On Second Thought(65)

"Say I was trapped in a burning building," I said. "You burst in, you  carry me out, I'm not breathing. Describe the mouth-to-mouth I'm about  to get."

He laughed. "Well, in reality, we'd use a ventilator mask-"

"Oh, come on! No reality. Please continue."

"What are you wearing?" he asked, lifting an eyebrow.

"A very flimsy something, and my hair looks amazing."

He grinned. Oh, mommy! That was a killer smile.

Just then, the kitchen door opened, and Brooke walked in. At the sight  of Daniel, she stopped abruptly, horror flooding her face.

Oh, shit.

"Hey, Brooke!" I said, jumping up to hug her. "It's so good to see you!"  She looked blank. "How are the boys? They're in camp, right? Kate said  something about camp? Anyway, uh, do you know my, uh, friend? My friend  Daniel? He's my friend."         

     



 

It really sucked to be a terrible liar.

"Oh, he's your friend," Brooke said, her entire being sagging with  relief. Clearly, she'd assumed the exact truth of the situation.

"Daniel," I said, "this is Kate's sister-in-law. Nathan's sister."

"You came to the wake," she said, her eyes narrowing.

"Yes," he answered. "I'm so sorry about your brother."

"Daniel's a good friend of the family," I said. He gave me an odd  look-I'd just met him, obviously-but mercifully didn't contradict me.

"I need to talk to Kate about my parents' anniversary party," Brooke said.

"Right! That'll be very...uh...yeah."

Just then, Kate came into the kitchen looking exactly as if she'd been  up all night making sexy time with a hot firefighter. Her long hair was  tangled, her eyes were still heavy with sleep and she had a certain glow  about her. (Go, Daniel!) She was barefoot and wore the silky short  kimono I'd given her a few years ago.

She saw Brooke and lurched to a stop. Her eyes swiveled to Daniel.

If I was bad at lying, my sister was incapable of it.

"Hey, Kate!" I barked. "I ran into Daniel and asked him if he'd like to  have coffee with me. Us. Here. Anyway, he came over. Sorry it's so  early! And Brooke's here to talk about the anniversary party!"

Sure, I sounded like a chattering monkey, but my sister unfroze. "Right. Hi. Hi, Brooke."

"You okay?" Brooke said.

"Um, yeah. Yep."

"I can reschedule, if you're not feeling well."

Kate closed her eyes briefly. "No, no. I just overslept. Sorry."

"Of course you're not sleeping well," Brooke said. Her face wobbled. "I should've called or texted first. I'm so sorry."

Kate had that stake-through-the-heart look.

"Daniel, let's go out for breakfast, why don't we?" I said, grabbing his beautiful arm and pulling him toward the door.

"Actually, I can't," he said. "Uh...thanks for the coffee. Good to see you, Kate."

Don't look at her, I thought, because I could feel the air vibrating between them.

Out he went, raising a hand as he strode down the walk.

"Nice guy," Brooke said. "Are you dating him, Ainsley?"

"No! Nope. I mean, I would, but, uh... Well! I should... I'm going to, uh, grab some stuff, and then I'll be gone, too," I said.

Twenty minutes later, which was a land-speed record for me, I'd showered  and dressed and even put on makeup. I slipped out the back door without  saying goodbye, unwilling to lie anymore.

But seriously. Nathan's family couldn't know she'd just gotten it on with the poster boy for FDNY.

* * *

Cambry-on-Hudson's business district was hosting a Sidewalk Festival on  Saturday, and Hudson Lifestyle was doing a web feature on it, written by  yours truly. This meant I got to spend this morning wandering through  the shops to get the latest info to update our website. It was the kind  of work I really enjoyed.

My first stop was Bliss, the wedding dress shop I'd ogled from the  outside many a time when I was with Eric. I'd always thought it would be  bad luck to go in before I had a ring on my finger (pause for ironic  and slightly bitter laughter). But now I had a good reason to go.

It was paradise inside. I mean, what woman didn't love wedding dresses?  And these were ethereally beautiful-a blush tulle dress with tiny  rosebuds along the bodice; a velvet lace gown that would make the bride  look like a winter princess. Each one was more beautiful than the last.

"Hi, I'm Jenny," said a pretty woman dressed in black as I fondled a  sleeve. "You're Kate O'Leary's sister, right? She took my picture a  while ago. I still owe her dinner out."

We played the Cambry-on-Hudson two degrees of separation game; I told  her I'd met Leo at Kate's grief group, and it turned out Eric and I had  lived down the street from Jenny's sister.

"So Rachel Carver is your sister! Wow!" I said. "We used to chat when I  walked Ollie. How's she doing?" She'd gotten a divorce, I knew that. I  always thought her husband was a little too smug.

"She's doing really well," Jenny said. "She'll be here on Saturday. Her  daughters are going to model flower girl dresses for me."

"Oh! So cute!" I said. "They're such beautiful girls. I miss seeing  them. I, uh... My boyfriend and I broke up, and I'm staying with Kate  now."

"That's so nice of you," she said. "She told me that. My sister and I are super close, too."         

     



 

Did Kate say we were super close? God, that made me happy!

I asked Jenny a few more questions for the article and left reluctantly,  thanking her for her time. Next stop: Cottage Confections. Kim, God  bless her, felt it was necessary to feed me a red velvet cupcake as I  sat there asking questions, then send me off with four more.

Too bad more of my workdays weren't like this. Speaking of, I had to  take a good hard look at my life. I had options. I always had, but now I  had funding because of my mother's insurance policy. What would she  want me to do? Travel? Live in Paris for a year, drive across America?

But I loved this town.

And there was Jonathan. Too early for him to be a real factor in any  decisions I had to make...except I was kind of falling for him.

Well. I had two clothing boutiques and three jewelry stores to check  next. Not quite as fun as wedding dresses and cupcakes, but not bad,  either.

As I was crossing the street an hour later, someone called my name.

It was Matthew Kent.

He came down the steps of Hudson's (which was not on my list). "Hey, Ainsley."

I had to give him points for remembering my name. Most people didn't on the first try.

"Uh, listen. I...I tried calling Jonathan this morning, but I'm pretty sure he's blocked my number."

"I wonder why," I said.

"Would you do me a favor?"

"Nope."

He gave an exasperated sigh, and I caught a glimpse of the resemblance  between them. "Would you tell him I'd like to see him? Tell him we can't  go on like this forever, and... Shit. I don't know. It's not good for  the girls."

"Probably their uncle sleeping with their mother was also not good for the girls." I cocked my head and stared him down.

"It was more than two years ago," he said, "and they were little, and  look. I know what I did was wrong. But it's done. It can't be undone."

"Sounds like you need to go to confession," I said. "I'm working. Bye."

"Tell him I miss him."

"Not gonna," I called, walking away.

When I got back to the office, it was nearly quitting time. "How's it going with the new boyfriend?" I asked Rachelle.

She let her head flop back against her chair and sighed.

"That bad?"

"He's a sex offender."

"Oh, man! Again?"

"Flashes senior citizens at nursing homes."

I nodded. "Oh, okay. Yep. My grandmother mentioned him. She said it livened up bingo, for what it's worth."

"I'm giving up," she said. "Want to go get a drink or something?"

I glanced at Jonathan's office. He was on the phone. "I need to check in with the boss," I said.

"Poor you."

"Ah, he's not that bad."

She snorted, then grabbed her purse. "See you tomorrow, Ains."

I scrolled through my emails, waiting until Deshawn had left, too.  Jonathan was still on the phone. I needed to talk to him. No matter how  grouchy it might make him, he should know that his brother had talked to  me. Twice.

And I wanted to kiss him. Office hours were over, baby.

Finally, he hung up, only to have his cell phone ring immediately. I sank back into my seat to wait some more.

Almost everyone I knew seemed to be estranged from someone. Candy no  longer spoke to her sister, because Aunt Patty never visited Gram-Gram.  Rachelle didn't speak to her uncle-for good reason, though; he enjoyed  walking around family events in his boxer shorts, testicles dangling  past the hem. Kate had that bitchy Paige, who'd dumped her.

And here I was, estranged from the Fishers and the man I once loved without question.

Against my better instincts, I went to his blog, which was no longer  called The Cancer Chronicles. No. It was now called New Life Horizons,  which sounded to me like a cult or a weight-loss center.