The Playboy (23 page)

In her brief time in Yorkshire Falls, Kendall had grown to know Rick well, his expressions and what went on inside his head. And though she didn’t know why, she was certain he wouldn’t be pleased with tonight’s event. She’d debated warning him ahead of time, then decided she had no right to come between mother and son or betray Raina’s confidence and surprise.

Kendall concentrated on his gift instead. She and Hannah had agreed to make a joint present, something special for Rick that no one else would possibly come up with. They’d been back and forth with ideas since late last night. With no success.

“Cuff links?” Kendall offered as another suggestion. Hannah rolled her eyes. “Yeah like he’s gonna use those in his T-shirts.”

“Tie clip?”

“Puhleeze.” She folded her arms across her chest. “What are you trying to do? Turn him into a dork?”

Kendall groaned and tossed her hands in the air. “Okay, I give up. What would
you
like to make for Rick?” So far the only other thing they’d agreed upon was the fact that they’d create his birthday surprise instead of purchasing an impersonal store-bought item. Short on cash and credit, Kendall had been relieved Hannah had gone along with the idea.

“Well since you finally asked, I think we should make him a necklace. Not a pansy kind but a cool kind. Leather braided maybe.” Hannah walked around the bridge table, searching through Kendall’s plastic containers with assorted varieties of stones and beads. “Hey, what are these?” She picked up a handful of round beads.

“Hematite rondelles.”

“Geez. How about using my language?”

Kendall laughed. “They’re rounded flat beads. Shiny and blue-black in color. All of which you can see by looking at them. The technical term for the mineral used in making the jewelry is hematite and rondelle describes the shape. That’s where the name hematite rondelles comes from.”

Hannah stared at her wide-eyed, a hint of interest flickering across her features. Perhaps they’d found a topic that could help them bond, Kendall thought. She’d love to teach Hannah all she knew about beads and jewelry making and she’d be happy to learn what she could from Hannah’s fresh, young perspective. She’d start by giving her sister a confidence boost.

Kendall held out her hand for some of the beads and Hannah transferred them to her palm. She fingered the smooth, lustrous stones and held them up to the window light. “Strung together they’d have a masculine look.” She glanced at Hannah. “You’ve got an eye for this, you know.”

Her sister blushed red. “Okay, these are way cool. Rick gets a necklace of hemorrhoids.”

“Hematite, you wise guy.”

Hannah giggled. “Whatever. We’ll use these.”

“I know which bead would break up the solid black look.” Kendall sorted through her sterling tube beads and pulled out her favorite. “Check this one out. It’s handcrafted on the outside of the tubing. Every twenty-fifth or so hematite bead, we add one of these for contrast.”

“Let’s get started.” Hannah rubbed her hands together and pulled up a chair to the work area.

Kendall was thrilled to see her sister animated and interested in something so close to her own heart. “Why don’t you pull out the nicest-looking hematites and I’ll get the wire ready.”

Half an hour later, they were still at it, Hannah absorbed in choosing flawless beads and asking all sorts of questions while she worked. For the first time since her arrival, Kendall felt as though Hannah had let down her guard, enabling Kendall to do the same. The sense of family and bonding she’d always missed in her life surfaced now and it was all Kendall could do not to pull her sibling into a huge hug and spoil everything.

“So how’d you get into this?” Hannah asked.

“Aah. Well, with all the moving around I did, I didn’t have many toys or things. But when I lived with Aunt Crystal, she taught me how to string macaroni as a way of making jewelry. We’d use all different kinds of pasta and put hooks on them. Then we’d paint. Aunt Crystal worked with real beads and things until her arthritis hit her hands. I guess you could say jewelry making runs in the family.”

“She probably made old lady stuff,” Hannah said in the snotty tone that had been noticeably absent the entire morning.

Kendall narrowed her gaze. “Crystal had talent.” She glanced over at Hannah’s choices in beads. “And so do you.”

“Right. Like it’s so hard to pick black beads.” Hannah scooped up a handful and tossed them all together, mixing all the beads and undoing the meticulous work she’d already accomplished. “Here you go. All done.”

“Oh, Hannah, why?” Looking at the mess, Kendall’s heart squeezed tight. “You did such an amazing job and now you combined them all again.” Hours of her sister’s work, undone for no good reason.

Or was there an explanation Kendall just didn’t know about? If so, Hannah didn’t appear inclined to elaborate. She sat with her jaw clenched tight leaving Kendall with no choice but to replay their conversation in her head. Her sister’s attitude had changed the second Kendall mentioned Aunt Crystal but she didn’t understand why Hannah would be angry or envious of an older relative she’d never even met.

“Hannah,” Kendall began tentatively. “Are you jealous of Crystal? Of my time with her?”

“Why would I be jealous just because you had time for her and not me?”

“That’s not how it was.” Kendall reached for Hannah, but her sister twisted her body out of reach.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

And the mutinous set of her jaw told Kendall she wasn’t kidding. She exhaled hard, knowing she needed a subject change and fast if she wanted a return to the bonding they’d begun to share. “Do you like making jewelry?” Kendall asked.

Hannah shrugged. “It’s OK.”

But recalling how the young girl had eyed the assortment of beads, Kendall figured it was more than just okay. “You know, I used to do pasta jewelry everywhere I went. From home to home. Wherever I lived, no one minded me keeping busy by creating necklaces. It kept me quiet and out of their hair till I moved on.” Kendall shrugged, good memories mixed along with the bad. “Stability’s the one thing you had that I didn’t.” Maybe she could get Hannah to see the positives in her life.

“Big deal. Staying in the same place, year after year. No family around. Friends come and go depending on their family situations. It’s not as hot as you think.” Hannah’s overglossed lips set in a pout.

Obviously Kendall wasn’t getting through to her sister. “Well . . . ”

“Ladies, where are you?” Pearl’s voice carried from downstairs. The sound of her muffled footsteps quickly followed as she tread up the stairs and joined them in the attic.

They were no longer alone and Kendall lost the opportunity to talk to her sister and maybe, somehow fix things for Hannah, herself, and their too-fragile relationship.

Rick couldn’t help but notice the tension was thick when Kendall picked him up and drove them all to his mother’s house for dinner. He didn’t know what had happened between the sisters earlier but obviously both were upset and neither had much to say to each other.

They had plenty to say to him. At least Kendall did. “So when were you going to mention it was your birthday?” she asked him and not for the first time.

“Yeah, even Lisa Burton knew. You should have seen Kendall’s face when she heard that Lisa knew and she didn’t.” Hannah spoke gleefully from the seat behind them.

“Sit back and be quiet,” Rick and Kendall snapped at the same time. Hannah was deliberately baiting Kendall, trying to get on her nerves, and he had to admit, she was doing a damn good job of irritating him too. Or maybe it was just the date that was getting to him.

“Touchy subject?” Hannah asked, before surprisingly doing what she was told and curling up into the corner of the car.

Rick groaned. The kid had a point in more ways than she knew. His birthday was definitely a touchy subject. He acknowledged the date and put up with his mother’s family celebrations. But he didn’t choose to make a big deal about it. Because his birthday also happened to mark his wedding anniversary to Jillian, an occasion he’d rather forget than remember.

Kendall pulled up in front of Raina’s and Hannah bolted out of the car. As Rick started to do the same, Kendall put a hand on his arm, stopping him.

He turned toward her.

“You should have told me,” she said, no doubt about what she was referring to.

“It was no big deal.”

But the hurt in her soft eyes told him a different story. He hadn’t deliberately hidden the information, he’d just refused to acknowledge it to anyone, including himself. But he didn’t think she’d accept or appreciate the distinction any more than he felt like getting into the specifics of why he’d kept quiet. Kendall and her plans, her eventual departure, reminded him too much of a painful past he had no desire to repeat.

In the wake of his silence, she exhaled hard. “Let’s go. Your mother’s waiting.” She got out of the car, slamming the door behind her, leaving him with the distinct feeling that by virtue of his silence, he’d betrayed something precious and important.

CHAPTER TEN

“S
urprise!”

Rick jumped back, startled at the crowd of people waiting for him inside his mother’s house, and as he glanced around, he realized he’d been ambushed. A goddamn surprise party, he thought. He’d rather be alone on this night as had been his ritual for years. And his mother knew better than to gather a crowd.

He loved people but this was the one particular time he preferred his own company. Being surrounded by the very folks who’d probably committed this date to memory wasn’t his idea of a fun night. Kendall’s hand unexpectedly came to rest on his shoulder in a show of support. A nice surprise considering how hurt she’d been earlier. He figured she still expected some answers but he appreciated her insight and presence beside him anyway.

“Happy birthday.” His mother slowly walked up to him and kissed his cheek.

Knowing stress was no good for her heart and she’d gone to a lot of trouble for him, he forced a smile. He’d deal with her later when they no longer had an audience.

“You shouldn’t have,” he said through clenched teeth. “Nonsense. It’s not every day my middle son turns thirty-five.”

“Start the show!” Norman called from the crowd. A round of steady clapping quickly followed along with the steady chant of “Show, show, show . . . ”

“What show?” Rick asked warily over the continuous chanting noise.

He glanced around, noticing Roman and Charlotte stood beside Chase holding up the back wall. All three shrugged almost in unison. Obviously they didn’t plan to take credit for Raina’s insanity.

“I’m really in the dark too,” Kendall whispered. Like his brothers, apparently Kendall didn’t want to shoulder blame or responsibility. She was his mother’s co-conspirator only in that she’d brought him here.

A loud whistle halted the chanting for a brief minute before it started up again.

“Okay, simmer down.” Raina gestured with her hands, indicating everyone should be quiet.

Rick shot her a concerned glance and she quickly lowered herself into the nearest chair.

That seemed to silence the unruly crowd.

“Now you all know I’m not up to running things,” she said softly. “So I hired an emcee.” She crooked a finger at Rick and he leaned closer. “I tried to get your brothers for the job but they refused.”

“I owe them,” he muttered.

“Well, let’s get started,” Raina suggested.

“Then we can eat!” said someone from the back of the crowd.

Rick narrowed his gaze at the sound of the distinctive voice and looked around for the loner. “Samson, is that you?”

Rick didn’t see the older man right away but he was a master at blending into the crowd. The duck man, as the children called Samson Humphrey, spent his days hanging out in the park by Norman’s, ignored most people, and looked homeless but wasn’t. He also was the panty thief culprit though no one except Rick, Charlotte, and Roman knew that. Turning out in a large crowd wasn’t the old man’s style. Unless . . .

“Of course it’s him. He wouldn’t miss a free Norman’s chicken sandwich,” Norman said.

“Damn right,” Samson called out, confirming Rick’s suspicion. “But if you used that honey mustard, froufrou stuff, I’m not eating.”

Norman growled from low in his throat. “Why you ungrateful . . . ”

Before Rick could step in, Raina clapped her hands, probably to stop the mayhem before it started. Then without warning, an entourage walked down the stairs.

“This is your life, Rick Chandler,” Big Al, the retired high school baseball coach, said through his booming cordless microphone, seeming not to care that they were inside the house.

Rick watched in disbelief as his past seemed to parade before him. An eclectic mix of his old teachers, coaches, and friends formed a circle in his mother’s living room.

His stomach cramped. “This can’t be happening.”

“Of course it can.” His mother’s glee matched his sense of impending doom.

With Kendall by his side and Hannah giggling from the sidelines he found himself pushed through the throng of people. Finally he was given a front row seat, surrounded by his mother, his brothers, Charlotte, Kendall, and Hannah. The rest of the guests crowded in around them.

“Let the fun begin.”

Rick winced at the booming sound. Big Al obviously thought he was back at the football field.

“Mrs. Pearson, recently retired from Yorkshire Falls Middle School, had Rick in her kindergarten class. Take it away, Mrs. Pearson.” Al handed his microphone to the petite, gray-haired woman to his right.

“Testing. Testing.” She held the thing close to her lips and emitted a high-pitched squeak that had the room cringing and groaning loud. “Sorry. It’s been ages since I’ve used one of these suckers. I mean things. Once I retired I let my language run free.” She laughed. “Anyway, let’s continue.”

“Please don’t,” Rick called out.

“Don’t be a sissy, little brother. You can handle it.” Chase folded his arms across his chest and grinned.

Damned if Rick wouldn’t get him back on his birthday.

“Rick was an imaginative boy.” Mrs. Pearson spoke in her best teacher tone. “And from the beginning he knew how to draw a crowd. Quite the little entrepreneur too. Why I remember one playground hour when I noticed all the kids—mostly girls—lined up behind him.”