The Last Goodbye (14 page)

A sudden conviction came over her. She gripped the edges of the table and lifted it, stepping over the boxes of junk and carrying the table out of the shed. She put it down so she could turn off the light and secure the door, then she carried the table to Wendy’s house. She set it down in the living room and examined it again. The damage seemed even more profound now that it was contrasted with Wendy’s delicate antique furniture.

It didn’t matter. The important thing was that this was Tyler’s table, and now it was safe.

“R
IGHT
. W
E ALL SORTED
?” Tyler said, shutting his diary with a snap and standing.

It was past seven, and he and Gabby had finally said goodbye to their client. The meeting had lasted almost an hour longer than he’d anticipated, but the upside was that the rush hour traffic out of the city would have cleared by the time he hit the road.

He started tossing things into his briefcase, only looking up when he registered that Gabby hadn’t responded.

She was watching him, eyes narrowed, lips pursed. “What’s going on?”

“What do you mean?” He slid a spare set of mechanical pencils into his briefcase.

“Why are you so keen on getting out of here? Anyone would think the building was on fire.”

“Don’t even joke about it.”

“Seriously. What’s going on? I gather from what you haven’t said about your father that things have been pretty heavy going on that front?”

“Yeah. Well. Can’t teach an old dog new tricks. He’s determined to be an ass, and I’m determined to stick it out, so we’re locked in this thing till it’s over.”

“You know, that’s the most you’ve ever said about your father in all the years I’ve known you.”

Tyler frowned. Had he really been so tight-lipped? “Probably because I hadn’t seen him for ten years. He wasn’t exactly at the top of my mind.”

Although he’d always been there in some way.

“It’s more than that. You seem…different. Lighter.”

He gave her a look. “Lighter? What does that mean?”

“I’ll give you an example. In the meeting just now, when that interior designer said she wanted to go with the beech on the bedside tables even though it isn’t traditional, you didn’t even bat an eyelid. Normally you would have gnashed your teeth and argued in favor of the cherry. But you simply made a note of it and moved on.”

“She’s the customer. And I’ve got better things to do with my time.”

Gabby pointed a finger at him. “Exactly. Since
when did you have better things do to with your time than defend your designs?”

He stared at her. She stared back. Finally he shrugged.

“I’ve met someone.”

Gabby’s face lit up. “Really?”

“Yeah. Her name’s Ally. She lives next door to my father.”

“And you two are…you know?” Gabby made a gesture with the fingers of both hands.

“Very ladylike. You’ve been hanging around with the guys too long.”

“I’m going to take that as a yes. Tell me about her.” Gabby propped her butt on the edge of his desk.

“What do you want to know?”

“Whatever you’ve got. You’re one of my favorite people in all the world, and I want to know who this woman is who’s made you so happy.”

Tyler had been about to tell her to mind her own business, but her words arrested him.

“And maybe I want to pick up a few tips for next time around. Since she seems to have succeeded where I failed.”

Tyler considered her a moment, trying to read her. She’d been the one to break off their relationship, and in the two years since there had never been a hint that she still had feelings for him. But there had been a look on her face just now…

“It was a joke, Tyler.” She rolled her eyes. “Get
over yourself. Now, are you going to tell me about her or not?”

“She’s in her early thirties. Short. Dark hair. She writes the Dear Gertrude column in the paper.”

“I love that column! Gertrude rocks.”

“Ally does, too.” He thought about what she’d said to him this morning.

“Oh, boy.”

“What?”

“You are toast. Utterly gone. Besotted.”

He shook his head.

“Don’t bother denying it. You are smitten beyond the point of no return,” Gabby said. “When can I meet her?”

“I don’t know,” he said, remembering Ally’s reluctance to enter into anything with him and her insistence that she would be leaving in a few weeks time
no matter what.
“It’s complicated.”

“Complicated how?”

“You’re a very nosey person, you know that?”

“I’m a concerned friend with a vested interest.”

He sighed. There was a reason he avoided these kinds of conversations.

“Okay,” Gabby said. “I’ll back off. But if you like this woman as much as I think you do, you need to make sure you’re both on the same page.”

“Yes, Mom.”

Gabby slid off his desk. “Careful, or I’ll come up with a reason to delay you leaving.”

“You seem to be forgetting something—I’m the boss.”

She made a rude noise. “When in doubt, appeal to authority. A classic loser’s move.”

He grabbed his briefcase and the roll of designs and headed for the door. He tapped her on the head with the roll as he passed by. “One day that mouth of yours is going to get you in trouble.”

He left her to lock up, but her words stayed with him as he drove to Woodend. Last night and today had been great, working with Ally, sharing lunch with her, making love on the study floor. Knowing he had her in his corner had made all the difference in dealing with his father. He hadn’t felt so pressured, so cornered. So alone.

But there was no escaping the fact that Ally had resisted his first attempts to do something about the chemistry between them. And she’d been very clear that she had no plans to hang around once her current stint of house-sitting was up.

He’d never been the kind of man who got carried away with his lovers. There had always been a small, essential part of himself that he’d held back. But with Ally…he’d given her everything. Revealed his darkest, most vulnerable places.

His gut told him that last night had changed things for both of them, but his head wanted to nail her down, wanted to hear the words of confirmation come out of her mouth.

Too bad for his head, because he was never going
to initiate that conversation. Not only because that wasn’t his style, but Ally was far too skittish, far too reluctant a recruit to their relationship for him to start asking those kinds of questions.

He would simply have to wait and hope and trust his gut.

A
LLY WAS IN BED, READING
the latest edition of
House and Garden
magazine when she heard Tyler’s footsteps on the porch. She slid from the sheets and opened the door wearing only her tank top and a pair of panties. Tyler stilled, his gaze sliding down her body. Then he passed her a small cooler.

“You might want to put that in the freezer before I jump you.”

She gasped out a laugh, but he wasn’t kidding, sweeping in the door and pulling her into his arms. Her knees went weak as he kissed her with a hungry intensity.

“I missed you,” he said when he finally came up for air. “And you should always dress like this. Always.”

“Let me put the ice cream away,” she said, slightly breathless.

“Move fast.”

She found him sitting on the edge of the bed when she returned, his shirt off but his jeans still on, flicking through her
House and Garden
magazine.

“You running low on entertainment?” he asked, one eyebrow raised.

“No.” She reached for the magazine.

He gave her a curious look and tweaked it out of her reach. “Is this yours?”

“Yes.”

“It’s
House and Garden.
”

“So?”

He looked bemused. “You live out of a suitcase. You’re a gypsy.”

“It doesn’t mean I can’t read glossy magazines. I like the pretty pictures.”

She yanked the magazine from his hand and slid it under the bed, tugging the skirt into place. When she turned around, Tyler was crowding her. She thought he was moving in to kiss her. Instead he dropped to one knee and lifted the skirt of the bed.

“
Tyler.
Have you ever heard of privacy?”

He ignored her, sliding a stack of glossy magazines out from beneath the bed.

“
Vogue Living, Belle Maison, House Beautiful
—flown in from the U.S., no less.
Better Homes and Gardens, Elle Decor, Country Living…
” A quizzical smile played on his lips.

Ally crossed her arms over her breasts. “What?”

“This is a bit of a dirty little secret, isn’t it?”

“They’re magazines. I told you, I like the glossy pictures. I find them relaxing.”

“They’re
home decorating
magazines. Full of glossy pictures of other people’s homes.”

She used the side of her foot to shove the stack
back where she’d had it. “I don’t see what the big fuss is.”

“You don’t think there’s any irony in a woman who scoffs at possessions and has no home of her own being addicted to homemaker magazines?”

Ally pressed her lips together, feeling more than a little exposed. “It’s not an addiction,” she muttered.

“How many do you read a month?”

She shrugged.

“Five? Ten? Twenty?” he asked.

“I don’t know. Most of them come to me on subscription. I never really keep track.”

“You subscribe?” He laughed incredulously.

“I really don’t see what’s so amusing.”

She tried to march from the room but he hooked an arm around her waist and swung her toward the bed. She landed on her back and Tyler was on top of her in seconds. She tried to wrestle her way out from under him, but he just grinned down at her.

“Why are you so upset?”

“I’m not!” She heard the echo of her own strident tone and winced. She forced herself to meet his eyes. “They’re just magazines.”

“Okay. If you say so.” But he looked very pleased about something.

Before she could question him, he ducked his head and used his teeth to pull her tank top down. When he’d exposed her left breast, he kissed his way back up the curve and pulled her nipple into his mouth.

“Did I mention that I missed you?” he said as he switched to her right breast.

After they’d messed up her nice clean sheets, she donned a robe and went to scoop some of their favorite treat.

“I meant to say, good choice on the flavors,” she called.

He’d stopped at Trampoline and bought tubs of Peanut Nutter and Violet Rumble, the second being very high on her list of favorites thanks to its chunks of crunchy sponge toffee.

“I remember you saying you liked the Peanut Nutter,” he said from close behind her and she nearly jumped out of her skin.

“You need a bell, like Mr. Whiskers.”

“Any suggestions on where I should hang it?” He slid his arms around her waist.

“I have a few ideas.”

She fed him a spoonful of ice cream over her shoulder, then concentrated on filling their bowls.

He let her go so she could lead him into the living room to eat on the couch. He stopped in his tracks when he entered the room.

“I hope you don’t mind, but I rescued it,” she said.

He frowned, walking closer to the table. She watched as he rubbed the scarred rim with his thumb.

“I was thinking that maybe you could repair it.”
She couldn’t get a read on him, couldn’t tell if he was upset or annoyed or grateful.

“It’d take a miracle.”

She joined him beside the table. “But you could do it, couldn’t you? You could make it beautiful again.”

He hesitated a moment, then he put down his bowl and bent so that his eyes were on a level with the surface. He moved around the table, inspecting it closely, running his hands over the various gouges and pits. Then he crouched lower and ran his hands up and down the legs. Finally he stood and collected his ice cream. “I could do it.”

“Do you want to?”

His gaze returned to the table for a beat. “Yeah. Yeah, I think I do.”

She slid her arm around his waist.

“Thanks for rescuing it for me.”

There was so much warmth in his eyes, it scared her. He was watching her closely, so she forced a smile.

“Better eat, it’s melting.” She focused on her own bowl, and after a few seconds he did the same.

Moment by moment, remember?

She joined Tyler on the couch, feeling the warmth of his body alongside hers as she sank into the cushions. He smiled at her, a little distracted, and she knew he was thinking about how he was going to fix the table. Pushing her doubts away, she rested her head on his shoulder and dug into her dessert.

This, right now, was a great moment, and she was determined to enjoy it.

T
HE FOLLOWING DAY
, T
YLER
waited until Ally filed her column at midday before telling her to put on her swimsuit.

“Why?”

“There’s a place on the river I want to check out. Jon and I used to go there as kids. I thought we could take a picnic.”

“A picnic sounds nice.”

“That’s the general idea. I figured you deserved a break.”

“Me? You’re the one with the double workload.”

“But he’s my father.”

She frowned but didn’t say anything. He followed her to the bedroom and watched as she flipped open her suitcase.

He’d noticed before that while she’d unpacked most of her clothes, she kept a few things in the case still, things she didn’t need every day. As though she was prepared to leave at the drop of a hat and wanted to ensure she had a head start on packing.

“I didn’t even know there was a river around here,” she said as she rummaged.

He tapped the side of his nose. “Local boy. Secret knowledge.”

“So, local boy, is this a bikini kind of place or a one-piece kind of place?”

“Definitely bikini,” he said without hesitation.

She gave him a dry look.

He put on his best innocent face. “What?”

“I’m not sure you’re the best person to take advice from on this subject.”

“With my hand on my heart, no one is going to notice what you wear except me. And I’ve always been a bikini man.”