When We Found Home(45)

She’d liked the location and the building. The neighborhood was desirable and there was plenty of shopping within walking distance. Her plan had been to fix the place up with paint colors and a few throw rugs. She’d wanted to get nicer furniture instead of the hand-me-down pieces she’d picked up along the way.

But somehow that had never happened. While she’d been proud of herself for being able to buy the condo on her own, she’d been upset that Tim hadn’t been supportive. He’d wanted them to save for a house instead and she’d never been able to explain her need to have a little pre-marriage independence. After he’d been killed, she hadn’t had the energy or interest in doing anything to her place. Now, as she saw the lack of anything personal anywhere and the bare walls, she wondered if it was finally time to figure out what she wanted from her home.

She shook off her musings and returned her attention to the table. Everything was in place. She’d even bought a bottle Malcolm’s very expensive scotch for their cocktail time. She glanced at the clock, then smiled. It was exactly six. Malcolm was always prompt so she would expect...

He knocked on her door. She was still laughing when she opened it.

“Are you ever late?” she asked, pulling him inside.

“Only in extreme emergencies.” He kissed her, then drew back. “Delaney, I’m not sure dinner is a good idea.”

For a second she thought he was suggesting they make love first and was about to say everything but the appetizers could wait but then she saw the worry in his eyes.

“What is it?” she asked, leading him to the sofa. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Everything.” Instead of sitting, he shoved his hands into his jeans pockets. “Lately I’m screwing up everything I touch and I don’t want to screw up things with you. That’s too important to me.” He looked at her. “You’re too important to me.”

“Are we talking work? Personal life?”

“My family.”

She moved close and put her hands on his shoulders. “Listen to me very closely. Every second with you doesn’t have to be a party. We’re involved. That means we deal with whatever’s going on in each other’s lives. I happen to like everyone in your family, so maybe I’m a good person to talk to about whatever’s going wrong.”

He shook his head. “You’re not going to like me very much when I’m done.”

She smiled. “Who says I like you now?”

The teasing comment earned her a slight smile. He sat down on the sofa and she curled up in the wing chair opposite. The timer would ding to let her know the appetizers were ready. Until then, she wanted to listen.

He leaned forward, his forearms resting on his thighs. He sucked in a breath.

“I saw Keira’s therapist yesterday for an update,” he began, his voice low. “The good news is Keira’s doing better. The bad news is we have a fuller picture of where she started.”

Delaney waited quietly. This was his story to tell.

“She’s not sleeping well. Apparently she sometimes thinks her bedroom is too big and she sleeps in her closet. Even then she has nightmares and Callie comes and gets her.”

He raised his head and stared at her. “I had no idea. I thought everything was fine. I was barely paying attention to her and I didn’t get her into therapy when I should have.”

“You’ve changed all that,” she said gently.

“Now. What about before? She’s a kid and I let her be scared. She’s still hoarding money even though I’ve tried to tell her she’ll never be asked to leave. I thought explaining she owned a third of the house would help, but that doesn’t seem to have made any difference. When I talk to her, she seems fine, but then I listen to her therapist and wonder how Keira makes it through the day.”

“How’s she doing in school?”

“Good. Her grades are coming up and she’s making friends.” He smiled at her. “She likes you a lot.”

“I like her, too.”

“She likes Callie.”

“That’s something.”

He lowered his gaze to the floor. “Callie’s really been there for her, which I appreciate. But...” He swore quietly, then looked at her.

“I blew it with Callie.”

The timer went off just then. Delaney laughed.

“Literally saved by the bell.”

They both stood and walked into the small kitchen. She took the cookie sheet out of the oven and put the little puff pastries onto a small tray. She’d already pulled out the ingredients for her cosmo. Malcolm quickly made her drink, then poured himself a scotch. They took everything back to the sofa where she sat next to him.

“Tell me about Callie,” she said.

“I didn’t like her at first,” he admitted, then sighed. “No, I didn’t know her well enough to like or dislike her, but I didn’t trust her.” He glanced at Delaney. “It’s complicated.”

“I believe you. And now?”

“She’s great with Keira, she’s doing well at work, everyone likes her.”

“And?”

“And we keep butting heads.”

“Maybe you’re too much alike. You’re siblings, so you probably have some personality traits in common. When we don’t like something in someone else, a lot of the time it’s because we don’t like it in ourselves. Maybe Callie reminds you of you.”

He stared at her. “I never thought of that. Maybe. She came to me to ask about some stuff for work. HR issues and a lever on a machine. I took care of all of it, but then she wanted to talk about adding products to our catalog. Items geared toward children.”

“Why not?” Delaney asked. “Anyone who can afford to shop regularly from the catalog can afford to indulge their children.”

“You’re saying we’re expensive?” he asked with a grin.

“High-end.”

“That’s part of the appeal.”

“So I’ve heard. Anyway, Callie had an idea and...”

“I basically told her she should go to college and figure out what she was doing first. Not in those words, but close enough.”

Delaney winced. “She didn’t take it well.”

“No. I apologized, but it was too late. She said she’d never met our father, but from what she’d heard, I was just like him.” He glanced at her again. “It wasn’t a compliment.”

“I got that. Have you talked to her about it?”

“Not yet. I don’t know what to say.”

He put down his drink and stood, then walked to the window and faced her.

“I was engaged before.”

Something she hadn’t known, but wasn’t surprising. “What happened?”

“A couple of months before the wedding, I caught her in bed with my father.”

Delaney gasped. “No! That’s not possible. I mean of course it happened, but oh my God. Malcolm. I’m so sorry.”

He looked out the window. “I couldn’t believe it. I knew he was a womanizer, but Rachel was my fiancée. Plus it never occurred to me she would cheat. Obviously that ended things.”

“What happened with your father?”

He faced her again. “I knew I couldn’t stay in the company or be around my father. I was packing to leave town when my grandfather came to see me. I told him I had to go.” His jaw tightened. “He begged me not to. He said he would throw my father out, but he wanted me to stay. So I agreed and the next day Jerry was gone. I don’t know what my grandfather said, but Jerry left Seattle and I never spoke to him again.”

Delaney could barely breathe. She’d had no idea there was this much pain in Malcolm’s past.

“Alberto never said anything but I know he missed his only son. As far as I can tell, they never saw each other again, either, and then Jerry died.”

He looked at her. “Jerry was never much of a father to me. We rarely spoke and he wasn’t interested in me at all. I never got to know him. When I was a kid, I tried to get his attention but he made it clear he didn’t have time for me so after a while, I stopped trying. I moved on and after what happened with Rachel, I was grateful he was gone. I suppose I hated him for what he’d done. But it wasn’t like that for Alberto. I took Jerry away from my grandfather. I broke his heart.”

“No.” She came to her feet and crossed to him. “No, you didn’t. He slept with your fiancée. He fathered children all around the country and never bothered to take care of them. He’s the bad guy, Malcolm. Not you.”

“I broke my grandfather’s heart,” he repeated.

“No, you didn’t. Alberto adores you. You and your sisters are the reason he gets up every morning. He loves you.”

“He loved his son.”

“That doesn’t mean you did anything wrong.”

“You don’t get it,” he told her. “I’m good at work. I’m not good at anything else.”

She wrapped her arms around him. “You’re good at me and you’re getting better at the other stuff. Just keep trying.”

He hugged her back, holding her tightly. “What do you see in me?”

“You’re very good in bed.”

He chuckled. “Thanks. I guess that’s something.”