Second Act

by Herkness, Nancy

  Hugh raised his eyebrows. “I didn’t know physical therapists worked such late hours.”

  “My patient is a very prominent person with a very demanding schedule,” Allie said. “I try to be accommodating.”

  He noticed she wouldn’t even offer a pronoun to indicate the patient’s gender, such was her concern for confidentiality. He wished he had more people with Allie’s discretion in his own life. “Your patient is very fortunate.”

  “Damn straight,” Gavin said. “Will you call me when you’re headed home, sprite?”

  Hugh found Gavin’s nickname for Allie odd. She seemed a woman with her feet firmly on the ground, not some wispy, airy imp. In fact, she reminded him of Jessica. Both were healers to their core with a warmth and vitality that somehow got transmitted to their patients.

  “Always,” she said, her voice sounding like a caress. When she leaned down to give her husband a kiss on the cheek, Gavin turned his head so her lips met his. Hugh knew it surprised Allie, because he saw her eyes widen and then flutter closed when her husband put his hand on the back of her head to hold her there longer.

  When Allie straightened, her redhead’s complexion betrayed her feelings with a flush of pink.

  Hugh cleared his throat in an overly dramatic way just to bother Gavin.

  The writer grinned at him. “And that is how to kiss your wife properly.”

  Allie’s cheeks burned an even brighter rose, but she put one hand on her hip and struck a sassy pose. “He thinks that will keep me from falling in love with one of my patients the way I did with him. It’s kind of like that old saying about when a man marries his mistress, he creates a job opening.”

  Hugh barked out a laugh. “I’m so glad you agreed to marry Gavin.”

  Pleasure sparkled in Allie’s eyes as she turned them back to her husband. “So am I.”

  “Oh dear God,” Hugh said. “Now he looks unbearably smug.” But he was envious of the palpable connection between the two of them.

  He’d felt that once . . . and never again. But he put that down to his well-earned cynicism.

  Allie waved good-bye, and Gavin’s gaze didn’t leave her until she was out of sight.

  “I can’t believe I almost screwed up your relationship,” Hugh said, referring to the time he’d accused Allie of using Gavin for her own ends. Of course, he’d been fed false information by the scheming Irene Bartram.

  “You didn’t screw it up. I did.” Gavin turned somber. “Nothing should have shaken my belief in Allie’s integrity, because I knew her—and I loved her.”

  “Trust has never been our strong suit, you and I.” Hugh leaned his hip against the windowsill. “Doesn’t it bother you to have her working so late?”

  “It used to, but I’ve learned to handle it.”

  “She’s very careful about confidentiality, which I admire,” Hugh said. “Do you know where she is or who the patient is?”

  Gavin examined the label on his beer bottle. “We have an understanding. She only takes patients our doctor and friend, Ben Cavill, refers to her, and she must use our driver, Jaros, to go to them.” He lifted his gaze to Hugh. “So, technically, I do not know where she is or who the patient is. However, if need be, I could find out quite swiftly.” He bared his teeth in a shark’s smile. “And I would not hesitate to do so.”

  “But why take the chance that you’d need to?”

  “You’ve met Allie, so I’m surprised you think I could stop her.” Gavin gave Hugh a sardonic look but then grew serious. “Let’s face it, I’m just an entertainer. I spin stories about a spy who can’t possibly exist. Allie heals people. That’s a lot more important than anything I do. Not only that, but she’s brilliant at her job, so I would be doing humanity a disservice if I tried to convince her to stay home with me.” He gave a short laugh. “God knows what would have happened to me if she hadn’t taken me on as a patient. The real reason, though, is that she would come to hate me if I interfered with her calling. Her work is part of who she is and why I fell in love with her. I’d be a fool to attempt to change that.”

  Hugh put down his beer on a side table and clapped his hands together a couple of times in mock applause. “That was quite a speech.”

  Gavin bent at the waist in an ironic, seated bow.

  But the speech had made Hugh squirm inwardly at the memory of how he’d treated Jessica’s work in their past. He winced as he thought of the many times he’d demanded that she change her schedule to accommodate his, as though his meaningless parties were more important than her healing sick animals of all kinds. He’d needed her beside him to shore up his belief in himself, to remind him that an extraordinary person thought he was worthy of her respect and even more, her love. So he had trampled on the qualities that he loved most in her: her compassionate spirit, her boundless love for other creatures, and her skill at healing.

  “If your profession is unimportant, what does that make mine?” Hugh said to Gavin with a lift of his eyebrow. “At least you conjure characters into being out of thin air. All I do is mouth the lines you’ve written for me. I’m essentially a puppet.”

  “Did I hurt your feelings? I’m so sorry.”

  “Ha! You take joy in irritating me.”

  Gavin shook his head. “I didn’t say what we do is worthless. The world needs to escape, even to believe that someone like Julian Best is working behind the scenes to battle evil for all of us. I dreamed him up, but you’ve brought him to life as the living, breathing embodiment of my words. Remember, storytellers were revered in ancient times. Too bad those days are over.”

  “At least a few of us still get paid well.” Hugh waved his beer bottle around to indicate their elegant surroundings. Gavin owned not one but two town houses side by side in Manhattan, one to live in and one to run his writing empire from.

  “But we’ve gotten off topic,” the author said. “We were discussing the woman from your past. I never got the chance to meet her back then. You’d broken up by the time we became friends. You should bring her to dinner.”

  “Who do you think you are, my mother?” Hugh repeated the question that had become a dark joke between them, since both had lacked a loving mother figure in their early lives.

  “I’d like to meet the woman who you commandeered my helicopter for.”

  Hugh knew Gavin didn’t really care about the helicopter. “You’d have done the same thing for Allie.”

  “Allie is my wife, not my ex-fiancée,” Gavin said.

  “Would you care about her well-being any less if you split up?”

  “That would depend on why we parted,” Gavin drawled.

  Hugh let his gaze rest on his friend and was rewarded when Gavin shifted on the sofa and said, “Yes, I would still care. I cared even when I thought Allie had used me. Of course, we’ve already established that I was an idiot.”

  “Neither one of us is very good at relationships. We didn’t have any sterling examples to learn from.”

  “Speak for yourself,” Gavin said. “I am happily married and intend to remain so for the rest of my life.”

  A sharp pang sliced through Hugh. He could have had that, but he’d thrown it away. “I apologized to Jessica,” he said. “For being an asshole.”

  “It’s taken you this long to realize that’s what you are?” Gavin asked. “I could have told you much sooner.”

  “It seems to me you live in a glass house in this case.”

  “I’ve mellowed since I fell in love with Allie.” Gavin dropped the taunting. “How did Jessica respond to your apology?”

  “She said it helped repair some of the damage.”

  “Is that what you hoped she would say?”

  No, he’d wanted her to throw herself into his arms and say all was forgiven. “It was a start.”

  “What is it you’re looking for, Hugh?” Gavin sat forward. “You haven’t mentioned her in years.”

  Hugh straightened to stare out the window again. He hadn’t mentioned Jess because thinking
about her was like probing an unhealed wound, so he didn’t. “I see how happy you are, and I want the same thing.”

  “Well.” Surprise sounded in Gavin’s voice, which gave Hugh a moment of satisfaction. “I wasn’t expecting that. I thought this was a simple exercise in atonement and self-flagellation.”

  “It is, but I can’t help wondering . . .” Hugh gulped down a mouthful of beer. Seeing Jess again had made him feel like he was missing a piece of himself, a piece he hadn’t realized he’d lost.

  “You’ve told me that she didn’t want the kind of life you offered her. Now she’s built a life she does want, so maybe you should leave well enough alone.”

  Hugh pivoted to look at his friend. “Maybe the life I have to offer is different now.”

  Gavin snorted. “She runs a low-cost vet clinic in South Harlem. How exactly does that tie in with what you do?”

  His words were an eerie echo of what Jess had said to him all those years ago about how different the things they wanted from life were. On the surface, she was right, but they shared a drive to succeed at whatever they did and a strong commitment to hard work. He’d just been too self-absorbed to give her room to do what she needed.

  Hugh shook his head. “You’re right. My presence can be disruptive, thanks to Julian Best’s fame. I should stay the hell away from her.”

  At least until he was sure of what he really wanted.

  Chapter 10

  “Goal!” Pete leaped to his feet, and Jessica jumped up to cheer, too. Her companion’s enthusiasm for the game and his colorful running commentary had proven contagious. She was rooting for the New York Rangers as loudly as he was.

  “That’s evened things up,” Pete said, giving her a high five. “Now we’ll take the lead.”

  She was glad to have something to focus on other than just conversation. Sitting across a table from Pete would have been hard with Hugh’s face and words still roiling through her brain from their encounter the day before. The hard-fought hockey game provided an excellent diversion.

  The luxury box hosted twelve guests, all of whom Pete had introduced her to. They were either employees of ExDat or their significant others. It had become obvious to her that Pete was a big wheel in the company by the way their fellow spectators treated him. There was liking, certainly, but also respect and some deference, all of which Pete was clearly comfortable with.

  When the end-of-game horn sounded, the arena erupted in celebration of a Rangers come-from-behind win. Jessica stood and joined the victory cheers. Pete’s face was lit with fierce pleasure. He took his hockey seriously.

  “Yes! I knew they’d do it,” he shouted into the din. He wrapped his arm around Jessica’s shoulders and pulled her against his side in an exuberant hug.

  She let herself relax into him because it was nothing more than his way of sharing his excitement at the win. But when she smiled up at him, he leaned down and kissed her, a real kiss, not just a “hey, my team won and I’m happy” kind of kiss. His lips felt strange and unfamiliar on hers. Because he wasn’t Hugh, of course. Anger flared, and she reached up to thread her fingers in his pale hair so she could kiss him in return.

  She was damned if Hugh was going to ruin this.

  Pete wrapped his other arm around her to bring her closer as the kiss deepened. She tried to sink into it. She wanted to feel heat sear through her. Pete knew what he was doing, but her body refused to acknowledge his skill, remaining quiescent and indifferent.

  When the cheering subsided and the spectators began to file out of their seats, Pete released her mouth, but his gaze stayed on her face, his eyes blazing with desire. “Now that was the right way to celebrate a win,” he said with a scorching smile.

  Jessica laughed, even as she realized she’d made a mistake. “I had no idea hockey was so exciting,” she said. “It went to my head.”

  “There’s another game tomorrow night,” he said, his arms still around her. “I’ll get tickets.”

  She smiled and leaned away from him so he let her go. “I can only handle one work night out a week,” she said, sidling sideways to exit the row of seats. As soon as they were back in the luxury suite, he wound his arm around her waist while the group collected their coats and said good-bye.

  And it remained there, a heavy, uncomfortable weight, as they walked the two blocks to the parking lot where his big Range Rover waited, gleaming darkly in the city lights. He made a wry face as he held the passenger door open for her. “I wish you didn’t have to work weekends.”

  “Me, too,” Jessica said, although it was providing a useful excuse to hide behind right now. She really wanted to give Pete a chance—he was such a solid, trustworthy guy—but Hugh’s allure was too vivid and fresh.

  When they arrived at her house, Pete double-parked in front and escorted her up the stairs. His kiss was meant to persuade, to seduce, and to promise, but she felt none of the hot, melting response Hugh’s kisses evoked, so she ended it as soon as she could and slipped inside her door.

  She walked into the kitchen to find a note from Aidan, saying he’d gone out. She pulled a bottle of wine out of the fridge and poured herself a glass before wandering into the living room. Pushing Pete out of her mind, she examined Aidan’s progress on the walls and had to admit that her brother was doing a good job.

  It cheered her up to have one part of her life moving forward in a satisfyingly concrete way. Until her gaze fell on the perfectly smooth plaster where once there had been a long, jagged crack. She closed her eyes and groaned.

  Would she ever be able to look at that wall again without thinking of Hugh?

  The next morning, Aidan sat across the kitchen table from Jessica, sporting sweatpants, a flannel shirt, and a hangover as he nursed a mug of coffee between his hands. “I’m glad I don’t have to go to work today,” he mumbled.

  She cut another bite of the pancakes she’d made for herself. Aidan had taken one look at the fluffy golden disks and turned green. “That’s why I don’t party hearty on Saturday night,” she said.

  “You don’t party hearty any night,” he said. “You work all the time.”

  “Hey, I went to a hockey game last night.”

  Aidan brightened. “With Pete, right? Did you have a good time?”

  “The luxury suite was great. It had its own bathroom. A really nice one with snazzy glass tiles.”

  Her brother rolled his eyes. “Figures you’d be more interested in that than the actual game.”

  “In fact, I enjoyed the game. The Rangers had a come-from-behind win, which was pretty exciting. Pete knows hockey, so he explained the more esoteric rules.”

  “Are you and Pete, um, getting along all right?” Aidan asked.

  Touchy question, but she kept her tone casual. “We get along fine. Why?”

  “Um, I need to tell you something.” Aidan looked anywhere but at her.

  “Sounds like something I won’t like.” She put her fork down.

  “I might have applied for a job at ExDat, but it’s not in Pete’s division or anything, so it’s not a big deal.” Now her brother met her eyes. “But I’m glad you’re doing okay with Pete.”

  “Are you seriously implying that I should keep dating Pete so you can get a job with his company?” Of course, she had considered the same dilemma when Pete had told her.

  “Not really, no. It’s just good that you like him.” Aidan had the grace to look sheepish.

  “Did you keep in touch with him between high school and now?”

  “I saw him every now and then at parties when we both came home during college vacations, but not after that. It was a surprise to run into him here in New York. He’s a good guy,” Aidan continued. “Not as rich or famous as Hugh, but solid.”

  It seemed unfair that everyone compared Pete with Hugh, including Pete. Even worse, she compared them. “Fame doesn’t mean a whole lot to me—”

  “That’s obvious.”

  “Hey, I was about to say that I wouldn’t mind being a lit
tle richer, though.”

  “You and me both,” Aidan said with a grimace. “Getting this job would be a step in the right direction.”

  “The truth is that Pete already told me you’d applied for the position. He wanted to make sure it wouldn’t affect anything between him and me.”

  “Did he think I might get it?”

  She decided not to tell him that Pete had supported his application, so as not to raise her brother’s hopes. Although after seeing Pete with his colleagues at the game, she was no longer convinced that his recommendation was as negligible as he claimed. “He said it was an entirely different area than his and he didn’t know much about it.”

  Aidan’s face fell. “I thought he might have some pull, since he’s pretty high up in the company.”

  “I’m sure he has some influence, but he’s not going to share that with me in a social setting.”

  “Good point.” He cheered up enough to grin at her. “Well, since you don’t hate him, maybe you could just keep dating him a little longer, for my sake.”

  She threw her wadded-up paper napkin at him and got up to go to the clinic.

  Chapter 11

  Jessica stopped chewing her bite of ham-and-cheese sandwich as she read the e-mail Carla had forwarded to her in the batch of Monday-morning messages. She hadn’t had time to check them until her very late lunch. The e-mail was from a veterinarian who’d heard about the clinic and liked what Jessica was doing for the community. The vet wondered if there might be a part-time opening for her.

  Aidan’s comments about the fact that she worked constantly echoed in Jessica’s brain. Even Hugh had warned her that she was going to burn out. And for all Pete’s patience with getting her home early, he would grow tired of that . . . if she let him stay around long enough.

  Jessica scanned the e-mail again. She’d tried hiring another vet a couple of years ago, and it hadn’t worked out, as she’d explained to Hugh. However, that had been a full-time position and she hadn’t been able to offer a competitive salary. She might have adequate funds to keep a part-timer committed. But why would a fully qualified vet want to work part-time? There had to be a catch.