Nate stopped in front of the house and calmed his breathing, slowed his heart rate. He’d learned how to do that the first year he worked for Kit. “If we go in there with your heart hammering in your oversize chest, they’ll know we want this,” Kit said.
“Doesn’t our being here tell them that?” Nate had asked, and Kit responded by making Nate stand outside the door and wait—and miss all the action.
Now it was second nature to him to not show any trace of emotion. It had been very useful this morning when a tall, very pretty girl with a mass of brown hair tumbling about her head had walked into his bedroom. He’d been so deep in the thought of What the hell am I going to do for three weeks? that he hadn’t heard her approach.
Nate had been in the house for two days but he’d spent most of the time with Jamie and his new wife.
Stacy’s parents had said that he should stay with them, but they all knew no one wanted that. He’d told them he wanted to be at the lake so he could fish and rest and have a vacation. The truth was that he needed time to get over his anger at Stacy. The plan had been for them to be together for these weeks. But the day before he left DC, she’d told him that she’d won an internship in Italy with some big shot interior designer. “It’s only for three weeks,” she said over the phone. “I’ll be back for Widiwick and after that we can start planning our wedding. I’m dying to sh
ow you the office I set up for you. And I have a fabulous surprise from Dad.”
“This is all the surprise I can handle,” Nate had said gloomily. The thought of spending three weeks living in the same house as Stacy’s parents was enough to make him jump on a military helicopter and go back to a war zone.
Of course Kit picked up on Nate’s misery. You couldn’t hide emotions from someone you’d spent years with and who’d taught you how to hide them in the first place. “I’ll take care of it,” Kit said in his best fatherly voice. “My friend Brody is the manager for all of Lake Kissel and his older sister owns a house there. She’s in Florida and we all miss her. She was always cooking and making people feel at home. Terri might be there, but there are three bedrooms, so you’ll be fine.”
Nate leaned back against a tree. Why hadn’t he been suspicious? He knew Kit had a silver tongue. He could twist anything around so it was true—but it also said exactly what he wanted it to. In this case, he’d made it sound as though Terri was Brody’s sister and she was in Florida.
As Nate looked at the house, he felt sad at leaving it. Since he’d spent so much of the last twelve years living in tents, the glass-fronted house, with its indoor/outdoor feel, appealed to him.
He ran his hands over his face. He needed to man up to this. He couldn’t possibly stay here. Terri was much, much too pretty. She looked like one of those girls who played baseball with the boys—and won. She probably used live bait on fishing hooks and—
Nate pushed away from the tree. He’d better end this now. Immediately. He knew she’d been attracted to him. And forgive him, but he’d felt the same about her. Her legs! They must be four feet long. Tanned. Strong.
Again, Nate calmed his breath. Quickly, he went through the house. When he grabbed his keys, he saw a red notebook that had fallen to the floor. He picked it up and hurried to his car. The passenger seat had one of his big green Dartmouth rugby shirts on it and there was a matching mug on the floor.
As he backed out of the drive, he hoped that when he told her he couldn’t stay that she wouldn’t get teary. He’d had girls do that. “I thought we had something between us,” they’d said.
He and Terri had spent little time together, but he’d felt her interest in him. Seen her flirty looks.
And when he’d told her about Stacy, she’d nearly exploded. Jealousy?
As Nate pulled into the parking lot of the Lake Kissel clubhouse, he had a horrible thought. What if she and Stacy were friends? What if Terri told Stacy that they’d had a sort of flirtation? Spent some “meaningful” time together? But then, what could Terri say about their time together?
He got out of the car. I’ll be nice when I let her down, he thought. Gentle. It’ll be easy, friendly. And once it’s done, I’ll run back to the house and get the hell out of it!
* * *
Terri threw open the door to Anna’s office, but the secretary didn’t look up.
“Where is he?” Terri demanded.
Anna just slanted her head toward Brody’s closed office door. She’d worked for father and daughter for fifteen years and she was used to their arguments. Although, since Elaine had arrived four years ago, the storms were quieter from Brody’s side.
Terri stopped in front of the desk. “Remember that photo Della gave us of Stacy Hartman and the guy she’s going to marry?”
“No,” Anna said, and finally looked up. Terri’s face was red with anger. That wasn’t unusual, but the fact that she had on makeup and her hair was combed was very unusual. “Della probably put it on the Shame Board.”
One wall of the office had an eight-foot-long bulletin board where people pinned photos. It hadn’t been the plan, but it had become a place to exhibit every embarrassing, nearly fatal, humiliating picture taken at the lake. If a girl turned too fast and her top popped open, you can bet a photo of it was on the board.
Terri only looked at it when she was trying to figure out things, like who stole flowers or fishing gear or any petty crime.
She scanned them all, then started lifting photos to see what was under them. She was annoyed to see six pictures of herself bending over. Butt shots of Terri seemed to be a favorite. “Someone should clean this thing up.”
“Not my job,” Anna said by rote. She’d learned that if she didn’t refuse to do things she’d be like Terri and given responsibility for all of it.
“Ah ha!” Terri snatched a photo from beneath three others. She stared at it for a moment, then held it in front of Anna. “Know who this is?”
It was a picture taken at what looked to be a formal dinner. A young, very pretty blonde woman was leaning toward a large, handsome man wearing a tuxedo. He had his arm around her in a possessive way. “It’s the mayor’s daughter and some guy in a monkey suit. What a dress! I wonder where she buys her clothes.”