He laughed. “This is my parents’ house.”
“Oh,” she said, taking a moment to let that sink in. Before she let her judgments concerning a twenty-seven-year-old who still lived at home run away with her, she remembered where she would be moving tomorrow.
“I had my own place before I went back to school. My parents were gracious enough to let me move back in so I wouldn’t have to work night and day to pay the rent and go to college at the same time.”
“Is it working out well?” she asked, thinking about her own situation and wondering if moving in with Daddy would be a huge mistake.
“I wasn’t too sure about it at first, but it’s been fine. I’m not here that much, and my parents treat me like an adult, not a teenager.”
“I’m moving in with my dad tomorrow.” Speaking the words out loud made her realize how scared she felt. “I can’t believe I’m saying that.”
“I thought just Brandon and Josie were moving. I didn’t know you were too.”
She explained about needing to if she wanted to stay and have all her time to devote to her photography. “Sounds sort of adolescent when I say it out loud.”
“I think it sounds brave.”
She met his gaze. “I didn’t expect you to say that.”
“You’re pursuing your dream. That takes courage, Natalie.”
His eyes moved to her lips, and she fully expected him to seize the opportunity to kiss her. His words, his attentiveness, and his smile had prepared her for this moment, and she had no intention of trying to stop him.
His eyes dropped to her hands, and he reached out to take one into his own. “I had a nice time tonight, Natalie.” His voice sounded warm and intimate.
“Me too.”
His thumb stroked the back of her hand and their eyes locked again. She didn’t want to look away.
“I’m not sure what my schedule is like this week, but I’ll call you--do you know your new number?”
She hadn’t given him her cell number before, but she did now, along with the number at her dad’s. He entered them into his phone. Looking back up when he finished, he smiled and gave her a light kiss on the cheek.
“Good night, Natalie.” He gazed at her a moment longer before opening his door and stepping from the car.
Feeling a bit disappointed he hadn’t kissed her like she wanted him to, she watched him walk to the door and wave.
All the way back to the apartment she analyzed what had happened. He looked like he wanted to kiss me, but he didn’t. Does he think he likes me, but he’s not sure? Will this be one of those relationships that seems so promising until he utters the dreadful words, “I think we should just be friends?”
Why don’t they say what’s on their minds instead of making us guess?
“Like I do any different,” she answered herself.
Next time I’m not going to hold back. I’ll say, ‘Michael, kiss me. I love being with you. You make me feel so special. I didn’t think there were any good ones left--but I found you.’
“Yeah right. Like that’s going to happen.”
I will, she defended herself. Just wait and see. I’m a woman who speaks her mind. If he can initiate a kiss, why can’t I? There’s no law against it.
“Get real, Natalie.”
The moving truck came at nine a.m. the following morning. After loading everything except her suitcases and a few items Josie wanted to take over herself rather than let the movers put with all the furniture and boxes, Natalie saw Josie looking around the empty space with misty eyes.
“I’m going to love our new place, Brandon,” she said. “But Tommy and I have a lot of memories here.”
“I know,” he said, pulling her close. “Take your time.”
Natalie waited with Brandon and Tommy while Josie strolled back to the hallway for one last look at Tommy’s room and her own. Natalie found herself gazing at the bare living room where she and her sister had talked into the night on several occasions.
Brandon began taking things from the fragile pile and headed out. Natalie joined him, not bearing to draw this out any longer. Josie has a new life now. I must accept that and begin a new one for myself too.
She followed Brandon down the long hall and heard Brandon chuckle while they waited for the elevator. “What’s that laugh for?” she asked.
“Did she ever tell you how we first met?”
“I don’t think so.”
He smiled again. “I’d seen her a couple times, but she wouldn’t give me a second glance. Then she practically barreled into me hurrying off this elevator. I thought she was Angela.”
“From across the hall?”
“Yes. I’d met Rick, and he had asked if I’d met his wife. When he described her I thought of Josie, so when I saw her again I assumed she was married and put my attraction for her aside.”
The elevator doors opened and they stepped inside. Natalie pressed the button for the first floor.
“When did you find out she wasn’t Rick’s wife?”
“She told me after I mentioned something about her husband. That was the best mistake I ever made. If it wouldn’t have been for that, I don’t know if I would have ever broken through her shell.”
“How come it took you so long to ask her out? She liked you way before I came.”
“I was scared.”
“Of what?”
“Of what I felt and if it was real.”
They reached the first floor, stepped off the elevator, and carried their loads to Brandon’s truck in the parking garage. On their way back, Natalie got up the nerve to ask Brandon something his earlier words had made her wonder.
“Did you ever almost kiss my sister before you actually did?”
Brandon nodded and smiled. “The night I told her about my ex-fiancée. We were walking along the waterfront, and I laid out all my dirty laundry. She captured my heart that night by listening and being a friend. I wanted to kiss her then.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Well, I was dating someone else at the time, for one thing. But even if I wouldn’t have been, I probably would have waited for the right moment. I knew she wasn’t ready for that yet, and I wasn’t sure if I was either.”
She didn’t think she had given Michael any indication she wasn’t ready to be kissed, but maybe she had. Or maybe he wasn’t ready. She didn’t know anything about his past relationships, she realized. He hadn’t mentioned anyone last night.
If only I could read his mind instead of having to do all this guessing.
“Does my cousin have anything to do with this line of questioning?”
She jerked her head up to see Brandon’s amused expression. They had reached the apartment door once again.
“Never you mind, nosy brother-in-law.” She laughed and opened the door. Josie was waiting for them, appearing more settled than when they had left. Natalie put her own mixed thoughts and emotions aside. Dwelling on them wouldn’t change anything.
She helped unload Brandon’s truck when they got to the house located in Portland’s West Hills. Natalie had been with Josie when she had first come to look at the restored Victorian home last month. Josie had fallen in love with it instantly.
She hung around for lunch. They ordered a pizza from a nearby take-out place and then Natalie helped Tommy unpack some of his things as well as helping Josie put away things in the kitchen. At three-thirty she decided to leave and let the new family get settled in on their own. She had her own unpacking to do elsewhere, whether she wanted to or not.
CHAPTER TEN
Natalie pulled into the circular driveway and stopped in front of the large estate. Knowing Daddy wasn’t waiting to greet her made it difficult to get out of the car. Her suitcases were in her trunk, and a few small boxes were in the back seat along with some of her clothes. She eventually got out to retrieve them.
Entering the house, she took a deep breath and scanned the empty foyer and quiet adjacent rooms. The staircase stood before her,
but hearing someone stirring in the kitchen, she left her bags at the base of the steps and went to investigate. She supposed Leona was waiting to welcome her.
“Hello,” she called out, seeing her father’s housekeeper and cook putting something into the oven. Leona closed the door and walked toward her with arms open wide.
“Miss Natalie! You are here. I have been waiting all afternoon,” Leona said, embracing her warmly. “You are just in time for dinner.”
“You don’t have to cook for me,” she said. “I’m sure you have better things to do.”
“I will cook for you every day. That is what your father pays me for.” Leona grasped her shoulders. “I will fatten you up. You are too thin. You need something on those bones.”
Natalie smiled. Leona had not changed. A sweeter woman Natalie had never known. She would make life less lonely here.
“Okay, fatten me up with your delicious food,” she said. “It’s no use arguing. I can see that.”
Natalie tried to help with the last minute preparations, but Leona insisted she go upstairs and get settled. She would call her down when the food was ready.
Climbing the stairs with a suitcase in each hand and a backpack over her shoulder, Natalie resolved to make the best of her temporary home. She might be here by herself most of the time, but Daddy would be here now and then, and they would have more time together than they’d had in a long while.
She started by removing her old clothes from the dresser and closet and piling them on her bed. She would need to ask Leona for some boxes to put them in later. Dinner was served before she had time to do anything else.
Leona’s dinner was a welcome interruption, but she returned and worked steadily until she had her current wardrobe hung and placed in drawers. Leona came up to say good night, and she heard her leave out the back entrance. The longtime maid and cook of her father’s had her own living quarters at a small cottage on the estate grounds, not far from the main house, but hidden by trees and shrubbery.
Natalie watched her walk down the path until she disappeared behind a grove of blooming rhododendrons. Feeling the loneliness enveloping her, Natalie found her phone and impulsively dialed Michael’s number.
It was his cell, and she only got his voice mail. She decided not to leave a message and called Josie instead. Tommy answered.
“Hey Tomster. Did you get all moved into your new room?”
“Yeah! I put my whale poster up too. My room is sooooo big.”
She listened to Tommy tell her all about the house, the big backyard, his tree house, and tire swing hanging from a big oak tree. Regardless of the fact that she had been there herself most of the afternoon, his description made her see the place through a child’s eyes--a child that had waited a long time to have what many took for granted: a daddy. He may have been talking about his room and the backyard, but she knew the real source of his excitement.
She wanted to be over there instead of in this big empty house. They only lived thirty minutes away, but for how she felt, she may as well be on the other side of the world.
After she hung up, Natalie flopped onto her bed and cried until no more tears would come. She had not expected it to be this hard. At ten-thirty she tried Michael again. A groggy voice answered.
“I woke you up,” she said. “I’m sorry.”
“That’s okay. I got home about twenty minutes ago and crashed.”
“I’ll let you go back to sleep.” She could feel the tears rising once again. Not only could he not spend an hour talking like she had hoped, but she felt like an idiot for calling so late.
“I couldn’t have been asleep for more than five minutes. I promise you I won’t have any trouble dropping right back off. Let me hear your voice for awhile.”
She let out a nervous laugh. “To be honest, I hoped you would do most of the talking. I’m feeling a little blue right now.”
“What’s wrong?”
She told him more than she thought she would. He was a good listener and made it easy for her to open up to him.
“I know I shouldn’t be complaining. I am grateful to be staying here--it’s just--I’m sorry. I’m babbling. You can hang up on me now.”
“Sharing your struggles is not babbling,” he said. “Please go on. It’s just what?”
She sighed, ran her fingers through her blonde hair, and moved the phone to her other ear.
“It’s just that I finally got to know my sister again and now she’s started this whole other life that I’m not a part of.”
“I felt that way when my best friend got married.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Big time. We used to do everything together. Go running, taking the boat out, water-skiing, snow-skiing, mountain biking, backpacking in the middle of nowhere just for the fun of it. Then he fell in love, got married, and moved to Arizona.”
“How long ago?”
“Two--no, three years ago. I haven’t seen him since last summer. And that was only for a couple of days.”
“So you don’t think I’m a blubbering spoiled brat?”
He laughed. “Don’t throw out lines like that when I’m punchy. You’ll get me in trouble.”
“You do think I am?”
“No. I think you’re quite normal. The only way you wouldn’t be feeling like this is if you and Josie weren’t so close. It’s one of those good and bad situations.”
“It’s eleven-fifteen, Michael. I think I better let you get your beauty sleep now.”
“That’s supposed to be my line.”
“I’m hanging up now.”
“Good night, Natalie. I really am glad you called. I’ll call you soon, okay?”
“Okay.”
Natalie hung up the phone and remained sitting crossed-legged on the bed. She felt like a love-struck teenager. How many guys had there been over the years who had caught her attention and made her head spin? Would Michael be another in a long string of puppy-love romances, or could she dare to hope for something more?
She prepared for bed and slipped under the pale yellow sheets Leona had obviously washed and pressed before making the bed--most likely that same morning. Little sound came from her open window, but creaks and pops came from within the walls of the house. Knowing that she alone occupied the large house made her feel uneasy and very small. Comforting herself with the memory of Michael's words and the sound of his voice, she managed to drift off to sleep.
By the following afternoon Natalie felt moved in. Her empty suitcases were stashed away in her closet. Most of her adolescent belongings had been packed away--either destined for Goodwill or put aside into boxes she would keep, but only for sentimental purposes.
The music box with the wildflower decorated lid remained on her dresser along with her old jewelry box and small basket of dried rose petals she had collected over her high school days. She kept them more for their unfading beauty and charm than for any special memories they held.
Feeling restless and wondering what to do next, she wandered down the hallway to her father’s bedroom. The bed was neatly made, the floor clear of any dirty laundry or excess carpet lint. Leona obviously cleaned the room regularly.
She entered more to look out the window that overlooked the garden, gazebo, and small fish pond with a fountain, but her eyes drifted to a octagonal table in the corner of the room. Two things sat atop the polished wood: a large plant with rich green leaves, and a picture of her mother.
Natalie stepped over to it and fingered the delicate frame as she stared at the portrait. She had never seen it before. Her mother looked like a young woman in her early twenties--probably younger than herself. Why would Daddy keep her picture in his room? Seeing it did not look like a studio print, she decided Daddy must have taken this one himself. Was that love for the man behind the camera she saw in her mother’s eyes? She supposed so. They had been in love. What had happened to change things between them?
As much as Natalie longed for someone to share her life with, sh
e also knew the thought of marriage scared her. She didn’t want to end up like them--hating the person she once loved. She didn’t want to have children only to have them grow up with divorced parents.
Turning from the table, she forgot about the view she had come to look at and left the room, heading downstairs to explore the place she now called home. She found Leona in her father’s office. Leona sprayed some blue cleaner on the window, and Natalie watched her wipe the glass with a white cloth before announcing her presence.
“When you’re finished in here, my room could use some attention.”
Leona whirled around with a confused stare. “I will get to it right away.”
“I’m teasing!” Natalie said. “My room, this whole house looks wonderful, Leona. I hope my dad is paying you what you deserve.”
Leona waved her off. “Your father pays me very well. I have no complaints. Most of the time I putter around cleaning things that have not been touched since the last time I polished them. Having a full-time housekeeper and cook in this house is a waste of your father’s money if you ask me.”
“Does Harry still tend the grounds?”
“Oh, yes. Harry has been here since the man who owned this place before your father. He will be here until he goes to his grave if all who own this place are smart. No one keeps a garden like he does.”
“I was thinking of taking a walk down to the lake. Would you like to join me?”
Leona appeared shocked. “I have work to do, Miss Natalie. No time for walks in the middle of the day.”
“Oh, come on, Leona. You deserve a break. The sun is out today, and the flowers are blooming. You shouldn’t be stuck inside dusting things that do not need to be.”
Leona sighed. “I must clean the hall bath. But when I am done, I may have time for a short walk before dinner.”
“I’ll wait.”
Leona shook her head and smiled. “I think having you here will be good for your father, dear. He needs someone to remind him to smell the roses.”
Natalie didn’t reply as Leona swished past her headed for the hall bath. “He said you could use his computer if you need to. Do not ask me anything about how the contraption works though.”
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