Cabin by the Lake (5 page)

Lydia ran hot water in the sink, and soon she could hear the mumble of conversation and muffled laughter coming from the back porch. Really? How cozy. It occurred to her then that this Mike Rodgers could be pulling a con on her aunt. She wondered if Vi had been on one of those on-line dating services. That would be understandable; she was a lonely widow.

A vulnerable widow!

Even his name irritated her. Mike Rodgers. How generic could you get? The more she thought about it, the more she thought it was obviously a fake name. He was probably a catfish, looking for a fresh victim from the Lonely Hearts Club. Vivian was only fifty-five and still a very nice-looking woman. There was no reason she should not wish for love in her life. Lord knew she had to be lonely. But if this guy—Mike Rodgers—thought he was going to swoop in and charm her aunt out of her last penny, he had another think coming!

If that was his plan, he probably didn’t count on Lydia showing up. Surprise! She was suddenly cured of her mindless attraction toward this nefarious playboy. She may have come here thinking that her aunt was doing her a big favor, but maybe the reverse was true. Maybe she’d come just in the nick of time to save Vivian from a disastrous heartbreak.

Beware, Mike Rodgers! Or whatever your name is
, she thought. If this man wasn’t gone first thing in the morning—and she suspected that he would not be—then he would have to deal with her! Tomorrow was a brand new day, in more ways than one! She dried her hands on a dish towel and joined her aunt, now alone, in the rocking chair zone on the back porch, and assumed Mike was now comfortably bunked down in the cabin.

She and her aunt sat in companionable silence for a while, enjoying the fresh spring evening. The air smelled wonderful after the pollen and dust was washed from the trees, and the moon began to make sparkles of light on the lake’s surface.              

“Aunt Vi,” she began tentatively. “Do you still miss Uncle Todd?”

“Of course I do. Every day.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t come to the funeral.”

“That’s okay. I’m sure you would have come if you could have.”

“I would. You’re not going to believe this, but I just found out about it last week. Mother didn’t call to tell me, and I had no idea. I was devastated.”

Vivian sat quietly in thought for a moment. “I’m glad you told me that. I thought about you a lot during that period after he died, about the old days.”

“I think a lot about the old days, too.  I’m sorry I wasn’t here for you. And I can’t believe I’m really back now.”

“Well, things have a way of working out for the best. I’m glad you’re back, too.” She stood up and announced she was going to read a few minutes before calling it a night. She rested a hand on her niece’s shoulder and, impulsively, Lydia gently took her hand and kissed it. “Thanks, Aunt Vi.” Vivian gave her hand a squeeze and disappeared into the house.

Alone now, Lydia thought she could be happy for the rest of her life, just sitting on the porch in the dark, listening to the night sounds and watching the sparkle of lights from the far shore. Too bad it was probably temporary. She looked down the trail at the little cabin. The lights were on, but the windows were so dirty she couldn’t see through them, not at this distance anyway. As she watched, the lights went off, and she guessed Mike, the catfish, was turning in for the night.

She should be getting to bed herself; tomorrow was the first day of her new job. It would be her first office job, and she was scared. The worst that could happen was if they found out she wasn’t qualified for the job and fired her. She knew how to type, answer the phone and file. How hard could it be? But it seemed way above her practical skills when she was used to asking “Would you like fries with that?” on her previous jobs.

Not yet feeling sleepy, she got up and walked down the flagstone path to the dock and out onto the pier. Two weathered Adirondack chairs occupied the end of the pier and she sat down in one, thinking of the whole new chapter that was about to open in her life. She hoped she didn’t screw up this opportunity as she had so many before.

The dog ambled up beside her, lay down, and she absentmindedly began to stroke its head, her thoughts drifting to her mother.

Airhead. Screw-up. Why can’t you be more like Brittany? Get your head out of the clouds!
These comments from the past spun through her mind in a well-worn circle. Her sister was just two years older, but as different from Lydia as daylight and dark. The words were probably meant to be constructive criticism, not hurtful, but they were said often, and no matter how much she tried, she wasn’t Brittany, the over-achiever. After a lifetime of being unfavorably compared to her sister, her self-confidence had taken a blow.

So she hadn’t made straight A’s all through school; her grades had been decent, though, and most parents would have been proud. So she’d forgotten to show up for cheerleading tryouts. She hadn’t wanted to cheer anyway; that was Brittany’s thing. Those were part of a long list of things that didn’t really matter, in the long run.

What
did
matter was that she hadn’t lasted but one semester in college before she realized she was flunking out from partying too much. She had been dismayed by her behavior and planned to start fresh, but… But then she made one little mistake—okay, a big mistake—one that she paid dearly for, but it was “just another one of Lydia’s screw-ups” to her mother, as if it had been inevitable that she would amount to nothing in the wake of Brittany’s successes. 

“Care for some company?”

“Oh geez!” She jumped like she’d been shot. “You scared me, sneaking up like that.”

“Sorry,” Mike said, grinning sheepishly. “I tried to make noise but you seemed a million miles away.”

“Not quite a million,” she said, standing up. And yes, Mike was indeed a couple inches better than six feet. She was glad, after all, that she had on the high-heeled sandals. The extra height felt empowering in her new take-charge frame of mind where her aunt was concerned.

“You seem to be getting along with my aunt amazingly well,” she said, plunging right in. “I heard you two talking and laughing like old friends while I was in the kitchen.”

He raised his eyebrows at her confrontational tone. He shrugged. “We have a lot in common.”

Now it was her turn to look surprised. “You’ve only just met her. How much in common could you possibly have with a woman twenty years your senior?”

He was amused at her implied accusation. His eyes crinkled at the corners as he said, “Jealous, are we?”

Her face instantly flamed scarlet. “Of course not! Why would you even—”

She was so angry she couldn’t find the words she wanted to say, which was usually what happened when she was upset. She drew herself up to her full height and tried to look dignified. “You are a very egotistical man,” she finally managed.

She looked so outraged, he didn’t dare smile. The moon appeared between the clouds scuttling across the night sky, lighting her flushed face. He couldn’t quite figure her out. She was definitely a looker, but she didn’t seem to know just how gorgeous she really was. Unlike the cool, aloof beauties he was brought up with, she seemed to wear her feelings on her sleeve, every emotion showing up in her expressive face. An open book, he suspected, easily hurt.

“I’m sorry you feel that way,” he drawled, again masking his amusement. “I was only teasing, really. I’ll try to be more humble.”

She was put off by his mannerly comeback. She expected a show of temper, an exchange of heated words. Of course he’d been teasing, and now she felt stupid for over-reacting.

“Yeah well,” she finished lamely. “Good night, Mike Rodgers.” She turned and began to walk along the pier, then turned back, pointing her finger in a last-ditch effort to regain control of the situation. “I’ve got my eye on you, mister.” She swirled around, head held high, and walked away.

“Hey,” he called.

She stopped and looked back.

“I’ve got my eye on you, too. Both of them, in fact.” He grinned and waved.

She looked at the house, her back to him.
Think of something witty to say!
she commanded herself. Something. Anything! The moment stretched out. Finally, she shook her head and walked without looking back, mentally beating herself up the whole way.

Just before she reached the porch, the dog barked and Mike said something she didn’t catch. But she did hear his soft laugh that floated on the night air and seemed to caress her back, sending chill bumps down her arms.

She sent up a silent prayer for strength as she softly closed the screen door.

Rocco staked out Lydia’s apartment for two days, but saw no one come and go except her roommate. Was it possible she had escaped his vengeance again? His anger grew exponentially more intense with each failure. Twice he had gotten close, but each time fate intervened on her behalf.

Once he’d spotted her leaving work at Barney’s. He’d walked up behind her, timing his approach perfectly to drag her into the alley beside the diner and take care of business. Just before he reached her, a car pulled up to the curb. She got in and they drove away. She was unaware of how near to death she had come.

He’d arrived at the diner early the next morning and waited in a back booth half the day. He could just picture her asking to take his order, and then the look on her face when she realized who he was. The restroom was just a few feet away, and he could have her in there before she could blink. But she hadn’t shown up for work and his frustration mounted.

Now she had simply vanished.

It wasn’t enough now that his little Pocahontas had to die. Now he would see to it that she suffered a slow and painful death.

As he watched, a chubby young woman approached the apartment carrying a McDonald’s bag. She huffed her way to the door, her breath pluming in visible clouds.

It had been a miserable few days for Rocco since he’d hitched a ride in a laundry cart leaving Memphis Federal Prison. It was time to wrap up loose ends and get out of town. With a little luck, this roommate would be his ticket to finding Lydia.

He tamped down his anger with an effort and replaced his scowl with what he knew was an irresistible smile. He
could
be charming when he tried. His charm had served him well since his escape, helping him to survive this last cold snap of winter in the warm beds of gullible women. Women were easy, and Lydia’s rosy-cheeked roommate would be no exception.

He crossed the street, arriving at the apartment just before she closed the door.

“Excuse me.”

“Yes?” Jessie’s face lit up when she saw the tall, dark stranger smiling apologetically for his intrusion.

“I’m looking for someone, and I thought she lived here.” He spread his hands in a disarming manner. “You see, I owe her some money, and I can’t seem to find her.”

“You mean Lydia? I’m so sorry, she just moved out. You literally just missed her.” Jessie’s heart melted at the obvious disappointment on the man’s face. That sounded like Lydia, generous to a fault. She was always loaning money to someone, and then scraping by to pay the next month’s rent.

He was handsome, and he looked cold. It had been a long time since she’d had a tall, dark stranger in her apartment, even if he was just a friend of Lydia’s. She was suddenly glad she had bought an extra Egg McMuffin. She held out her hand. “I’m Jessie,” she said with a giggle. “Come on in; I think I can help.”

“Are you sure I’m not imposing?” He was already stepping inside.

“Not at all.” She led the way, wondering how Lydia could have let this one get away.

“Lincoln, Colbert and Colbert, how may I help you? One moment, please.” After a quick look at the phone chart, Lydia punched the button that sent the caller through to Accounting. So far, the morning had been fairly easy. Mr. Lincoln, whom she had met the week before, greeted her when she arrived. He was pushing eighty, she guessed, but moved with a slow fluidity that belied his years.

He introduced her to his assistant Betsy, who was also his wife, and retreated to his office. The older woman showed her around, introducing her to the other employees, all of whom seemed friendly and happy to have her aboard.

It was apparent that Mr. Lincoln was as good as his word and had not shared her sketchy past with her new coworkers. She’d wondered how that would feel, to be taken at face value. It felt liberating! She was grateful to Anne for setting this up for her. It was part of the Fresh Start Program, and she felt lucky to have been accepted. She was thankful that only Mr. Lincoln knew about her past. Humming contentedly under her breath, she took the top folder from the stack and walked to the row of file cabinets behind the reception desk. L, M, N, O, P, Patterson, Pendleton, Peters, Potter. She stuck the Potter file in place.

“You must be Lydia Steadman.”

She turned to see a sharply-dressed man at the reception desk. “Yes.”

He held out his hand. “Welcome to the company. I’m Ace Colbert.”

“Thank you. Glad to be here.” Did he say Ace? So, one of the partners, she guessed.

He looked to be around her age, maybe a couple of years out of law school. She had a brief moment of discomfort when his eyes took a second to travel from the top of her head to her toes and back up again. But he had an attractive boyish charm, and smiled so disarmingly that she forgave his rude perusal of her body.

“Things are definitely looking up,” he said. “I hope you’ll be very happy here. Glad to have you on our team.” He appeared to be a ball of energy, oozing confidence. With a parting wink over his shoulder, he disappeared down the hall to his office.

Minutes later a woman walked in, fumbling with the door as she tried to enter with a baby in her arms, a diaper bag and purse over her shoulders and a toddler in tow. She was cute and slightly plump, and her dimpled smile had Lydia rushing over to help her.

“Deuce forgot his lunch this morning,” she explained, digging a paper bag out of her over-sized purse.

“Deuce?”

“Yes, Jim Colbert, but we call him Deuce, on account of him being James Colbert the second,” she explained. “You must be the new girl. I’m Emily Colbert, Deuce’s wife. You haven’t met Deuce yet?”

“No.” She took the bag from the harried woman.

“Deuce, there you are, honey,” Emily said, hardly taking time to breathe. “Come meet your new employee.”

Deuce Colbert rounded the corner, equally as pudgy as his wife, exuding happiness as he scooped up the toddler and kissed his cheek.

“Meet your new receptionist,” Emily said. “Um…”

“Lydia Steadman.” She held out her hand. “Nice to meet you.”

“Great to meet you,” gushed Deuce, pumping her hand up and down.

“You forgot your lunch again,” Emily scolded.

Lydia held out his slightly squished lunch bag.

“Oh, so I did,” he said, still smiling. “Thank you for bringing it by, sweetie. I wouldn’t want to miss a meal.” He patted his rounded belly, and he and his wife laughed heartily at his little joke.

Obviously they were very much in love, and Lydia liked them immediately. “What a beautiful baby.”

Emily beamed with pride. “Yep, we’ve got our boy and our girl now. Just a gift from heaven, I can tell you. You have any kids?”

“No,” she said, tamping down a small ache in her heart. She smiled brightly, waving her ringless left hand. “Not married,” she laughed, “no kids.”

“I can help rectify that problem.” Ace appeared suddenly beside her, causing her to jump and blush furiously at his implication.

Deuce and Emily laughed guardedly. “Don’t pay him any mind,” said Emily. “He’s a big kidder.”

“I see you’ve met my brother,” Ace said. “He’s called Deuce because he’s the junior, but I was the ace in the hole!” Tired joke, Lydia guessed from the forced smiles of his brother and sister-in-law.

She looked at the two brothers. They shared the same description; neatly-cut black hair, piercing blue eyes, same height. Ace was leaner and more sculpted about the face—a thinner nose, sharper jaw, just more technically handsome in general. Aesthetically more attractive, she thought, but something about him didn’t sit well. Too cocky, maybe.

“Well, I’ve got to get these kids to the doc for their check-up,” said Emily. “It was nice to meet you, Lydia.”

“I’ll walk you out,” said Ace. “I’ve got that Johnston meeting in fifteen minutes.” He turned to Lydia. “Do you have plans for lunch?”

“Um, no,” she stuttered. She’d never been good at thinking quickly on her feet, but she really didn’t want to go to lunch with Ace Colbert. She could kick herself for not bringing something from home.

“Good, I’ll pick you up at noon when we break for lunch.” Then he was out the door, following Emily with his briefcase in one hand and her loaded diaper bag in the other.

Her alarm at the turn of events must have showed on her face, because Deuce immediately said, “Ace has a sense of humor that takes some getting used to sometimes. He means well.”

“No, he just caught me by surprise, that’s all.”

He smiled. “Good! Go out to lunch. Relax. You know, he
is
the most eligible bachelor in town.”

She didn’t know how to respond to that, except to smile and say, “Oh.”

Just then the phone began to ring and Deuce left with a cheerful wave as she hurried around the reception desk. “Lincoln, Colbert and Colbert,” she answered, a feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach that continued throughout the morning.

The most eligible bachelor in town? She supposed that was probably true. Ace was young, successful and devilishly handsome. Her mother would be so proud if she landed a lawyer. Ace was the epitome of the kind of man Katie would choose for her. In fact, he reminded her of Brittany’s husband, Robert—smooth talker, slick salesman, always ready with a seemingly harmless sexual innuendo. Robert gave her the creeps, and she gave him a wide berth at the few family functions they had both attended.

She had no doubt her radar was completely broken when it came to men. What was wrong with her? Not only was she not attracted to Ace, she actually felt a little revulsion when she thought of him. And yet he fit the description of someone who was definitely
not
a loser, unlike Mike Rodgers.

Maybe she should give Ace a chance. Things were moving pretty fast in her life now, and perhaps she should jump on board. On the other hand, she really didn’t think she liked him. Aunt Vivian would accuse her of making a snap judgment.

Two hours later a horn blared outside and she looked up to see a red sports car pulled up to the curb in front of the office. Was that a Maserati? Ace was inside, waving her out. Earlier she decided to just tell him she wasn’t hungry, and planned to take a walk during lunch hour. But now with him beeping and motioning for her to
Come on!
she became flustered.

It was her first day on the job and she didn’t want to appear unfriendly. She would make sure she had a plan in place for the next time. She punched the button to activate the company answering machine and grabbed her purse.

“Sweet ride, right?” Ace said, patting the leather dashboard.

She fastened her seatbelt. “Very nice.”

“Paid a pretty penny for this baby. Just got her last month.”

“Wow,” she said admiringly. Maybe she should rethink her attraction to Ace. She could get used to luxury like this. She settled in for a pleasant ride, enjoying the purr of the powerful engine. Two blocks later, Ace pulled into the parking lot of the Uptown Café.

“We’re here?” She laughed. “We could’ve walked here.”

“Yeah, but why walk when you can ride in style. Am I right?”

“I guess you’re right,” she agreed, feeling conspicuous as they got out and entered the restaurant.

The Uptown Café was a hodgepodge of décor that somehow worked. It had been Freddie’s Burger Joint when Vivian and Todd were teenagers,
the
place to hang out on Friday nights after the ballgames. Each decade added a layer of updates that gave it a unique ambiance, from the original scuffed wooden floors from when it was Norbert’s Hardware in the Fifties to the leftover sports memorabilia during its brief incarnation as a sports bar. In the Nineties someone tried to bring New York to Georgia and added sleek chrome stools along the bar. Now it was owned by Mama Inez and was known for Southern soul food, anything fried, attracting business from three surrounding counties.

Lydia and Ace slid into a booth and ordered the fried catfish, which Ace highly recommended. When the waitress left with their order, she heard laughter from the booth around the corner, laughter that sounded very familiar. Aunt Vi?

“Excuse me,” she said to Ace as she got up. She rounded the corner and her mouth dropped open. There was her aunt and Mike Rodgers eating burgers and fries, Vivian laughing so hard she was dabbing at her eyes with a napkin!

“Aunt Vi!”

“Oh, Lydia,” Vivian said, as surprised as her niece. “Sit down!”

“No thanks, we’re seated just around the corner.”

She turned her attention to Mike. “What are you doing here? I thought you were leaving this morning.”

“Nice to see you too, Lydia,” he said with a lazy smile.

Just then Ace appeared at her elbow and stuck out his hand to Mike. “Ace Colbert, Attorney at Law.”

“Mike Rodgers,” Mike returned, shooting Lydia a questioning look with one raised eyebrow. “And I guess you know Lydia’s aunt, Vivian Lancaster.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Ace.  I know your brother, Deuce,” Vivian said.  To Lydia she added, “Mike needed some supplies and I thought I’d tag along.”

“And what do you do?” Ace asked Mike.

Mike hesitated. “I’m in the construction business,” he finally replied.

Ace nodded with a superior look on his face. “Nothing to be ashamed of. Good honest work.”

Mike gave him a withering look and turned his attention back to Lydia. “How’s the new job going?”

Before she could answer, Ace put his arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. “She’s doing a great job. We’ve got ourselves a hot little receptionist here,” he said, grinning.

She felt her cheeks burn as she tried to laugh off the awkwardness. She slipped out from under Ace’s heavy arm and said, “It’s going fine, thanks. Oh, I see our order’s up. See you at home, Aunt Vi.”

She turned to go, but not before she saw the look of anger smoldering in Mike’s eyes. Well, who could blame him? Ace had been pushy and rude. She was so embarrassed to be associated with Ace Colbert. Maybe this wasn’t going to work out after all. Sexual harassment was not part of her dream job. But she didn’t know if she would ever get another chance like this. She had to make it work! She just had to learn how to handle Ace.

And that last look on Mike’s face—well, she didn’t owe him any explanation. He was nothing to her, just a drifter passing through. And what did he think he was doing, having lunch with Vivian? All that laughing—was he flirting with her aunt? Was she in some kind of danger from this man? It didn’t make sense. She needed to have a talk with Aunt Vi, if Mike was still around when she got home from work. This whole situation was crazy.

Ace dropped her off in front of the office and drove away before she even got in the door. She had the unbidden thought that Mike would have never honked the horn for her, but would have come in to pick her up. And he would probably have opened the car door for her.
Stop daydreaming!
she scolded herself. Mike was nothing more than a very attractive criminal, more than likely.

And he probably didn’t even own a car.

That afternoon she pulled into the driveway, feeling exhausted to the bone. It had been a long day. The work wasn’t hard, by any means, but the stress of a new job, plus that lunch fiasco, had frayed her last nerve. She noted the postal truck parked by the mailbox, but didn’t see the mail carrier anywhere.

She made her way to the kitchen calling, “Aunt Vi? You home?” Not a sound except for the six o’clock news playing on the TV in the empty living room. Something smelled good, though. Was that pot roast on the stove?

Upstairs, she stepped out of her heels, stripping off the navy pencil skirt as she searched for shorts and flip-flops. The day had been very warm, and she pulled her hair up into a loose bun and went out to the back porch, expecting to find her aunt. Instead, she saw Mike sitting on the top step talking on his cell phone. At the sound of his voice, she hesitated before opening the back door.

“Yes, I see. I understand. I don’t know, I haven’t decided yet. I need more time… I don’t know how much. Sure, I know they won’t wait forever. I’ll let you know as soon as I know something… Tell them it’s got to be okay because it’s the best I can do,” he growled before shutting off his phone and sticking it in his pocket.