by Cara Colter
“Show her around, lunch, tell her about the best schools, show her some nice neighborhoods?”
“You know the drill,” he said. “If you could be ready at nine in the morning, Hobbs will pick you up and take you any place the two of you want to go. Our dinner reservations are for seven. Thank you, Audrey.”
“You’re welcome.”
Much as she enjoyed being outside, digging in the dirt or running with the dog, there were times when Audrey missed the life she’d left behind.
She slipped back into the role of Corporate Wife, feeling a bit nostalgic and a bit sad. Managing a man and his career and their home, old-fashioned as it sounded, had given her a good deal of satisfaction. She’d worked hard and had enjoyed both being there for her daughter and feeling as if she’d had a hand in her husband’s success, as well.
Maybe she should have gone out and started a business of her own, but then, there’d always been so much to do to keep her busy at home.
Audrey sighed, sitting in the back of the town car, wearing the most dressy slacks and blouse she had. Betsy Montgomery seemed ridiculously young to Audrey but happy and easy to talk to. They saw a bit of the downtown area, had lunch at a little French bistro and talked about schools, then some neighborhoods, including the one where Audrey used to live.
She could drive through it safely behind the smoky-glass windows of the limousine. As long as they didn’t get out and see any of Audrey’s old neighbors, they’d be fine. And even if they did … what was the harm, really? It wasn’t as if she was going to be attacked on the street or anything.
“It’s lovely here,” Betsy told her, obviously interested in the area.
“Yes, it is. My own daughter attends these schools, and we couldn’t have been more pleased with the education she’s received in this district.”
She worked up her nerve to ask Hobbs to drive down her street, thinking she was fine with that, that she’d moved past so many things recently.
And then she saw the For Sale sign in her front yard.
Chapter Thirteen
It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Audrey tried to reassure herself after the initial panic set in.
Richard could be moving out of town. He’d always talked about wanting to be in Florida, especially after his brother moved there five years ago. They talked about retiring there together. Not that Richard was at retirement age, but he might be moving anyway.
But Andie wouldn’t want to go. Not if it meant missing her senior year.
So she might end up with Audrey by default. It wasn’t as if Andie was old enough to live alone, and if Richard wasn’t here, what else could Andie do?
That made sense.
Audrey started to get excited, happy, thrilled, even.
This could be what she’d been waiting for!
Oh, please. Let this be it.
If she could just get back under the same roof as Andie, she knew she could make this work, given time.
Betsy Montgomery started asking how fancy the restaurant where she’d be having dinner would be.
“Definitely a dress,” Audrey said. “A dressy dress.”
“Oh, no. I didn’t bring anything that dressy. I mean, you don’t wear things like that when you have twins in preschool, and when I pulled one out of my closet, it was all musty, and I didn’t have time to get it cleaned.”
“Want to go buy something?” Audrey offered. “My favorite store is two blocks away. We’ll shop and run. You’ll make it to dinner on time.”
So Audrey found herself at a dress shop where the owner knew her well, helping Betsy pick out something and then finding herself tempted as well.
“You know you want it,” the owner said, holding out a particularly pretty little black dress.
Not the elegant, ladylike sheath she’d worn to Simon’s dinner party, but a little black dress. Beaded in black, shot through with silver here and there to make it really sparkle. Short, not tight but hugging every curve, with spaghetti straps to show off her shoulders and arms.
Audrey let herself try it on, walked out of the fitting room to oohs and aahs from Betsy and the store owner.
“You must be living at the gym,” the owner complimented her. “You’re as toned and fit as I’ve ever seen you.”
Audrey was surprised. Her new wardrobe was not at all form-fitting, so she really hadn’t noticed, but running like a mad woman with the dog every day and unloading truckloads of mulch had obviously done good things for her figure.
“You cannot leave that dress in this store,” Betsy said.
And Audrey realized she didn’t want to.
She wanted to wear this little black dress and go out to dinner with Simon and the Montgomerys because she was happy and excited and couldn’t stand the idea of sitting at home alone waiting for Andie or Richard to return the calls she’d put in to both of them from the fitting room, trying to figure out exactly what was going on.
But she really thought this was it, that she’d gotten what she wanted.
Even if Richard was only moving across town, Andie wouldn’t want to go. It would mean a different school for her senior year. No teenager wanted that. If Richard was thinking of their daughter at all, he’d understand and not try to move Andie now. Surely he could have waited a year.
Although Audrey was selfishly glad he hadn’t.
She looked at the price and winced.
Audrey used to spend this much on an outfit without even blinking. And she’d need shoes, too, because she didn’t have time to go home and get some. But she hadn’t bought anything in the longest time, had hardly spent any of what Simon paid her. She had almost no living expenses, living above his garage.
And this might well be a night to celebrate.
The night she got another chance with Andie.
Who would she celebrate that with, if not Simon?
“All right. I’m splurging,” she told the two women and bought the dress.
They went back to Betsy’s hotel room and freshened up and dressed there. Simon looked surprised but recovered quickly when they both walked into the restaurant that night.
“Audrey, I’m so happy you were able to join us after all,” he said, then as he seated her, whispered, “Is everything all right?”
She nodded, beaming at him and whispered back, “I might have something to celebrate.”
“Andie?”
She crossed her fingers and held them up for Simon to see. “I’m not sure yet. But I think so.”
“That’s wonderful.” He held up two crossed fingers of his own, then held her hand for a moment. “I’m so happy for you.”
She had the almost-impossible-to-resist urge to kiss him then, right there at the restaurant in the middle of a gathering with a man he was trying to hire.
Not at all the time or place for what she wanted to do. Still …
And Simon must have figured out what she was thinking because he went still for a moment; then his gaze locked on her mouth.
It was as if the temperature in the room went up ten degrees in an instant.
Remember what you want, Audrey told herself. You can’t mess this up now. Remember.
And she gave him a polite smile and backed away.
Audrey was absolutely radiant and sexy as hell.
Simon couldn’t keep a thought in his head, other than the fact that she looked like a completely different woman.
Oh, she’d always been beautiful.
But sad.
A sad, beautiful woman.
Nothing could compare to Audrey, happy as can be and all dressed up.
Heads had turned when she walked in. He was sure more than one wife in the room was annoyed as hell at her husband, because he was still looking, appreciative and likely envious as could be of Simon.
She sparkled, and it wasn’t just because of those little beads on her little black dress.
He’d never seen her in anything that showed off her figure like this, either. Tanned, toned as could be,
the trim thighs, the little defining lines of the muscles in her arms, all those intriguing dips and swells of her throat and collarbone, nothing but a hint of the curves of her breasts.
Her hair was wild and dancing around her face, her eyes flashing, her smile never wavering.
If he hadn’t been completely smitten before, he was now.
And if she was getting that chance she so wanted with her daughter, did that mean she was leaving him?
He didn’t even want to let himself think that way. She could have this time she needed with her daughter, and they would make their peace, and then, surely, she could do what she wanted with her private life.
Surely she’d want to be with him.
Simon knew he ordered dinner that night and ate it, but he wasn’t sure what. He knew he’d ordered a bottle of wine and then worried that might be a problem for Audrey, but she didn’t seem bothered by anything. Just drank her sparkling water and charmed the Montgomerys completely and every man in the room.
The pianist in the corner started playing, the Montgomerys went to dance and Simon finally had a way to have her in his arms.
He stood up, took her by the hand and led her to the tiny dance floor in the corner. She fit in his arms as if she belonged there, as he’d known she would, and he tried not to do anything he really wanted to do. He told himself holding her would be enough.
If he could ignore all that glorious skin of her all-but-bare shoulders and how good she smelled, how soft and warm she was. He did his best, too, trying to ignore every slight brush of her breasts against him, of her thighs against his.
“So,” he said, bending his head down to hers, so they could talk softly. “What happened?”
“My old house is for sale. It scared me at first, but then I thought … whatever Richard’s up to, Andie won’t leave now. She starts her senior year in the fall. She won’t go. I’m almost sure of it. So, she’ll have to be with me, won’t she?”
“I would think so,” he said. “You haven’t talked to her?”
“No. I called as soon as I saw the sign when I was showing Betsy Montgomery my old neighborhood. But all I got was voice-mail at Andie’s number and Richard’s. I’m so excited I can hardly stand it, and … I just couldn’t stand the idea of being at home, alone, waiting to hear from them. So here I am.”
He took a breath, squeezing her to him for a moment, then stepping back. “I’m glad you came.”
She looked up at him with pure happiness in her face. “I couldn’t have done this without you.”
He shook his head.
“No, really. I couldn’t. Not just the job and a place to live, but … you’ve been so kind and understanding and supportive. Simon, I …”
And then she reached up and pressed her lips to his, a quick, bittersweet moment he didn’t want to ever end.
He was so startled that it was over before he fully realized what was going on.
“Thank you,” she said.
“You’re very welcome,” he said, hoping he didn’t look like a lovesick schoolboy, crazy about a woman who wasn’t crazy about him in return.
Grateful but not consumed with wanting her, needing her, never wanting to let her go.
How did that happen? When he’d sworn it never would again. That he wouldn’t let himself, wouldn’t take the risk. It was the last thing he’d ever expected to happen at this point in his life.
And there just had to be a way to make it work between them.
They took the limousine back to the hotel to drop off the Montgomerys, Simon deciding to leave his car at the restaurant.
For now, he wanted to be in the darkened, private backseat of the limousine with Audrey. It was enough just to watch her in her excitement over getting her daughter back. Watch her in that little black dress, needing every bit of willpower he had not to touch her, not to pull her back into his arms and kiss her until neither one of them could breathe.
She still hadn’t heard back from her daughter or her ex-husband, and she could hardly sit still she was so excited.
“Shall we drive by your house?” Simon asked.
Her face lit up. “Yes. Please!”
Simon hit the intercom in the back of the limo to tell Hobbs to drive through the neighborhood Audrey and Mrs. Montgomery had visited that day. Beside him, Audrey sat, having a hard time being still, grinning like crazy.
Simon decided he’d bribe the girl to stay if he had to, just to see Audrey this happy.
They got to her house and rolled down the window; Audrey leaned over and around him to get a better view.
“I think I needed to see it again just to believe it was real,” she said, then frowned. “No lights on inside. And Andie always parks in the driveway. She’s not here.”
Simon looked at his watch. Ten-thirty. Then he asked, “What time’s her curfew? We could stake out the place. Or we could go home and leave Hobbs on stakeout. He likes you. He’d do it.”
Audrey laughed. “Maybe we could just drive around a bit? Most of Andie’s good friends live nearby. If she’s not there or at the movies, she’s usually at one of those restaurants near the movie theater.”
“Then we’ll search,” he agreed.
Anything she wanted tonight was fine with him.
They were making their last turn out of the neighborhood when Audrey yelled, “Wait! That’s Jake’s house. That’s his car. Andie would tell him what’s going on.”
Then she took a breath and started trembling.
He opened the door, then held out a hand to help her out. She stood up, looking even more nervous. “Wish me luck.”
He squeezed her hand and resisted the urge to give her a quick kiss, not sure if he could make it quick and then let her go again.
She’d just started to walk down the driveway when a group of three boys came outside and headed for one of the cars.
Audrey stopped, waited until the boys spotted her and then called out, “Jake? Can I talk to you for a moment?”
He did not look happy. In fact, he looked miserable, but he motioned for his friends to stay where they were and walked up to Audrey.
Simon had a bad feeling about this and went to stand by Audrey’s side, hoping he was wrong.
“I saw the For Sale sign,” Audrey told him. “What’s going on?”
Jake looked as if he’d lost his best friend in the world. “Your husband …. Sorry, ex-husband is moving to Florida with his new girlfriend—”
“Florida?”
“Yes, and Andie—”
“She wouldn’t go,” Audrey said, as if she could make it true. “She wouldn’t. It’s her senior year.”
Jake shook his head. “She’s not going to Florida. Honestly, I don’t think her father wants her to go. He found a Spanish-immersion program in Barcelona for her. She’s going to spend her senior year abroad.”
He looked as if he could have cried just saying it.
Audrey took it like a blow to the abdomen, her breath rushing out, her whole body seeming to collapse. Simon caught her close with an arm around her waist.
She whimpered, gasped, then started to sob. “She can’t. She can’t do that!”
“She is,” the boy said. “She’s leaving in three weeks.”
Simon got Audrey in the car, and she curled up in his arms, sobbing.
He told Hobbs to take them home, then just held her and let her cry.
If he could have gotten hold of her daughter in that moment, he might have tied the girl up and hid her in the pool house until she agreed to stay. Whatever it took.
He’d swear from the one private conversation they’d had at her house that she wasn’t happy living with her father, that Audrey, for much of the girl’s life, had always been the one Andie Graham counted on and trusted, that what happened after the divorce was an aberration. Which meant the girl was just too damned stubborn to admit she was unhappy and wanted to be with Audrey. Either that or she was still too hurt and angry and wanted to punish her mother.
E
ither one, it had to end sometime. Simon was voting for sooner rather than later.
Much sooner.
They got to the house and Hobbs parked the car. Audrey’s sobs hadn’t lessened. When Hobbs opened Audrey’s door and saw what was happening, Simon told him, “Would you mind driving the SUV home tonight and coming back for the limo tomorrow morning?”
“Of course,” Hobbs agreed, looking worried about Audrey.
“Thank you.” Simon pulled his key ring out of his pocket, found the one for the SUV and said, “Here’s the keys. Don’t worry. I’ll take care of her.”
And then he and Audrey were alone in the virtual darkness of the limousine. He pulled her onto his lap, and her body curled against his, her head on his shoulder, a small, soft, trembling mass of absolute misery.
“I can’t believe it,” she said. “I just knew if I tried hard enough and I did everything I should, I could get her back.”
“You still can,” he told her.
She shook her head. “No, this is it. If she goes to Spain, then she comes home and goes off to college for four years, maybe even grad school. And I need time to make this okay. Time with her. Simon, there’s no more time after this.”
“She hasn’t left yet. You don’t know that she will. This could all be frustration and anger talking.”
“Of course, she’s angry. She has a right to be angry. I blew it. I blew everything, and now I’m not going to have time to fix that.”
She sobbed some more.
Simon held her close, his head bending down to hers, kissing her cheek, his nose nuzzling her hair. He felt as powerless as a man could be, and he was a very powerful man. What good was that if he couldn’t protect the people he cared about? If he couldn’t make this better?
Audrey started to quiet, making little hiccupping sounds, her breathing ragged but slowing.
He laid his cheek against hers, finding it wet with tears.
She lifted her head, with watery eyes downcast.
He kissed her forehead, brushed her tears away as best he could and then bent his head and pressed his cheek to hers.