by Laina Turner
“You’re Kate? As in Kate Hamilton?” he demanded slowly, and his eyes narrowed.
“That’s me. I’m sure Zach told you he hired me to help Rhoda a few weeks ago, on a trial basis.” As Kate said the words, she started to get the feeling that Phillip hadn’t been told by his son that she was working there, because the look on the man’s face went from disdain to downright hostile. It took a lot of effort on her part not to visibly recoil. She didn’t think it would be prudent to mention that she had received an offer to stay on, so she kept quiet about it.
“I don’t know what you’re up to, but if you think you can pick up where your husband left off, you’re sorely mistaken.”
Kate blanched at his comment and felt her stomach lurch again at being faced with paying for crimes her husband had committed. “Sir, I don’t know what you think you’ve heard, but I can assure you, I have no intention of doing anything illegal, inappropriate, or even closely related in concept to what my ex-husband did,” Kate insisted, emphasizing the ex-husband part, though the expression on Phillip’s face didn’t change, so she really didn’t think the status of her marriage mattered to him.
The sense of shame that she had felt back in New York every time she ran into a friend or acquaintance her husband had defrauded came back in full force. It almost felt worse now, because she’d started to make it through her days without that feeling. Having emotions she thought she’d buried brought back to the surface again felt horrible. She hadn’t considered it before, but given Phillip’s icy demeanor, she couldn’t help but wonder if Todd had defrauded any of Zach’s clients, or his dad’s, or worse, them directly. Zach had never said anything about even knowing who she was, and she didn’t know why he wouldn’t have if that had been the case. But, she thought, he had hidden that he had an ex-fiancé.
She couldn’t help but wonder what else Zach might have been keeping from her.
“You’re pretty, I’ll give you that. But my head’s not turned by a pretty face the way my son’s is, and if you think his admiration will last, I wouldn’t count on it. He is single for a reason. He doesn’t have a very long attention span where women are concerned,” Phillip spat out.
Kate took a deep breath, wanting to flee but knowing she couldn’t, at least not yet. “Sir,” she started out respectfully once again, hoping that maybe she could kill him with kindness, “Zach and I are strictly coworkers, nothing more, and I assure you, I’m not here to cause anyone harm.”
“I might find that easier to believe if you hadn’t, within a few days of arriving here, not only landed yourself this job, but moved into Zach’s house.”
It took all of Kate’s willpower not to scream and ask what he was talking about. But, by the slight smile on Phillip’s face, she could tell that he was amused that she didn’t know, though she thought her lack of understanding should prove to him that she had no ulterior motive.
“Zach gave me the number of a realtor who showed me the house. I didn’t realize it was his,” she said weakly, though she wasn’t really sure that anything she said was going to make any difference to him.
“Maybe you didn’t know. Maybe you’re not out to con my son. You’re just someone working a made-up job and taking a handout for a place to live.”
The words cut Kate to her core. She would have preferred he think she was being an evil woman manipulating his son versus the role of playing the victim. She didn’t know what to say in response, but she didn’t get a chance to defend herself anyway, because Phillip turned to walk out. He put his hand on the door and looked over his shoulder at her.
“It would be in your best interest to distance yourself from my son. He doesn’t need any more distractions, especially one like you. And if you want to stay in Moonshire Bay, you probably don’t want everyone to know just exactly who you are.” With that, he walked out the door and left Kate standing there.
Had he purposely come in just to have this conversation with her? It seemed like it, since he didn’t do anything else in the office.
She was shaking and tears had started to roll down her face. She ran back to her office and grabbed her purse, desperate to get out of there. As she reached the front door, Zach walked in, and as he took in her tear-stained cheeks, she could see the look of concern and fear on his face.
“Kate! What happened? What’s wrong?”
“Why don’t you ask your dad? I quit.”
30
Kate burst out the door with Zach on her heels. All the warnings that Rhoda and Jet had given him came flooding back, and he felt guilty and horrible that he had hurt her. Of course, he should have known that his dad would find out he’d hired her, but he honestly hadn’t expected him to say anything directly to Kate, and certainly not anything that would make Kate cry. He should have known that Phillip would act like this. Zach knew he should have protected her.
“What did he say to you?” Zach called out as he followed Kate down the stairs and out the door to the parking lot.
“What does it matter?” Kate spat.
“It matters a lot,” Zach responded, but as he said it, he realized it didn’t. The fact that his dad had said something to hurt her was enough. He’d had it. He was tired of his father’s judgments, and he was finally ready to tell him so, regardless of the consequences. But first, he needed to try to make things right with Kate.
She’d almost made it to her car, and he knew he had to act quickly because once she got in and drove away from him, she could more easily avoid him.
“Kate, please. Kate!” He reached out and grabbed her arm, and she whirled around, her eyes narrowed, and anger radiating from her face.
“Do. Not. Touch. Me. You’re a liar and a manipulator who will do whatever he needs to do to get his way.” She gave a half laugh, half sob and continued talking. “Funny, now that I think about it, your dad accused me of being the same thing. Of having manipulated my way into your life. And yet, it was you all along who was doing that, not me.”
“Kate, I never meant to hurt you. Please let me explain.”
“Then why? Why blackmail me to get me to work with you? Why rent me a house that you own for pennies on the dollar? What do you want from me?”
“I want you,” Zach blurted out, catching them both by surprise. He froze as he watched Kate’s expression turn from one of anger to one of disgust, and that hurt Zach deeper than he’d ever been hurt before, because this time he knew it was his own fault.
“You mean to tell me that this was some kind of twisted courtship?”
Zach opened his mouth, but nothing came out because there was really nothing to say. It was his twisted attempt at courtship, and he had no excuse. “I thought I could help you,” he said weakly.
Kate put her hands on her hips and said, “So, which is it? Did you want to help me through manipulation, or did you want to date me through manipulation? It doesn’t even matter.” She threw up her hands. “Find yourself another victim. I’ll be out of your hair and out of your house tomorrow.”
Kate walked around her car and flung the door open to get in.
“Kate, I’m so sorry. Please understand,” he pleaded.
“There’s nothing to understand, Zach. You and I, whatever this was, it isn’t real. I hope I never see you again,” she asserted, then slammed the door. She quickly backed out of the parking spot and left.
Zach slumped against the car that had been parked next to hers and just stared at the pavement. He didn’t know who he was angrier with: himself, for being an idiot, or his dad, for coming into the office and clearly being a jerk to Kate.
Anger flooded through him, and he thought that if he couldn’t get Kate to listen to his explanation, he would at least go have a talk with his dad to make him listen to how he felt about Kate. He wasn’t walking away from those feelings. If his dad wouldn’t accept the idea, Zach was willing to wash his hands of the relationship with his dad. It wasn’t what he wanted, but he was tired of his needs and happiness taking second place to his dad
’s decisions. He would give Kate some time to cool off and then try to talk to her again. He wasn’t about to let her go. The thought of her not being in his life, even as a friend, made him sick to his stomach. He’d fallen hard for this woman, and he wasn’t about to give up that easily.
Filled with resolve, he strode back into the building and up the stairs to the office. He wanted to see what was on his dad’s calendar so he could catch him. When he reached the office, Rhoda was back from lunch and sitting at her desk. She looked up at him and surprise registered on her face.
“What happened?”
“Dad happened. He came and talked to Kate while we were both gone,” he explained bitterly, and he heard Rhoda take a sharp hiss of breath.
She shook her head. “I told you this would happen.”
Zach held up his hands to stop any further I told you so commentary from Rhoda. “I know, I know. This is totally my fault, but I’m going to fix it.”
“I hope you do. She’s a lovely girl, and you guys are perfect for one another.” At that, Zach’s expression turned to one of surprise, and Rhoda gave a soft chuckle. “I may be old, but I’m not blind. You were smitten with her from day one, and I think it’s a lot more than that now, isn’t it?”
Zach nodded slowly. “I’ve got to fix this, Rhoda. I just have to.”
“I hope you can, Zach. I really hope you can.”
31
Kate left the parking lot and couldn’t believe what had just transpired. She mentally berated herself for being dumb enough to not listen to her intuition and for not using her better judgment, which had told her that she should have never trusted Zach. She had let her guard down and allowed herself to think that her life was actually coming together.
She wondered what was so wrong with her that her life was such a train wreck. First there was Todd and his crimes, then she lost everything that she thought they had worked so hard for. It hadn’t been long at all since she’d needed to completely start over, and now, after she thought she’d just barely achieved that, she would essentially have to start all over again.
The tears finally stopped falling. She realized that she’d missed the turnoff to her house, deciding it was just as well because going there would just remind her of how she’d been fooled. It broke her heart to know that the good things she thought she had now, such as her job and her house, were gone. There was no way she could continue to stay in the house knowing that it was Zach’s.
She waited until she got to the next crossroad, then slowed down. Once she saw that there weren’t any cars coming, she made a U-turn and headed back toward town, not to go to her house, but to go to Claire’s.
She pulled into the driveway and parked, then sent a quick text to Claire, who was at work, letting her know that she was going to spend some time at her place. Since Jim was on another fishing trip, she hoped that it wouldn’t be a big deal to just hang out there. She was grateful that she hadn’t yet given Claire back her house key.
Kate had just walked in and shut the door behind her when her phone buzzed. Claire had texted her back to say that of course she could stay as long as she liked and to ask if everything was okay. Kate replied yes, and that she would tell Claire about it later. She set her phone and purse on the table by the couch and walked into the kitchen. She opened the refrigerator door, in one of those moods that only carbs could help, knowing that Claire always had some leftover pieces of pie that she’d brought home from the diner. Kate peered at the second shelf and saw what looked to be apple and blueberry pie. Grabbing both plates and a carton of whipped cream, she juggled her stash and made her way over to the kitchen island. She pulled a plate out of the cabinet, then loaded it with both pieces of pie and a heavy helping of whipped cream. She stared at her concoction for a second, then went over to the freezer and pulled out the vanilla ice cream. She piled a healthy serving of ice cream on top of her pie, and finally considered her comfort food plate complete, at least for the moment.
After putting the ice cream back in the freezer, she took her plate to the living room. As she ate her dessert, she tried not to think about the calories she was consuming or about Zach. The former proved to be not particularly difficult, but the latter seemed impossible. She had allowed herself to start liking him and this was what it had gotten her. A big fat nothing, she thought. She knew better, yet she’d still allowed it to happen.
“Kate, I’m home.”
Kate sat up on the couch and yawned. She had apparently fallen asleep, which was no great wonder considering the crash that had come from eating all that sugar.
“There you are. Were you napping?” Claire said as she walked into the room.
Kate nodded sheepishly and motioned to her dirty plate. “And I ate all your leftover pie.”
“No wonder you needed a nap,” Claire said. She walked over to the couch and sat next to Kate, putting her arm around her. “What happened? Why are you here and inhaling pie? Did you hear something from Todd?”
Kate recounted what happened and managed to get through the story without crying, barely.
Claire hugged her tight, which almost sent Kate off on another crying jag, and said, “I am so sorry, Kate. I swear, I really thought Zach was an upstanding guy. I’ve never heard anything to the contrary. In fact, I’m really shocked.”
“Why would you be shocked, Claire? Good men like Jim are hard to find,” Kate replied bitterly.
Claire looked at her friend thoughtfully, as if she was going to say something, but she didn’t and instead gave Kate another squeeze before standing up.
“It’s after five. How about we carb it up some more with a frozen pizza and some wine? I even think I have some of the chips I bought when I went shopping for Jim’s trip because I forgot to put them with his stuff. How does that sound?”
“I think it sounds fantastic.”
Claire brought Kate a glass of wine, which she sipped slowly while they waited for the pizza to cook.
It wasn’t until they finished eating that the direction of the conversation turned to more serious matters.
“Can I stay here?” Kate asked.
“Of course. I can understand why you wouldn’t want to be alone, and if you’d rather spend the night at your own house in your own bed, I can come stay with you.”
“I don’t just mean tonight. I mean move back in with you. I can’t stay at the rental, not anymore,” Kate said with an edge to her voice, and Claire looked at her, frowning and confused.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s Zach’s house. He took pity on me and rented me the house far below market value, which means he must have had some ulterior motive, and I’m not going to give him that power over me.”
“I completely understand why you’re mad. Zach never should have done that. It was dishonest, and you do have every right to be angry, but you also have a lease. Regardless of your feelings, not only does he not have to let you out of the lease, but he’s actually the one who is losing potential income by leasing it to you for a really inexpensive price. Why not take advantage of it?”
Kate knew that Claire had a point, but she couldn’t help how the thought of staying in that house made her feel. “I get what you’re saying, but I’m not staying there. How can I enjoy that beautiful house now that I know there were some kind of strings attached to me getting it? I’d be waiting for the other shoe to drop, and I don’t want to be indebted to him. He hasn’t been honest about anything. Surely he won’t hold me to that lease, will he?”
“I don’t know. Before you told me all this, I would have said he’d let you break it, but if he really does have an ulterior motive, then he might use it as leverage. I honestly don’t know what to say.”
“I’ll just call Vivian and tell her to tell him that I’m breaking the lease. Let him try to stop me.” Kate reached over to the side table where she’d put her purse and her phone, then pulled up her contacts and dialed Vivian. She got her voicemail and left a message.
“I
guess we’ll see.”
32
Zach was at his desk, drinking his first cup of coffee of the day and thinking about how Kate’s coffee had tasted so much better than his, when he heard his phone buzz. He glanced down and saw that it was Vivian calling. His hand hovered over the phone, not wanting to answer it because he had a very good idea what the call was about and he didn’t want to hear what he suspected to be true. He didn’t want to face what was likely the reality.
“Hello Vivian,” he answered reluctantly.
“Do you have any idea why Kate Hamilton would have left me a voicemail last night, telling me that she wants to terminate her lease immediately, and that she’s sure you’ll be fine with it?” Vivian jumped right in, and his fears were confirmed. He wasn’t mad, he had no right to be mad, but felt disappointed that Kate didn’t want to stay in the house simply because it was his. Instead of helping, he’d now made her life more difficult. He couldn’t blame her. He only blamed himself.
Zach gave a big sigh before answering. “Yeah, I have a good idea.”
“Well, are you going to let her out of the lease?” Vivian demanded.
“Go ahead. If she wants out, I’m not going to stop her.”
“But you can enforce the lease. You were doing her such a favor, and I can’t believe she’d just up and break the lease on a whim. Can you tell me why she’d do that? I really hope she’s not planning on staying in Moonshire Bay, because no one is going to want to rent to her once this gets out,” Vivian said hotly.
“Vivian, not a word of this gets out,” he said fiercely. “I’ll pay your commission at the full rate for the entirety of the lease. This is between me and Kate. It’s my fault she’s doing this, and she doesn’t deserve any more gossip going around about her.”
“What do you mean, more gossip?”