9781631054631ChoiceAffairsSalisbury (9 page)

“Yes, but that hill is
steeper than I thought. You might want to inform
Jacob that there’s a photographer with a telephoto parked at the bottom.
Across the street, but he’s there.
His name is Bob Secrest, by the way. I
met him when you announced my promotion.”

“Really?
Interesting.
Well, Mr. Secrest is on public
property, so
not much we can do. I’ll let Jacob know,
anyway.”

He took me by the hand
and led me to the terrace where we’d had our reception. A table was set up near
the house with our lunch. He pulled a chair out, and I sat. The food was not at
all what I’d asked for—
something simple and light,
erring on the side of caution in case we might have to go out this evening.
Instead, it was heavy—sandwiches, potato salad, pasta salad.
Way too much.

Apolo was unfolding
his napkin.
Time to nip stuff in
the bud, so to speak.
“T
his isn’t what I asked to be
served. I specifically asked for a light lunch, as I didn’t know what sort of
plans you may have for us this evening.”

“Lunch was probably
already made, Caitlyn.
Or at least
planned.
I can tell by the tone of your voice that yo
u have a
problem with it.” I saw a sly smile cross his lips.

“Yes, I do have a
problem with it. She should have told me it was already made. I suppose I need
to have a chat with her and find out how things have been done.”

“That might be an
excellent idea,
darling.” He picked up a spoon and
got himself a good serving of the potato salad.

I pushed my plate
away. I’d weigh five hundred pounds if I ate like this twice a day. I needed to
get the staff at both places on the same page.
My page.

“You’re not
hungry?”

“Not for this.” I
stood up, putting my napkin down. “I’m going to go to the kitchen to find what
I want.”

“Caitlyn,
please.
They’re just doing their jobs.” He set his napkin back on the table and rose.
“Come on, I think I know just the thing to ge
t you
out of this mood.” Circling the table, he grabbed my hand. “Come on. Go get
your purse, and meet me in the foyer.”

I sighed and looked at
him. Fortunately for me, the cook came out to check on us like she usually did
when she was working. I noted Apolo’s face. He wanted me to keep the peace.
No
way.

“Just thought I’d see
if you needed anything else,” the older woman, M
ildred,
said to Apolo. She was greying and obviously enjoyed working in the kitchen.

“Something unexpected
just came up, Mildred. We must leave. You and Caitlyn might want to get
together before she and I leave for Washington. You can discuss the menu plan
ning in more detail.” He was looking across the table at
me, waiting.

“That would be fine,
Mr. Choice.
A good idea, actually.”

“Yes, perhaps we could
do it this afternoon. Oh, and by the way, what happened to the lunch I asked
for? If this had already been
prepared, that’s all
you needed to say,” I inquired.

“Yes,
ma’am.
I’m sorry. It was already prepared. But you just tell me when you want to
meet.”

“I shall when we
return.” I disappeared to grab my bag.

When I came back
downstairs, Apolo was standing the
re waiting,
swinging a set of car keys in one hand, a devilish smile on his face.

We climbed into the
BMW, and he headed back into Atlanta. I knew exactly where he was going. The
place
of a gazillion calories
. “Trying to appease the house staff?”

“No, that
’ll be your job. I thought this more fun. Something we
won’t be able to do too often.”

I settled into the
black leather seat, eyeing him from my side of the car. No time like the
present to share what little I knew. “By the way, I understand my parents had
a huge blow up after we left. That explains why Daddy
left, and she stayed and escaped your observation.”

“I was just told the
same myself. I’m trying not to get in the middle of it. It’s their private
business.”

“When has my mother
ever thought of anythi
ng as private? Everything is
fair game where she’s concerned. She probably deliberately picked the fight.
Made her the center of attention.”

“Perhaps.
Have you spoken with your father yet?”

“No, I left a text. I
didn’t want to disturb him.”

I heard him chu
ckle. That laugh when he knew I was tired and overwhelmed,
and this was definitely one of those times.
“And Izzie?
Did you speak with her?”

“Briefly.
Would you mind terribly if I invited
her to dinner tonight? That is, unless you have something else in min
d.”

“I don’t have anything
planned for this evening. Since we’ll be leaving tomorrow afternoon for
Washington, go ahead and invite her. I know it’ll be the last time the two of
you will have together for a while.”

“You don’t mind?”

“Of
course not.
I can’t
wait to hear about some of the goings-on at
the reception after we left, and I’m not speaking of your parent’s row.”

“Yes, but knowing your
mind, I’m sure you’d like her perspective on it,” I teased, leaning over and
kissing him on the cheek.

“I can’t hide
anything from you, can I?”

“No,
not really.”
I grinned at him.

“Having second
thoughts?”

“No,
not at all.
I’m sorry. It’s just all that’s going on all at once. The move, your new job,
making sure everything is organized for two households. It’s a little d
aunting. Plus add the family dynamics of my mother and your
brother, and yeah.
Overwhelming.
But never, ever second thoughts.”

Apolo pulled in and
found his usual spot open. As always, Marvin came rushing out the door after
seeing the black BMW.
Made me wo
nder if Marvin kept Apolo’s parking spot empty when he knew
Apolo was in town.
Better yet, Apolo had probably texted Marvin with our
order.

Marvin had a tray
loaded down with food, which he placed on the window of Apolo’s side of the
car. Apolo paid the
older gentleman and started
passing items my way.

“So much for
calories,” I quipped.

“You enjoy it as much
as I do, so don’t try to tell me otherwise.”

“I won’t. I’m happy to
take whatever time I can get with you, sweetie.”

“That’s my girl. While
we’re eat
ing, why don’t you see what time Izzie can
make it for dinner? That way I’ll know how much of a workout I’ll need to do
beforehand.”

I reached over and
retrieved my phone from my purse, finding Izzie’s number. It went straight to
voicemail, so I left a bri
ef message. “Anything else,
or can I eat my lunch in peace?” I kidded.

“Please, eat. I like
it when you eat.”

I shot him what I
hoped was a good go-to-hell look.
Especially
after our earlier food conversation.

“Would you mind if we
shot by the office for a
second? Jacob is there, and
I wanted to check and see if he’s found out anything about either my brother or
your mother.”

“I thought you knew
where Tony was?”

“We do, or did. I
wanted to know more specific facts. Like
who
he met, that sort of thing.
As
for your mother…
Well, she’s certainly outfoxed old
Jacob.”

“I hardly believe
that. She might have slipped past him for now, but trust me, he’ll find her.”

“I know he will.”

“Okay, we’ll go, but
on one condition. You have one hour. And then we leave.”

He g
ave me a lopsided grin.
Which meant I’d better keep an eye on him, or he’d have us
there for hours.
He was good at extending time limits when it came to work.

We finished up our
lunch and headed toward his office building. Being the weekend, Apolo had the
facility locked. He’d let the lobby security know we were
coming so they’d opened the garage.

He pulled in.
Very few cars.
The weather was far too beautiful to be
sitting inside an office if you could be doing otherwise. As we entered the
lobby, Apolo text
ed Jacob and let him know we were
there.

“He’ll meet us in a
few minutes,” Apolo murmured, looking at the screen of his phone.

“Good.”

We arrived at the
executive floor, and Apolo unlocked the door to his office. I walked over to
the window and peered out
at the Atlanta skyline.
Then, I felt him behind me.

“I’m going to miss
this, but it’s not forever,” he said.

“I know. Besides,
we’ve got a pretty breathtaking view of Washington at our new place.”

“That we do.”

All of a sudden, out
of nowhere, the alarm so
unded. Apolo’s phone went
off, and he immediately answered it. I could tell it was Jacob, but I was
unsure what was going on. All I heard were grunts and the word “lockdown.”

In the next instant,
Apolo had me by the hand, alarm still wailing, leading me to
the panel that opened to the safe room. He pushed me
inside, closing the door, just as we heard the sound of glass being broken.

They went on
immediately, and Apolo walked over to a control panel of some sort. He flipped
some buttons and picked up the pho
ne that sat there.
“We’re safe,” he told someone. I assumed it was Jacob. “What the hell is going
on? No one knew we were coming.” He grunted, said a few more choice words, and
then hung up.

“What is it?” I asked.
“What the hell is going on?”

“Not
sure yet
.
Jacob says intruders.”

“What sort of
intruders? It must be damn serious if Jacob’s urging us in here. What do they
want?”

“I’m a senator now,
Caiti. Whoever it is must have triggered Jacob’s sense of security.”

“So,
what now?
He and the rest of the security team are searching?”

“Yes. Come. Sit down.
It could be awhile. Jacob will call when he knows something.”

I walked around the
room one more time before he took my hand and led me to a bed situated in the
corner. I hadn’t bee
n in here since the one time he’d
showed me. I couldn’t help but smile, remembering about what I’d thought this
room was for the first time I’d walked in. “Well, on the good side, at least
you get to test this place out,” I teased, trying not to grin.

“Tru
e, though I wish it wasn’t a real threat,” he replied,
looking over at me. He must have read my mind. “What are you grinning about?”

“Nothing.”

“Oh, I know better
than that, Caitlyn. Your grin gives you away every time. Remembering the first
time I showed
you this place? I am. You thought this
was something naughty.” He took hold of my hand and squeezed.

“Oh, okay. Yes,” I
confessed. “Um, doesn’t this place lock from the inside?”