Instant Family (6 page)

"I'm not desperate to find a man," she said firmly. "And Katy's as
bad as you are. She raved about the really cool teacher at school until he got married and she had to rethink her plans." Chloe laughed
wryly.

"You should finish your degree," said Simone with an abrupt
switch of attack. This conversation had been had before, many times.
The answer was always the same.

Chloe shook her head. "I can't, not yet. When Katy's in high
school, I'll think about it."

"That's two years away."

"I can't afford not to work. It was tough enough when I was a student and there was just me to think about. It'd be impossible now."
She'd love to go back to full-time study, finish her performing-arts
degree, immerse herself in that musical world again. At the moment
it was a dream shoved to the furthest reaches of her mind.

"You could use some of the inheritance money," suggested Simone.

Chloe firmed her mouth into a straight line and folded her arms.
"No. You know I won't dip into that if I can help it. They'll all need it
when they grow up. We have the house unencumbered, and, thanks
to that amazing public donation, we can scrape by on my earnings."
She would not fritter away the children's inheritance on daily living.
Not when the money would set them up for good educations and a
nest egg when they reached twenty-one. Bevan and Mum would have
wanted that.

"I wish you'd let me help," grumbled Simone. "Bevan wanted you
to have everything he could provide for you. He loved you and Terry
as his own."

"I know, and we loved him. He was our father, far more so than
the real one."

"Bevan told me you were Honors material. You play so beautifully. He was extremely proud of you. He'd be very disappointed that you
let it slide this way."

Chloe bit her lip. That remark had so much wrong with it, was so
unfair and thoughtless, she couldn't begin to correct Simone. Best ignore it. She wouldn't have knowingly disappointed Bevan in a million years. She wouldn't have dropped out of university in an ideal
world, but life wasn't ideal, as they'd learned so painfully.

Bevan had died. Mum and Terry had died. Simone was an emotional
mess for the first two years after the bombing, hardly any help at all.
Three young children were left with only their big half sister to care
for them. They needed full-time love and a full-time, stay-at-home replacement mother. A stable routine. Chloe had done her best to provide
it. And Simone had rallied eventually.

"You do help," Chloe said. "We couldn't manage without you"

Seb fidgeted constantly in the passenger seat beside Chloe. As
soon as she started the engine, he tuned in music full blast, nearly
blowing the windows out with a thudding bass beat and screaming
lead vocalist.

"Turn it down!" she yelled.

He twisted the dial a fraction. Now just her body vibrated rather
than the whole car. "Seb!" Another twist. Silence, and she could
think.

"You didn't need to switch it off." She braked at the stop sign at the
end of their cul de sac, peering both ways before easing out into
the road.

"Not much point having it on if you can't hear it." He stared out the
window with his arms folded hard across his chest. Chloe gritted her
teeth. Why did teenagers always overreact to every little thing? And
where did he get off doing this sullen, defiant routine? This whole situation was his doing.

Owning up to bad behavior took courage, no two ways about it.
Alex Bergman had had the courage and the moral integrity to make an
apology to her. Maybe she owed him an apology too. Chloe smiled to
herself. Everyone could apologize to everyone. They'd all be falling
over themselves to be polite.

Alex's street was close to the major arterial route from the city center, screened by towering gum trees and raised above the traffic
by the natural rise of the land. The whole suburb spilled down the
gentle slopes of Black Mountain, the houses nestled in dense, original bushland thick with gums, wattles, and native vegetation.

Bevan had bought their own house when he'd married her
mother sixteen years ago. He'd wanted to live in Aranda because it
was close to the university where he lectured in Asian Studiessaid they'd need a big place because they planned to have more children so Terry and Chloe would have siblings. And ultimately they'd
been a big happy family in that sprawling house, all seven of them,
until the older girls had moved out to share a house with fellow students.

"Stop." Seb sat upright to twist in his seat, jolting her into sudden
awareness. "You've gone past."

She slowed and hauled the big sedan through a turn in a neighbor's driveway. Alex's house was set back with a long, sloping lawn,
dry and turning brown in the summer heat, as were most people's at
this time of year. Drought conditions and water restrictions made
their dusty mark on Australia's bush capital. She parked in the shade,
and they both got out and stared at the low white house for a moment. It sat sheltered from the weather in a cool nest of trees and
shrubbery with a large liquidambar dominating the front garden.
That tree would be glorious in its autumn colors.

Chloe walked up the driveway. The accumulated heat of the day radiated through the soles of her sandals. Seb shuffled behind her. Someone had spray-painted a hot pink obscenity on the blanched white
concrete.

"It wasn't me," said Seb as she paused, staring at the word beneath her feet. "It was Cameron."

Chloe exhaled in disgust, shook her head, and moved on.

The liquidambar stood in the middle of a loop at the top of the
drive. An arched gateway led to the rear between the double garage
and the house. A small sign said OFFICE with an arrow pointing
through the gate. Stone pavers shunted the social visitor between
low shrubs to the front door. Small black solar sensor lights were set
along the path. All broken.

A pair of birches shaded the front of the house; their leaves, cool and green, rustled gently in the slight breeze. Two steps up onto the
wide front porch, the gray slate surface cooler underfoot. The front
door stood open, but the security screen door was closed. A polished
wood floor lead into the dim recesses of the house.

"Ready?" Chloe paused with finger poised on the bell.

"Yeah." His upper lip wore a sheen of perspiration. Probably not
from the heat of the afternoon. Good. He darn well should be nervous. She was.

Alex was in the kitchen preparing salad for dinner when the bell
rang. He wiped his hands, took a deep breath, and went to open the
door. They stood side by side on the porch, their outlines blurred
by the screen. Chloe wore a pale pink sundress that revealed lightly
tanned, bare shoulders and slender legs. She'd pulled her hair back
again, but wisps drifted across her brow and cheeks. She stood
stiffly straight, clutching her car keys and a small black purse before her with both hands. Looked as though she were awaiting execution.

He wanted to set her at her ease, invite her in for a drink, make
her smile and see he wasn't the ogre she thought he was, but the boy
was there, slouching, trying to look cool. Failing dismally.

The kid had thrust his hands into the pockets of baggy black
shorts, but he fidgeted from one thong-clad foot to the other and
licked his lips nervously when he spied Alex approaching. He immediately stared at his feet.

Alex unlatched the screen and pushed it open toward them.
"Hello. Come in.,,

"Thank you." Chloe ducked her head in a kind of greeting and
stepped awkwardly past him. The boy followed with a brave attempt
at a swagger.

They stood crowded together in the entry foyer while Alex
closed the screen door. A light fragrance hung in the air. Her perfume. Tantalizing with a hint of warm female skin. His eyes strayed
to her bare neck, the hair lifted from the nape with delicate strands
escaping from the clasp. His hand rose, perhaps with the intention
of touching, feeling the softness. He quickly changed it to a gesture
of welcome.

"This way." He indicated the open-plan living room on the left. "Sit down, please. Would you like a cool drink?" He looked from one
to the other, but Chloe shook her head for them both and remained
standing.

She met his eye with a firm, direct gaze. Her eyes really were beautiful. Deep green with golden brown flecks. The lashes were dark,
which contrasted stunningly with the blond hair. Natural blond, he'd
bet. She had no artifice about her.

"No, thank you. We don't want to intrude. Sebastian has something to say to you."

Alex tore his attention from the fascinating aspects of Chloe's hair
and eyes. He studied Sebastian. Just a kid. A pimply-faced, frightened boy. Despite the stance and the attitude, the blue eyes weren't
those of a hardened thug. Fourteen, the police had told him. Trying
out his wings and getting into more trouble than he'd dreamed existed. One stupid action and wham! Alex knew all about the injustice
of that.

Some kids got away with murder over and over again. Others do
something foolhardy once, and they're caught. First go. He and Sebastian. Lucky, really, although Sebastian wouldn't see it that way
for many years to come.

He watched the boy working out how to start his little speech. He
would've prepared something-Chloe would've seen to that. And
Grandma. People who cared were this boy's saviors.

"Thanks for not, you know, um, charging me with, um, trespassing and that." Sebastian's face was deep rose pink. He glanced at his
sister, and she nodded encouragingly. He looked back at Alex, met
his gaze briefly, then lost courage and spoke to his top button instead. "And for not sending me to court."

"All right." Alex waited.

Chloe frowned at Sebastian and murmured, "Go on" She flicked
an anxious glance at Alex, and he raised an eyebrow slightly.

"I'm sorry about what we-I mean, what I did. Breaking the
lights and stuff. Sorry." He subsided into silence.

"Thank you for coming to see me," said Alex. "I appreciate it. It's
not easy to own up to something you've done wrong. Shows courage
and character."

Two pairs of eyes regarded him intently, expecting more. An outburst perhaps. A tirade about the inconsiderate selfishness of today's youth and the path to ruin. He said nothing. Chloe's whole body
relaxed as she realized he'd finished. The tension left her shoulders,
and she suddenly looked incredibly tired.

Alex impulsively extended his hand to Sebastian, and as he shook
it, a tentative smile crept across the boy's lips.

"I thought you'd be really mad"

"I am," Alex replied, and the smile disappeared in a flash. "But
you've apologized, and I accept your apology."

"So what happens now?" Sebastian's gaze swung to Chloe, then
back again, clearly bewildered.

Chloe grasped his arm. "We leave Mr. Bergman in peace and don't
bother him again. Ever. Thank you for seeing us, Mr. Bergman" She
edged her brother toward the door.

Never see her again. Ever? Her perfume danced in his nostrils as
she moved.

"Wait a moment," he said quickly. They paused. Alarm registered
on her face for an instant, but Alex smiled gently. "You mentioned
some form of recompense?"

"Oh, yes. I'm sorry. You didn't sound very keen." She gathered herself together and faced him squarely. "What did you have in mind?"

Alex shoved his brain into gear, top gear. Overdrive. He hadn't
thought at all. He hadn't wanted the boy here. Did he want him here?
What about Steffie? But he could organize it so that Sebastian didn't
come on her weekends. He seemed a nice enough kid, deserved a second chance. Do him good to work off his debt. Those sensor lights
weren't cheap to replace. And scrubbing the concrete would be a good
lesson. A horrible job.

"He can clean the graffiti off my driveway for a start. And next
door's. They've got young children, and that language is downright
offensive. There's gardening, the gutters need cleaning, and some
painting needs to be done."

Chloe jumped in with, "He can't do gutters. He's not good with
heights."

"Chloe!" The cheeks went red again. Sebastian met his gaze, and
Alex spontaneously found himself sharing a man-to-man glance. A
mother hen. That could become claustrophobic for a teenager. Had
it? Had this been Sebastian's clumsy form of breaking out?

He said dryly, "Not a good idea from a safety point of view anyway. Don't want you to sue me if he fell off the ladder."

"I wouldn't!"

Alex kept his expression neutral at the horrified look on her face.
Crazily he wanted to laugh. He wanted to see her smile. She hadn't
since he'd met her. Not once. Did she ever have reason to smile, or
was her life too fraught with worry and responsibility?

He turned to Sebastian, who was trying to hide a grin. "How about
you come for a couple of hours every day? If we calculate you'd earn
fifteen dollars an hour, it would take you about forty hours to pay off
the cost of repairing the damage. Or, alternatively, you could just pay
me in one go."

"Six hundred dollars?" gasped Sebastian. No sign of the grin
now. His cheeks had gone white. He gulped.

Chloe firmed her mouth. Alex Bergman was deadly serious, his
eyes hard and calculating. He was still angry with Seb. Very angry,
and he wanted compensation despite his gracious acceptance of
the apology. How could he possibly think she'd sue him if Seb hurt
himself?

Now came Seb's moment of truth. Paying for his sins. He had
seventy-three dollars in his savings account from his milk run and delivering papers. Julian, more frugal, had one hundred and two, but he
wouldn't be coughing up for this. Brotherly love extended only so far
when you were saving for a computer upgrade. She deliberately kept
her expression blank.

Alex regarded him steadily. "Those lights were the best quality. I
had ten, and some had to be installed by an electrician. Electricians
charge a fortune to walk in the door. There's also the letter box and
removing the graffiti."