Still the One (16 page)

“I thought so at the time. But I was just a kid.”

“How do you feel now?”

“About how I felt back then?”

She was more curious about Katie’s current feelings, but she didn’t want to ask, so she nodded.

Katie lifted her shoulders. “It seemed real at the time.”

Which was only natural. The tightness in Annette’s chest loosened. “I don’t imagine you two have very much in common anymore.
Isn’t he some kind of jet-setting poker whiz?”

“He was. Zack doesn’t play professionally anymore.”

Was she imagining things, or did Katie sound defensive?

“He runs a risk-management consulting firm now,” Katie said.

Apparently he hadn’t evaluated risks too well as a teenager, Annette thought dryly. But then, who did?

An unusual awkwardness filled the air. Katie rose from the bed. “I’d better get down to the salon before Iris has a cow. Do
you want me to help you get up or anything before I go?”

“No, dear. The physical therapist will be here in a moment.”

“Well, then, I’ll see you later.” Katie leaned down and kissed Annette’s cheek, then headed for the door. She paused, her
hand on the doorknob. “You’re looking good,” Katie said. “When I walked in, I noticed that you had color in your cheeks for
the first time since your surgery.”

“Thanks, dear.” Annette saw no point in telling her that the flush on her face probably had less to do with her improving
health than Dave’s visit.

She leaned back against her pillow and sighed as Katie closed the door. When had everything in her life gotten so mixed up?

Zack looked up from his computer as Gracie walked into the house at five-thirty that evening. “How was your day?”

“Okay, I guess.” Gracie shrugged. “I filled out an application to work at the old folks home. They have two job openings—as
recreation assistant, and as a waitress in the restaurant.”

Zack rose and followed her into the kitchen. “Sunnyside has a really nice restaurant.”

“Yeah. Apparently Emma Jamison jazzed it up when she worked there. Did you know she lived here?”

“Yeah, I did.” Emma’s scandal had been all over the papers three years ago. That was actually when Zack had looked up Katie
and learned that she was married.

“She and Katie are best friends.”

“Is that a fact?”

“Yeah. Katie’s godmother to one of her kids.” Gracie opened the refrigerator door. “There’s nothing to eat in here.”

“There’s a basket of fruit the real-estate agent left on the counter.”

“That’s all that’s in the house?”

“Yeah. We need to go to the store.”

“I can do it if you give me the keys to your car.”

“Do you have a license?”

Her eyes shifted away. “Sort of.”

“How do you ‘sort of’ have a license?”

“I have a learner’s permit. My dear, sweet, trusting aunt wouldn’t let me go get my license on my birthday like all the other
kids because she didn’t think I was”—she made air quotes with her fingers—“ ‘mature’ enough.” She rolled her eyes. “But I
took driver’s ed and I know how to drive, so I can go to the store and back.”

Zack shook his head and sat down on a barstool. “Sorry. I believe in obeying the law.”

She sighed and moved to the fruit basket on the counter. “Laws are just a bunch of stupid rules.”

“They’re there for a reason. And there are some awfully bad consequences to getting caught.”

She tugged at the red cellophane. “Sounds like you’ve had personal experience.”

Might as well tell her. “I got arrested once, and I ended up in juvenile detention.”

“Wow.” She froze in mid-rip and looked up. “So you have a record?”

“No. It was sealed when I turned eighteen.” At least his uncle had had the decency to see to that. He’d had no compunction
about letting Zack take the fall for his son’s illegal drug posession, but he’d cleared his record.

Gracie finished tearing off the cellophane, then looked up suddenly. “Hey, I have an idea. You can take me to the DMV!”

It was the first sign of real enthusiasm that he’d seen on Gracie’s face—which made it an enormous bargaining chip. “I’ll
tell you what. If you get a job and start acting like a decent human being around Kate, I’ll let you get your license.”

“No shit?”

Her eagerness made Zack grin. “You’re going to have to start talking in a more ladylike manner, too.”

She picked up an apple. “Yeah, well, I’m not a lady.”

“You’re not a sailor, either. If you want your license, you’ll clean up your language.”

“For how long?”

“Forever.”

“When I turn eighteen, I can do what I want.”

“Work with me on this, and you might get a car out of the deal.”

“For real? When?”

How long would be a significant amount of time to demonstrate real behavior modification? “If you treat Kate with respect,
get a job, take care of yourself and that baby you’re carrying, and watch your mouth, I’ll get you a car next month.”

“A month! That’s way too far away.”

He’d forgotten how time seemed to drag to a teenager. He’d been sentenced to juvenile detention for three months, and it had
seemed like a lifetime. “That’s the deal. Take it or leave it.”

“But it sucks.”

“At this rate, you’re never going to get a car.”

“There’s nothing wrong with the word
sucks
.”

Zack shot her a look.

She blew out a sigh. “All right, all right.”

“Okay. The clock starts now.” Zack looked at his watch. “At five-thirty on August twenty-fifth, you can be picking out a car,
if you abide by the rules. Deal?”

“Deal.”

Katie juggled the large, plastic-wrapped bowl of salad in one arm as she pressed the doorbell on Zack’s front door, then drew
a deep breath, trying to quiet her nerves. Get used to it, she told herself. If she was going to share custody of Gracie,
she was going to have to get accustomed to seeing Zack.

She didn’t know why, exactly, she felt so on edge around him. No, that wasn’t quite true. She knew, all right, but she didn’t
want to acknowledge it.

She was attracted to him. She straightened her shoulders and lifted her head. Well, so what? Lots of women were attracted
to men. That didn’t mean anything had to happen between them.

The door squeaked, then Gracie stood in the doorway, backlit by a lantern hanging down in the entryway.

Was it Katie’s imagination, or was Gracie’s expression a little less sullen than before? Katie smiled. “Hi.”

“Hey.”

It wasn’t her imagination. It was definitely a more cordial hey than she’d gotten before. Gracie pulled the door wide and
stepped back to let Katie enter the foyer.

“Hi, Kate.” Zack stepped forward and kissed her cheek. It was a friendly greeting, nothing more, but his clean, soapy scent
and the rasp of his five-o’clock shadow against her cheek made her feel things that were decidedly more than platonic. She
held out the bowl. “I brought salad.”

“Great.” Gracie took it from her. “I’ll put it in the fridge until the pizza arrives.”

Zack gestured toward the living room. “Come on in.”

Katie stepped into the living area, struck again by the beautiful decor. “I can’t get over how lovely this place is.”

“Not the bedroom that was supposed to be mine,” Gracie said. “I’m in the so-called guest room because the room the designer
did for me is a piece of crap.”

Zack frowned at her.

Gracie winced. “I meant to say, ‘The decor is not to my liking.’ ”

“Much better,” Zack said.

Katie looked curiously from Gracie to Zack. Gracie shot him an anxious look. “That one doesn’t count, does it?”

Zack grinned. “I think we can make an allowance for an adjustment period.”

“Good.” Gracie opened the Sub-Zero refrigerator, stuck the salad bowl inside, then slammed the door.

“Well, I’m going to my noncrappy room. If you two will excuse me, that is,” she added with exaggerated politeness.

“Of course,” Katie said, not sure what to make of Gracie’s behavior.

She watched Gracie head up the stairs, then turned to Zack. “What’s going on? Did you perform some kind of personality transplant?”

His mouth curved into a grin. “No transplant. Just a bribe.”

“What?”

“I promised her a car if she shaped up.” He made it sound offhanded, as if getting a teenager a new car was no big deal.

For some reason, his nonchalant attitude ran all over her. “You should have discussed that with me, don’t you think?”

He looked bewildered. “Why?”

Katie put her hands on her hips. “Because if we’re going to share custody, we need to discuss major decisions.”

“I didn’t think it was that major. She’s going to need a license and transportation.”

“A car is expensive.”

“Not a problem.”

The answer shot her temper into the red zone. “For you, maybe. I don’t have your deep pockets.”

“I didn’t mean for you to pay for it.”

“If we’re going to share custody, I should pay half.”

“No, Kate. Things aren’t going to work like that.”

Who was he to say how this was going to work? He didn’t have a monopoly on setting the rules. “We haven’t discussed how this
is going to work.”

“Fine. Let’s discuss it.” He fixed his dark eyes on her. “She’ll split her time between your home and mine, and I’ll take
care of all Gracie’s expenses.”

“That’s not fair.”

“Why not? I’ve got the resources.”

And you don’t.
He didn’t say it, but it was implied all the same. She wasn’t broke. She made a good living, and she had Paul’s life insurance
money. But that wasn’t really the issue. She wasn’t quite sure what the issue was.

“There’s no reason to make this complicated,” Zack said.

Damn it, it
was
complicated. There were plenty of reasons he shouldn’t foot the bill for everything—good reasons, she was sure—but she couldn’t
come up with any at the moment, so she stated the one that was on the top of her mind. “I don’t want to be beholden to you.”

“You wouldn’t be.”

“I would feel as if I were, if you’re paying for everything.”

“Kate, I have plenty of money.”

“This isn’t about money. It’s about us each handling our fair share.”

“You’ve already more than done your share. You went through the pregnancy. You gave birth. You’ve worried about her all this
time, while I didn’t even know she existed. This is the least I can do, and I want to do it.”

Why couldn’t she just let him? She didn’t know, but she shook her head all the same. “It doesn’t feel right.”

“Why not?”

“Because… It feels as if you have all the control.”

“This isn’t about control.” He stepped closer, close enough that she could see the green facets around the pupils of his blue,
blue eyes.

“It feels like it is.”

“Why?”

“Because…”
Whenever I’m around you, I feel out of control. I think things and feel things I don’t want to think and feel.
She straightened her back, trying to steel herself against the pull she felt toward him. “Because it feels like you’ve swept
in and made all the decisions and moved a block away from me and turned my life upside down and I haven’t had a say in anything.”

“You have plenty of say, Kate.” He blew out a frustrated breath. “Look—if you don’t want her to have a car, I won’t get her
one.”

“I can’t very well take it away from her if you’ve promised it.”

“She won’t have to know you’re the one saying no.”

Did she really want to force Zack to break his word to their daughter? She looked away. “It just seems like a car is a privilege,
something that should be worked for and earned.”

“She’s going to earn it. She has to shape up her attitude, get a job, and start acting responsibly.” He put both hands on
her upper arms in what was no doubt meant to be a conciliatory gesture. The touch burned. “Look—I’m sorry I didn’t discuss
it with you first. The fact is, I’m used to making unilateral decisions.”

“Yeah, well, so am I.”

“Sounds like we’re both going to have to make some adjustments, then.” His hands slid down her arms as he grinned at her.

She started to grin back, but something in his eyes made her breath hitch in her throat. A wave of awareness crashed over
her. They were standing close, as close as lovers, so close that she could smell the clean scent of him and see his eyes darken.
The moment when someone should have stepped away came and passed. His gaze held hers, then it dropped to her lips.

Oh, God. Desire, hot and heavy, flared inside her, so fast that it nearly took her breath away. A hot ache coiled between
her legs. His eyes moved back to hers. His eyes were dark and heavy-lidded, a reflection of what she was feeling.

“Kate…” He reached up and smoothed a strand of hair away from her face, his thumb flicking over her chin. He curled his other
hand around her head, cupping her face.

Air refused to enter or leave her lungs. A memory of that summer sucked her down into a hot, swirling vortex.

A few days after meeting Zack, Katie trudged home along a deserted road after locking the bait shop for the night. Her mother
had promised to pick her up, but as all too frequently happened, she hadn’t shown.