“Eleven o’clock and all is well,” Claudia said to herself.
Seconds later, though, she almost ran the stop sign at the corner of Broad and Keller because of a guy out in the front yard of the house to her left. He was maybe ten yards back from the street, his booted feet planted next to a bucket of paint and a ladder to the second floor where apparently the window frames were being repainted. But the paint didn’t hold her attention for long, since the abs on the guy taking a break from the painting were about all she could truly focus on.
He had his shirt up from the hem, wiping his forehead with the tag end of the white fabric. His strong forearms moved and tensed with the swiping motion, making the saliva all but dry up in Claudia’s mouth. She would bet that last check for eight thou that Edward did not look like that under his neatly pressed button-down shirt. This man was toned and lightly golden even at the beginning of spring. His muscles contracted as he took one last swipe at his face, wiping right at his brow line. The sleeves of the white T-shirt hugged him like a second skin. His jeans rode low on his hips and were rimmed by a tool belt with a wrench and a drill. Was it dirty that she was drooling this hard over someone who was just doing his job?
Must be sweaty work, she thought as she continued to sit at the stop sign. Maybe she could offer him a drink of water, and perhaps she could fan him with the bank slip she’d just picked up. Lust came freight-training through her, and she let it because this was a random guy she might not see again. And even if she was looking for safe in dating, that didn’t mean she was dead.
In fact, she wouldn’t mind licking some icing off that flat stomach. Whew, boy!
A horn beeped behind her, and she realized two things at once. She was still sitting at a stop sign with three cars behind her, and when the shirt came down from the guy’s face, she saw it was Nate, waving at her.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, she was going to hell. And it was all Zoe’s fault.
****
“I have a schedule to keep today, Logan,” Nate West said as his younger brother walked up the sidewalk through the late morning sunshine. Claudia had just driven by, and he’d waved to her, but she had looked stressed. He made a mental note to give her a call later to see what was going on now in her often chaotic life. The phone call about the check had been brief, and then he’d had to leave for an appointment. He’d gotten some work done ahead of Logan’s arrival and planned on doing more after he left with the specs.
“Yeah, yeah, keep your shorts on. I’m only five minutes late, bro.”
“Well, that’s five minutes I could have been doing something else. And the sun is only getting higher.” Nate walked along the outside of the Victorian house. They needed to get the specs to make a bid for the rest of the job. Right now they were proving themselves to Old Mrs. Finkey by painting the windows, but she wanted the whole thing remodeled. Nate definitely wanted to be the one to have his hands on this old beauty. The architecture was awesome, and the job challenging enough to make his fingers itch to get at it.
“So what did the old man say about this job?”
“He’s going to give us the material costs when he gets back to the office, but for right now we just need to look around and see how much work the house is going to need.” This was one of the aspects of construction Nate loved. Taking something old and making it new. That was what had drawn him to the family business in the first place. Sure, it was nice to build from the ground up, but it was better to remake and strengthen.
They spent about thirty minutes going over the various repairs and build-outs needed to give Mrs. Finkey what she wanted.
Taking one more turn around the property, Nate knew they could do this and probably come in under budget. He could even work it in around the repairs they were doing on Decadence for Claudia and her partners. It would be a nice boost to his checking account at the same time, too.
“I don’t see why we couldn’t do it,” Logan said, running a hand along the siding. “It should fit right in with what we’re doing at your girlfriend’s place.”
Nate caught the sideways sly look and the gleam in his brother’s eye. But he wasn’t going to rise to the bait. No way. “I don’t see why not, either.”
“Unless you have to watch Justin again so Claudia can go out and make time with another man while you sit at home, playing games with the kid and trying not to think about her sleeping with someone else.”
Nate tried to ignore the jab again, but he was nearing the end of his rope. “Just let it go.”
“Well, I’d love to, but it pains me to see you moping around all the time.”
“I do not mope, you ass. She and I are friends, have been friends, for years. I don’t know why you obsess about what she’s doing and who she’s doing it with. And I happen to like the kid, and so do you.”
Logan ignored all but what he thought was important. “Yes, you do mope. You moon around after her, doing everything for her...”
Whatever else Logan said was lost in the roar filling Nate’s head. His eyes couldn’t believe what he was seeing cruising along the road. It was like being thrown back over ten years to high school. Radio cranked up, windows down, top lowered on the vintage Mustang he’d driven all those years ago, Peter Drake breezed through town as if he owned it.
Shit.
“Hey, have you heard anything I’ve said?” Logan said, tapping Nate on the shoulder.
“What?” What the hell was Peter Drake doing back in town? He should have been tucked up in Ohio, not glooming up the skyline in Pennsylvania.
“I was telling you you’re being an idiot with Claudia.”
“Whatever. I have bigger things to worry about right now.”
“Well, that’s certainly a different tune for you. Normally, you obsess about her.”
Nate dragged himself back from wondering about Peter and hit Logan in the arm. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll put the bid in with Dad and go from there. I have something to do that can’t wait.”
“But what about the other two jobs?” Logan scratched his head, then crossed his arms.
“I don’t have time for this. There’s something I have to do.”
****
“Emergency girl meeting.”
Claudia opened her mouth to tell May she couldn’t possibly leave what she was doing, as the other woman breezed past. She’d just gotten back from her ill-fated car ride and needed to do some serious decorating to distract herself from the image of Nate with his shirt half off. She’d already ignored three calls from him on her cell. She couldn’t talk to him until she figured out a way to not picture him as she’d seen him near the stop sign. And the thought struck her that he was going to be working on Decadence in that capacity, too. She hoped she and her sanity survived.
In the meantime, May was yelling her name from the back office. Okay. She finished piping the icing around the edges of the top layer of the three-tiered cake for tomorrow afternoon’s senior tea and set down the white plastic bag. After washing her hands, she ducked into the back room and found Zoe already there. Why did everything seem to be such a crisis lately? She didn’t think she could take another one.
“What’s going on that you had to interrupt everything?” Zoe asked the question before Claudia could get it out.
“Claudia, I have something I have to tell you, and you’re not going to like it.” May took the seat behind the desk, leaving the two garage sale bargain chairs for Claudia and her sister.
“Should I sit down?” Claudia laughed a nervous laugh and gripped the back of the chair.
“I think you should.”
A million things ran through her head as she came around in front of the chair and took a seat. Was something wrong with Justin? No, that wouldn’t have been a subject for a girl meeting. Girl meetings were for things where everyone needed the strength of the others to get through it. But her mind drew a blank as to what else it could be.
Zoe grabbed her hand, and Claudia shot her sister a grateful look. Whatever it was, they could get through it together, just like everything else.
May tapped her fingers together under her nose, scooted back and forth on the chair, and cleared her throat.
“Come on. I can take it, whatever it is. You can tell me.” Claudia braced herself for the news. It had been bad enough when May’s father had a heart attack a month ago, requiring the most recent girl meeting. Claudia and her former father-in-law, Roger Drake, hadn’t ever been close, but it was still sad to see her son’s grandfather in the hospital.
“I just wanted to warn you...”
Claudia leaned forward in her chair, taking her sister with her. “Yes?”
“Well, I just wanted to warn you that...”
“I’m not going to survive this if you only say one new word every time.”
May made eye contact with Zoe, who tightened her grip on Claudia’s hand. “I just wanted to warn you that Brad and I are going to have a visitor for the next week or so.”
“Ooo-kaayy.” Claudia drew out the word, feeling her stomach sink. No visitor of May’s would ever be a problem for her except one. And that one person was the only one who would necessitate an emergency girl meeting.
“Peter is on his way home.” May’s words tumbled out over each other.
Yep, that was the one.
“What the hell?” Zoe took the words right out of her mouth again.
“Yeah, what in the world is that all about?” Claudia gripped Zoe’s hand until her sister winced. “Sorry,” she said, letting her go, trying to settle back into hard plastic.
“No, that’s all right. It’s a shock to me, too.”
“Explain, May. Why didn’t we know about this earlier?” Claudia tried to get comfortable in the chair and failed miserably.
May dropped her head into her hands and shook her hair. Her speech was muffled by her hands when she said, “Dad called him after the heart attack, and Peter is coming to help with the house. I didn’t know exactly when he was coming, and I didn’t want to alarm you, in case he backed out.” She tried a smile, but it failed, as far as Claudia was concerned. “Also, I thought if I gave you less time, you wouldn’t have a chance to make excuses to not come to my house when I invite you this Sunday.”
Claudia rocked back. She couldn’t process it all. “Your
father
called Peter to come help with the house? Your father—the man who wouldn’t even tell Peter that his son was born, because it was finals week—is going to pull him away from his precious work to help with the house you already run by yourself? And Peter’s coming back to town?” Life just didn’t get any worse than this. The bad chair at her back didn’t help the bad news, either.
“Yes, to both, and you’ll see Peter Sunday at the lunch for my dad.”
“No, I won’t.” Apparently it could.
“Please.” May broke out the sad eyes, but Claudia was determined to ignore them.
“I really do not want to be in the same room with...Peter...if I don’t have to.” She’d almost said “the bastard,” but that wouldn’t help things, as this bastard was May’s brother. It was no secret how Claudia felt about the man who’d walked out on her before their son was born. Sure, for the most part it had all worked out for the best. Life with Peter would have been worse than what she’d managed on her own. But that didn’t mean she wanted to have contact with the man who hadn’t even bothered to send his kid a card since his third birthday.
“You have to go,” May said, finally lifting her head from her hand and piercing Claudia with a look. “I’ve known you for a lot of years, but you don’t owe my father or my family anything, Claude, I get that. But I’m going to have to pull the friendship card and ask you to please be there.” The puppy-dog eyes were used shamelessly. “You can even bring Zoe. My dad has some weird notion that he has to distribute his worldly possessions now, while he’s still alive, to see them go to the right person.”
“You’re damn right she’s bringing me.”
A headache roared behind Claudia’s eyes, compounded by the metal digging into her elbow and the plastic trying to work its way under her shoulder blades. She couldn’t think for all the emotions, memories, and anger running through her. But beneath all of that, a part of her wanted to see what May’s dad had to say. And Peter no longer had any effect on her. It had been over ten years since he’d walked out on her at three months pregnant, seven years since she’d heard from him at all. His power to hurt had long since faded. She was sure of it. It hadn’t been tested until now, since he’d always stayed far away, but she could stand being in the same room with him for an hour or so without puncturing his head with her high heel.
“Fine,” she said, raising a hand to stop the bickering going on between Zoe and May. It wasn’t worth fighting over. He wasn’t worth fighting over. And if she didn’t like what Roger Drake felt her son needed, there was nothing that said she had to keep it.
“Fine?” Zoe and May said at the same time.
“Yes, fine. I’ll go. Peter has nothing on me anymore. In fact it will be interesting to see him after all this time. It’s not like I haven’t thought of him in one way or the other over the years.” Like when she had used one of his yearbook pictures as a dart board. “We did share something, but he can’t hurt me at this point.”
“Wow,” Zoe said. “You’re a lot bigger person than I am. But we need to do some serious shopping, if you’re going to see an old flame. He needs to know what he missed out on.”
He missed out on his son’s whole life, Claudia thought, but she wasn’t going to bring that up. In fact, she wouldn’t bring up Justin at all, other than to say thanks or no thanks at the meeting. She didn’t even have to make contact with Peter during the lunch if she didn’t want to. But she would look astounding, in case he decided to look at her. Nothing better than having a chance to make an ex-boyfriend regret that ex part.
“All right.” She put her hands on her knees and rose from the uncomfortable chair. “Anyone have any appointments this afternoon?”