The Surprise Princess (4 page)

“In other words I don’t need to stay,” he said wryly. “You don’t think you’re any good at having friends do you?”

Thoughts fought for precedence.
She’d never had friends
.
She didn’t want him to be a friend
. She closed her mouth.

“When Carolyn described herself as your friend you changed it to mentor.” Brad snagged his jacket from the back of a chair. “Not the first time I’ve heard you do that.”

She hadn’t even taken his coat. Not that she had much practice at those sorts of hostess gestures.

“I didn’t mean—”

“That’s okay. Carolyn’s your friend whether you call her that or not. As for me,” he said with exaggerated martyrdom as he headed for the front door, “I can take a hint.”

She trailed after him once again. “Thank you for dinner.”

With one hand on the doorknob, he grinned at her. Her insides felt like their elevator dropped a dozen floors in a second. His other hand came up and for a fraction of a second, she thought —.

He touched his fingertip to her forehead, then traced it down the bridge of her nose and on to the tip, where he gave it an extra tap. “You’re welcome, Squirt.”

He hadn’t called her that since she’d gone full-time in the office and told him she expected to be treated with respect and being called “Squirt” didn’t qualify. So why did she feel now as if her knees had turned to goo?

He was about to step off the small, square of concrete that counted as the house’s front porch, when she pushed past the gooey knees to say, “Brad?”

He turned back, the dim light managing to glint highlights in his blond hair. “Yeah?”

“How did you know I hadn’t cooked dinner?”

“I was outside watching. Light never went on in the kitchen. No light anywhere except a faint one up there.” He gestured toward the gable at the end of the house, where a small window provided ventilation. “So I ordered Chinese and had it delivered to my car. Goodnight, Katie.”

Before she could absorb the idea of Brad Spencer sitting outside her house waiting for a light to go on, he was out the door, sliding down the snow-slicked walk, and muttering a curse when the Norway spruces dumped on him.

Brad’s fortune said, “Truth surfaces in the end.”

Thank heavens he got that one. Unless the same one was in both cookies? No. Hers said, “What cannot be undone must be considered many times.”

The doorbell rang as she gave the counter a final wipe.

Her heartbeat thundered. For absolutely no good reason.

She flipped on the light and jerked open the front door with unnecessary force, then stopped dead. “Carolyn.”

“I hope it’s not too late, especially to drop by unannounced.”

“Of course not, come in.”

“We had a homework crisis. Finally got the kids settled.” Carolyn’s explanations continued as Katie took her coat and hung it in the closet. Something she hadn’t done for Brad. Both unexpected visitors, but then he had brought her dinner, so by rights she should have—. Carolyn’s next words stopped that mental meandering. “C.J. and I are both concerned about you, Katie. He would have come, too, but with the kids… He lost the coin toss.”

Carolyn took the new overstuffed chair Katie indicated. She took the old, lumpy couch, which was the next item on her list to replace.

“There’s no reason for you to be concerned, Carolyn. I’m fine.”

“You reacted quite strongly to what that Hunter Pierce said.”

“Wouldn’t you? I’m not even a very good Katie Davis,” she said with a dry laugh, “so the idea of being a princess… It’s ridiculous.”

Carolyn looked even more solemn. “You shouldn’t say you aren’t a good Katie Davis, even in jest.”

She hadn’t been jesting. She kept her eyes down, because if Carolyn saw that answer in her face …

“I realized that even knowing you all these years I know nothing about your parents, except your mom’s death. Will you tell me about them?” her visitor asked.

“They worked hard. Kept to themselves. They weren’t terribly social. I take after them, so that should show how insane this idea is.”

With Carolyn silent, she gathered steam. “Without my mother’s financial help I wouldn’t have been able start at Ashton. Without her support I wouldn’t have had the grades to qualify for Ashton. She truly did look out for me. Personal things like my hand…”

Only after it was out did she think that bringing up the so-called Bariavak Hand might not bolster her argument that Hunter Pierce’s position was laughable.

“What about your hand?”

“Oh, it’s silly. Childhood stuff. I used to hide my hand all the time. I’d been teased as a child as long as I can remember –
before
I can remember – about it being strange to have such a long little finger. She always tried to protect me.”

Carolyn looked thoughtful, but said only, “They must have been very proud of you.”

Proud of her? She’d never considered that. They’d been mostly concerned that she not draw attention, not cause trouble, not rock the boat.

“They worked so hard, there wasn’t time for pride.”

“You said your mother looked after you. What about your father?”

“My father died when I was ten. I don’t believe he left her anything but this house. She was so worried we’d lose the house. She worked two jobs and, as soon as I could work, I helped out. If I hadn’t gotten the scholarships…” She looked up. “And if you hadn’t stepped in after my mother died, I would have had to leave school. I’m so grateful to you and C.J.”

“You’ve more than thanked us over the years, especially with all you’ve done for C.J.” She sounded almost absent-minded, then her tone became crisp. “Katie, I’m going to say something … I was struck a bit ago when you said you’d been teased about your hand from before you could remember. So how could you have known?”

“Oh, my mother said—” She bit it off.

Carolyn nodded and went on in her calm voice. “If it happened before you remembered, the only way you
could
know is if someone told you that you’d been teased about your hand. That would have been an effective way to encourage a child to keep a betraying characteristic out of sight.”

Carolyn went on as if this were a common conversation. “When you started my class, you would keep your sweater sleeve pulled down over that hand. After you mother died you slowly stoppeds. I wondered at the time if it was because you weren’t being reminded to cover your hand.”

Was that true? Had her mother urged her to hide her hand? She honestly couldn’t remember.

“She was good to me,” she said.

Carolyn nodded, but it was more as if she were acknowledging that Katie had said the words than that she believed them. “There’s something else, Katie. Your reaction to what Hunter Pierce said was so out of character. Not at all like you.”

She tried to laugh. “You mean all the other times you’ve seen me react to a crazy story about me not being who I am?”

Carolyn remained serious.

Katie pushed her hair back. “I needed time to process what he’d said. Wouldn’t you if someone said crazy things like that?”

Carolyn frowned. “I’d certainly be shocked. But maybe that’s part of it. I had the feeling you didn’t want to hear what he was saying but you weren’t as shocked as you tried to make us think.”

“Of course I was. How could I not be?”

She gave a small shrug. “I don’t know. But what matters is where you go from here. What are you going to do, Katie?”

This she felt confident answering.

“I’m going to get up and go to the office in the morning. I’m going to work on organizing the trip to Europe this summer along with all the usual tasks for the end of the season, recruiting, and summer camps. That’s what I’m going to do.”

Just the way she had since a magazine article had sent her up to search the attic.

S
he got to the office early, which allowed her to be deep into the routine of handling whatever came up … which so seldom followed a routine.

C.J., Carolyn, and Brad came in together. Had they been talking about yesterday? About her? No. She wasn’t going to indulge in paranoia.

She offered a breezy hello, but kept her focus on the computer screen, which meant she only felt all of them looking at her then exchanging concerned looks, instead of actually seeing it, so it could have been her imagination.

“Heard anything from that Hunter Pierce today?” C.J. asked.

“Not a word.” Her cheer felt forced. “I don’t expect to. It’ll all blow over.”

“Didn’t get the feeling he’s a man to let something blow over,” Carolyn said mildly.

C.J. leaned on her desk. “Katie, maybe you should consider—”

“Don’t push her around, C.J.” Brad’s sharpness made Katie blink, which is why it took an extra moment for her to realize C.J. and Carolyn were also staring at Brad. His next words were closer to his usual easy style. “She’s so used to taking orders from you, she’d do what you said automatically. You wouldn’t want that, Coach. That’s not your style.”

“Didn’t know I had a style,” the older man drawled. “But I’m still trying to get over you saying Katie’s used to taking orders from me. She runs this place, and we all know it.”

Carolyn said peaceably, “That’s true. She’ll have you all sailing through Europe like clockwork this summer.”

“Not me.” Katie practically wanted to sing with relief that the subject had changed. “The company we’ve hired to handle all the arrangements will do that. The final papers are in the system with printouts in the folder at the top right of your desk.” C.J. still liked to read some papers at home.

“Of course they are.” Carolyn smiled. “What a great trip that’s going to be.”

“You and the kids could still come,” C.J. said.

“You’re going to be so busy bouncing around the continent having fun with your boys and Katie, you’d never have time for us.”

Katie needed to deliver the news that she wasn’t going on the trip, but this was not the time.

“We’re going to have an educational trip. We’ll study culture, politics, and history, as well as play basketball,” Brad said primly.

“See, I knew I’d get through to you eventually, Spence. Couldn’t have said it better myself. You’d think there was a reporter lurking around,” C.J. said.

“Or somebody from the administration or the NCAA,” Brad said.

C.J. nodded. “Suppose you’ll get some of those questions when you go to Chicago tomorrow. Isn’t that red-headed TV reporter still chasing you? Not that I have to worry about you putting your foot in your mouth. In fact, you’re so good at it, your talent is wasted as a mere assistant coach. It’s time you have your own program.”

As Brad had indicated last night, they had this conversation frequently. She knew it was because C.J. wanted the best for Brad, wanted him to succeed in his career. He was a great coach. Technically, yes, but even more in his handling of players, both those on the team and the prospects.

Still, she didn’t look forward to Brad leaving. After all, he was an integral part of the program.

“No way. I don’t want those headaches. The hassles. The media. You keep being the front man and I’ll sit at the master’s feet.”

C.J. frowned. It was a mock frown, yet Katie saw concern. “Am I going to have to use one of these big feet to kick you out of the nest?”

Brad grinned. “I’d cling to the edge and climb back in. So we might as well go hit the court to see if you can use those big – and slow — feet to block out that play I was telling you about, Coach.”

C.J. cuffed his shoulder. “These big, slow feet can still get around you. Don’t think they can’t.”

As they bantered their way toward the court, Katie let her breath out in slow, small increments.

Not slow enough, not small enough.

The second she looked around and found Carolyn watching her, she realized that.

Carolyn said slowly, “I worry about Brad sometimes.”

“About
Brad
?”

“You know those four who were C.J.’s first recruits – Brad, Ellis, Frank, and Thomas – had quite the ride during their playing careers. The media, the fans, the girls. I suppose I should say women, though emotionally …” She shook her head. “You would not believe the way some of them went after those guys. Ellis was too smart, Frank was too shy, and Thomas was sure anyone who chased him simply realized how wonderful he was. But Brad … Brad was optimistic enough to keep hoping one would turn out to be genuine, but too smart not to recognize when he was wrong. Until … Well, I shouldn’t keep you from your work and I suppose I should head for my office. Though if you’d like to talk…”

Talk? No.

Hear what came after that “until”? Oh, yes.

But if she asked wouldn’t Carolyn guess what Katie had kept hidden for so long?

No notice. Draw no notice.

The warning sounded in her head in her mother’s voice.

Were the words from a specific instance? A distillation of an attitude? Or her imagination?

But they were good advice. Especially now.

“No, no. I need to get to my work, too, Carolyn. Have a good day.”

What could the other woman say after that?

Brad came out of a high school gym set into a hill in a suburb west of Chicago and headed for his car. A tall figure leaned against it. When he recognized the man he muttered a curse under his breath.

“You didn’t think I was going to go away, did you?” Hunter Pierce asked.

“Why not? You got your answer.”

Pierce looked at him steadily. “Because it’s not that simple. I think you know that.”

“I’m not the one to be talking to. It’s Katie’s business. Has nothing to do with me.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that. When the direct route doesn’t work, indirect is the way to go.”

“It’s Carolyn and C.J. you should talk to, then,” Brad said.

“I have. After you and I talk, you should talk to them, too.”

Brad wasn’t sure he was up for that.

C.J. had a way of looking at you that made you feel like you’d been pinned to a wall. So you stood as straight as you could and met his look square because if you didn’t, you’d be the scum of the earth. It was that look that had made him consider not taking the scholarship C.J. had offered … and it was that look that had made him grateful many times over that he had taken it.