Find My Way Home (Harmony Homecomings) (19 page)

“Not only that. You’re good at”—Keith shoved his hands in his jean pockets—“talking to her. And you help me to see things…er, to calm down, I guess.”

Maybe the stress of the day
was
affecting him. More like the stress of the last four years. Somewhere deep inside, underneath the band of steel that squeezed his heart, a soft velvet lining coated the hard steel, easing the constriction. Keith felt it whenever Bertie was around. Somehow, in these last couple of months, she’d become like a buffer between him and his hardened heart.

Bertie glanced at everything in the cramped office but him. She seemed on edge, and without warning, the electrical current that always seemed to hum around them jolted him as if he’d stepped on a live wire.

Keith blurted, “When do you want to stop dancing around this and do something about it?” Her eyes widened in shock and he wished he’d kept his mouth shut. He shouldn’t be pressuring her about anything. He needed to stay the hell away from her so she could finish his house, collect her bonus, and move on with her life…away from Harmony.

“Dancing? You want to dance…here…now?” Bertie pulled an exaggerated face. “No thanks. I’ll sit this one out.”

But when had he ever done the right thing? “Funny. You know what I mean.” Keith backed Bertie up against the scratched metal desk as he looked into her sea-green eyes and smiled. His warmed heart beat a slow, steady thud and blood traveled with determined purpose straight from his head to his groin. “I want to do more than dance with you,” he murmured, and because he couldn’t resist, he pressed his lips to her warm neck.

Bertie sighed and gripped his forearm as she felt him smile against her neck. Then she maneuvered around him. “Uh, I have to—Maddie. I need to check on her.”

Right. Maddie. This was not the time or the place for a seduction. He needed to repair the broken strings to his racket and get back on stadium court with his daughter.

Bertie turned and yanked the door open and then froze. “I’m an idiot,” she mumbled.

To his complete and utter amazement, she whipped back around and grabbed the front of his cotton button-down, pulling him toward her. And kissed him. Hard. With lots of tongue and just the right amount of pressure. She kissed him like he was the last man on earth, and he relished every second of it. Second, not minute, because before he could gain control and take it further, she’d let go and fled the room like a scared, hunted red fox.

Keith licked the spicy, cinnamon taste of Bertie from his lips. He felt a smile stretch from his gut to the top of his head. She’d given him the opening he’d been looking for.

***

On Monday morning, Keith drove Maddie to Raleigh to meet with the headmaster at Trinity Academy, a private day school where he planned to enroll her. Maddie chatted nonstop about how excited she was, and after looking the school over and meeting some of the faculty, Keith was impressed enough to pay the tuition on the spot and get Maddie settled for a day of classes.

That afternoon, he collected Maddie from her new school and stopped by Barnes & Noble to buy a few books for Maddie’s English class. Gail happened to be working the afternoon shift. She looked up from the register in the children’s section and smiled as she spied Keith strolling toward her, holding Maddie’s hand. She combed the back of her straight blond hair with her hand and straightened her green knit polo shirt, practical as always in her creased khakis and navy blue Keds tennis shoes.

“Well, hello there.” Keith greeted Gail with a smile and a wink. “We were in the neighborhood. I’d like you to meet my daughter, Maddie.”

Gail bent down with palms on her knees, leveling her face with Maddie’s and smiled. “Hey there. I’m Gail. Your dad has told me so much about you.” Gail extended her right hand.

Caution lit Maddie’s eyes and then she tilted her head toward him. Keith detected irritation mixed with anger in her upturned face. Gail waited with her hand out, and Keith nudged Maddie in the back. “Madeline.” He tried not to growl his warning.

“Hi,” his talkative ten-year-old said as she gave Gail’s hand a hard shake.

“It’s so nice to finally meet you. Would you like to browse the shelves? Some brand-new books just came in today. Do you like the
Magic
Treehouse
series?” Gail said in an overly bright voice.

“No. They’re for babies.” Maddie crossed her arms and adopted a sullen, put-upon stance. Keith had never been so proud of his spoiled child…
not.

“Oh. Well, why don’t you tell me what you like—”

“I see the
Olympian
series by Rick Riordan over there. I’ll look at those,” Maddie said with the enthusiasm of someone spying an overflowing basket of dirty laundry that needed sorting. “Dad, we won’t be long, will we?” she whined.

“I don’t know. Go look at some books,” Keith said through clenched teeth. Maddie gave him another baleful look and dragged her feet over to the bookshelves. She pretended to be flipping pages of a book but kept glancing at him as if he had banished her to scrubbing moldy grout in the bathroom with a toothbrush.

Keith sighed. “I’m sorry. She’s had a rough couple days. I enrolled her in a new school”—he jammed his hands in his pant pockets—“I’m making excuses. She’s usually not this rude or embarrassing,” he scoffed.

“Don’t worry about it.” Gail glanced over her shoulder at Maddie who was pretending not to eavesdrop. “I’ll bet she doesn’t like sharing you with anybody, especially another girl.”

Keith nodded and choked back a laugh at Maddie’s exaggerated eye roll. “Yeah, that’s probably it.” Or not. Maddie didn’t seem to mind sharing him with Bertie. “Can I buy you a cup of coffee? Do you have a few minutes free?”

“Not really. I have to finish this inventory, but we’re still on for tomorrow night, right?”

“Sure. What time?”

“Come by around seven and I’ll cook for you.”

“Great. I’ll bring the wine.” Keith leaned down to peck Gail on the lips when he heard a huge snort in Maddie’s vicinity. Gail’s cheeks pinkened, and she brushed Keith’s jaw with a quick kiss.

“Madeline, let’s go.” Keith squeezed Gail’s hand before leaving the store with an ill-humored Maddie in tow.

They rode in silence on the twenty-minute ride back to Harmony. Keith did his best to ignore Maddie’s looks of disgust she kept shooting in his direction. After about the third grunt/sigh she heaved, Keith gave in and spoke first.

“What’s your problem?”

“Nothin,” she mumbled.

“Spill it. Because I’m not putting up with your hostile attitude anymore.”

Maddie straightened in her seat and uncrossed her arms. “I don’t like that girl,” she blurted. “She’s stupid.”

“Madeline,” he growled. “You don’t even know her. And if you keep up this rude act, you’re never going to get to know her.”

“Good. I don’t want to get to know her.” Maddie pushed out her bottom lip. “Are you like dating her or something?”

“Or something.” Keith watched the road and tried not to picture his daughter’s neck as he strangled the steering wheel.

“Gross, Dad. I saw you try to kiss her. Does that mean you’re going to marry her?”

“Just because I kiss a girl doesn’t mean I’m going to marry her.” Keith came to a full stop at an intersection near the overpass. “Why don’t you like her? You barely said three words.”

Maddie shrugged her shoulders beneath her pink sweater with the lime-green trim. “I don’t know. She’s…she looks like a kindergarten teacher.”

“Huh?”

“She looks…boring. Are you dating her? Like,
only
her?”

“We’ve gone on a few dates. She happens to be very nice and sweet. If you’d give her a chance—”

“Why don’t you date Bertie? I like Bertie. She’s not boring, and she doesn’t wear those ugly clothes. Bertie’s pretty and she has really cool shoes. And Bertie’s fun. Bertie’s mom died when she was like fourteen, and we have lots—”

“I know all about Bertie’s mom and dad. But I’m not dating Bertie. We’re just friends. Bertie is my decorator—”

“Designer,” Maddie interjected. “And why not? Why can’t you date your designer? Bertie’s smart, and she wants to learn how to play tennis. You can teach her that. And she said she’s so happy I’m living in Harmony now. She’s gonna let me help her with a house she’s building for this poor family. She said I can help paint walls and stuff. And she said that I could help her raise money for that Jaycee Park, the one with the messed up tennis courts. And—”

“Enough!” Keith felt like shit when he saw Maddie’s head jerk back and her mouth gape open. “Bertie has other plans,” he bit out like rusty razor blades. And they didn’t include him and an instant family. Not that he could blame her. Her dreams included living in a big city and creating big-city designs. He got that. “I know you like her, but she’s only my decorator. Nothing else.”

“Bertie’s more than a designer. She’s my friend and she—what plans?”

“Madeline, listen to me. Bertie is a nice person, but she’s nice to all her clients. She’s getting paid a shi…boatload of money to do this job, and when she’s done, she’s moving away.”

Maddie gasped. “That’s not true!”

Dread and fear and a few other emotions tumbled around inside Keith’s constricted chest. A part of him didn’t like the idea of Bertie moving away any better than Maddie did, but another part of him wished she’d hurry up and get the hell out of town before he ruined any chance of happiness for his daughter and himself. But right now, he needed to tell a hard truth and break his daughter’s heart. Keith sighed.

“Ask her if you don’t believe me. Before she started our house, she was moving to Atlanta to take another job, but your Aunt Francesca convinced her to stay.” By dangling a hundred and fifty G’s in front of her nose. “But as soon as she’s finished, she’s moving. She’d like to explore other avenues with her career. And I think that’s smart. She’ll be much happier.”

Maddie shook her head at Keith, wearing the I-can’t-believe-you’re-my-dad expression. “You could convince her to stay, Dad,” she said in her grown-up voice.

Keith chuckled. “How do you figure?”

“Because. I just know. I can tell when you look at her.”

A horn blared as Keith almost swerved into the next lane. Prickly heat flushed his neck and crept toward his face. Jesus. Was he that transparent? He prayed like hell his ten-year-old daughter didn’t know what he was really thinking when he looked at Bertie. The very idea horrified him. Fifth-grade sex education would never be the same.

Keith was almost afraid to ask. “Uh, how do I look at her?”

“Like she’s beautiful. Like you always want to be with her.” Maddie pressed her face into the glass of the passenger window. “Not like the way you looked at Gail.”

***

Several weeks later, on a Friday afternoon, Francesca’s ears perked up as she heard her front door slam. Maddie’s and Keith’s loud voices carried from the foyer to her sitting room. Francesca lowered the reading glasses from her nose and turned her head toward the door to listen.

“I can’t believe you’re dating her
again
. That’s like your third date this week, Dad,” Maddie said in a petulant voice.

“That’s right and it’s none of your business,” Keith said.

“It sure is my business if you marry her!”

“Watch your tone, young lady,” Keith snapped. “If you don’t straighten up and stop riding my ass, I’m going to have your
favorite
person
strip your brand-new room of all that furniture and donate it to her charity.” Keith’s voice grew louder as he moved closer to the sitting room. “Now go upstairs and get your things together.”

Francesca could hear Maddie stomping up the stairs, adding extra noise as only a mad ten-year-old could do. Maddie’s “favorite person” these days was also Francesca’s favorite person…Bertie. Now if Francesca could make Keith see that Bertie was his favorite person too, then all would be right in the Morgan/Balogh household.

Francesca had been holding her tongue and biding her time as she observed Keith fight his attraction to Bertie. But ever since he’d been paying more attention to his young lady in Raleigh, Francesca could feel the tension building around him and Maddie. A week ago, upon Francesca’s orders, Keith had reported in with a great deal of attitude and resentment. After much prompting on her part, he filled her in about meeting Gail and how she’d be a perfect mother to Maddie. But with everything he told her, he never mentioned if Gail would be perfect for
him
. So, Francesca had concluded that she would have to intervene to keep him from making another horrible mistake. What Francesca didn’t hear from his description of sweet, young Gail was exactly what she needed to know to make her next calculated move.

Keith slipped into the sitting room and threw himself onto Francesca’s love seat. “Jesus. Remind me again why it was such a good idea to have her home.”

He leaned his head back and sighed. She frowned at him. “I take it you two have been arguing again.”

He grunted, his eyes closed. “Thank God you’re the one taking her to Virginia to pick up her things from boarding school and not me, because I’ve a good mind to dump her on the side of the highway and leave her there. Maybe you can talk some sense into her,” Keith said, keeping his eyes closed.

Francesca studied his hard features, noticing he didn’t look peaceful or even particularly happy. “Hmmm, maybe. So you have another date with”—Francesca motioned with her hand—“what’s her name?”

“Gail.” Keith peered at her through slitted lids.

“Yes. From Barnes & Noble. She sounds like a lovely girl.” Francesca added extra emphasis to the word “girl,” hoping Keith would register that he didn’t want a child bride. From what Francesca could gather, this young, innocent girl would never stand a chance at reining him in or keeping his attention. Even his ten-year-old daughter sensed that this relationship was doomed, but Maddie didn’t have the maturity or the right words to express her instincts.

Francesca shuddered at how quickly Keith would lose interest…sexually. She hated to think of her nephew as a cad toward women, because he wasn’t. But she also knew he shared his father’s sharp intellect as well as his way with women. And Keith would die of boredom within weeks if his next wife didn’t challenge him mentally and physically. He’d be miserable before the ink dried on their marriage license.