Sweet Temptations Collection

by Brant, Marilyn

  STEP 13:

  Let the batch mix for another fifteen or twenty minutes more

  in the rock-salt and ice freezer.

  ~From Mr. Koolemar’s Top Secret,

  Kool Kreme Ice Kreamations Recipe Book, pg. 97

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  Garrett grabbed his car keys and was halfway out the door when he realized Cait was following him. “What? You wanna come with me?”

  She gave him an incredulous, Man-You-Are-Such-An-Idiot stare before saying, “Of course” in her sharpest, most clipped tone.

  Great.

  “Well, c’mon then.”

  He let her scurry after him, not slowing down, basically making an ass out of himself, but he wasn’t sure how to stop. He was just so damned angry. First Todd—the blond bastard—and now Doug.

  Dianne told them Georgina had pointed to Doug Chippenak sneaking out of the bakery and said, “There’s the man with the gray sideburns, like Hank. Hank liked pie, too.”

  Dianne took a closer look and, sure enough, her mother-in-law was right. Although Doug didn’t have many distinguishing features, and he tended to blend well in a crowd (unlike Todd, whom Cait had no problem picking out right away, damn him), Georgina sure had nailed it. Dianne called the New Brighton police and then home. But Garrett had every intention of being first on the scene.

  He began backing out of the driveway before Cait even closed her car door. He’d driven to the corner before she’d fastened her safety belt. He didn’t bother with his own. He was already living dangerously.

  “Do you think he’ll still be there?” she asked.

  He shrugged. How the hell should he know? They sped to the bakery.

  Cait scanned the streets, checking all four cardinal directions. “Do you see him?”

  “No.” He didn’t see Doug anywhere. Instead, in his mind’s eye, he saw Todd, draping his arm around Cait, like she was a football trophy or something. That little scene back at the house nearly put him over the edge. He gripped the steering wheel tighter and gritted his teeth. He did not like that guy at all. And he really didn’t like how he was feeling at the moment. So very out of control.

  He drove up and down the block several times, trying hard not to superimpose Todd’s cocky face on every man who walked by. But none of that mattered as far the hunt for Chippenak was concerned. The board member was nowhere to be found.

  “At least we know for sure he isn’t in Memphis,” Cait said.

  “We always knew he wasn’t in Memphis. Or Aspen, for that matter. The uncle contacted the sister, and Doug was never at her house. It seems the weasel is trying to hide in plain sight.”

  “Dianne said she didn’t think he noticed them but that she also lost track of him right away.”

  “Hopefully, he’ll think it’s safe now and will be less likely to run again. He’ll keep getting more and more careless, and we’ll get him.”

  Careless like Todd. Very careless behavior on his part. Any more of that touching-Cait crap and Garrett wouldn’t be responsible for his actions.

  After forty-five minutes of combing the surrounding neighborhoods and coming up empty, they stopped to talk to an officer in an unmarked squad posted near the bakery.

  “Where do you think he’s staying?” Cait asked the policeman.

  The officer raised his palms. “Could be anywhere, but it’s probably within a thirty-mile radius. People do strange things when they feel their backs are against the wall. The fact that he’s even returned to New Brighton leads us to believe that Doug is either confident he won’t get caught or he’s trying to create a more challenging chase. Today, he’s succeeded in doing both.”

  This, of course, bugged the hell out of Garrett. He knew the officers were doing their jobs, following correct police procedure and, eventually, they’d draw Doug out and trap him with the law’s long, strong arm. But it ticked him off that the scoundrel had evaded them all yet again. And Garrett didn’t need any new reasons to be angry.

  He drove Cait back to her mother’s house without a word spoken between them. In their absence, Dianne and Georgina had returned from their outing, but all was not well there either.

  “What do you need, Mom?” Seth asked.

  The older woman’s hands shook, her gaze shooting all over the room and, occasionally, alighting on her son’s face. “Hank wouldn’t have liked this,” she whispered. “We only moved twice before, and it was always in the summer. It’s too cold now.”

  Seth motioned for Cait to come over. He leaned in and murmured something in her ear. Garrett saw her nod, glance at her mother and nod again. Then Seth said something else, and Garrett noticed both of them turning their attention to him. What now?

  Cait gave a little shrug, like she didn’t care, which really pissed him off. A minute later, Seth tromped over.

  “Hey, Garrett,” Seth said. “The movers are ready to go, and Todd and the guys are helping me take a batch of breakables over to the house in my car.”

  He nodded at Seth. Smart move. Get rid of Toddy-boy.

  “Would you mind hanging out here for a while with Mom and Cait and our neighbor? Mom’s not handling the moving-day experience real well. We kind of figured she might get a little agitated by the chaos at our place, at least until we’ve had a chance to set things up properly.”

  Garrett allowed a shallow grin. Seth was a good guy. Not his fault he had an obnoxious friend and a freaky sister. “Sure.”

  Seth glanced around at the bare living room. “Not much left by way of furniture. I’ll grab some lawn chairs from the garage.”

  “I’ll get them.” Garrett intersected the room, feeling an uncontrollable heat in his lower body when he passed by Cait. She looked at him in that inscrutable way but didn’t smile.

  Damn, damn, damn, damn. Women. He wanted her up against that closet wall again, his mouth devouring hers again, their bodies touching and rubbing and joining. He shook his head to try to clear the thought, like a mental Etch-A-Sketch image he desperately needed to erase.

  By the time he stomped back into the room with four folding chairs, the other men were already out the door. Good riddance.

  Cait and Georgina stood mutely by the window watching them go. The neighbor guy shifted his weight uneasily near a couple of unsealed boxes in the corner of the living room. The rest of the house looked empty as death.

  “Have a seat,” Garrett said to the man, unfolding a chair for him.

  “Thanks, but I’ve gotta be getting back soon. My wife wants me to take her out to dinner tonight and this time I can’t escape it. Her birthday’s tomorrow.” He raised his eyebrows at Garrett as if to say, “You know how women are, right?”

  Garrett nodded sympathetically.

  The neighbor said his goodbyes…and then there were three.

  In the role-reversal of the century, Cait gave him her best impression of a woman who’d lost her memory, treating him like a stranger who’d walked in off the street. Her mother, suddenly more articulate than her daughter, began grilling him on life as a “fruit and nut kid.”

  “Did you help your parents quite a bit with the company when you were young?” she asked, settling into an orange-and-yellow-striped lawn chair. Her daughter, meanwhile, stood motionless by the door, as though she might have to flee if the scary stranger got too personal. A fresh blade of anger twisted inside him.

  “I tried,” he said. “But my big brother was able to do a lot more, and he did it more quickly. By the time I was twelve, I spent most of my time at the company hanging around the staff’s break room. Sneaking cookies. Talking to the workers. They’d tell me stories about their lives outside of the Ellis Corporation. I was fascinated by that.”

  “Don’t you have to go back there sometime, to work there, too?”

  Now wasn’t that just the Million-Dollar Question, hmm? “If my parents have anything to say about it, yes.” An awful sense of inevitability settled like a boulder on his chest.

  He resisted looking at Cait, keepin
g his attention focused on her mom. “The corporation is run by a team of people heading each department. Working with the financial sector, as I did, was fairly straightforward. It’s just that it wasn’t that much fun for me being in a company setting. I like it when the people around me are enthusiastic, energized. The Ellis financial advisers and accountants are very competent, but not real lighthearted.”

  Georgina smiled at him. “Hank liked doing that, too. Talking to people, hearing stories about their families, helping them. The management side of construction was all right for him, but only because of the people involved.” She gave the room a heartbreaking glance, then turned to her daughter. “Cait, sweetie, where are my photos? I—I don’t want those stored away.”

  Cait walked over to her mother, put a gentle hand on her shoulder. “I know, Mom. I just set the albums in these boxes here. Seth said we could put them on a bookshelf in your new bedroom once we get everything else unpacked.”

  Georgina’s eyes misted a bit, clouding over in a way that frightened Garrett. She seemed to be changing mind zones right in front of him.

  She jumped up from her chair and clasped her hands together. “Oh, my! What about the loose pictures? The doubles of my favorites. Where are they?”

  Her daughter walked her back over to the chair and made her sit back down. “They’re also right here. I’ll get them for you now if you’d like.”

  “Yes, dear. Yes.”

  Cait rummaged through one of the boxes, pulling out a large white envelope stuffed with photographs. “See, Mom? Nothing to worry about.”

  “I want to look again,” Georgina said, stretching her arm out toward Cait and wiggling her fingers like a child asking for a lollipop. Cait placed it in her hands. “Thank you, honey.”

  The older lady grabbed a fistful of pictures, flipping through them, comparing one to another, holding a few up to display to him and Cait. “The garden in our starter house on Lemming Street, and Seth riding his tricycle in the front yard.”

  She flipped some more. “Aunt Meg’s first wedding—to that horrible Bill from Ohio—but Seth was so adorable as the ring bearer.” More shuffling. More show and tell.

  After ten minutes of Seth’s early years, Georgina said, “Here’s my little Cait when she was four.” That one prompted Garrett to spring up and take a closer look.

  “Hey, cute.” He looked over at his blond angel, the one who was barely speaking to him now, and he pointed to the picture. “Love that tutu.”

  Cait turned almost as pink as the barrettes once clipped to her wispy, preschool hair. She opened her mouth, but no words came out. Finally, she said, “I—oh, give me that!”

  She lunged for the photo, but he was faster.

  “Got it,” he said, snatching it out of the older lady’s grasp. “Sorry, Mrs. Walsh, but I may need to confiscate this one from your envelope. I’ve got the perfect spot for it on my refrigerator.”

  Georgina laughed, shrugging at her wide-eyed daughter. “Well, Cait, he was too strong and speedy for me, what could I do?”

  “You could put the rest away before he gets any other ideas.” Cait brushed a few strands of hair away from her face and reached for the envelope.

  Seth walked in, interrupting.

  “Hi, loves,” he said, kissing his mother and sister. Demonstrative family, Garrett thought. “Garrett, hey there.” Seth lifted a hand in greeting. “Dianne’s running our place like a naval captain, so I just wanted to check in on things here. You all doing, okay?”

  “Fine,” Cait said too quickly.

  Garrett nodded, as noncommittal as politeness would allow.

  “We were looking at pictures,” Georgina exclaimed. “And,” she gave a sly smile, “I was just about to give this envelope to Garrett, so he could see our family over time.”

  “What?” Cait almost doubled over.

  “Thank you, Mrs. Walsh.” Garrett grinned at Seth and Georgina before granting a deliberate look to the one objector of the family. Her gaze was like granite. “I know I’m going to enjoy borrowing these. Tremendously.”

  Seth studied him with a half-amused, half-contemplative look. “Anyone here want some pizza? It’s been hours since lunch, and I’ve really got the urge for Giuseppe’s peppers-n-shrooms.” He pulled out his cell phone. “Garrett, what do you take on yours?”

  The idea of having to watch Cait nibble on a slice, the way she did that first night on the beach, was almost too much for his mind and body to take. He’d only want to lick the sauce off her lips, lay her down in the middle of one of the empty rooms and…

  “No, thanks,” he heard himself say. “Nothing for me. If you don’t need any more help, I should probably be heading back.” He glanced at his watch to emphasize his point, but couldn’t keep the sigh from slipping out.

  Seth held out his palm for a firm handshake. “You were a great help today, buddy. Thanks for coming out. Really appreciate the time and all the effort.”

  “No problem.” Garrett touched Georgina’s shoulder in gratitude when she handed over the white envelope, then he smiled briefly at Cait.

  “See you guys,” he said to everyone in general, but he hoped she was paying attention. He’d be damned if he’d chase after her just so she could screw with his head some more. “Let me know if I can do anything else sometime.” He waved and slipped outside.

  ***

  Cait watched her brother curiously. Seth exhaled on a count of ten, waited until Garrett’s car was halfway down the street then dragged her by the sleeve into the kitchen.

  “Are you out of your mind?” he said.

  She blinked at him. What was he talking about? “What are you talking about?” she asked.

  “Excuse me, Cait, but unless the circumstantial evidence was extraordinarily misleading, you guys had sex in our closet last weekend.”

  She stiffened. “Your point being?”

  “What the hell are you doing to that poor guy?”

  “I’m not doing anything to him. Come on, Seth. His mind is on the Chippenak thing. And there’s so much for me to deal with here, to take care of, especially with Mom in this condition—”

  “Oh, is that ever a buncha crap.”

  She drew in a long, self-righteous breath. “It is not. I—”

  “Yes, it is, and you can shut up and listen to me.” He glared at her. “Take a good look around this house. It’s empty. Dianne and I are in charge. Your reign is over. Before today’s done, Mom’ll be tucked into bed in the room next to Mia’s. She’ll be fine. Or, at least as fine as she’d be anywhere.”

  He swung an arm around her neck, getting her in a strangle hold. “You, on the other hand, need to move the hell on. Start dealing with your own life. Your past and your future. And I mean now.”

  “Seth—I—look, it’s hard. I feel so out of control. Every time I think Garrett and I are headed in the right direction something shifts, and I’m lost all over again.”

  “I know it’s not easy for you to let go, to allow someone else into your inner world after losing Dad and Fredric and now, in a way, Mom, too. But if Garrett’s half the man I think he is, he might be worth the effort.”

  “And if he isn’t?”

  “I’ll beat the living daylights out of him,” Seth said.

  Cait laughed then bowed her head, thinking. It was comforting to know he’d make good on that threat if she asked him to. It’s what big brothers were for. She tried to project all the love she felt for him. “What should I do?”

  “Leave. I mean it, Cait. Get out of here and go over to Garrett’s and talk about whatever the damn problems are.”

  He had to be out of his mind. “Not tonight?”

  “Hell, yes, tonight. Garrett’s under a lot of stress, I can tell. He needs you to be there for him.”

  “But the move—”

  “It’s done, Cait. A couple more boxes, a few chairs, odds and ends in the kitchen.” He shrugged. “You did a whole lot of work around this place, but—” He lowered his voice. “
You didn’t do the work in here.” He tapped his index finger to the left side of her chest. “The time’s come. Mom and I are gonna eat some pizza. You aren’t.”

  “Seth, I can’t—”

  He steered her to the front door and pushed her outside. “Talk to you tomorrow.”

  ***

  Cait circled the parking lot five times before deciding to pull into a space. The sun slid beneath the horizon, and she could see a light flick on inside Garrett’s condo. She waited in her car, seatbelt still strapped tight, working up the nerve to approach the building. What on earth could she say to him?

  At the entrance buzzer, she punched in his number and stood still, not realizing she was holding her breath until his voice echoed over the system.

  “Yeah?” he said, sounding wearier than he’d let on before.

  “Garrett, it’s me.”

  There was a click. Silence.

  He didn’t even respond. He just hung up on her. Oh, God. She closed her eyes, the intercom’s phone-like receiver still in her hand. Cait rubbed the smooth white plastic, as if it were a genii’s bottle, making the same wish three times. Please, in spite of everything, love me back, Garrett. She replaced the receiver and stepped away from the door.

  Of course that was it. He must not really love her. They might make love, but if his ego didn’t get stroked, if he wasn’t getting his way, if his needs weren’t being met for one measly week, then of course things would come to a halt. If she pulled away, he wasn’t going to be the one to humble himself. He wouldn’t be the one to follow. Or maybe he just wouldn’t follow her.

  She sprinted across the parking lot. With trembling fingers she unlocked her car door and tossed in her purse.

  “Cait!”

  She raised her head to the voice. Garrett, clad only in gray sweatpants and some untied leather sneakers, stood breathless by the door, holding it open so he wouldn’t lock himself out.