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His One and Only(55)

By:Theodora Taylor


“Why not?”

She shook her head at him. “Because I work here.”

“Tell Beau to find another housekeeper.”

“I can’t just—” She stopped and lowered her voice. “I’m not supposed to be telling anybody this, because I signed a confidentiality agreement, but Beau’s blind and he’s not taking his rehabilitation seriously. So he doesn’t just need me to cook and clean, he need needs me.”

Colin squinted at her as if she had gone crazy. “This is Beau we’re talking about, right? Beau Prescott? Made both of our lives miserable in high school? The one you swore you’d never talk to again after he announced in front of the whole school that he’d tricked you into getting with him—”

She held up her hand to stop the barrage of unkind Beau Prescott statistics. “I know, Col, but he’s still a human being, a blind human being now.”

Colin scanned the foyer, his eyes suspicious. “So he has you at his beck and call every day. Doesn’t even give you any time off?”

“I get time off,” she said, wondering how she had suddenly been put in the weird position of defending Beau Prescott against her oldest friend.

“When?” he asked, obviously not believing her.

“I get Friday and Saturday nights off,” she said, realizing only now how stingy that must sound to someone who didn’t know about the real deal she and Beau had struck.

Colin’s mouth twisted into a sardonic frown. “You’re right, Jo-Jo. The man’s a real saint. He gives you two whole nights off a week.” He reached into the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out a small business card, handing it to her. “How about meeting me after you get off tonight then. I’m staying at the Birmingham Grand. We could grab a drink and a bite to eat at their bar.”

She glanced down at the heavily embossed card from Birmingham’s most expensive hotel. “The Grand, really? Wow.” She grinned up at him. “You and your fiddle have come a long way.”

He grinned back. “Whoever thought I’d get this far, right?”

Now her smile turned softer. “I did. I always knew you had it in you to do amazing things.”

But what was meant as a hearty congratulations on her part became something much more dramatic when he took her hand and clasped it like a prayer in between his. “Then let me help you,” he said. “I know you’ve had a tough time of it since we last saw each other, but you’re better than working for Beau Prescott.”

“Josie,” Beau suddenly yelled out from the kitchen. “What’s taking you so long?”

Colin looked over her shoulder toward the kitchen door. “That him?” he asked. Then before she could answer. “I think I’m going to go reintroduce myself.”

But she shook her head frantically and stopped him from coming inside the house with two hands on his chest. “No, Colin. Not like this. I’m so happy to see you again, but I have to get back to work, so I need you to go now. Please.”

He shook his head. “But this conversation ain’t over.”

She was now full on straining to keep Colin from moving forward. Man, he was a lot stronger than the skinny kid she’d grown up with. “I’ll meet you later on, I promise. But now isn’t the time or the place.”

Colin immediately stepped back as if he’d merely been waiting for her to promise to come see him. “Fine. I’ll see you tonight. But if I don’t hear from you by eight, don’t think I’m not coming back here. I worked too hard to find you.” He took her hand in his and kissed the back of her fingers. “And we have a lot to talk about.”

“Josie!” Beau called again, before she could answer.

She took her hand back from Colin. “See you tonight,” she said, before closing the door in his face.

She would never say she was glad Beau was blind, but she was happy she didn’t have to try to hide how nonplussed she was by Colin’s sudden reappearance, because she didn’t think she would have been able to if she tried.

It had transitioned from dusk to night while she’d been going back and forth with Colin at the door, but Beau was now standing by the kitchen table, his ever-present sunglasses covering his eyes.

“What took you so long?” he asked.

And she stood there, trying to decide how much to tell him.





CHAPTER 19

SHE SHOULDN’T HAVE TOLD HIM ANYTHING, she thought to herself less than an hour later. She had tried to play off Colin’s coming by the house as a fun coincidence, keeping her voice light when she told him he was in town and decided to look her up.