By the time Braden got to Hallie’s house he was in a seriously bad mood. Jamie had called him and told of the encounter Hallie had with her stepsister.
“I’ve never heard anything like it,” Jamie said, his voice loud and angry. “She tried to make it sound like she was stealing in order to help Hallie.”
“Yeah, that sounds like her. Ruby used to do that. She told Hallie’s dad she had the garden bulldozed because the grandparents were getting older, the garden was too much for them, and they needed to take up swimming for their health. Shelly’s just doing what her mother taught her.”
“Yeah, well, she’s not going to do it to Hallie ever again. Next time—if there is one—I’ll be there.”
“So why did you stand back and just listen this time?”
“It would take too long to explain,” Jamie said. “I have to go find Hallie. But come get that girl or I’ll throw her in the street.”
“What am I supposed to do with her?” Braden asked, annoyed.
“Get her to sign papers saying she’ll stay away from Hallie. And Braden?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks again for all you did for Hallie when she was growing up.”
“You’re welcome,” Braden said. “But I warn you that if you don’t take her to visit my mother often, she’ll put a curse on you.”
“Gladly,” Jamie said and clicked off.
For a while Braden sat in the chair by the pool and thought about not going. He was staying in a house that belonged to a man named Roger Plymouth and he liked it very much. He’d never tell Hallie, but he hated that old house she’d inherited. He liked new and modern.
For a moment he allowed himself to imagine not going to pick up Shelly. Just leave her there, let her find her own way off the island. She got here by herself, so she could get herself back to the mainland.
But Braden knew he wouldn’t do that. He’d take care of Shelly for Hallie and for his mom.
Slowly, he got up and went into the house to change into jeans and a shirt. The bad thing about having put on his act to turn Hallie off was that he’d alienated the entire Montgomery-Taggert family. There were half a dozen of them staying in the house for a few days after the wedding, but they wanted nothing to do with Braden. He’d been left alone while they went to beaches and shops and all the other delights of the glorious island of Nantucket.
To Braden’s mind, all of this was Shelly’s fault. If Ruby hadn’t been obsessed with her daughter, Hallie wouldn’t have needed protection, which meant that now…
As Braden got into his rented car, he made himself stop thinking in that direction. The truth was that he was angry at Shelly for what had happened at his office.
He’d had a friendship with Hallie all her life, but he’d paid little attention to the stepsister. As a child, she’d looked at him with big blue eyes, a teddy bear clutched to her, and rarely said a word. But then, Ruby said enough for both of them. She constantly yelled at little Shelly to come inside or she might hurt herself.
One time Braden asked Hallie if the kid was accident prone.
“Nah,” Hallie said. “Scabs mess up the photos.”
At the time, Braden figured the kid just liked having her picture taken. It wasn’t until later that he realized Hallie meant the photos taken at all the modeling agencies, TV auditions, whatever Ruby came up with. She and Shelly would drop Hallie off at school, then get on the commuter flight to New York. Hallie would return to an empty house and a bowl of canned soup for dinner.
He hadn’t paid attention to Shelly until he saw her in a bikini—and after that he stayed away from her totally. Inviting her to work had been an impulse.
That day, he’d enjoyed her company. When they’d gone to a mall to buy her clothes, she’d asked him a lot of questions about his work, and he was surprised to find out that she understood everything he told her.
Braden’s original goal in taking Shelly to work was to throw his ex, Zara, into a jealous fit. But by the time he and Shelly got to his office he’d forgotten about that.
At the office, she’d been charming to everyone. She was so tall and beautiful that she was a bit intimidating, but she soon set people at ease. As for Zara, she and Shelly had hit it off like best friends, talking about clothes and shoes and the earrings Zara was wearing.
When one of the partners demanded that Braden go over a brief right then, he’d been annoyed. But Shelly had assured him that she’d be fine on her own.
He’d just finished when the partner who’d dumped the work on him flung his door open and bawled him out about Shelly. Seems she’d slipped into his office and made lewd suggestions to him, had even unbuttoned her blouse in a suggestive way.
Braden had been livid! He’d apologized profusely, then gone to find Shelly. When he saw that the silk blouse he’d bought her was missing a button, his anger made him unable to speak.
All the way back to Hallie’s house, he didn’t say a word to her, and barely slowed the car to let her out.