Local Hero (11 page)

“That might have cleared up a few points, but I think we still have to talk.” He took her hand to keep her close another moment. “Soon.”

“I don't know.” Had she ever been this confused before? She'd thought she'd left these feelings, these doubts behind her long ago.

“I'll come up or you can come down, but we'll talk.”

He was jockeying her into a corner, one she knew she'd be backed into sooner or later. “Not tonight,” she said, despising herself for being a coward. “Rad and I have a lot to do.”

“Procrastination's not your style.”

“It is this time,” she murmured, and turned away quickly. “Radley, we have to go in.”

“Look, Mom, I just finished, isn't it great?” He stood back to show off his warrior. “You hardly started yours.”

“Maybe we'll finish it tomorrow.” She walked to him quickly and took him by the hand. “We have to go in and fix dinner now.”

“But can't we just—”

“No, it's nearly dark.”

“Can Mitch come?”

“No, he can't.” She shot a glance over her shoulder as they walked. He was hardly more than a shadow now, standing beside her son's fort. “Not tonight.”

Mitch put a hand on his dog's head as Taz whined and started forward. “Nope. Not this time.”

* * *

There didn't seem any way of avoiding him, Hester thought as she started down to Mitch's apartment at her son's request. She had to admit it had been foolish of her to try. On the surface, anyone would think that Mitch Dempsey was the solution to many of her problems. He was genuinely fond of Radley, and gave her son both a companion and a safe and convenient place to stay while she worked. His time was flexible, and he was very generous with it.

The truth was, he'd complicated her life. No matter how much she tried to look at him as Radley's friend or her slightly odd neighbor, he brought back feelings she hadn't experienced in almost ten years. Fluttery pulses and warm surges were things Hester had attributed to the very young or the very optimistic. She'd stopped being either when Radley's father had left them.

In all the years that had followed that moment, she'd devoted herself to her son—to making the best possible home for him, to make his life as normal and well-balanced as possible. If Hester the woman had gotten lost somewhere in the shuffle, Radley's mother figured it was a fair exchange. Now Mitch Dempsey had come along and made her feel and, worse, had made her wish.

Taking a deep breath, Hester knocked on Mitch's door. Radley's friend's door, she told herself firmly. The only reason she was here was because Radley had been so excited about showing her something. She wasn't here to see Mitch; she wasn't hoping he would reach out and run his fingertips along her cheek as he sometimes did. Hester's skin warmed at the thought of it.

Hester linked her hands together and concentrated on Radley. She would see whatever it was he was so anxious for her to see, and then she would get them both back upstairs to their own apartment—and safety.

Mitch answered the door. He wore a sweatshirt sporting a decal of a rival super hero across the chest, and sweatpants with a gaping hole in one knee. There was a towel slung over his shoulders. He used one end of it to dry the sweat off his face.

“You haven't been out running in this weather?” she asked before she'd allowed herself to think, immediately regretting the question and the obvious concern in her voice.

“No.” He took her hand to draw her inside. She smelled like the springtime that was still weeks and weeks away. Her dark blue suit gave her a look of uncreased professionalism he found ridiculously sexy. “Weights,” he told her. The fact was, he'd been lifting weights a great deal since he'd met Hester Wallace. Mitch considered it the second best way to decrease tension and rid the body of excess energy.

“Oh.” So that explained the strength she'd felt in his arms. “I didn't realize you went in for that sort of thing.”

“The Mr. Macho routine?” he said, laughing. “No, I don't, actually. The thing is, if I don't work out regularly, my body turns into a toothpick. It's not a pretty sight.” Because she looked nervous enough to jump out of her skin, Mitch couldn't resist. He leered and flexed his arm. “Want to feel my pecs?”

“I'll pass, thanks.” Hester kept her hands by her sides. “Mr. Rosen sent this package.” She slipped the fat bank portfolio out from where she'd held it at her side. “Just remember, you asked for it.”

“So I did.” Mitch accepted it, then tossed it on a pile of magazines on the coffee table. “Tell him I'll pass it along.”

“And will you?”

He lifted a brow. “I usually keep my word.”

She was certain of that. It reminded her that he'd said they would talk, and soon. “Radley called and said there was something he had to show me.”

“He's in the office. Want some coffee?”

It was such a casual offer, so easy and friendly, that she nearly agreed. “Thanks, but we really can't stay. I had to bring some paperwork home with me.”

“Fine. Just go on in. I need a drink.”

“Mom!” The minute she stepped into the office, Radley jumped up and grabbed her hands. “Isn't it great? It's the neatest present I ever got in my life.” With his hands still locked on hers, Radley dragged her over to a scaled-down drawing board.

It wasn't a toy. Hester could see immediately that it was top-of-the-line equipment, if child size. The small swivel stool was worn, but the seat was leather. Radley already had graph paper tacked to the board, and with compass and ruler had begun what appeared to be a set of blueprints.

“Is this Mitch's?”

“It was, but he said I could use it now, for as long as I wanted. See, I'm making the plans for a space station. This is the engine room. And over here and here are the living quarters. It's going to have a greenhouse, sort of like the one they had in this movie Mitch let me watch. Mitch showed me how to draw things to scale with these squares.”

“I see.” Pride in her son overshadowed any tension as she crouched down for a better look. “You catch on fast, Rad. This is wonderful. I wonder if NASA has an opening.”

He chuckled, facedown, as he did when he was both pleased and embarrassed. “Maybe I could be an engineer.”

“You can be anything you want.” She pressed a kiss to his temple. “If you keep drawing like this, I'm going to need an interpreter to know what you're doing. All these tools.” She picked up a square. “I guess you know what they're for.”

“Mitch told me. He uses them sometimes when he draws.”

“Oh?” She turned the square over in her hand. It looked so—professional.

“Even comic art needs a certain discipline,” Mitch said from the doorway. He held a large glass of orange juice, which was already half gone. Hester rose. He looked—virile, she realized.

There was a faint vee of dampness down the center of his shirt. His hair had been combed through with no more than his fingers, and not for the first time, he hadn't bothered to shave off the night's growth of beard. Beside her, her son was happily remodeling his blueprint.

Virile, dangerous, nerve-wracking he might be, but a kinder man she'd never met. Concentrating on that, Hester stepped forward. “I don't know how to thank you.”

“Rad already has.”

She nodded, then laid a hand on Radley's shoulder.

“You finish that up, Rad. I'll be in the other room with Mitch.”

Hester walked into the living room. It was, as she'd come to expect, cluttered and chaotic. Taz nosed around the carpet looking for cookie crumbs. “I thought I knew Rad inside and out,” Hester began. “But I didn't know a drawing board would mean so much to him. I guess I would have thought him too young to appreciate it.”

“I told you once he had a natural talent.”

“I know.” She gnawed on her lip. She wished she had accepted the offer of coffee so that she'd have something to do with her hands. “Rad told me that you were giving him some art lessons. You've done more for him than I ever could have expected. Certainly much more than you're obligated to.”

He gave her a long, searching look. “It hasn't got anything to do with obligation. Why don't you sit down?”

“No.” She linked her hands together, then pulled them apart again. “No, that's all right.”

“Would you rather pace?”

It was the ease of his smile that had her unbending another notch. “Maybe later. I just wanted to tell you how grateful I am. Rad's never had . . .” A father. The words had nearly come out before Hester had swallowed them in a kind of horror. She hadn't meant that, she assured herself. “He's never had anyone to give him so much attention—besides me.” She let out a little breath. That was what she'd meant to say. Of course it was. “The drawing board was very generous. Rad said it was yours.”

“My father had it made for me when I was about Rad's age. He'd hoped I'd stop sketching monsters and start doing something productive.” He said it without bitterness, but with a trace of amusement. Mitch had long since stopped resenting his parents' lack of understanding.

“It must mean a great deal to you for you to have kept it all this time. I know Rad loves it, but shouldn't you keep it for your own children?”

Mitch took a sip of juice and glanced around the apartment. “I don't seem to have any around at the moment.”

“But still—”

“Hester, I wouldn't have given it to him if I hadn't wanted him to have it. It's been in storage for years, gathering dust. It gives me a kick to see Rad putting it to use.” He finished off the juice, then set the glass down before he crossed to her. “The present's for Rad, with no strings attached to his mother.”

“I know that. I didn't mean—”

“No, I don't think you did, exactly.” He was watching her now, unsmiling, with that quiet intensity he drew out at unexpected moments. “I doubt if it was even in the front of your mind, but it was milling around in there somewhere.”

“I don't think you're using Radley to get to me, if that's what you mean.”

“Good.” He did as she'd imagined he might, and ran a finger along her jawline. “Because the fact is, Mrs. Wallace, I'd like the kid without you, or you without the kid. It just so happens that in this case, you came as a set.”

“That's just it. Radley and I are a unit. What affects him affects me.”

Mitch tilted his head as a new thought began to dawn. “I think I'm getting a signal here. You don't think I'm playing pals and buddies with Rad to get Rad's mother between the sheets?”

“Of course not.” She drew back sharply, looking toward the office. “If I had thought that, Radley wouldn't be within ten feet of you.”

“But . . .” He laid his arms on her shoulders, linking his hands loosely behind her neck. “You're wondering if your feelings for me might be residual of Radley's feelings.”

“I never said I had feelings for you.”

“Yes, you did. And you say it again every time I manage to get this close. No, don't pull away, Hester.” He tightened his hands. “Let's be upfront. I want to sleep with you. It has nothing to do with Rad, and less than I figured to do with the primal urge I felt the first time I saw your legs.” Her eyes lifted warily to his, but held. “It has to do with the fact that I find you attractive in a lot of ways. You're smart, you're strong, and you're stable. It might not sound very romantic, but the fact is, your stability is very alluring. I've never had a lot of it myself.”

He brushed his linked hands up the back of her neck. “Now, maybe you're not ready to take a step like this at the moment. But I'd appreciate it if you'd take a straight look at what you want, at what you feel.”

“I'm not sure I can. You only have yourself. I have Rad. Whatever I do, whatever decisions I make, ripple down to affect him. I promised myself years ago that he would never be hurt by another one of his parents. I'm going to keep that promise.”

He wanted to demand that she tell him about Radley's father then and there, but the boy was just in the next room. “Let me tell you what I believe. You could never make a decision that could hurt Rad. But I do think you could make one that could hurt yourself. I want to be with you, Hester, and I don't think our being together is going to hurt Radley.”

“It's all done.” Radley streamed out of the office, the graph paper in both hands. Hester immediately started to move away. To prove a point to both of them, Mitch held her where she was. “I want to take it and show Josh tomorrow. Okay?”

Knowing a struggle would be worse than submission, Hester stayed still with Mitch's arms on her shoulders. “Sure you can.”

Radley studied them a moment. He'd never seen a man with his arms around his mother, except his grandpa or his uncle. He wondered if this made Mitch like family. “I'm going over to Josh's tomorrow afternoon, and I'm staying for a sleepover. We're going to stay up all night.”

“Then I'll just have to look after your mom, won't I?”

“I guess.” Radley began to roll the graph paper into a tube as Mitch had shown him.

“Radley knows I don't have to be looked after.”

Ignoring her, Mitch continued to speak to Radley. “How about if I took your mom on a date?”

“You mean get dressed up and go to a restaurant and stuff?”

“Something like that.”

“That'd be okay.”

“Good. I'll pick her up at seven.”

“I really don't think—”

“Seven's not good?” Mitch interrupted Hester. “All right, seven thirty, but that's as late as it gets. If I don't eat by eight, I get nasty.” He gave Hester a quick kiss on the temple before releasing her. “Have a good time at Josh's.”