Kat Attalla Special Edition (64 page)

It obviously held painful memories since he’d buried it away in the back of his closet. "I can't."

"Sure you can. It wasn't meant to sit in a closet."

"Maybe later. I'm not up to playing right now."

"Okay." He rested the guitar against the edge of the bed and sat down next to it. Regret clouded his blue eyes. She wondered what kind of relationship he had with his father. Jake never mentioned him by name. Even Trevor, who readily talked about anything, never spoke of the older Callahan.

He laid his palm against her forehead to check her temperature. "Can I get you anything?"

She found it difficult to maintain her anger with him when he looked so sad. "No, thanks."

"I have to get back to the barn. Please, don't try to get up again."

"There isn't much point. I wouldn't get too far."

He brushed his thumb over her cheek and grinned. "If you're a good girl, I'll let you watch television tonight."

She smiled at his attempt to bribe her. "I doubt that would even work on Chloe."

"No. I told Chloe if she was good, she would get to visit with you. She finds you much more entertaining."

She felt too weary to laugh and too tired to fight. "Do you always get your way?"

"Do you think I would choose the life I have if I did?"

How odd. She would trade lives with him in the space of a heartbeat and never give it a second thought. "You've got more than ninety percent of the people in the world. And the ten percent who have more than you aren't any happier because of it."

* * *

Jake tipped his head and conceded the point. He had his daughter, the land, and the business. As long as people needed to eat, he would never be out of work. Still, he got the impression that she spoke about herself.

Aside from her money, Kate didn't seem to have very much. She never mentioned any friends. She rarely spoke of her work, and only when he forced the issue. Nothing about her made sense. She wasn't a snob. In the short time that she'd been in Tannersville, she had made quite an impression on the town.

So what secret was Kate so determined to hide that she cut herself off from relationships? Had some past heartbreak given her reason not to trust people's motives? He wanted to ask, but she had fallen asleep again, holding on to his hand.

"You won't always be able to escape my questions, City," he whispered to her. "I am going to know you."

He kissed her cheek and went to finish his work.

* * * *

checked the bedroom six times an hour to see if Kate had awakened yet. She had been driving Jake crazy. With a twinge of envy he wondered if his daughter would be half as worried if he had been ill.

At eight o'clock Kate staggered out of the bedroom with the blanket wrapped around her like a cape. "Where are my clothes?"

Jake helped her to the sofa. "I'll get them."

"How are you feeling?" Chloe asked.

Kate slumped against a pillow and moaned. "Like I was in the middle of a stampede. Being sick stinks."

Jake returned from the kitchen with her pink sweat suit folded neatly in his hands. "Need some help?" he asked innocently.

She snatched the clothes from him. "Turn around."

Chloe turned, but he didn't. He arched his eyebrow and challenged her to do something about the situation. When she felt better, he knew he had a lot of explaining to do before things would be right between them again. Until then, he used her weakened state to soften her up a bit.

She wriggled into the bottoms and passed on the sweatshirt. He did feel sorry for her as she struggled with the clothing. She was normally so graceful in everything she did that it angered her to stumble around helplessly. When she smoothed the pants up over her hips, she let out a sigh of relief.

"It's time for your medicine again," he reminded her cheerfully.

"No," Kate said. "I want to stay awake for one hour. Just one hour. That stuff is horrible."

"One hour," he agreed, holding up a finger to stress his point. "Are you hungry?"

"No. Just water, please."

"I'll get it," Chloe said. "I have to go to bed anyway."

His daughter hadn't developed the fine art of subtlety, so Kate immediately sensed a setup. "Since when do you go to bed at eight o'clock?"

"But ..." Chloe glanced at him, and he shrugged.

Kate grabbed Chloe's sleeve as she started to get up. "If I want to be alone with your father, I'll let you know. We have to look through the newspapers and see what's on sale. You have a big shopping spree ahead. If we leave the clothing choice to your father, you'll be coming back from the mall with flannel shirts and men's pajamas."

Jake grinned sheepishly. Perhaps he hadn't given enough thought to his daughter's wardrobe recently. "One hour for both of you. I'll be in the poorhouse if you spend any longer on this shopping expedition."

Any way he could get Kate to put up with his presence, he considered progress. At least he had Chloe in his corner. She insisted that he sit next to them and give his opinion on the trendy styles in junior miss clothing. He could now list fashion consultant among the many jobs of the single parent.

One hour later, he finally had Kate alone and in his arms again. She snuggled up against him, all soft and sexy. And sound asleep. He couldn't get a break.

Chapter Eleven

Thank you, God, Kate thought as the truck pulled down the county road. She relaxed in the easy chair and let out an enormous sigh of relief. Finally she had a moment of peace. With the Callahan clan fussing over her for the past three days, she thought she would go out of her mind. Whenever Jake stepped out of the house, he left Chloe or Trevor as watchdogs. Any attempt on her part to do something met an eager pair of hands demanding to take over.

Jake's guilt made him impossible to reason with. She would have come down with the virus regardless of their argument but she couldn’t convince him of that.  He hovered over her like a drone playing court to the queen bee.

Her only enjoyment came when Jake exited a room. He was too busy worrying to notice that she deliberately dropped things on the floor just to watch him bend over and pick them up. The cheap trick afforded her some measure of entertainment in an otherwise boring situation.

"Just what does that smile mean, Kate?" Trevor's taunting smirks were another source of amusement, but only when Jake landed on the receiving end.

"Can't a girl smile?"

He sat down on the hearth and stoked the fire. "Not like that unless she's thinking of a man."

"And what man would I be thinking of?"

"Maybe one who's as good-looking as me, but is not quite as sure of himself."

Kate broke out in a wide grin. "You have perfected conceit to an art."

"Yes, I have," Trevor joked proudly. He put another log in the fireplace and turned back to her. "You scare him, Kate. Everyone in his life has left him, and he's waiting' for you to do the same."

"He's got Chloe."

"By the skin of his teeth. He thought Libby's mother had taken her from school the other day. The last time she did that, it took him two weeks in court answering to charges of child abuse to get her back. By the time he reached the house, he wasn't rational. You took her out of school and went shopping."

She sprang forward in the chair. "That's not what happened, Trevor."

He waved a hand to cut off her angry denial. "I know. But that was all he knew at the time. If Ruth got word that Chloe had been pulled out of school by Jake's girlfriend to go to the mall, she would have been right back down at Social Services filing a complaint."

"Jake should have known me better. I'd never do anything to make trouble for him."

"No one is logical when it comes to their kids. Especially after all he's been through."

"That doesn't excuse what he said to me."

He shook his head sadly. "No. But it explains his state of mind. Only you can excuse what he said."

"Maybe I don't want to." She couldn't go through that again. Jake didn't trust her around his daughter.

"Yes, you do, but you want it to stop hurting first. Try to understand, and then smack him over the head with the cast-iron griddle. You'll feel much better."

She scratched her jaw thoughtfully and gave the idea serious consideration. "I'll think about it. In the meantime, I'm going home, and if you try to stop me, I'll crack the griddle over your head."

"I'm not gonna stop you. I'm gettin' pretty sick of seeing' you dressed in my brother's shirt. Don't you have any tight sweaters?"

"You're a twit." She eased herself out of the chair and headed towards the door. "Let me take your ego down a peg. Jake is much better looking than you. Particularly his south end."

Trevor let out a hearty laugh. "Jake was right. You were dropping' those things on purpose."

Before Trevor could see her burning cheeks, Kate darted out the door. She entered her house and leaned on the door. Home again!

Evidently Jake had expected her to leave the minute he pulled away. The heat in her house had been turned up to a comfortable temperature. All the dishes that she had left in the sink had been washed and put away. He had even dusted.

Guilt was a wonderful thing!

She headed straight for the bathroom and turned on the shower. She couldn't stand herself another second. Most of her strength had returned, and the warm water washed away the remaining stiffness in her limbs. Washing away her conversation with Trevor took more that a vigorous scrubbing.

Would she have been more rational in his shoes? She knew the answer. She'd gone through something similar herself and lost. And she was no more reasonable than Jake had been the other day.

She couldn't accuse him of shutting her out, because she was guilty of that herself. Their problems stemmed from a lack of communication. The physical side of their relationship developed before they had a foundation to build on.

She wrapped a towel around her body and ran swiftly to the bedroom to change. The glare of the ceiling lamp on the polished wood of the guitar stopped her in her tracks. Jake must have left it for her that morning.

He could be such a jerk, but he had his moments.

She didn't realize how much she missed the music until she saw it staring her in the face. She didn't long for the crowds or the studio. She liked to be alone with her music. She dressed and took the guitar into the living room to give it a try.

* * * *

Jake pulled the truck into the driveway.

Never again.

Never would he be foolish enough to brave the mall the day before a major holiday. Forty-five stores under one roof, and they had visited them all! Why couldn't the Sears catalog satisfy women anymore?

Chloe could barely contain her excitement or his credit card. He hadn't bought her new clothes in two years, and he went a little overboard, but he didn't ever want to see his daughter cry again because her classmates laughed at her. When he sold the two new calves, he would be able to pay off the bill.

"I want to show Kate," were the first words out of Chloe's mouth when he cut the engine.

"You're welcome, Chloe," he chided without anger. He understood that she needed feminine approval for her clothing choices.

"I'm sorry. Thank you for the clothes." She leaned across the seat and gave him a bear hug. "Now can I show Kate?"

"Why don't you wait until dinner and you can make a fashion show for her. Lord knows you have enough stuff."

"Do you think you can invite her to dinner without blowing it, or should I ask her?"

"It's not too late to return the clothes," he threatened.

Chloe took her packages and made a mad dash to the house. He walked towards the barn to check on the animals when he noticed Trevor leaning against Kate’s house near the dining room window. He raised a finger to his lips and waved Jake over.

Jake felt an uncontrollable blast of jealousy. What reason could Trevor have for spying on Kate?

As he got closer, he heard Kate's pure voice. The hypnotic song dissolved his anger, and he came under its spell. The haunting ballad of betrayal sounded vaguely familiar, but he couldn't be sure if he had heard it before, or if he only empathized with the sorrow the words evoked.

He rested next to Trevor and enjoyed the concert Kate had not intended for them. He knew he shouldn't eavesdrop, but her intricate guitar playing and sultry singing kept him riveted in place. Why did she play piano for a living when she had the ability to captivate an audience with her voice?

Minutes later, when she finished, he felt disappointed.

Like two guilty schoolboys, he and Trevor ran away before they got caught peeping in the windows. The music had ended, but he couldn't shake the song from his mind as he started his work. He felt sure that somewhere in those emotional lyrics lay the key to Kate.