“Mark tired quickly,” Adam said honestly.
Shawna sighed and her eyes became moist. “Some days are like that—more and more days. I wish there was something I could do for him. I wish I had been a match.”
When he’d met with the counselor, Marietta Watson had told him she’d had a few sessions with Shawna and Chad as well as their parents. The situation was difficult for siblings, too. “For some reason you weren’t. But you can hope with me that I am.”
“Hope with you.” Closing her eyes for a moment, Shawna leaned against the banister. “That’s kind of nice. Mom goes to church a lot more now to pray, but I can’t see that going and saying a bunch of prayers will help anything. I know how to hope, though.”
“Then, in your way, you’re praying.” Not that Adam was an expert at it. He hadn’t prayed in years. But the situation with Mark had made him look outward to something much larger than himself.
Shawna didn’t seem in a hurry to go into Mark’s room or to end their conversation, and Adam wondered if she needed somebody besides Marietta to talk to about all this, too. “I hear you’re going to be sixteen soon.”
She gave a little half shrug. “Yeah. Mom and Dad are having a party for me and everything. But it doesn’t seem right somehow…with Mark sick.”
“Turning sixteen is something to celebrate. I’m sure your parents are proud of you, and they want to show you that.”
“Maybe. Later today after Dad gets home, Mom wants to go shopping with me for an outfit. She hardly ever leaves Mark now, and I don’t know if I want her to go. If something happened—”
“That’s why man made cell phones,” Adam said with a smile. “I’m sure your mom has one.”
Shawna smiled back. “Yeah, she does. I told her I wanted one for my birthday. I told her I’d be responsible with it. Then I could call in and check how things are going.”
Simply in the short while he’d talked to Shawna, Adam had no doubt she would be responsible with it. “Mark said you’d been helping him get my e-mails.”
“I hope you don’t mind that I read them.” Her face flushed slightly. “But if he’s really tired, I download them, then read them to him.”
“I don’t mind. Do you type in his messages to me?”
She nodded. “He does it himself during the day, or I guess he gets Mom to help. I hope he’s not e-mailing you too much. We don’t want him to bother you.”
At work Adam checked his e-mail often, and if he had a message from Mark, he responded immediately. They’d gone back and forth three or four times a day since he’d given him the computer.
“He’s not bothering me. He can e-mail as often as he likes.”
Shawna’s gaze passed over Adam’s rugby shirt, his jeans, his athletic shoes. “We’re related, too,” she said as if just realizing it.
“Yes, we are. I’m your half brother.”
“That sounds silly—half brother, Lissa’s half sister. It seems to me you either are or you aren’t.”
Adam couldn’t help but smile at that.
When she saw it, she added, “Well, it’s true. When Dad first told us about all this, I was real…real disappointed in him. If I ever dated a boy who got me pregnant and then took off, Dad would want to kill him.”
Adam supposed that was probably true.
“Aren’t you mad at him?” she prodded.
Maybe he was downright, bottom-out angry at Jared. “I haven’t had very long to sort it out. Think about how you felt the day your dad told you the whole story.”
“Yeah, that was confusing. I could see Mom was upset about all of it but trying not to be. In another way…we were all glad about it because there was more hope for Mark. Do you know what I mean?”
“I know exactly what you mean. Probably the reason I haven’t sorted it out yet is because I’m thinking about Mark and not much else.”
“The waiting is so hard.” Shawna looked down at her hand as she rubbed it along the banister.
“I know it is.”
Then she looked up, her face suddenly brighter. “I’m going to hope along with you. I’m going to tell Mom and Dad that’s what we all should do.” She looked at Mark’s door again. “Well, I’d better go. I can sit with him even if he’s sleeping.”
Halfway to Mark’s bedroom, she stopped and turned. “Can you come to my birthday party?”
“Are you sure it isn’t just for—”
“Family?” she finished with a smile. “You are family. It’s next Saturday at seven. Will you come?”
It seemed to mean a lot to Shawna. “Check it out with your parents and see if it’s okay. And if you still want me to come, e-mail me,” he added with a wink.
“I will,” she answered enthusiastically and then slipped into Mark’s room.
After Adam went downstairs, he saw that Danielle was still speaking to her neighbor in the backyard. He waved, called, “I’ll see you soon,” and then went to his car. The cocktail party tonight at Dylan’s was on his mind. He wasn’t sure what had made him ask Leigh. Certainly not that kiss. That had been a monumental mistake. He’d given in to an impulse and a need that he usually kept in check.
Why she was still so attractive to him he didn’t know. It had been years since she’d first rocked his world, and he wasn’t about to let her rock it again. She was leaving Portland in June, and he had to keep that fact firmly in place in his head.
Asking her along tonight had simply been a practical solution to a problem. Usually he went to these parties alone. Sometimes an unattached female would latch on to him, and without an actual date along, it could be hard to extricate himself politely. He really hated the mingle-and-shake-hands parties that Dylan was so good at. Adam would rather give a presentation on new software, go over marketing strategy, analyze focus group results. However, Dylan had informed him that contacts would be at this party that could take new products global.
Having Leigh on his arm could make the night easier.
When Leigh opened her apartment door to Adam that evening, he had to take a deep breath. She looked more beautiful than he’d ever seen her. Her blond hair was arranged in loose curls on the top of her head. The strapless pink cocktail dress had a sequined bodice and a short, straight skirt. Every one of her curves was evident. The only remnant of the girl she once had been were those big blue eyes.
She smiled almost shyly. “Is this appropriate? I wasn’t sure what to wear. I just bought it this morning.”
“You didn’t have to buy a new dress.”
“I don’t go to many cocktail parties.”
He thought about the prom they hadn’t attended. Neither of them had been able to afford it. Instead they had eaten at a fast-food restaurant and gone to a movie. Neither of them had minded then…at least he hadn’t.
She was gazing at the pintucks on his white starched shirt, and a small smile slipped across her lips.
“What?” he asked.
“You look comfortable in that tux. As if you were born to it.”
“I consider it a uniform on nights like these. Believe me, I’ll be glad to get rid of the tie at the end of the evening.”
Motioning inside, Leigh asked, “Would you like to come in for a few minutes?”
“I don’t want to intrude on your mom’s evening.”
“She’s not here. She went to the mall with a friend.”
With Leigh looking the way she did tonight, he knew it wasn’t a good idea to be alone with her. Glancing at his watch, he decided, “We’d better get going or Dylan will be ringing my cell phone.”
Leigh lifted her small purse. “I have mine along just in case we get the results of your test. It’s early yet, I know. But we can hope.”
“I saw Mark today. It wasn’t one of his better days.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.” She was quiet for a moment, then said, “I’m going to be taking a bunch of kids who’ve been in cancer treatment to the zoo tomorrow. Why don’t you come along? It might help to hear the paren
ts’ stories and see how well the kids are doing. You also might get a better handle on what Mark’s going to go through. Having Marietta tell you is one thing. Actually seeing the kids who’ve been through it is another. Being with them always gives me a lift. They’re such fighters…such survivors.”
As if realizing how passionate she’d become about it, she stopped, then added quietly, “We’re meeting at the entrance to the zoo at two if you’re interested.”
“It sounds like a good idea. I met Shawna, Mark’s sister, today. She seems like a great kid, too, but she’s definitely worried about her brother.”
“Why don’t I give Shawna and Chad a call in the morning and see if they’d like to come, too?”
“Why don’t you do it right now?”
“I thought we had to get to the party.”
“This is more important. If Dylan calls, I’ll tell him we’re on our way.”
In Leigh’s apartment Adam felt like a bull in a china shop. Everything was so feminine, so delicate, so in place. Also, there was a funny smell in the apartment tonight—like burned…something. Yet it didn’t seem to come from Leigh’s kitchen area.
He listened while she made the call, and when she got off the phone, she was smiling. “I got hold of Shawna. She said she loves the zoo and wants to come. But she thinks Chad might have plans. She said her father would drop her off, and I told her I’d take her home.”
It was best if they went separately tomorrow, Adam supposed. After all, he and Leigh weren’t dating.
After Leigh stepped away from the phone, she headed for the living room. “I’m going to crack a window while we’re gone. Our neighbor, Mr. Benson, puts supper on the stove and then forgets it’s there while he’s watching TV. I think Mom said he burned lima beans tonight.”
Leigh’s shawl, lying over the chair, didn’t look warm enough for the cold, damp night. But he knew women often dressed for effect rather than warmth. As she went to the window, she looked so delectably feminine. Unlocking it, she tried to raise it, but apparently it was stuck.
“The landlord painted a few weeks ago,” she explained.
Coming up behind her, Adam offered, “Let me try.”
The skin of Leigh’s shoulders was a creamy temptation as he stood next to her looking down at her. She’d worn a single pearl necklace and tiny pearls at her ears. His fingers itched to brush the skin along her jawline, itched to feel her soft cheek. That kiss had reminded him too much of how they’d been together, how they could be together again. He dismissed that thought as foolhardy.
With his fist, he pounded along the sash, then took hold of the lever and pulled up the window. “A few inches enough?” he asked.
When he glanced at her, she was watching him. He felt that tingling sexual tension he’d never been able to deny between them.
“A few inches is fine.” Her voice was low. “It might start raining again.”
“Will your mother be back soon?”
“Anytime.”
They were making small talk, having a conversation that had nothing to do with the tension in the air, the thoughts they were both having—thoughts that would not become reality.
Stepping away from the window and Leigh, he motioned to the door. “We’d better go.”
Leigh didn’t respond, just crossed the room and picked up her shawl. When she laid it over her arm absently, Adam advised, “You’d better put that on. Warmer weather’s supposed to move in but it hasn’t yet.”
As she unfolded the black velvet, he took it from her. Maybe he was torturing himself, but it was only for tonight. Her scent was so damn sweet, her lips such a pretty pink, her whole look so feminine. His fingers brushed the stray hair at the nape of her neck that had escaped the topknot. As he settled the shawl over her shoulders, he wanted to surround her with his arms the way the material was doing. He wanted to turn her around, kiss her and take her to the bedroom.
But they didn’t even know each other anymore. He never went to bed with a woman simply for the sex. It had to be more than that. Even when he thought there was more, the women he’d been involved with the past few years hadn’t interested him for more than a couple of months. He wasn’t sure what long-lasting, committed relationships were all about. His adoptive father and mother had been together until his father’s death, but Adam didn’t think they’d ever been really happy.
Picturing Jared and Danielle Cambry, he’d detected silent communication between the two of them and a bond that was strong. How did a man find that?
When Leigh took the shawl from his hands, he released it, as well as thoughts of what he wanted to do with her. As they went to the door, he decided tonight was going to be about business, and Leigh would be the buffer he needed to make it all the more tolerable.
Twenty minutes later Leigh was still trembling inside as Adam escorted her into Dylan’s condo. It was a penthouse apartment with windows everywhere. Still, the chrome and smoked glass, the bar with its bartender in the living room, tuxedoed waiters carrying trays of champagne and hors d’oeuvres didn’t make the impression they should have. Even the original oil paintings on the walls couldn’t snag her attention. All she could do was relive those moments with Adam in her apartment as they’d stood at the window.
Electricity had seemed to spark around them. Then when he’d helped her with her shawl and his fingers had brushed her neck…
The memory of that touch remained just as other memories did. Adam was so controlled, so guarded sometimes. What more could she expect?
He’d cared about her. She had betrayed those feelings by walking away. In June she’d be walking away again. He was right to keep himself removed, and she should do the same.
He will probably come to the zoo tomorrow. However Shawna would be there and so would a crowd of other people.
As Leigh glanced around, she saw there was certainly a crowd here tonight—women in sequined and beaded dresses, both long and short, men mostly wearing tuxedos. Everyone seemed to know one another.
Inside the door, a maid took Leigh’s wrap. “Do you think I’ll be able to find it again?” she asked Adam as the maid walked away.
“When you’re ready to leave, Patrice will appear with it as if out of nowhere. Dylan always asks for her because she’s good.”
“You mean he doesn’t have a maid all the time?”
Adam laughed. “Not Patrice, anyway. He has a housekeeper, Mrs. Warren, who cleans, does laundry and makes sure everything stays straightened up. She’s a great cook, too.”
“Would you like to have a housekeeper?”
“No, thanks. I have a cleaning lady who comes in once a week and a laundry service for the things I can’t wash and dry myself. I like my solitude. Dylan enjoys being waited on hand and foot, but I don’t.
“Speaking of the devil…” Adam drawled with a grin as Dylan strode toward them.
“Nice to see you again, Leigh.”
“You, too,” she said sincerely. Something about Dylan was ingratiating. He was the boy-next-door type of friendly that was comfortable.
“I hope you enjoy yourself tonight,” he said with an easy smile.
“I’m sure I will. This is a beautiful apartment.”
“She’s especially impressed by Patrice,” Adam joked.
“Uh-oh. I think Adam’s telling tales about me again. I do know how to throw a party without a maid and bartender, but it’s much easier to do it with them. And since Adam has made me a rich man—”
“You’re my partner,” Adam cut in. “We do the work together.”
“Yes, but you could have done it on your own. I don’t know if I would have the vision and the discipline without you.” He focused his attention on her again. “Anyway, before Adam contradicts everything I’ve said, let me get you a glass of champagne. Why don’t you come with me, and I’ll introduce you to some people.”
“You don’t think I can do that?” Adam asked with a half smile.
“I’m sure you can. But I think it�
��s best if you go over there and talk to Gregory Treporri. He’s been itching to meet you, and he can do us a lot of good.”
Adam glanced over at the gray-haired man in his sixties. “Do you mind?” he asked Leigh.
She could tell he didn’t want her to feel adrift. “No, go ahead. I’m always eager to meet new people. This should be fun.”
After Dylan introduced Leigh to a group of men and women, one conversation developed into another. She listened to a banker discuss the world’s economy, a real estate agent expound on the best deals in Portland and a model describe every detail at a shoot she’d just finished. Looking around every now and then for Adam, Leigh noticed a pretty redhead approach him as he finished his conversation with the first gentleman.
The redhead was much taller than Leigh, much leggier, and had a look of perfection about her. She wore a little black dress that hugged every curve. Leigh attempted to keep her mind on a university professor’s remarks about California’s next earthquake, but she couldn’t help being interested in what was happening with Adam. After the discussion in Leigh’s circle ebbed, she went to the bar for an orange juice, then nibbled at the buffet table. She felt out of her element here, and she was. Not that she couldn’t intelligently engage in conversation, but she wasn’t connecting on a personal level and that was unusual.
Adam was still talking with the beautiful redhead when he caught her eye and motioned to her. Not hesitating for a second, she joined him.
When Leigh stood next to Adam, he surprised her by circling her waist with his arm, his hand distractingly settling on her hip. He nodded to the redhead. “Leigh Peters, meet Nicole Jackson. Nicole, this is Leigh.”
From Adam’s body language, his possessive arm around Leigh’s waist, it was obvious he was telling Nicole that Leigh was his date tonight.
Nicole’s smile wasn’t quite so bright now as she managed a hello. She asked Leigh, “Are you new in town?”
“Oh, no. I’ve lived here since I was seventeen.”
“Leigh and I met in high school,” Adam explained, making it sound as if they’d been together for a very long time.
“I see. Usually Adam doesn’t bring a date to Dylan’s parties.” Nicole was apparently fishing for more information.
Take A Chance On Me (Logan's Legacy) Page 7