Interior Designs (11 page)

"Then we'll make the most of it," said Cathryn, letting her imagination take over. "And we'll add track lights in clusters to bring out the pattern of that magnificent marble fireplace, and we'll take up this carpeting and put down an area rug to define a conversational area in the living room. Maybe a few Egyptian touches, framed papyrus prints or something. Does all that sound good to you?"

"Anything you say sounds good to me," he said, pulling her closer.

"How about mirrors on the wall opposite the window to reflect the view?"

"I'd like that. Actually, I'd like anything you can do to make the place look more like a home. A place where Selby can visit and feel comfortable."

Cathryn's eyebrows flew up. "Selby? Is she coming?"

"I'm working on it. I want her to. But not to a place like this. It's presently a bachelor apartment. I'll want one of the bedrooms decorated just for her, but it has to be different from her room at the beach house. When she comes, I want it to be a new start, with no memories from the past."

"Ah, I see." Cathryn thought for a moment. "How about something more grown-up than her circus room? A room that will take her through her school years to her early teenage years, if that's what you want."

"She'd like that. Twin beds, I think, so she'll have a place for overnight guests."

Drew ushered her to the room he had earmarked for Selby. It was a large bedroom with ample closet space, occupied now by nothing but a few cardboard boxes.

"I'd like to use beds with a half canopy," suggested Cathryn, warming to the thought of designing a room for a small girl. "Maybe we could put bookshelves on the opposite wall. I'll work up the plans myself, Drew. Then we'll look over them."

"Okay. But you've got to promise not to spend time on it when we could be together. I don't want the work you're doing for me to be an excuse not to see me."

"Since when," Cathryn replied, kissing him lightly, "do I have excuses not to see you?"

"Not often," he admitted, taking her hand and leading her back to the living room. "But I don't want you to start."

She laughed and settled down on the couch next to him. He curved his arm around her and she snuggled close, exulting in the pleasure of their physical contact. She had turned into a sensual woman with him, learning that she loved to be touched and stroked and kissed and made love to in every mood and every setting. Cathryn was astonished at the aspect of her personality that revealed itself when she was with Drew Sedgwick. She had not known that that Cathryn Mulqueen existed.

They'd left the draperies open, and for several minutes they quietly watched the moonlight shimmering on the wide water as they enjoyed each other's company.

"When will you know if Selby can come?" she asked after a while.

"I'm not sure. It's hard, not knowing if her visit will work out. But it's important for me to have her here." Drew spoke so vehemently that Cathryn sensed more than a father missing his child.

"Why?"

He was silent for such a long time that Cathryn feared he wasn't going to answer. When he spoke, it was slowly and thoughtfully as if he'd framed his reply with great care.

"I was raised by people who were paid to do it. I want better than that for my daughter, and when she's with me, I won't leave her upbringing to someone who doesn't love her. If Selby comes, it will change my life, Cathryn. I won't be able to work as hard. I'll spend most of my time at home with her."

She couldn't imagine Drew that way. No longer the hard-hitting, high-powered executive? Take his work away and what would he be? Who would he be?

"You look surprised." His eyes were on her, assessing.

"I am, in a way. You and your work—you
are
your work, Drew. I can't imagine you idle." All that pent-up energy that he channeled into the stores—what would happen to it?

He laughed. "Idle? Raising a child leaves one anything but idle, Cathryn."

Flustered, she said, "Oh, I know. But you understand what I mean."

His face became solemn. "I guess I do. My father was a workaholic, too, you know. The difference is that he slaved in that dreary store on Clematis Street year after year to earn a living for us. My mother worked with him. They hired babysitters to take care of me. Well, that store was the basis of my empire, and I'm not ungrateful. But I was lonely, and the sitters never stayed more than a couple of years at most. I hardly knew my parents. I'd hate Selby to feel that I'm a stranger."

"I see," said Cathryn, because she did.

"And so that's why I work so hard now. Because I need to get ahead while I can. I drive myself to become as secure as possible so that when Selby is here, I can afford the time off."

"What will you do then?"

"Let other people run the stores for me. Arrange my office hours differently. There are all sorts of things I could try."

Quickly Cathryn related Joseph Miles's phone call and the offer of Designers International to buy her business.

He listened carefully. "Would you ever take them up on it? Ever consider selling?"

"Sell? After all the hours I've put into it? Drew, I've put more than just hours into Cathryn Mulqueen Interiors. I've put in blood, sweat, and tears."

"Why, Cathryn? Why do you do it? I've told you what inspires me and spears me on, but what about you?"

"I love my work. It's the reason behind my ambition, the only reason, and one that most people don't understand."

Drew pulled her head onto his shoulder with a gentle hand. "I do," he said. "It's the way I was at first with the stores. Loving every minute, every problem, every solution."

"Feeling good about yourself because you're accomplishing something," she said dreamily, in tune with his thoughts.

"I was going to work and work, build something big, then sell the whole kit and kaboodle for a fortune and take the rest of my life off," he said reminiscently. "I thought Talma understood about the sacrifices. We were going to travel all over the world together, live anywhere we pleased because we'd be rich. Well, she decided not to stick it out. While I was out working myself to a frazzle, she found someone else."

"Oh, Drew, I—"

"Hush," he said softly, drawing her head back down to his shoulder. "If it hadn't worked out that way, I never would have known you."

"Which would have been too bad," she whispered against the graceful curve of his neck.

His finger beneath her chin lifted her head so that her eyes met his. His eyes sparkled at her across the space between them, and as his lips met hers, closing the space, she let herself relax in his arms.

"Too bad, indeed," he said against her lips. And then they didn't speak again for a long, long time.

* * *

Out on the bright, sun-kissed water, the skier sliced across the wake of the speedboat, sending a high, glittering plume of spray into the air.

Cathryn, arms clasped around her upraised knees, sat with Judy on a bench beneath a tall pine on the shore of Lake Osborne. The breeze from the lake sighed through the needles above them, creating an illusion of an oasis of calm at the party. Today was Judy and Ron's tenth wedding anniversary, and they were celebrating it with a gathering of friends for beer, barbecue, and water skiing on a Sunday afternoon. Drew was the water skier, and it was abundantly clear that he was skilled at the sport.

"Does Drew do everything as well as he skis?" asked Judy, crinkling her nose so that the freckles all ran together, and Cathryn sent her a sideways glance.

"Yes," she said, and the two of them laughed, still cohorts in a closed society. Then Cathryn became thoughtful and more than a little serious. "Drew plays hard and he works hard. He's a lot like me in that respect."

Judy produced a noise that, in anyone else, would have been described as a snort. "I hope that in Drew you've met your equal."

"I think I have. It's not at all unusual for him to start his day at dawn and be at his office by eight o'clock. Then he works straight through until seven or eight at night."

Judy grinned. Cathryn's seriousness struck her as ironic. "Cathryn, you of all people should understand that kind of schedule. It's a wonder you even find time to see each other."

"I do understand, and sometimes it's harder than we'd like to mesh our plans. You know, I think Drew works long hours to keep his mind off his daughter. He misses her so much, Judy."

Judy craned her neck, searching for a sign of her own daughter in the group of children who were thrashing through the gaudy croton bushes looking for chameleons.

"I'd miss Amanda if we were apart," Judy said. "It's only natural."

"I suppose so. But with a man, I thought it would be different."

"That's where I think men have always taken a bum rap," said Judy. "Everyone assumes that when there's a divorce, it's easy for the man to be parted from his children. Easier than for the mother, anyway. I don't think it's true."

"Well, Drew certainly thinks the world of Selby. I'm glad, Judy. I'm glad he's not the type to walk away from the responsibility of a child. Selby is more than just a souvenir of his marriage."

"It does speak well of him," agreed Judy, shooting Cathryn a keen glance. The change in her friend was marked. She'd never seen Cathryn looking so satisfied, so relaxed, or so happy. But wisely, she didn't comment on her friend's new look.

Cathryn's eyes tracked Drew across the bright water. She couldn't watch him without thrilling to the way the muscles in his broad back rippled in the sun, without wanting to curve her fingers around the nape of his neck where they fit so perfectly. But this was not the time for that, she reminded herself. Here she would have to share him with everyone else until later. A hint of anticipation arose somewhere inside her. She could hardly wait until later.

The cookout rocked along at full speed. Judy and Ron's home, a big pool-and-patio house on the lake, was well suited to such gatherings, and Judy liked to entertain. Ron was a gregarious and popular land developer who had recently won a seat on the county council. Guests of all ages were queuing up for water skiing, pitching horseshoes, and devouring hot dogs and hamburgers by the score.

"Whew!" Ron said, appearing from somewhere in the vicinity of the charcoal grill and wiping his forehead. "I think I need to sit down for a breather."

Cathryn and Judy edged over, making room for Ron on the bench. Cathryn liked Ron almost as much as she liked Judy. With his wiry brown hair and horn-rimmed glasses, he wasn't handsome in the classic sense, but he was the kind of person who was unfailingly pleasant and cheerful. Judy had married Ron soon after graduation from Florida State and, in Cathryn's opinion, she'd made a good choice. Their marriage was stable, with a good deal of affection and caring, and they had been blessed with Amanda, a treasure if there ever was one.

"I think I'd better see how things are going in the kitchen. We seem to be doing a bang-up business in potato salad." Judy got up to leave, but Ron caught her arm.

"I know you like parties, honey," he said. "But on our next anniversary, I think we should throw our own party, just the two of us at some faraway resort with an exotic name and a private Jacuzzi."

Judy patted her husband on the arm. "Very good idea. Remind me of it when the time comes, okay?" She bustled away toward the kitchen, in her element as a hostess.

"So," said Ron, leaning back and reveling in the cool breeze from the lake. "Judy tells me that you and Drew are hitting it off."

"Something tells me that we're in for one of our little chats," she said, smiling. Ever since their days at Florida State, when Ron had started dating Judy and had fairly swept her off her feet, he'd appointed himself Cathryn's unofficial big brother.

"We're long overdue for a little chat, as you put it," Ron told her. "Do you realize you haven't seen either Amanda or me for months?"

"You know how it is," she said. "I've had a lot to do."

"Still, it seems like the only time we see you anymore is when Judy shows us your picture in some highfalutin' decorating magazine."

Cathryn laughed. "Come on, Ron. It's not that bad. Anyway, I've been seeing a lot of Drew, so it's not as though I've become a total hermit."

"Yes, and I'm glad you two found each other. Drew is a nice guy. He got a rotten deal from his ex-wife, and he deserves some happiness for a change."

"Don't go getting any ideas that Drew and I might be a permanent thing," warned Cathryn, although such ideas had crossed her mind more than once.

"You're both lonely, and you're obviously good for each other. Marriage is wonderful, Cathryn, and don't you forget it. Look at Judy and me."

"Everybody isn't like you and Judy, Ron," she said gently, thinking how, in contrast to herself, Judy, a devoted stay-at-home mom, really enjoyed the day-to-day tasks of cooking, cleaning, and carpooling. "Marriage might not be right for me."

"You might want to rethink that," Ron said.

When Cathryn opened her mouth to object, he silenced her with an upraised hand.

"You should think about making time for the things that count. You can't imagine what a difference Amanda has made in our lives, Cathryn."