” She started to reach for her purse.

“My treat. Call it a reward for putting up with Seth.” With a wave of his hand, he turned for the elevator. “Be right back.”

* * * *

By Friday, she was feeling much more secure in her office space. She had finished setting up workable systems and getting things organized when her personal line rang late in the day.

“Good afternoon. Tessa Edwards here.”

“Tessa. I’m glad I caught you.” It was her attorney. “The judge moved the custody hearing up. I at least got them to give me a time Monday afternoon. Can you make that?”

Tessa’s hand trembled. She had to catch her breath before she responded, “Yes. I’ll be there. What time?”

“One PM.”

Seth had rescheduled his supplier for that time and she knew he would want her in on the meeting, but this was more important. She would just have to convince Seth of that. After all, she didn’t have much choice, and she was not going to be the one making waves about the timing of the court date.

She arrived extra early Monday morning. Even so, he was already in the office. Sometimes Tessa wondered if he lived there. She knew he kept extra dress shirts and ties in his coat closet. She’d seen that one day over lunch when the dry cleaner showed up with laundered shirts to put there. She brought him a cup of coffee, but instead of leaving after setting it down like she did other mornings, Tessa stood in front of his desk.

Seth was working at his computer. He had a habit of hyper-concentrating like Zach. A bomb could go off around her brother when he was absorbed in something. Seth appeared to be no different. He grabbed the coffee, his mind still elsewhere, and that’s when he noticed her.

“What?” he barked. She’d already begun to realize some of his tone was sheer reaction to having his concentration broken.

Tessa kept tight control over her nervousness. She had yet to ask him for anything.

“I need to leave at lunchtime today.”

Seth regarded her out of hooded eyes. “You’re free to do as you please with your lunch hour.”

Tessa shifted. “I’m sorry. I expressed myself badly. I mean I will need to leave for the day.”

“You know I’ve got that one o’clock that I canceled last week, and I need you to take notes. It will have to wait.” A note of impatience threaded through his voice.

Tessa felt like a child being raked over the coals, but outside she was as cool and composed as ever.

“It’s a personal matter, sir. It came up without much warning. I have to go to court. It’s a custody hearing for my little brother.”

Seth leaned back in his chair and crossed one long, elegant leg over the other as he regarded her. “You currently have custody?”