Captured In Ink (Art of Love Series) (25 page)

“So you’re Dr. Barrymore,” Shane said. “I’ve heard about you. My stepmother thinks you’re charming.”

Drake laughed nervously. “As would any woman I mistook for her daughter.”

Shane smiled wickedly. “Well, you seem like a decent guy, so I’m not going to tell you what Brooke said about you.”

Drake sighed. “I didn’t say anything terrible to Dr. Daniels. We barely spoke.”

“You asked to paint her nude,” Shane said, grinning at the man’s obvious surprise to hear it.

“No—I mostly certainly did not,” Drake denied, laughing at the idea. He hadn’t painted a nude since his wife died. His classes did, but he didn’t. “I merely asked to paint her—period. I did not stipulate to Dr. Daniels that she had to be nude.”

Michael and Shane both laughed, but it was Shane who spoke irreverently. “Drake, regardless of what you think you said—that’s what Brooke heard. My stepsister definitely thinks that’s what you meant.”

“Well my God—you’d think a Philosopher would be a better listener,” Drake said, not sure what to do when both men laughed at him again.

“
I think, therefore I am
damn well sure I heard the man offer to paint me in the nude,” Michael joked, working hard not to laugh louder with Shane snickering.

“Does Dr. Daniels know you two make fun of her work behind her back?” Drake asked, giving them a look of disgust.

Both Shane and Michael nodded with the same wicked smiles on their faces.

Drake shook his head. “I’m so glad I’m older. I’m going to go find Carrie to talk about pedestals,” he said, walking off and leaving them standing.

“Man is a bit stuffy,” Shane said quietly when Drake was out of earshot.

“Not as much as it looks on first meeting. Brooke rants about him now every time anyone will listen,” Michael said, biting his cheek. “I think she’s thinking about posing nude for the man.”

“So what are you trying to do? Hook up Brooke with Barrymore?” Shane asked.

Michael shrugged. “I guess I’m trying to share the wealth of having someone in my life,” he said.

“Meaning?” Shane asked.

“That I think it would be fun to put Brooke and Drake in a box and shake them up together to see what kind of noise they make,” Michael suggested, giving in to his laughter.

“I find that idea strangely appealing, even though it’s a little mean. Do you suppose this is what it’s like to have a sister to torture?” Shane asked.

“Well, we’re all adults, so the fun is limited, but yes—I think it is,” Michael said grinning.

Shane stuck out a closed fist. “Count me in.”

Michael pounded Shane’s fist with his. “Excellent.”

***

“So you can get the Lutheran chapel in town for the ceremony and have the reception at the café where you two met,” Ellen said, swinging her crossed leg as she read from her notes, her reading glasses perched on her nose. “I spoke to Melanie and Brent and they’re delighted to host your reception. Lovely couple—I had their chicken salad. It was just as wonderful as you said, Jessica.”

Jessica looked at Will, who had his eyes closed as he sat beside her.

“Will? Are you getting cold feet now that the wedding is becoming a reality?” Jessica asked gently, shaking his arm. “I thought that was going to be my problem.”

“No—I don’t have cold feet. Do the two of you
really
not see anything wrong with my ex-wife arranging my next wedding?” he asked, looking between the two women who had the gall to look shocked at his question. “Fuck—this is too weird. I am not Shane with his open mind. I’m just a normal divorced man who thinks this is just plain crazy.”

Jessica and Ellen both giggled at Will’s strong swearing because they both knew what it meant. Will was way, way out of his comfort zone.

When she stopped laughing, Ellen pulled off her glasses and put them on top of her tablet.

“Are you worried about what the family thinks or about what people outside the family will think?” Ellen asked. “I really do think of us as friends now, William. Arranging your wedding is fun for me. I’m actually thinking I might like doing this sort of thing for a business. It’s so much more appealing than teaching, even at the college level. You’re the one who told me I needed to find something productive to do.”

Will looked at Ellen and just blinked in disbelief.
So this farce is my fault? No way in hell. “
I don’t care what you do for a living. I’m just not comfortable with—
this
,” he said firmly, sweeping his hand around to include the three of them.

“I understand it’s unconventional,” Ellen said reasonably, fighting not to smile at his exasperated frown. “Jessica, stop laughing. Will is very old fashioned about some things. You need to get used to this side of him.”

“Oh for. . .this is some crazy shit,” Will said, jumping up to pace, unable to listen to his ex-wife lecturing his future wife on treating him well. He ran a hand over his head, surprised for the first time in months to be missing his hair. “I am not old fashioned. I’m normal—damn it. You two are the weird ones here.”

Jessica reached out and snagged his hand, using it to drag Will back onto Ellen’s sofa with her.

“Sit. Stay. We are not twenty-year-old children, William Larson. I’d rather have Ellen do this than pay some stranger who doesn’t have a real clue about who we are and what we want. I’m not good at this sort of thing. Ellen is a woman who knows how to get things like this done, and it will be just as nice as you’ve been hoping,” Jessica said, clamping a firm hand on his leg to hold him in place next to her.

“You know this will be going into Shane’s damn book, and yet you’re doing it anyway,” he said ominously to both grinning women.

“Think of how well taken care of we’ll all be with a rich and famously published son in our old age,” Ellen said, smiling.

Will snorted. “
Not if Shane’s going to be putting four kids through college in the next ten years
,” he said sharply.

Jessica’s eyes got huge and Will winced when he saw her expression.
Oh shit—here we go
, he thought, angry at himself now for bringing up something he’d promised himself that he wasn’t going to debate with Ellen.

Not understanding the look she saw exchanged between Will and Jessica, Ellen laughed and shrugged. “Get real, Will. Shane will be forty and as bald as you before he ever settles down enough to even think about starting a family,” she said, smiling. “We’ll be lucky to get even one grandchild out of him. I think he loves women too much to ever fall for just one.”

“Damn it,” Will said, rubbing his chin. “He hasn’t told you, has he?”

“Uh oh, Dad—you blew that secret all to hell,” Jessica declared, smiling at Will’s flushed face and his glare at her pronouncement.

“What secret?” Ellen said. “What are you two snickering about?”

“I’m going to kill Shane for this,” Will said to Jessica, who only laughed more.

He leaned forward, elbows on his knees to hold out his hands in front of him. “Now Ellen, hear the whole story before you start getting upset. Shane said he was going to tell you. I guess he just hasn’t had time.”

Tucking her laughter away, Jessica went over and sat on the arm of Ellen’s chair and put her arm around the woman for support.

Ellen looked up at Jessica. “I’m not going to like this story, am I?”

“I’m not sure about the story, but I think you’re going to love being a grandmother,” Jessica said, smiling softly as Ellen closed her eyes.

“Shane’s dating a woman with a child already, isn’t he?” Ellen wailed, guessing the worst truth she could imagine.

Jessica laughed and hugged her again. It didn’t make Ellen feel one bit better. “Oh God—well, I suppose it was going to happen eventually with one of the boys,” she continued, her imagination throwing images up of Shane as a child himself.

Ellen clasped her hands tightly to keep them from quivering. “Lots of women have a child by the time they’re twenty-five. Lord knows, it wouldn’t have been my first choice for Shane, as immature as he still is, but I can deal a child. So tell me everything—is the girl nice? Do you two like her? Have you met the child? It’s not a baby is it? That would be so hard on a new relationship.”

Jessica hugged her and held tighter. “No—I haven’t met Reesa yet, but Will has, and well—let’s let him tell you the story.”

Will took a deep breath and began. He cursed his youngest when Ellen started crying before he got the first sentence out of his mouth.

Leaving her perch on Ellen’s chair, Jessica retrieved a box of tissues from the bedroom and held Ellen’s hand while Will answered her questions as best as he could.

Chapter 15

Carrie pulled up in front of the house and double-checked the address. She thought she remembered the mini-van, but wasn’t completely sure. Memorizing vehicle ownership had never been one of her skills. She really hoped Reesa was home because she needed to hire help soon. If she didn’t, it was going to hold her back from opening the gallery by Thanksgiving.

When she walked up to the door, she was startled to have Reesa come swinging out of it in a hurry, dressed in an expensive suit, strutting on three inch heels, and wearing full face makeup. It was all Carrie could do not to say “wow”. The woman was tiny, but looking hot in full business woman mode.

“Hi, Reesa. Looks like I’ve come at a really bad time,” Carrie noted when Reesa finished locking the door and turned to her in surprise. Evidently, Reesa had been too preoccupied to see her walk up.

“Oh, shoot—Carrie, right? Yes. I’m heading to a job interview. I have to pick Sara up at school and drop her at the counselor before. What did you need? Or were you just stopping by to visit?” Reesa walked to her van, and Carrie tagged along because there was no other choice really. The tiny business woman was on the move.

“Well, this is ironic and my timing is poor,” Carrie said, pushing a hand through her blonde tresses in frustration. “I was coming to offer you a job—well, a part-time job. You could do it from home—mostly. I thought it might suit you.”

Reesa held up a hand, leaned into the van and started it. Then she shut the door so she could talk over the vehicle noise while the monster was warming up.

“You said the magic word. What kind of job? I can’t rule out any possibility. Plus part-time is all I can handle right now,” Reesa said.

“I’m opening an art gallery downtown. I have some funding from a university arts program that has to be managed. All expenditures have to be justified and there is a long list of things to still be done to get the gallery ready to open next month. What I spend has to match what I’m allowed to spend. Basically, I need a funds manager and someone to do basic accounting,” Carrie said.

An art gallery,
Reesa thought.
How fun would that be—not to mention flexible enough to work from home.

“I have to pick Sara up at two-thirty. Can I meet you after that to discuss this more? I am interested, but my old boss called and wanted to talk to me about some telecommuting work. It means working with my ex again, so I’m not keen on taking it. Unfortunately, I need the money too badly to turn any possibility down at the moment,” Reesa said.

“Got a piece of paper?” Carrie asked, already digging for something to write her information on to give to Reesa. “I have a pen, but no paper in my purse. I must have left my tablet at the gallery.”

Reesa opened the van door, grabbed a paper napkin from it, and handed it to Carrie, who laughed. “It’s the best I can do for now.”

“Come by later,” Carrie said easily, leaning against the side of the van to hurriedly write the gallery’s address and her cell number on the napkin. “You can see the space and we can talk in my new conference room that should be mostly clean by now.”

“I’ll be sure and do that,” Reesa said. “Thanks for thinking of me. Did Shane send you?”

“No,” Carrie said, lifting a hand and stepping back as Reesa threw herself up into the van seat with more decorum than Carrie would have managed in a pencil skirt. “Michael remembered you said accounting used to be your job. Shane doesn’t know I’m here. Should I keep it a secret?”

Reesa rolled down the car window, closed the door, and laughed. So this wasn’t another rescue attempt, which made the job prospect even more attractive to her.

“No. Shane and I have been too busy to talk since last week. He doesn’t know I’m actively looking for work yet, but his knowing wouldn’t change my reality. A woman’s got to do what she’s got to do,” Reesa said.

“I hear you,” Carrie said in support even while her instincts went off in alarm. Strange reaction, she thought, lifting a hand to wave as Reesa backed the van out of the driveway and drove off.

Carrie walked to her car and headed back to the gallery, looking forward to talking to Reesa later in the day. It was obvious to Carrie that being on time for picking up Sara and taking her to the counselor was more important to Reesa Callahan than any job. She liked the idea of working with a woman whose priorities were in the right place.

Maybe Reesa would be a good example for Carrie to follow when it came time for Michael and her to start balancing family and work.