Best for the Baby

by Ann Evans

  Zack shrugged. “Because it’s no big deal.”

  He opened the door wider. She passed him to go directly into the living room, but didn’t sit down. Instead, she turned, offering him a sealed plastic bowl containing a mysterious red liquid.

  “I brought you some soup,” she said.

  He lifted the lid, then frowned down at the neatly diced contents. “This is store-bought.”

  Maggie made a face. “Will said you’d know the difference. But it’s still good for you, so don’t be ungrateful.”

  He glanced at her in curiosity. “You came clear across town to give me a can of soup?”

  “I care about you. Next to Will and Dad, you’re the finest man I know. And…”

  “And…?”

  His senses were on red alert. Maggie only buttered him up when she wanted something. And she looked nervous, as though she didn’t expect him to be willing to comply.

  She tossed her shoulder bag in a chair and raked a hand through her hair. “All right, here’s the thing,” she said quickly. “Alaina called me this morning. I haven’t told Mom and Dad, mostly because there wasn’t much to tell.” She cocked her head sideways, as though inspecting him. “She said she’d seen you recently. So now I’m coming to you for the details.”

  “Details?”

  “Why didn’t you tell me the other day that you’d seen her? Do you know where she is now? What’s she doing? Is that guy still in the picture? That Jeffrey?”

  Zack held up his hand. “Whoa. Did you ask Alaina any of these questions?”

  “I did. She clammed up. She just said she’s fine and plans to call Mom and Dad soon to have a long talk. When I tried to press, she said she had to go. Something about moving out of where she is today, and needing to hit the road again. But where is she, and how did she link up with you?”

  Stalling, Zack set the soup down on the coffee table. Although he saw Alaina’s parents very seldom, he spoke to Maggie often. From the day Alaina had left Miami, Maggie had been beside herself with worry, trying to think of some way to get her sister to come home. But how much could he safely tell her? Especially when Alaina had clearly decided not to tell her family about the baby yet.

  He dropped his head for a moment, thinking, before looking over at his good friend. “It’s really up to Alaina to fill you in, Mags.”

  “Yes, it is. But since she won’t, I’m counting on you. You actually saw her. You wouldn’t keep me in suspense when you know I’m so worried about her.”

  “She’s fine.”

  Maggie was a tough lady, but he saw the fleeting glimpse of desperation in the blue eyes that were so much like her sister’s. “Please, Zack. If she won’t talk to the family…you’re all we have.” Maggie moved to his side to catch his arm. “I’m so grateful that we still have some contact with her through you, but please…give me something more than ‘fine.’ I’m so sick of hearing that word.”

  He nodded slowly. He didn’t have to reveal all of Alaina’s secrets. They were hers to tell. But he couldn’t stand to see Maggie so tormented. They’d been friends for too many years.

  “She needed a place to stay temporarily. I gave her the keys to Heron Cove.” Maggie’s mouth opened in surprise at that information. He added, “It was very brief. I saw her for about two hours, and considering where our relationship stands, I assure you, we didn’t sit around catching up on old times.”

  It took Maggie a long moment to answer. “She’s at the cottage? I could be up there in no time….”

  “I thought you said she was planning to leave there today?”

  “Oh, damn. I’ve missed my opportunity to talk some sense into her, haven’t I?”

  “Maybe you need to back off a little, Mags. Does she really need another Tillman lecture?”

  “I’m her sister. I want—”

  “What you want doesn’t count for a damn thing with Alaina right now. She’s a grown woman, and she can do as she pleases.”

  Maggie didn’t take offense. Instead, she gave him an odd, speculative look. “Your mother is right,” she said unexpectedly.

  “About what?”

  “She says that lately you’ve been crankier than a bear in a cave. She thinks it’s because of your ankle, but I’m not so sure. Now I wonder if it has something to do with Alaina.”

  “Wow,” he said, forcing out a laugh. “From police detective to psychologist in less than ten minutes. What else can you do?”

  “Did you break up with Damaris?”

  “Yes. Not that it’s any of your business.”

  “Before or after you saw Alaina?”

  “Before.”

  “About time. Damaris wasn’t the one for you.”

  “Thanks for the advice, but I came to that conclusion on my own,” he said, sounding more irritated than he intended.

  “So what are you going to do now?” She tilted her head again. “Your mother says she has a friend whose daughter would be perfect for you….”

  No way was he having this conversation. He shot her a deliberate grin and went over to pick up the container of soup. “I’m going to have lunch. Want to join me?”

  She made a disgusted sound and scooped up her purse. “You’re impossible. I’m leaving.” But as she headed for the door, she glanced back over her shoulder. “Just promise me, if Alaina calls you again—”

  “She’s not going to.” He followed her to the door. When she turned to say goodbye, he leaned against the frame and made a conscious effort to look encouraging. “She’ll be okay, Mags. By now she’s probably off on another adventure. When the time is right, she’ll be in touch. Just give her some breathing room.”

  Maggie nodded slowly. “I’ll try. It’s just that…She was so miserable with Gil, and I want her to be as happy as I am. But I’m afraid for her. For years she’s kept all her frustrations inside. Now that she’s had some freedom, I don’t want her to do anything foolish.” Her mouth lifted in a small smile. “I’m just so glad you were there when she needed you.”

  Zack wasn’t sure he felt the same way, but for Maggie’s sake, he didn’t mention it.

  After she left, he cast a baleful glance at the soup she’d brought. It held no appeal, but neither did anything else in the pantry. He settled on a ham-and-cheese sandwich, but before he could open the package of lunch meat, the phone rang.

  Caller ID indicated it was Damaris.

  He muttered a gruff curse. The woman hadn’t become successful in the business world because she was shy about going after what she wanted. And for some strange reason, she seemed to want him.

  Letting the call go to the machine, he listened to her message. Sure enough, it was another invitation, to a party on South Beach. She ended by playfully threatening to show up at his door tonight to personally drag him back into the real world.

  God, no. Was every woman he knew part of a conspiracy to badger him into insanity? Maybe he really was like a bear in a cave. He didn’t want to be jollied, seduced, set up or guilt-tripped. He just wanted to be left alone.

  But what were the odds of that?

  When she hung up and the condo was silent once more, Zack stood suddenly and returned the ham to the fridge. He flipped the light off in the kitchen and went to his bedroom. Pulling a suitcase out of the closet, he began tossing clothes into it with little thought. He bent and stripped off the Ace bandage from around his ankle.

  He felt a claustrophobic desire to escape Miami. He was antsy and annoyed with everyone these days, and he didn’t feel like trying to fend off Damaris one more time without being cruel. He didn’t want to sit around, waiting for work to pick up. Months ago he’d promised his mother he would go to Heron Cove to tie up loose ends, and right now, today, seemed like the opportune time.

  Since his father’s death, he’d avoided returning to the cottage. Lake Harmony held the best, most cherished memories of his childhood, but also the grief and guilt of the mistakes he’d made last year. Maybe this was an opportunity. Maybe he should try to
sort things out while he was up there. Put a few of his demons to rest.

  It was worth a shot, wasn’t it?

  He didn’t have to worry about running into Alaina. At the beginning of the week, she’d left a phone message for him that she’d be gone by Friday and would put the cottage key in the mail. Today was Saturday. And according to Maggie, Alaina should already have hit the road.

  He wondered briefly where she was headed, and if she was alone or back in Jeffrey’s company. It didn’t matter much. Either way, he had given her the breather she needed.

  She was no longer his problem.

  LAKE HARMONY WAS CLOSED up tight by the time Zack reached the outskirts of town. During the fall foliage season, “leaf peepers” could turn these lanes into long snakes of nonstop traffic, but tonight there seemed to be few people on the roads.

  The mountains were pitch-dark. There were no streetlamps to guide him, so he went slowly around the curves, not willing to send his car into some ravine. Over the years, developers had left new scars all along the valley, and the soft glow of lights from dozens of cabins and cottages winked like low-lying stars against the ridges of Dogwood Mountain.

  He swung into the driveway at Heron Cove. As expected, the cottage was nothing more than a dark lump, surrounded by even darker trees and shrubbery badly in need of trimming. He sat quietly for a moment, glad the trip was over. His ankle ached from the long hours of driving.

  Grabbing his suitcase, he limped up the porch steps. To the right he saw the two-seater swing that his father had hung there years ago. His parents had loved sitting out here on cool summer nights, drinking iced tea or coffee, swatting at an occasional mosquito.

  After his father’s death, his mother had asked Zack to take it down. She couldn’t bear to think of it hanging there, as empty as her heart now felt. Maybe that was one of the things he should take care of on this visit.

  As he let himself into the cottage, the moonlight revealed that the glass panel beside the door had been replaced. Alaina’s break-in might never have happened.

  Fleetingly, he wondered where she was at this moment, if she was safe and happy, looking forward to a life with Jeffrey and the baby. How long before Zack saw her again? Months? Years? If she was determined to avoid her family and their loving interference, she might never return to Miami. That was fine with him, but he’d hate to see Maggie and her folks so estranged.

  He had no sooner entered the hallway and lowered his suitcase than he noticed that a light had been left on. At the far end of the central hallway, an eerie, flickering glow came from the living room.

  A night-light, perhaps? Then he heard the muffled sound of conversation. Laughter. And a woman’s soft voice, rising and falling. Nothing he could make out. When Alaina had left, had she forgotten to turn off the television?

  He stopped in the doorway of the living room, surprised.

  Alaina sat a few feet away on the floor, cross-legged, her back to him. She appeared completely absorbed in the program, and didn’t seem to realize she was no longer alone.

  The television was on, but it wasn’t a sitcom babbling into the room. She’d evidently popped one of his father’s videos into the VCR to watch home movies. The tapes might be considered antiques by now, but back when Zack had been a teenager, Tom Davidson had carried his camera everywhere, capturing even the most mundane of family adventures.

  He recognized this footage. The night of Lake Harmony’s Fourth of July celebration. It was the year he and Alaina had turned sixteen, and the day they had their first real argument.

  They’d been having such a wonderful summer. The usual fun—just the four of them—although Zack was already in love with Alaina and couldn’t have cared less about spending time with his sister, Sandy, and Maggie. Over the years, he and Alaina had grown so close. They were well-suited for one another. Like two halves of the same person. It had never crossed his mind that Alaina might not feel the same way.

  But that July, she was enchanted with the idea of exploring her budding womanhood. Even though Zack had thought it was a foregone conclusion she would go with him to the town dance, she’d informed him that he had dragged his feet too long. She’d already agreed to be Whit Russell’s date. She’d chided Zack for assuming too much about their relationship, taking her for granted.

  Stunned and hurt, he took refuge in insults. “Whit Russell is a liar and a cheat,” he told her. “How can you be so stupid?”

  “At least he doesn’t have an ego the size of Mount Rushmore,” she’d snapped back at him. “He’s always been nice to me, and he actually listens to what I have to say. He’s cute. And he says he’s a good dancer.”

  “A good dancer? If that’s all that’s important to you, then you deserve each other.”

  The argument got worse from there, but neither of them gave an inch, of course. They spent the rest of the day in sulky silence. Maggie and Sandy were mortified by their stubborn behavior, by this blip that seemed to destroy the complete harmony the four of them had always shared. They’d all cringed when Zack’s mother had hustled them to line up for pictures, and his father, manning the camera, had insisted they link arms.

  His poor, clueless parents. Hadn’t they noticed the way Zack and Alaina eyed each other with mutual disgust? As Zack watched that old footage now, his mother straightened his tie, then admonished him to smile. He remembered that he couldn’t wait to be out of her sight so he could rip off that stupid tie and throw it into the lake. He couldn’t have given her a more frosty response if he’d been frozen solid, but she didn’t seem to notice.

  Alaina hadn’t behaved much better. As he watched the video, she acknowledged his mother’s compliment about her party dress. But she was so quiet and listless, she might as well have been wearing a burlap sack.

  Zack remembered that dress vividly. All lavender and blue, with wispy sleeves that made Alaina look like an exotic princess. Later, she had come to him in tears, showing him where Whit had ripped one of those sleeves when he’d clumsily tried to seduce her.

  Zach had been clutching a piece of that material in his fist when it eventually connected with Russell’s jaw.

  It had been a messy, ungraceful fight in one of the boathouses, but there had been no way to keep it from happening. Whit had ended up with two black eyes—the one Alaina had already landed, and the one Zack had added for good measure—and two loose teeth. Whit’s version of the story had, of course, conveniently omitted his caveman antics, and Zack ended up grounded by his horrified parents. Unpleasantness all around.

  But in the end, Zack and Alaina had reconciled, and at the time, that was all that mattered.

  He shook his head now as he watched his younger self on the screen. A guy could twist himself up pretty good over a girl. Had he really been that foolish?

  Yes. Because that girl had been Alaina Tillman, and for so long, he had loved her.

  His gaze slid from the television to the floor as Alaina moved, unwinding her legs and drawing them up to her chest. He heard her sigh heavily. She dropped her chin to her knees and wrapped her arms around them. The droop of her shoulders spoke volumes.

  Without warning, she snatched up the remote control and killed the sound. The figures on the television marched silently to the front of the cottage, where his mother herded them to sit on the porch steps while the camera rolled. The four kids in that film had never looked so miserable.

  The cottage was old, constantly settling into the red Georgia earth. Tiny creaks were common, or maybe Zack made some small sound. Whatever the reason, Alaina turned her head to look over her shoulder. Right at him.

  Her face, bathed in the light of the television, seemed etched in silver, but he saw the faint trace of tears on her cheeks. He felt his breath catch in his throat.

  “You were always there for me, weren’t you?” she said simply, a soft, choked sound that cut through the silent room. “Even when I didn’t deserve you.”

  He knew she was remembering that day, too. The way
it had started off badly between them, ending with anger and fists, and Alaina weeping in the circle of his arms while fireworks exploded over their heads. That night he had kissed her gently on the mouth, even though his lips stung from where Whit had managed to get in one weak blow.

  After that, things were different between them. They’d gone home from that vacation thoroughly in love, and that’s the way it had stayed. At least until the end of high school, when it had come time to finalize decisions about college. By the time they’d both turned twenty, a thousand miles separated them, and any ridiculous ideas they’d entertained about building a life together had evaporated like morning mist.

  Now he looked at her and knew he was as big a fool for her as he had ever been. He didn’t know why she had decided to watch these old movies, or why she wasn’t gone from the cottage as she had told Maggie she would be. But he didn’t care.

  A saner, more practical man might have called up all the grievances he had against this woman and found a way to stay right where he was. But he was not that saner, more practical man tonight. Instead, he crossed the room.

  He held out a hand to pull her to her feet. She rose in one fluid motion and came into his arms without hesitation.

  She stared up at him with stricken eyes. “Zack,” she said, her voice cracking. “Oh, God—Zack. I’ve missed having you in my life. So much…”

  In the dim light, he was aware of her tracing his jaw with her fingertips, tentatively, softly, barely grazing his skin. She smelled wonderful, as though she wore some delightful cologne, but he knew it was just her. A scent he had carried in his mind for years.

  His chest expanded with excitement as he pulled her even nearer. He searched her face for some sign that he should turn her loose. He couldn’t see one.

  “Zack—”

  “Shh.” He brought a finger to his lips. “Don’t say anything.”

  It shocked him how little conflict there was inside him at this moment. Swept by desire that was as swift and hot as it was untimely, Zack lowered his mouth to hers. All the pain and frustration and longing of years past were channeled into his kiss.