“Where are we?” Ari asked.
“This is where I used to live,” she told him. “I thought you might like to see it.” She sat down on the curb and pulled Ari onto her knee.
Ari looked around. “Which house was yours?”
“The yellow one over there.” Kelly pointed to a small, neat house with a bay window and a black door.
“Who lives there now?”
“Some other people.”
“Don’t you want to live there?”
“I live at the Kendall. I like living there.”
“Can I live at the Kendall, too?” he asked.
Kelly wasn’t sure how to answer that. She’d love for Ari to live there, but that was impossible. “Don’t you want to live with your dad?”
“Yeah. I want him to live at the Kendall, too. It’s got our name. Does that mean it belongs to us?”
She repositioned him closer to her. “It’s not that easy. It does have your name, but it was sold and someone else owns it now.”
“You own it?” he asked.
“Yeah,” she said, using his word.
“We used to stay with you. Can’t we do it again?”
“That’s a very hard question, too. You see, your dad worked for me when you lived there. But he has another job now. It’s closer to your day care. And next September you’ll be going to school.”
“We can’t do all that and still live at the Kendall?” His voice was straining and Kelly knew he would start to cry soon. She wanted to cry, too. She wanted them back, both of them. But things were complicated. How could she ever trust Jace again?
Kelly stared at her old house again. In the front yard was a pink bicycle. The owners must have a daughter. Kelly wasn’t sure she’d have a family of her own and it seemed less likely now. She loved Jace, but she couldn’t see it working out between them.
“Come on, Ari. Let’s go back.”
The two mounted the mare and Kelly led it into a slow walk. After a while they were back at the fence and heading for the Kendall.
“Dad!” Ari called as Jace came into view. Kelly stopped the horse and helped Ari get down safely. He took off in a dead run for Jace. She watched the scene as father and son greeted each other. Then she turned the mare toward the stable. Inside she began the procedure of rubbing the horse down. She didn’t really need it. They hadn’t ridden the horse hard. It didn’t even break a sweat. But Kelly wanted to give Jace time to collect Ari and leave the Kendall.
She took more time than necessary. When she came out of the stable Jace and Ari were no longer where she’d left them. She didn’t see them anywhere. Kelly was both relieved and disappointed. It was nearly dinnertime, but she wasn’t hungry. She thought she’d go for a drive. She hadn’t been out of the Kendall in weeks except to run errands for the estate.
As she entered through the back door to get her car keys and purse, Jace came in and met her. “Oh, hi,” she said. “I thought you and Ari were gone.”
“Ari’s watching something on television. I wanted to talk to you.”
This was it, Kelly thought. “Why don’t we go—”
“For a walk,” he finished for her.
“What about Ari?” she protested. She didn’t want to be alone with Jace. It was far too dangerous. Her feelings were too strong and he was supposed to be her enemy. It was getting dark. And while Ari was a poor substitute for a chaperone, he was all she had.
Jace took her hand and led her out the front door. “We’re only going to circle around the house. Ari knows where we are and we’ll also be within shouting distance if he needs us.”
“Did Sheldon get away all right?” Kelly asked, going down the steps.
“He did. He liked his visit, but said he was looking forward to going back to North Carolina.”
“He seemed different from how you described him.”
Jace pulled her arm through his. Kelly resisted a little, but didn’t fight him.
“He’s different from what I remember, too. Seems he’s changed and for the better. Kind of surreal, acutally.”
“How do you mean?” she asked.
“His manner was calm, accepting, way less confrontational than it used to be. When I first saw him again, I was prepared for him to berate me for some offense. Instead, he apologized.”
“So you two mended fences.”
“Not totally. Have to admit I kept waiting for the real Sheldon to show up. I figured he had an ulterior motive and I was trying to figure out what it was.”
“But,” she prompted.
“If he had one, he must have changed his mind about it. All the way until the bus left the station, he apologized for all the things he’d done to me when we lived here.”