Heart in the Field (16 page)

           
She let Pascal out of the back door,
bending over to do it with the silk shimmering down her thighs.
“Morning all.”

           
Reeva
scooted over to her daughter and pecked her on the cheek.
“Good
Morning, darling.
What can I get you?”

           
“I’ll have some orange juice.
Please.” She glanced around the kitchen table. “I see you’ve all been taken
care of.”

           
“We’re fine, Serena,” Gerry said.
“Only a tiny bit groggy from the late night.”

           
She pushed back her hair with a
gesture that was becoming familiar to Nick. “You okay, Nick?”

           
He never would be okay as long as
she was around. “Yeah, I’m fine.” Then he made up his mind over his next move.
“I’m not staying much longer.
If Gerry doesn’t mind moving
the car?”

           
Reeva
handed Serena a glass of orange juice. “You must have some brunch. It’s almost
noon. Come on, Serena, let’s cook up some pancakes.”

           
Serena stood against the fridge
door. “If Nick wants to leave then let him leave.”

           
He’d got the message. Serena didn’t
want him here. He also had his own agenda about her that he had to sort out. He
should do that alone. He couldn’t think straight this morning.

           
He stood up from his chair and held
the back while he pushed it beneath the table. “Coffee’s fine. I’ll grab
something on the way home. Thanks.”

           
“Well—” he heard
Reeva
say as he walked out of the kitchen and down to the room he’d used for the
night.

           
Wishing he could have heard
Reeva’s
opinion of him, he made the bed and collected
together his shaver and his clothes from the evening before.
Get out of here before you break down, ass. She’s
admitted she hated her father, and you remind her of the man.
Reeva’s
likely got the same hang-ups. And they’re right.
You are the same type as her father. You know that. You felt the affinity in
the opening pages of his book. You almost got up and cheered because you knew
for the first time in your life you weren’t alone in the world. But you were
alone, because Stuart Redding Brown was already dead by then.

           
“Nick?”

           
She stood at his door. “What?”

           
“You could stay for breakfast.”

           
“I’m not hungry.”

           
He picked up the hanger with his
clothes, grabbed the keys to the rental car from the dresser, and walked to the
door to where she was standing. She smelled of soap and herself, and he felt
his entire body respond to her warmth. She would be coming home for him, the
coming home he had always dreamed of as a kid, hot soup and crackers on a
crisp, cold day. But that coming home dream had diminished with time. His place
was in the field. Their show was his temporary means to be here to help his
parents. He had to remember those terms.

           
And yet.
He
bent to kiss her cheek and rested his lips against her soft skin for a moment.
“Thanks for the hospitality. The bed was more than comfortable.”

           
“You’re welcome.” She moved into the
hallway.

           
She followed him to the kitchen,
where he bid goodbye to her mother. Gerry was out moving the Lincoln. Then Serena showed him to the front
door.

           
“See you tomorrow,” she said.

           
He forced a smile. “Right on.”

           
He walked to the car, unlocked it
and slung his things into the back seat. He backed the car out to the road and
Gerry drove back in. Feeling he should say goodbye to him, he drove into the
driveway again and got out to shake Gerry’s hand.

           
“It’s been a pleasure meeting you,
Nick. Sorry you have to leave without the pancakes.”

           
“I’ve got work to do anyway.” Nick
told the truth. From now on, his life would be such a hustle that he wouldn’t
have time to think about what might have been with Serena.

•

           
“Well, if that’s not like your
father, no one is,”
Reeva
said.

           
Serena pushed the lifter underneath
a pancake on the griddle and saw the pancake disintegrate. She swore under her
breath and scooped up the mess. “I’m no good with pancakes.”

           
Reeva
ushered her out of the way. “Let me, then.”

           
Serena surrendered the brunch to her
mother’s capable hands and poured herself a big mug of coffee. She drank half
the mug, hoping that the caffeine might set her brain straight. “What did Dad
offer you when you met him?”

           
Reeva
tossed a pancake and it landed perfectly.
Round, smooth,
golden brown.
“Love everlasting. What has Nick offered you?”

           
“Why would he offer me anything?”

           
Reeva
chuckled.
“Because he wants you.
It’s obvious. He’s a
man in heat. Love them, but they are dangerous animals.”

           
“You should know. You had enough
men.”

           
Reeva
turned to raise an eyebrow at Serena while still managing a symmetrical
pancake. “That’s unfair. But it is true, I suppose. Or it looked that way to
you. After your father I was demoralized. I needed men to tell me I was worthy.
Then I decided to use all that money your father left and put it to good use. I
opened the first florist shop and I began to feel my own power. I haven’t
needed men for that reason again.”

           
“Your experience put me off men,
though.”

           
The pile of pancakes on the plate
grew higher.
“Until Nick?”

           
“You have to admit he’s attractive,
Mom.”

           
Reeva
smiled. “Gorgeous. But beware. Go for it, if you want, but don’t have
expectations. That’s all I’m saying.”

           
Serena nodded. It was exactly what
her heart was also saying.

•

           
Rain pounded on to the Steel parking
lot on Monday morning and sat in puddles in the low ground. Serena tucked the
hood of her rain jacket over her hair and zigzagged around the pools of water.
Her insides felt as jumbled as the inclement weather. Her mother and Gerry had
stayed for most of Sunday. They’d had a pleasant time, Serena supposed, but
having company had rattled whatever calm she’d still possessed after the party.
She hadn’t even had a moment to prepare for the meeting today. She’d have to
wing it, the way she’d winged newscasts to eliminate dead air when they ended
before the required time.

           
She was also unprepared for seeing
Nick. She was unsure of how they had actually parted on Sunday. Had they been
friendly or had they been antagonistic? Had they solved anything between them?
Or were things still volatile?

           
In the foyer she felt like a melting
block of ice with the rain cascading from her jacket. She didn’t even have her
private office to fix herself up in any more, before facing the others, so she
had to go to the powder room on the main floor. She shook out her jacket,
rubbed mud from her black leather ankle boots and straightened her jeans and
black
Steel yourself for our News
sweatshirt. Luckily her hair was merely damp and a comb
through made it presentable. But she didn’t feel like her usual sleek self. She
might never feel that way again since meeting Nick Fraser.

           
Carrying her jacket, she rode the
elevator to the suite. Don, his brother Cam,
who looked nothing like him with a beard and a stocky physique, and Nick were
already sitting around the table in the boardroom, with coffee in white cups on
saucers in front of them. A coffee maker stood on a side table, along with a
selection of muffins and fruit.

           
She said a broad, “Hi,” to the men
and went to hang her jacket in her office. She left her purse in a desk drawer
and took her notes from her briefcase. One deep breath and she entered the
boardroom.

           
A young woman with long dark hair,
wearing black slacks and a tight, white lace shirt introduced herself as
Melissa Franklin, the new assistant for the show. She insisted Serena sit down,
and she placed a coffee cup and saucer on the polished surface of the table
before her.

           
Serena smiled her thanks. Don didn’t
overdo the number of staff at Steel, and she knew that Melissa would end up
running errands, compiling scripts, taking minutes and whatever else there was
left to do for each weekly show.

           
She took her first sip of coffee and
smiled at Cam. “Did you have a good vacation?”

           
“Great. Thanks, Serena. Sorry I
missed the party, though. And I was sorry to hear about John.”

           
She looked across at Nick, who wore
his familiar jeans with a blue shirt today. “We have an eminent replacement,
though, don’t we?” She figured the only way to conquer Nick was to face him
head on. Be cool, the way he was. She thought his features appeared hard, and
she wondered what he actually felt inside. Did he get mixed up the way she did
or was his mind logical?

           
Nick glanced at Cam,
then Serena. “We’ve already decided we’re going to work well together. Also,
Seth was here, but he’s gone to pick up some demos he recently recorded.”

           
Don leaned his arms on the table.
“We like his recorded work and will use it, but we need a musical theme.”

           
Serena nodded. “That’s a good idea.
I hope he can come up with something.”

           
“We’ll make sure he does. He’s good.
We want him,” Nick said.

           
She liked Nick’s faith in her
brother. “What about Paul? Where is he?”

           
“He’ll be in later.”

           
She pushed aside her cup. “Then what
do we do? Wait?”

           
“No.” Don touched a few sheets of
paper in front of him. “Let’s go over these proposals. Cam
needs to be filled in. Melissa, could you take some notes?”

           
Melissa sat down at the table with a
laptop in front of her.

           
Work
begins in earnest,
Serena thought.
No more
playtime
.
Her first decision was that she wasn’t going to be
overshadowed by Nick. But as the discussions went around the table she realized
that he wasn’t intending to overshadow her. He let her voice her views without
interrupting anything she said. Mostly he agreed with her. He made the two of
them seem like the tight team he’d suggested they should be at their Friday
meeting.

           
However, she couldn’t let down her
guard.
Especially when Cam
asked about her proposed program.
She gave him the same spiel as she’d
given Nick on Friday.

           
Don interrupted, “Do you have a name
for this program?”

           
“No.”

           
Nick suggested, “Bad men, Good
Women.”

           
“I like that,” Cam
said. “However, this Thursday’s show is our immediate priority.”

           
She knew that.

           
Serena had expected them all to
climb into a news van and immediately hit the streets, but Nick decided they
would meet at eleven
PM
and do the street scenes and interviews when the neon
lit the city. This meant that Serena would have to find somewhere to stay in
the city for the night. Luckily she always kept a packed overnight bag for
emergencies such as this. She sometimes stayed with her mother or at a hotel.

           
Seth’s appearance broke up the
boardroom meeting because they needed to go down to the studio to hear his
music. Serena was proud of Seth, and felt a great deal of guilt for not
acknowledging that he was a man in his own right, a passionate, intense human
being.

           
Lunch was brought in by Melissa,
Swiss cheese and ham with salad on crusty buns, bottled juice and some fries
for Nick, who shared them all around. By mid-afternoon they had an edited
commercial accompanied by Seth’s new musical theme for the show. When the
editing of the composition pleased them all, Don immediately arranged for the
advertisement to bombard the airwaves.