Best for the Baby (5 page)

Right now she was still damn mad at Jeffrey for deserting her. If the rat ever did come back, he’d get a heck of a tongue-lashing from her. But, for the sake of the baby, they needed to sort things out. Would he ever assume any responsibility for the child they had created? After what he’d done, did she even want him in her life? She supposed she’d have a while to find out.

But in the meantime…

Zack was silent, staring out the windshield as they watched a young couple pull into the parking lot, then head down a path through the woods to the lake. A yellow Lab sniffed the ground occasionally as it ran beyond them, then doubled back, as though urging them to catch up. In the quiet you could hear the girl laughing as the boy leaned close to whisper in her ear. They looked as if they didn’t have a care in the world. Alaina envied them.

“I do love this place,” she said, almost to herself.

Zack glanced out the side window, as though trying to decide what to say. Then he turned to face her. “So what was your plan, Al? Why did you come up here and break into the cottage?”

She grimaced. “When I realized that I might be on my own for a while, I didn’t want to make any real decisions too quickly. I just wanted a place to rest.”

“You could have stayed in your hotel room. Waited a few days to see if Jeffrey had a change of heart and came back.”

“I couldn’t do that.”

“Why not?”

She wasn’t willing to tell Zack everything. “Look, I suppose I wasn’t thinking straight. Lake Harmony isn’t that far from Atlanta. It seemed like the ideal place to hunker down for a while.”

“How did you get here?”

Oh, damn. He wouldn’t let it go. “I…I hitchhiked,” she admitted at last.

His eyes narrowed. “Why would you do such a dangerous thing?”

“I didn’t have much choice.”

“Of course you had choices. What about a rental car? Or there are buses coming up here every day.”

“I didn’t have the cash.”

“You couldn’t find an ATM? Or use a credit card?” And then it came to him. He exhaled a large breath, tilting his head back. “Don’t tell me. Jeffrey not only left you to contemplate his pending fatherhood, he roared out of sight with your wallet, too.” He shook his head. “God, what a charmer.”

Zack didn’t seem angry. If she had to find a word to describe the look on his face, it would have been disgust. “It’s not the way you think. My wallet was in his backpack. He may not even realize he has it.”

“You’re dreaming.” When she swung around in the seat to grab her belongings, Zack caught her arm. “What are you doing?”

“I feel a lecture coming on, and I’m really not up to it right now.” She gave him a pointed look, determined to be pleasant, but firm. He had, after all, gotten her out of jail. “Thank you for helping me, Zack. Tell my folks and Maggie that I’m fine and will be in touch soon.”

He scowled and wouldn’t let go of her arm. “Wait a minute. Hold on. I’m just talking out loud, trying to absorb all this and figure out where we should go from here.”

She wondered if he was even aware that he had said “we” instead of “you.” She supposed that, in spite of everything that had happened in the past, old habits were hard to break. Once, it had been just the two of them, there for each other no matter what. A connection she could never have imagined breaking.

But things were different now.
They
were different.

Settling back down, she drew a deep breath. They were both silent for a while. The couple in the woods were mere specks. The dog was no longer in sight.

Finally Alaina said, “I’m not planning to go anywhere at the moment. I love Lake Harmony. In fact, I think it might be the ideal place to settle down. If things don’t work out with Jeffrey, it could be just me and the baby, living and loving small-town life. What’s wrong with that picture?”

He shrugged. “Nothing, I suppose. Though I’m not sure how realistic it is.”

He wasn’t taking her idea seriously. Just to annoy him, she added, “Maybe I’ll get a job. Or start my own small business.”

“What happened to that degree in interior design you were so hot after?”

“Didn’t Maggie tell you anything about me when you worked for her?”

He glanced down at his hands for a moment. “I wasn’t particularly interested in hearing the details of your wonderful life with Gil. And if you’ll recall, she was still pretty angry with your parents when we worked together down in Key West, so we skipped most of the details. To tell the truth, we kept Tillman family talk to a bare minimum.”

Alaina could understand that. With the animosity between Maggie and their parents, and Alaina’s own troubled past with Zack, there would be no reason for him to want to know anything but the basics about her life.

“I have my degree,” Alaina said. “After I came home from college I got a job in Coconut Grove with one of the design centers. It was a good place to start building a portfolio, and I loved it. But Gil thought the salary was an insult. The work was not nearly prestigious enough.”

“So?”

“So…he pushed me to quit.”

Zack gave her an incredulous look. “And you did? Just like that?”

“No,” she said with a frown. “Not
just like that
. He was making a name for himself at the hospital, and he wanted me to get involved with their volunteer pro
grams. I didn’t mind. I liked working with the kids, and I was pretty good at increasing donations. After a while, I segued into public relations for pediatrics, and eventually I gave up the design job.”

“You let him browbeat you into giving up your dream?”

“He wasn’t as coercive as you make him sound. I did a good job in PR, and to tell the truth, it kept me so busy that it…it didn’t give me much time to think about how my marriage was falling apart.”

Zack shook his head, releasing a long sigh. “So what do you think you can do here? Lake Harmony probably doesn’t have much use for an interior designer or public relations experts.”

“You never know,” she said brightly, though she suspected he was right. But she just couldn’t start thinking along such gloomy lines. “This area is full of self-sufficient people who own their own businesses. There must be dozens of things I can do to make a living.”

One dark brow lifted. “Such as?”

“I don’t know yet. But I’ll think of something.” She watched him try to subdue a small smile. “What’s so funny?”

“You really have changed, haven’t you? You used to be so methodical, so unspontaneous. It used to take you a week just to decide whether to wear your hair up or down at dinner.”

She sniffed as though offended, but she couldn’t be mad. She
had
changed. In so many ways.

She brought one hand up to smooth her hair. Right after she’d taken off with Jeffrey, she’d cut it short.
The new Alaina,
she’d told herself as she’d watched the long
blond strands hit the floor at the salon. “Well,” she said, “as you can see, I don’t have to give my hair all that much thought anymore.”

“It’s a shame. I like it longer.”

He spoke briskly, as though to strip the words of any emotional content, but his tone made her look at him more closely. Something passed between them, a little moment of awareness, but it was gone so suddenly she wondered if she’d imagined it.

She said quickly, “I had to simplify my life after I left with Jeffrey. You can’t carry much on a motorcycle, and we ended up in a lot of rustic places with very few luxuries.”

“That fancy address you lived in with Gil. Are you telling me you don’t miss the high life?”

“Surprisingly, no. That house—our life—that was all Gil’s invention, because of who he thought he had to be. But I hated every stick in the place. Everything was so darn perfect.” She lifted her chin. “I’m very adaptable these days. I’ve become a minimalist.”

He gave a tentative nod, as though testing that information. “That may be true,” he said, then motioned toward her stomach. “But you still have to take care of this latest development.” As though coming to some unexpected decision, he started the car and pulled out of the parking lot.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“Just sit back and eat the rest of your sandwich. The baby’s probably hungry.”

She did as he told her, polishing off the last of the food while he swung the car down the back lanes of Lake Harmony that had once been so familiar to her.
When they bumped onto the one that led to Heron Cove, she sat up straight in her seat, a little surprised.

After last night’s storm, the place looked fresher, cleaner, but in the morning light she could see further signs of what she’d noticed before—a lack of loving care that indicated the cottage wasn’t just closed up for the season. It didn’t help that shards of glass from the window she’d broken twinkled in the morning sunlight that bathed the front porch.

Zack stopped in front of the house and killed the engine. His hand gripped the steering wheel. He stared straight ahead for some time as she quietly waited. What was going through his mind?

At last he turned toward her as he dug in the back pocket of his jeans. He withdrew a set of keys, lifted her hand and dropped them into her palm. “These are the keys to the cottage,” he told her. “You can bunk here until you figure out what to do.”

“You’re going to let me stay?”

He frowned at her, probably because she sounded so incredulous. “I thought that’s what you had in mind when you came to Lake Harmony.”

“Well, it was. Sort of. I was hoping your folks would be here for the fall foliage. I didn’t think they would turn me away. But I wouldn’t expect you to—”

“Just because I’m not willing to be your lapdog anymore doesn’t mean I want to see you wandering around the country alone and pregnant, without the bare essentials for survival. Do you have any money?”

“I was going to the bank today. All my ID was in my wallet, but I’m sure I can work something out.”

He studied her until she felt like squirming in her
seat. Then he took out his wallet, withdrew three one hundred dollar bills and held them out to her. “This is all the cash I’ve got on me right now. Take it.”

“I don’t need your money. I’ve called all the activists I know who work with Jeffrey. If he hasn’t found my wallet already, they’ll tell him he has it. He’s not a creep, Zack. He’ll send it back to me. Even if…”

“Even if what?”

“Even if he doesn’t end up coming back with it.”

She sounded calm, but the muscles in her jaw probably betrayed her, because she could feel them pulsing the way they always did when she was upset. Zack knew that about her, and for a moment he was silent.

Then he made a dismissive sound. “Don’t be an idiot,” he said. “You can pay me back one day. Call MacAfee’s and have them send out groceries. And you’ll need a way to get around. Dad’s old car may still run. Do you know how to drive a stick?”

“I can manage.”

“The water and electricity should still be on. If it was off when you broke in, it must have been the storm. If there’s a problem, call my office and I’ll take care of it.”

A strange wave of warmth flooded through her at this unexpected generosity, but she nodded and slipped the money into her jacket pocket. “What are you going to do now?”

“I want to catch the first flight back to Miami.”

“You don’t want to come in?” she asked.

He took one quick look at the cottage, then shook his head. “No need to,” he replied, his voice flat and controlled.

She was oddly disappointed. Maybe he really couldn’t
wait to get away from her, after all. This was one last favor for old times’ sake, perhaps.

But then she realized there was something else at work here. The way his face had closed up. The way he turned his head away as though the cottage didn’t exist. It surprised Alaina almost as much as the charity he’d offered.

What was wrong?

Curiosity killed all sense of caution. “Zack…”

“I have to go. I have things back home to take care of, and I’ve lost enough time.”

After that comment, she couldn’t get out of the car fast enough. He started the engine as she went around to the driver’s side, her backpack slung over one shoulder. “Thank you again,” she said. “Honestly, Zack. If you hadn’t come—”

He cut in abruptly. “Just take care of yourself, Al. No more crime sprees.”

Before she could say another word, he pulled out of the driveway without a single glance back. Perhaps without a single thought, without a twinge of sadness or regret that they might never see one another again.

B
Y NOON
, when Zack got off the plane from Atlanta, the lunch hour traffic in Miami was in its usual frustrating snarl.

It didn’t improve his mood any.

He had a 3:00 p.m. meeting with a vendor to renegotiate the cost of lumber, and should have been in his office right now, prepping for that battle. Instead, all he’d been able to think about for hours was the pregnant blonde he’d left back in Lake Harmony. The one who used to resemble sane, sensible Alaina Tillman.

Impatiently, he swung his car past a big Lincoln moving at a snail’s pace on the Tut Causeway. Miami traffic was a nightmare—always had been—and for just a flicker of time he thought about the winding, scenic drives of the Georgia mountains that had been so much a part of Davidson family vacations. During certain times of the year, you could wander all day and not see another vehicle.

Which reminded him, he needed to contact Lake Harmony’s service station and see if they could get his father’s Buick up and running. Since Dad’s death last spring, the car had been sitting in the garage at Heron Cove, but it was still in pretty good shape. Even if Alaina
stayed at the cottage only a couple of weeks, she’d need transportation to and from town. In her condition, she shouldn’t have to walk the three miles into Lake Harmony.

In her condition.

God, he still couldn’t believe she was pregnant.

From what she’d told him, could she seriously believe there was going to be a happy ending to the relationship with Jeffrey the crusader? Zack knew that type. Charming and full of righteous indignation. Ready to take on the world for the greater good of the planet, but a regular louse in his personal life.

Running off. Leaving her to fend for herself while he “thought things through.” How did the bastard think she was going to manage in the meantime?

No. Wait. Better question: Why should Zack care?

The invisible cord that had once bound him to Alaina had snapped long ago. She was out of his life. Definitely out of his heart.

Dumb, Davidson. Dumb. After all the ways she twisted your insides into knots, why would you come within fifty feet of that woman? Why couldn’t you just let her sink?

He should have walked away from her without a second look, but even as he had that thought, he knew it wasn’t in his nature to just turn his back on someone in need. And right now, Alaina was definitely in need.

“You’re such a damn fool,” he said out loud.

The streetlight in front of him went red suddenly, and Zack hit the brakes.

His grip on the steering wheel was so tight that his fingers had started to cramp up. He warned himself to forget Alaina and her problems and concentrate on the traffic.

In the next moment he heard the squeal of brakes. His eyes flashed to his rearview mirror. The Lexus behind him was coming too fast, the driver clearly not paying attention.

Muttering a curse, Zack tensed, waiting for the impact.

In that split second before the crash, he wondered if the guy in the other car had an irritating female on his mind, as well.

A
LTHOUGH HIS CAR WAS
still in the shop two weeks after the accident, Zack considered himself lucky.

His sprained ankle was encased in a tight-fitting sleeve, but that was coming off tomorrow. The other driver hadn’t been hurt, and he had good insurance. So it could have been much worse.

Which made it all the more difficult to explain why Zack was still in such a treacherous mood.

Maybe it was work-related. Business was slow right now. Most people did their remodeling during the spring, not fall, and the market for new housing was down. There wasn’t a single project on the books that excited him. Even the Pinar del Lago bridge restoration was on hold while the homeowners’ association squabbled over his proposed designs.

Or maybe it was Damaris, the girlfriend who wouldn’t go away. He’d broken things off the night he’d gotten the call from Lake Harmony, but she’d been doing her best to get something started again. She’d shown up uninvited at his condo twice, offering invitations he had no interest in. She had even been foolish enough to suggest she move in—just to help until he was able to get around a little better. He’d rejected that
idea politely, firmly, but he had a feeling that she hadn’t given up yet.

There was a knock on his front door. He limped over to answer it, and as soon as he saw through the peephole who it was, he suspected there was more trouble coming his way.

His former boss and good friend, Maggie Tillman Stewart, stood there. Alaina’s family had returned from their cruise two days ago, and he and Maggie had already had a telephone conversation about how fabulous the Mediterranean was. So why was she here now?

He opened the door, and Maggie didn’t waste time with pleasantries.

“Why did I have to hear from your mother that you’d been in an accident?” She pointed down at his sleeve-covered foot. “Why did you let me babble on about the cruise and not mention this?”

Zack shrugged. “Because it’s no big deal.”

He opened the door wider. She passed him to go directly into the living room, but didn’t sit down. Instead, she turned, offering him a sealed plastic bowl containing a mysterious red liquid.

“I brought you some soup,” she said.

He lifted the lid, then frowned down at the neatly diced contents. “This is store-bought.”

Maggie made a face. “Will said you’d know the difference. But it’s still good for you, so don’t be ungrateful.”

He glanced at her in curiosity. “You came clear across town to give me a can of soup?”

“I care about you. Next to Will and Dad, you’re the finest man I know. And…”

“And…?”

His senses were on red alert. Maggie only buttered him up when she wanted something. And she looked nervous, as though she didn’t expect him to be willing to comply.

She tossed her shoulder bag in a chair and raked a hand through her hair. “All right, here’s the thing,” she said quickly. “Alaina called me this morning. I haven’t told Mom and Dad, mostly because there wasn’t much to tell.” She cocked her head sideways, as though inspecting him. “She said she’d seen you recently. So now I’m coming to you for the details.”

“Details?”

“Why didn’t you tell me the other day that you’d seen her? Do you know where she is now? What’s she doing? Is that guy still in the picture? That Jeffrey?”

Zack held up his hand. “Whoa. Did you ask Alaina any of these questions?”

“I did. She clammed up. She just said she’s fine and plans to call Mom and Dad soon to have a long talk. When I tried to press, she said she had to go. Something about moving out of where she is today, and needing to hit the road again. But where
is
she, and how did she link up with you?”

Stalling, Zack set the soup down on the coffee table. Although he saw Alaina’s parents very seldom, he spoke to Maggie often. From the day Alaina had left Miami, Maggie had been beside herself with worry, trying to think of some way to get her sister to come home. But how much could he safely tell her? Especially when Alaina had clearly decided not to tell her family about the baby yet.

He dropped his head for a moment, thinking, before looking over at his good friend. “It’s really up to Alaina to fill you in, Mags.”

“Yes, it is. But since she won’t, I’m counting on you. You actually saw her. You wouldn’t keep me in suspense when you know I’m so worried about her.”

“She’s fine.”

Maggie was a tough lady, but he saw the fleeting glimpse of desperation in the blue eyes that were so much like her sister’s. “Please, Zack. If she won’t talk to the family…you’re all we have.” Maggie moved to his side to catch his arm. “I’m so grateful that we still have some contact with her through you, but please…give me something more than ‘fine.’ I’m so sick of hearing that word.”

He nodded slowly. He didn’t have to reveal all of Alaina’s secrets. They were hers to tell. But he couldn’t stand to see Maggie so tormented. They’d been friends for too many years.

“She needed a place to stay temporarily. I gave her the keys to Heron Cove.” Maggie’s mouth opened in surprise at that information. He added, “It was very brief. I saw her for about two hours, and considering where our relationship stands, I assure you, we didn’t sit around catching up on old times.”

It took Maggie a long moment to answer. “She’s at the cottage? I could be up there in no time….”

“I thought you said she was planning to leave there today?”

“Oh, damn. I’ve missed my opportunity to talk some sense into her, haven’t I?”

“Maybe you need to back off a little, Mags. Does she really need another Tillman lecture?”

“I’m her sister. I want—”

“What you want doesn’t count for a damn thing with
Alaina right now. She’s a grown woman, and she can do as she pleases.”

Maggie didn’t take offense. Instead, she gave him an odd, speculative look. “Your mother is right,” she said unexpectedly.

“About what?”

“She says that lately you’ve been crankier than a bear in a cave. She thinks it’s because of your ankle, but I’m not so sure. Now I wonder if it has something to do with Alaina.”

“Wow,” he said, forcing out a laugh. “From police detective to psychologist in less than ten minutes. What else can you do?”

“Did you break up with Damaris?”

“Yes. Not that it’s any of your business.”

“Before or after you saw Alaina?”

“Before.”

“About time. Damaris wasn’t the one for you.”

“Thanks for the advice, but I came to that conclusion on my own,” he said, sounding more irritated than he intended.

“So what are you going to do now?” She tilted her head again. “Your mother says she has a friend whose daughter would be perfect for you….”

No way was he having
this
conversation. He shot her a deliberate grin and went over to pick up the container of soup. “I’m going to have lunch. Want to join me?”

She made a disgusted sound and scooped up her purse. “You’re impossible. I’m leaving.” But as she headed for the door, she glanced back over her shoulder. “Just promise me, if Alaina calls you again—”

“She’s not going to.” He followed her to the door.
When she turned to say goodbye, he leaned against the frame and made a conscious effort to look encouraging. “She’ll be okay, Mags. By now she’s probably off on another adventure. When the time is right, she’ll be in touch. Just give her some breathing room.”

Maggie nodded slowly. “I’ll try. It’s just that…She was so miserable with Gil, and I want her to be as happy as I am. But I’m afraid for her. For years she’s kept all her frustrations inside. Now that she’s had some freedom, I don’t want her to do anything foolish.” Her mouth lifted in a small smile. “I’m just so glad you were there when she needed you.”

Zack wasn’t sure he felt the same way, but for Maggie’s sake, he didn’t mention it.

After she left, he cast a baleful glance at the soup she’d brought. It held no appeal, but neither did anything else in the pantry. He settled on a ham-and-cheese sandwich, but before he could open the package of lunch meat, the phone rang.

Caller ID indicated it was Damaris.

He muttered a gruff curse. The woman hadn’t become successful in the business world because she was shy about going after what she wanted. And for some strange reason, she seemed to want
him
.

Letting the call go to the machine, he listened to her message. Sure enough, it was another invitation, to a party on South Beach. She ended by playfully threatening to show up at his door tonight to personally drag him back into the real world.

God, no. Was every woman he knew part of a conspiracy to badger him into insanity? Maybe he really was like a bear in a cave. He didn’t want to be jollied,
seduced, set up or guilt-tripped. He just wanted to be left alone.

But what were the odds of that?

When she hung up and the condo was silent once more, Zack stood suddenly and returned the ham to the fridge. He flipped the light off in the kitchen and went to his bedroom. Pulling a suitcase out of the closet, he began tossing clothes into it with little thought. He bent and stripped off the Ace bandage from around his ankle.

He felt a claustrophobic desire to escape Miami. He was antsy and annoyed with everyone these days, and he didn’t feel like trying to fend off Damaris one more time without being cruel. He didn’t want to sit around, waiting for work to pick up. Months ago he’d promised his mother he would go to Heron Cove to tie up loose ends, and right now, today, seemed like the opportune time.

Since his father’s death, he’d avoided returning to the cottage. Lake Harmony held the best, most cherished memories of his childhood, but also the grief and guilt of the mistakes he’d made last year. Maybe this was an opportunity. Maybe he should try to sort things out while he was up there. Put a few of his demons to rest.

It was worth a shot, wasn’t it?

He didn’t have to worry about running into Alaina. At the beginning of the week, she’d left a phone message for him that she’d be gone by Friday and would put the cottage key in the mail. Today was Saturday. And according to Maggie, Alaina should already have hit the road.

He wondered briefly where she was headed, and if she was alone or back in Jeffrey’s company. It didn’t
matter much. Either way, he had given her the breather she needed.

She was no longer his problem.

L
AKE
H
ARMONY WAS CLOSED
up tight by the time Zack reached the outskirts of town. During the fall foliage season, “leaf peepers” could turn these lanes into long snakes of nonstop traffic, but tonight there seemed to be few people on the roads.

The mountains were pitch-dark. There were no streetlamps to guide him, so he went slowly around the curves, not willing to send his car into some ravine. Over the years, developers had left new scars all along the valley, and the soft glow of lights from dozens of cabins and cottages winked like low-lying stars against the ridges of Dogwood Mountain.