Bit by the Bug (Matthews Sisters 1) (20 page)

‘A little.’ Kat nodded. ‘But it shouldn’t be. Nothing has really changed. We’re still friends.’

‘Right,’ he drawled. ‘Friends.’

‘Jack, are you . . .?’

‘Fine. I’m fine.’

Kat nodded and smiled, though she didn’t believe him. He didn’t look fine. Dark circles fanned under his bloodshot eyes. Had he been drinking? A lot? He was still as handsome as ever, but there was a pale undertone to his skin that normally wasn’t there.

‘And you? Seeing anyone?’ he asked.

Kat thought of Vincent. Well, if he was going to be too embarrassed to introduce her as more than just Ms Matthews, she wasn’t going to admit to him either. ‘Nope, no one at all. I’ve just been concentrating on work.’

‘That’s right. You got a new job. What do they have you doing?’ Jack stood back from her. In the past, he would’ve slung his arm around her shoulders and held her to his side, before making some wickedly improper remark about wanting to sleep with her.

‘Yes, I do and it’s a great job. Photographing and cataloguing an important collection. I might even get a book published out of the deal.’ Kat swallowed. It was only a slight exaggeration, but it sounded more impressive than, ‘I take pictures of bugs’.

‘Wonderful. And your boss? Is he treating you nice?’ Jack’s head tilted to the side as he studied her. Did Jack
know about Vincent? How could he? She’d only told her sisters about the deal and she highly doubted Mr and Mrs Richmond were spreading the news of what they’d hired her to do.

‘Yeah, I guess so. I really don’t see him too much. He’s just this old man who sits in his laboratory all day as I do my work in the collection room. It gets a little boring without company, but a job’s a job and I’m doing what I love.’ Kat patted her camera bag.

‘Good for you. Congratulations.’ Jack again looked as if he would touch her, but stopped himself from the familiarity. Kat pretended not to notice. ‘My play was cancelled.’

‘Oh, sorry to hear that,’ Kat said. She reached forwards and patted his arm. It wasn’t the first time it had happened and it wouldn’t be the last. ‘What happened this time?’

‘Artistic differences between the director and the rest of the world. He quit the show, which caused the investors to pull out.’

‘That sucks.’

‘Tell me about it.’ Jack didn’t pull away from her hand. His voice lowered, and he gave her a ghost of a smile. ‘So, you want to come back to my place? Maybe watch a movie? My guess is you didn’t get your TV back yet.’

Kat laughed. He was right. ‘No, I haven’t.’

‘So, you want to come over?’

Kat knew that tone in his voice, knew what he was asking. She thought of Vincent, of how it would be the perfect slap in the face if she were to go off and screw Jack. But, she couldn’t do it – not to Jack, or Vincent, or herself. ‘I’m sorry, Jack.’

She wanted to explain more, but she didn’t have to. Jack nodded in understanding. ‘Take care of yourself, Princess Katarina.’

‘Call me if you need to talk,’ Kat said. ‘You look like you’ve been doing everything but sleeping.’

‘I will.’ Jack patted her hand on his arm before walking down the sidewalk. Kat sighed, turning to go into Sedurre.

‘That was tense,’ Zoe said. Her sister was leaning against the hostess station, making no effort to hide the fact that she’d been watching Kat talk to Jack. Her sister wore her cute little chef uniform and looked as adorable as always. Too bad Zoe seemed to be picky when it came to dates, otherwise she’d have them knocking down her door.

‘It’s nothing,’ Kat said. ‘What was he doing here?’

‘Had dinner with some strange man,’ Zoe said. He didn’t look too comfortable about it.

‘What guy?’ Kat asked.

‘Don’t know. He left about twenty minutes ago. Jack just sat there drinking wine. I didn’t really talk to him much.’

‘They just cancelled his show. I’m sure that was it,’ Kat said. She knew her sisters didn’t like Jack so much and didn’t feel like talking about it. Even though she knew they weren’t going anywhere, a part of her still missed him. They had been close friends for four years. She’d always told herself that when they broke it off nothing would change. What a fool’s dream. Of course things had to change. They’d been sleeping together and now they weren’t. All she could do was hope time would reinvent their friendship for them. She wasn’t ready to give up on that.

‘I thought you’d be at work,’ Zoe said.

‘I was. I took off early.’

‘Uh-oh. What happened?’

Kat glanced around the restaurant. It was in between rushes and not too busy. ‘Vincent’s ashamed of me.’

‘What?’ Zoe said, a little too loudly. The few patrons there turned to look at her. ‘Here, come with me.’

Zoe led the way towards the cook’s area. The pristine kitchen looked as if it had been freshly polished. The
silver countertops and appliances gleamed. They were cluttered together to make the most of the tight space. The red stone tiles on the floor had been swept, though there were places that looked as if they needed to be mopped.

‘I don’t know how you all do it. I can’t even get my kitchen this clean and I never even use it.’ Kat shook her head in amazement.

‘Chef Tyrant is a stickler for details,’ Zoe dismissed. ‘Now spill. What’s this about Vincent?’

Kat quickly told her sister what happened, skipping over the more intimate details by just saying, ‘We fooled around and were almost caught by his department head.’

When she finished, Zoe bit her lip in thought. ‘I don’t know, Kat. It could go either way. He could be embarrassed of you like you think, or he could merely not know how to introduce you. Have you had the “you are my boyfriend, we are exclusive” talk yet?’

‘That is so high school, Zoe.’ Kat cringed.

‘Mmm, and yet still necessary I’m afraid.’ Zoe laughed. ‘Actually, I’m compelled to like the man. He’s polite, smart –’

‘You barely talked to him the other night.’

‘Well,’ her sister rolled her eyes. ‘OK, I’m biased. I don’t know exactly what he said, but Vincent made a call to the restaurant owner, Mr Gregor. All I know is he sang my praises to the point the stingy bastard gave me a raise and a small promotion this morning before the lunch rush. Nothing huge, but it’s a step up the culinary ladder. Chef Tyrant is pissed, but he can’t say anything because rumour has it the owner has him by the balls.’

‘Vincent did that?’ Kat gasped in surprise. ‘You’re sure it was him? Not one of your other customers?’

Why hadn’t he told her?

‘Oh, yeah, I’m sure.’ Zoe nodded excitedly. ‘Mr Gregor mentioned potentially booking several museum functions because of me and my patron. When, in my obvious
surprise, I asked if it was Dr Richmond, Mr Gregor said yes. I thought maybe you’d put him up to it.’

‘No, I didn’t and he didn’t say a thing to me about it,’ Kat said.

‘Well, I don’t know if he realises how much he helped my career with that one, but I’m inclined to tell you to give him the benefit of the doubt on this not introducing you to the boss thing.’

Kat smiled, really touched by what Vincent had done for her sister. Maybe Zoe was right, maybe she was overreacting about how he introduced her to his colleagues. There could be things happening she didn’t know about. Or, perhaps he just didn’t know how she wanted to be introduced.

‘You’re right, Zoe,’ Kat said. ‘I’m probably just overreacting. Now, what “thing” does Gregor have on Chef Tyrant? Spill all the juicy details.’

‘I have no idea, but all it takes is one look of warning and the man shuts up. It sucks, because Tyrant takes it out on us later, but it’s also pretty amusing.’

‘What do the rumours say is going on?’ Kat put her camera bag down on the floor.

Zoe laughed. ‘That he was caught with one of the line cooks in a compromising position and that Mr Gregor has it on tape.’

‘Chef Tyrant is banging one of the women here?’ Kat giggled.

‘Um, rumour has it he’s banging one of the men.’

‘Oh my gawd! You’re kidding!’ Kat threw back her head and laughed. ‘I didn’t take him for that type.’

‘I know, he acts all prim and proper and sophisticated and a scandal like that would undoubtedly mar the “Chef Savvy” thing he has going with the older rich ladies who come by to drop presents on him like sugar mamas.’

‘They should make a soap opera about what happens here behind closed kitchen doors.’ Kat smiled, feeling a lot better now about Vincent. Guiltily, she thought of
what she told Jack, but quickly shrugged it off. The man was obviously going through a rough time and there was no need for her to add her new sex life onto the heap of stuff he had to pine over – especially since he didn’t have one of his own right now.

‘OK, Miss, what will it be today?’ Zoe asked, stepping towards the refrigerator. ‘Chicken sandwich? Roast beef? Ham and cheese?’

‘Yummy. I’ll take the roast beef with some of that ranch stuff you invented.’ Kat automatically felt hungry at the thought of Zoe’s food.

‘Then roast beef it will be. Just go find a seat and I’ll bring it out in a minute.’

Kat pulled at the front of her plush robe, hiding the cropped black with pink overlaid lace camisole. The matching boy shorts were low enough on her hips to show off her stomach. Her legs were bare. She’d just finished shaving them by sitting on the side of her tub instead of taking a full shower. On her feet, two kitty slippers stared up at her, their orange furry heads almost lifelike.

Opening the door, she was surprised to see Vincent. It was still early evening and he usually worked. He’d changed out of his work slacks and lab coat into a dark coffee-coloured button-down linen shirt and a pair of khaki cotton twill pants. The shirt was untucked, which was a new fashion statement for him. She had no idea why she noticed it, but she did. Kat opened her mouth to say something, but he stopped her by holding up his hand.

‘I’m sorry. I don’t know why you’re mad at me, but I didn’t mean to do whatever it was I did or didn’t do.’ He held out a box. ‘I got you this.’

Kat scrunched her brow in confusion, as she looked at the box of blue hair colour. ‘Hair dye?’

‘I thought you might like it. You know, because you
had that pink colour in it when we first met. Never mind, it’s . . .’ He started to reach for the box to take it back, but she pulled it away and kept it. The shade wasn’t one she would’ve picked as it was too light a blue and the brand was one she’d never heard of, but the thought was sweet. The man was trying.

‘Thank you,’ she said.

He nodded and reached to the side. ‘If that doesn’t do it for an apology, I did get you these.’ Vincent’s hand came back into view holding a dozen multicoloured roses. I just thought that even though it is a more traditional choice than a woman like you might like, maybe the bright, mismatched colours would make you happy.’

‘A woman like me?’ she repeated, struck by the way he said it. Kat was sure he didn’t realise how pompous he sounded when he made offhand comments like that.

‘OK, I see you don’t like them.’ He started to put them back when she swiped forwards and grabbed them away from him.

‘I’ll take them.’ Kat sniffed a purple blossom and smiled. ‘I happen to love roses and, for future reference, I like the purple and white ones.’

‘You do?’ The expression on his face, a mix of fascination and self-pride, was too much. Kat giggled as she stepped back to motion him in.

‘Oh, I’m not done yet,’ he said, gesturing to the side. ‘I have more.’

Kat raised a brow and leaned forwards to peek around the corner. In the hall, sitting on the floor were several unwrapped gifts. There was an orange scarf with blue stripes, a giant heart filled with chocolates, a teddy bear even bigger than the red heart, and several individually wrapped bunches of flowers from daisies to lilies.

Vincent brushed her hair back over her shoulder, prompting her to look at him as his hand settled close to her neck. The warmth of him radiated through the plush
robe. His lids were lowered over his eyes as he said quietly, ‘I can be a little slow to pick up on things, but you were upset with me when you left, weren’t you?’

Kat gave him a small smile. He really was thoughtful.

‘And, although I’m not sure why you were upset, I can guess it had to do with Dr Waters being a . . .’

He hesitated so she said, ‘Bitch?’

‘Yes.’ he nodded.

‘Chocolates,’ Kat said.

‘What?’ he blinked, not following her.

Kat pointed down towards the gift pile. ‘Bring in the chocolates.’

‘Oh, all right.’ He hurriedly did as she bid, looking all too excited by the request. ‘So you’re better now? You’re not mad at me?’

‘If you must know, my period started,’ Kat said. Not only was it true, but it was better than having to admit that in some bizarre way she’d gotten jealous over a woman like Dr Waters.

‘Oh. Ooooh.’ He nodded and his expression became very male with a sort of irritating acceptance and understanding to it. What was it about referring to menstruation that made men automatically think it was the sole root of all feminine tempers? Like anything they did couldn’t have contributed to the foul mood because the woman’s body was obviously taken over by irrational hormones. Stepping forwards, he gingerly handed her the heart as if the chocolates inside were some medicine she desperately needed. ‘Are you all right?’

Kat wanted to laugh. There were about a billion smartass comments she could answer that with, but she chose to say, ‘Yes. I’m better now that you came bearing chocolates.’

OK, so maybe they were a sort of period medicine. All she knew is that she felt better when she ate them.

‘You sit down. I’ll get the door.’ Vincent busied himself by gathering up the presents and shutting her door. Kat
sat on the couch, struggling to get the box of chocolates opened. He disappeared into the kitchen, only to ask, ‘Do you care which vase I use for the flowers?’

‘I don’t have vases, just put them in cups.’ Kat bit at the plastic, mumbling, ‘Damn it. Do they have to wrap these up like there are diamonds hidden inside?’

Finally, nibbling a corner to the point the plastic broke enough so she could slip her nail along the edge, she opened it. The sound of running water came from the kitchen, along with that of Vincent unwrapping the flowers. When he came out, he was carrying two cups crammed with blossoms. He set one near her drafting table and another on the windowsill.