Aaron grimaced. “Believe me, I won’t.”
“At least no one still questions your sexual orientation.” She studied him, wondering how far she could push. “I didn’t know you were on friendly terms with Adrianna,” she said, trying to sound casual.
“Oh, I’m not really. Like I told your father, we just saw each other in the street and she asked me to pass along her message.”
Rebecca placed her hands on her hips. “I saw her ‘pass along her message,’ and it looked like you knew her a little better than that.”
Even in the darkness she could see his face pale. “I may have been a little irritated when I spoke with her, that’s all. I’m sorry you had to see me when I wasn’t at my best.”
“Aaron, you were arguing. I watched the whole thing.”
“Did you hear what we said?” Aaron’s voice was smooth, but his hands clenched at his sides.
“No, I didn’t.”
The fists relaxed. “Then you didn’t hear me tell her she would be disappointing William. I tried to convince her to come in and at least explain why she couldn’t stay, but she wouldn’t listen to reason. I’m afraid I got a little upset.”
Rebecca remained silent. She was sure he wasn’t telling the truth, but had no good reason to question his word. “I’d better be going now. Thanks again for coming.”
Aaron smiled at her and placed his arm around her waist. “I think the least you can do to show me your gratitude is by giving me a kiss.”
Rebecca tried to pull away. “I thought my penance for all the pinching and kissing was to go to a fancy restaurant with you.”
His grin widened. “Oh, I still want that, but there are a lot of little old ladies watching us and I think they need one final reminder that I like women.”
Rebecca turned her head to see several people lining the fence, watching them avidly. “Oh, for goodness sake,” she sighed.
“We wouldn’t want to disappoint them, would we?” Before she could protest, Aaron pulled her close, leaned down, and pressed his lips firmly against hers.
This is probably where he expects me to swoon, Rebecca thought dispassionately. She would have, if she’d felt anything to swoon over, but there was nothing.
“Now, was that so bad?” Aaron’s lips were close to her ear, and she could feel his breath ruffling her hair.
“No, it wasn’t bad.” Rebecca looked over his shoulder. All of the women were fanning themselves with their purses and chattering to each other furiously. “I think we’ve given Faye’s friends enough of a show. I’d better be going.”
He raised her hand to his lips and kissed her fingers. “I’ll be calling you next week, Rebecca. Don’t forget; you still owe me a date.”
“But I didn’t actually agree to–”
He wagged his finger at her as he backed into the shadows. “I think you did,” he said before turning and disappearing down the street.
Rebecca thought about his kiss all the way back to her apartment. Was she going crazy? She should have felt something when he’d kissed her, shouldn’t she? She imagined it was like eating Belgian chocolate and thinking it was nothing special. Maybe she should get her head examined.
She stopped, waiting for the light to change, and ran her hand through her hair. She still hadn’t figured out what Aaron was doing. If he had been stealing from William, as Detective Patterson seemed to suspect, then why was he so anxious to keep seeing her? Wouldn’t it be safer if he never met anyone in her family? That way no one would suspect him of doing anything wrong.
After she pulled the key out of the ignition, she sat in the car for a while, feeling exhausted. Had it really only been three hours since she’d left for Faye’s house? It seemed like much longer. Sighing, she got out of the car and glanced at the one parked in front of her as she locked the door. It looked familiar, she thought to herself. This was surprising; she didn’t usually pay attention to what people drove. This one, though, looked just like Elliot’s.
The idea that he might be here, at her apartment, made her heart pound. Could Elliot have come to see her? She raced up the stairs to the building’s front door when the realization hit her. There was no way Elliot would be here; he’d be wherever Nicole was, planning the wedding. She had a sudden urge to cry, or maybe to hit something.
The one good thing about Aaron and all of his intrigues was that for four hours the idea of Elliot being married had been pushed to the periphery of her brain. One look at that blasted car and he was right back in center vision.
She stumbled down the hall in the dim light and didn’t notice the figure sprawled out in front of her apartment until she’d almost stepped on him. Rebecca sucked in a shallow breath and stopped where she was. “Elliot?” she whispered.
The person scrambled to his feet and held out his arms. “Sorry to disappoint you, darlin’.” Locke’s voice sounded amused, as though he’d expected this reaction from her.
Rebecca fell into his embrace and tried to quell the irrational pain that had squashed the air from her lungs. “Locke,” she whispered. “I’m so glad to see you.” She hurriedly opened her door and pushed him inside, not wanting to disturb the people living down the hall. “What are you doing here? I saw the car outside and thought–”
Locke laughed wryly as she flipped on the light. “I know what you thought, and that’s why I’m here. Before I get into that, though, let me take a look at you.” He backed up a few paces and stared at her. “You haven’t been sleeping,” he said critically. “But you do look very pretty; am I interrupting something?”
Rebecca shook her head. “No; well, yes. I was out tonight, but I drove myself.”
Locke’s eyes narrowed. “Are you still seeing that guy you met on the island?”
Shrugging, Rebecca moved past him and headed through the kitchen. “Come on upstairs,” she said over her shoulder. “It’s much more pleasant up here.”
“I know you’re avoiding my question,” Locke grumbled behind her. “Ah, I see what you mean. I was hoping there was more to this place than what I saw downstairs.” He gazed out the window and smiled. “That’s an incredible view. Almost as good as the one from Casa Shaw. I can see why you like it here.”
Rebecca kicked off her shoes and sank into the couch. “So why are you here? It can’t be to question me about my dating habits, so what’s up?”
Locke sat on the couch so he could see her face. “I guess you heard about Nicole,” he said slowly.
Rebecca just nodded, not trusting herself to say anything.
“And I guess you’re wondering how it happened.”
“No, actually, I’m not. I’d rather not talk about it, to tell you the truth.”
Locke half-smiled. “But that’s why I’m here… to talk about it. When you wouldn’t answer anyone’s phone calls I figured you’d jumped to the wrong conclusion, so here I am, setting things straight.”
Rebecca stared at him, wondering what he was talking about. “What do you mean, I haven’t answered anyone’s phone calls? No one’s called for several days.”
Locke shook his head. “Is your phone even on? I’ve been calling every hour since Monday morning. You should have about thirty messages from me, not to mention the ones from Cassie.”
“Of course it’s on.” She grabbed the phone from her bag where she’d tossed it on the floor and handed it to him. “See for yourself.”
Locke turned it over in his hands. “Your message indicator is on,” he said. “Didn’t you think to check them?”
“It never made any noise, and I haven’t been in the mood to talk to anyone.”
He pressed a few buttons. “It was on silent mode,” he said after a few seconds. “Did you do that on purpose?”
Rebecca thought back to the last time she’d spoken on the phone. “I dropped it after I talked to Michael a few days ago,” she said out loud. “I was so panicked that I didn’t…” she stopped talking when she caught Locke’s expression.
“Why were you pan
icked?” he asked gently.
Rebecca looked down at her hands twisting in her lap. “It doesn’t matter,” she muttered. She wished she could crawl into bed and sleep until after Nicole’s wedding.
“Rebecca, look at me.” When she didn’t move, Locke lifted her chin with his thumb, and she raised her eyes reluctantly to his. “Elliot’s not getting married.”
Rebecca froze. “What do you mean?” she whispered. “Michael said...”
“I know. He tried to give you the details when he called, but you hung up on him.”
“But what about Elliot’s column? He said he was getting married. And they talked about him on the news that night…” After four days of believing the unthinkable, her brain couldn’t process Locke’s words.
“Rebecca. Stop. Elliot can’t be engaged to Nicole because he didn’t ask her to marry him.”
Irrationally, Rebecca snapped at him. “Then who did?”
Locke grinned. “You’re never going to believe this, but she’s marrying her doctor.” He laughed outright at her flabbergasted expression. “I know. We all had the same reaction. They’ve only known each other three weeks or so. And for at least one of those she was kind of out of it.”
“But… but… I don’t understand.”
Locke took her hands in his. “Rebecca, I wouldn’t lie to you about something like this. Nicole is engaged to her doctor, Brad Boyle. Not to Elliot.”
Rebecca opened and closed her mouth several times. Then she leaned over, buried her head in her hands, and burst into tears.
After taking her in his arms, Locke let her cry herself out, patting her on the back and remaining quiet. When her sobs had subsided and she seemed to be in control of herself again, he led her to her bedroom and waited until she’d brushed her teeth and changed into her pajamas. Then he tucked her in bed, turned out the light, and Rebecca fell into a sleep so deep, she didn’t hear her alarm the next morning.
When she finally came out of the shower, Locke was already awake and had breakfast ready for her. “Are you feeling better this morning?” he asked, handing her an apple.
Rebecca shrugged. “I guess. It was true, then? Elliot’s not getting married?”
Locke smirked at her. “Not yet.” At Rebecca’s indrawn breath he hurried to continue. “No, he’s not marrying Nicole.”
Rebecca let out a lungful of air and sank into a chair in the sitting room. “Thank goodness,” she sighed. “I was beginning to think it was all a dream.”
Locke grinned at her. “Nope. If you don’t mind, I think I’ll come to work with you today. I don’t have anything else to do, and I think we still need to get some things hammered out before I leave for home on Sunday.”
Rebecca blinked at him. The shower hadn’t been long enough to wash the sleep from her brain. “You’re leaving Sunday?”
Locke poured her a glass of orange juice. “Well, I don’t live here, and I need to get back to the island. We’re expecting a houseful next week.”
She grabbed her keys and headed for the door. “You’re welcome to come along, but I’ll warn you, you’ll spend most of your time singing silly songs and crawling around on your hands and knees.”
Locke grinned. “Sounds like my kind of fun.”
Later that afternoon, after she’d finished being a story lady for the third time that day, Rebecca and Jen watched Locke chatting happily with a group of three-year-olds. They seemed to understand each other perfectly.
“Are you sure you can’t fall in love with him?” Jen asked. “If I weren’t already married I’d be asking him for his number.”
Rebecca sighed. “I wish I could.”
“Hey, I nearly forgot to ask. How was the thing with Aaron yesterday?”
Rebecca hesitated. “Well, it was amusing to watch all the little old ladies fawn over him and pinch his butt, but...”
“Don’t tell me. He and Adrianna are having torrid sex under our very noses.”
Rebecca grimaced. “Please, stop. For all I know, they might be.” She quickly related the evening’s events, concluding, “And I don’t know what to think. Detective Patterson will most likely tell me I’m paranoid, but there’ve been too many coincidences lately.”
Jen tapped her finger thoughtfully on her chin. “He thinks you agreed to go out with him again?”
“That’s what he said, but I certainly didn’t tell him I would.”
“Well, let’s let him think that until we hear otherwise from Patterson. Maybe Scott and I can come with you and encourage him to behave himself.”
Rebecca felt a rush of relief. “Chaperones. What a good idea. When he calls I’ll tell him you’re coming.”
Jen grabbed a book from a toddler’s hands before he could put it in his mouth. “What’s he look like, anyway? I still can’t believe I haven’t seen him yet.”
“I suppose ‘beautiful’ and ‘I-can’t-believe-I’m-not-attracted-to-him’ is a good enough description.”
“No way.”
Rebecca shrugged. “If I see him before we go out again I’ll be sure to take his picture for you.” Not that that was likely, but it seemed to appease her friend.
“It’s a deal. Email it when you do.”
Locke glanced up at them and extricated himself from his playmates. “Are you all done for the day? I’m getting hungry.”
Jen smiled at him absently, her mind still on Aaron. “It was great to meet you,” she said before bending to re-shelf several books.
Locke was quiet on their way out of the library. “What were you girls talking so seriously about back there?” he asked.
Rebecca wasn’t sure she wanted to tell him about Aaron. She didn’t know why, but if she was going out with a manipulative, psychopathic thief, she didn’t want anyone to know. “Nothing much,” she said vaguely. “What are you in the mood for? It’s been a while since you’ve been back to Chicago, hasn’t it?”
Locke caught a far-away look in his eyes. “There was this restaurant down on Wells Street. With rude waiters.”
“You want to go to Ed Debevic’s?” Rebecca started to laugh. “Are you serious?”
Locke looked offended. “Why not? Not everyone can have my sunny disposition.”
Still laughing, Rebecca unlocked her car. “Okay, you’re the one that came all the way out here. Ed’s it is.”
They were early enough to get a table without waiting, and Locke smiled brightly at their waitress. “What’s good to eat here?” he asked.
The girl threw their menus on the table. “If you came here for good food you might as well pick yourself off that chair and get out,” she advised.
Locke laughed. “Well, Melissa, thanks for the advice, but I think we’ll stay.” She grinned back at him before she could help herself and walked off.
Rebecca eyed him. “How did you know her name was Melissa?”
Locke leaned back in his chair. “It was on her name tag.” He watched as Melissa stopped at another table. “She’s cute, isn’t she?”
Smiling faintly, Rebecca opened her menu. “You know, for a while I was worried that you’d fall for Nicole.”
Locke’s attention snapped back to her. “What? Me?” He looked appalled.
“Well, the similarities between Nicole and Emily were very striking. I could see how you might have transferred some of your feelings to Nicole.”
Locke shuddered. “I hope I’m smarter than that. She has changed, you know,” he went on, his gaze back on Melissa. “She’s not so insipid and clingy. Well, not to Elliot, anyway.”
Rebecca was quiet for several minutes. “How did that work, exactly? I mean, how did Nicole fall in love with her doctor with Elliot sleeping down the hall?”
Locke sat up. “Didn’t you read his column? He’s been living on the island. He wanted to give Nicole some space.”
“That’s what Cassie said, but when I left Michigan he was feeling pretty guilty about what had happened.”
He shook his head slowly. “No, he was feeling guilty
for leading her on, not for what happened. I finally got him to admit that he’d been a huge jerk, yanking her around just to make you jealous.”
Rebecca thought about the conversation she’d overheard the day she’d learned about Scott’s shooting. “Then why is he still there?”
Locke shrugged. “Beats me. He was all gung-ho to get back to Chicago but then he said something about making sure Nicole was completely healed before he left. I still think he feels some latent responsibility about the fact that she got hurt trying to get his attention. He’s coming back soon, though; I’m leaving his car at the airport for him to pick up when he returns on Sunday.”
Elliot was coming back. The thought flooded Rebecca’s mind. “So what about you? Have you seen the light, so to speak, about Emily?”
He thought for a minute before answering. “I think I’m getting there,” he said slowly. “I know in my head that the accident was exactly that–an accident–but my heart is having a hard time believing it.”
Rebecca smiled at him. “I understand.”
Melissa came by then to take their orders, and Locke patted the seat next to him. She sank into it gratefully.
“I’m supposed to be sarcastic and rude to you, you know,” she confided, “but it’s hard to do when people are decent. Customers think it’s funny to be mean and rude back to us; it’s unusual to serve nice folk like you.” The smile she flashed at Locke was genuine, and he grinned back at her.
“Well, I’m not from around here, but I can see how working in a place like this could make you tired,” he said. “We’ll try our best not to get on your nerves. You seem too kind to be doing this.”
Melissa turned in her seat to look at him. “Well, I’m a Chicagoan, but I go to school at the U of M. I just work here for the summer. This is the last time I’m doing it, though,” she added. “I graduate next spring.”
Locke’s eyes lit up. “Really? What a coincidence. I live on Mackinac Island.”
A flicker of interest sparked in Melissa’s eyes. “You’re kidding. We should get together sometime and chat.”
Locke looked scared and delighted at the same time. “I only have a few days here; I came to Chicago to see how my friend was doing, and I need to be back home Sunday.”
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