The Trouble with Andrew

by Heather Graham

  “No!” Katie said.

  “Yes, if you don’t mind,” Ron Wheeler told him.

  “But you came to get me, Dad—”

  “And I thought you were anxious to stay,” Ron said. “I’m assuming you’re running around photographing everything in sight. And keeping an eye on your home, too, of course.”

  “Gramps!”

  Jordan, who had been playing ball with the girls in the grass, realized that his grandfather had come. He came rushing in like a quarterback with the ball and threw himself into his grandfather’s arms.

  Katie was glad her father was still a strong man and in good health. He cried out happily, lifting Jordan up, swinging around with him.

  He set him down and tousled his hair. “You look great, kid. I miss you. I was worried sick.”

  “It was scary, Gramps, really scary!” Jordan assured him. “Mom and I almost died—”

  “Jordan—”

  “But Drew came along and everything has been just fine!” Jordan assured his grandfather.

  Ron arched a brow at Katie. “I told you that you should have been up in Orlando with me, young lady. Now as to this bit about the two of you nearly dying—”

  “Dad, we’re all fine, and everyone’s lobster is getting cold,” Katie said. “Len, may I have a plate? They look wonderful. They smell divine.”

  “Careful, Katie. They’ll put you in the campaign ads for Maine lobster,” Drew said, his tone light, his eyes sharp.

  She inhaled deeply. A few minutes later, she found herself seated across from Drew at a picnic table, her father on one side, Sophie on the other, and Jordan and Len on either side of Drew.

  She didn’t think she’d ever get through the meal. Her father discussed with Drew everything he had seen on television about the building codes, about the way homes should be able to stand up to the wind.

  “But steel girders were twisted in some places,” Len said. “If steel can twist…”

  “Some things were going to go down no matter what,” Drew said evenly. “Some things didn’t have to go down.”

  They had Sterno coffee and the no-bake dessert, and though they were in their own private cul-de-sac, there was a curfew on, and the neighbors began to break up and go to their own houses.

  Ron Wheeler went to pull his overnight case out of his car, and when he returned, their foursome walked the short distance across the lawns to Drew’s house.

  “Grandpa can bunk with me,” Jordan supplied as they came in. “It’s a great house, Gramps. Want a tour?”

  “Don’t forget,” Katie reminded her son, “it’s Mr. Cunningham’s house.”

  “Ah, but don’t worry. Your mother agrees that I do owe it to her, so Jordan, roam where you will.”

  Jordan started up the stairs with his grandfather, and Katie was left staring at Drew at the foot of the stairs. His eyes were level with hers. She doubted her right to be furious.

  But he hadn’t told her. He’d built her damned house, and even according to him, it shouldn’t have gone down. And he’d let all that time go by without saying anything. He’d made love to her…

  She started to brush by him. He caught her arm.

  “We’ll go in the morning,” she told him.

  “You do what you have to do,” he told her icily. His fingers eased their hold. Katie walked past him.

  Somehow, she managed to tell her son and her father a cheerful good-night. Maybe she was lucky her dad had come. She might have been afraid—of herself or Drew, she wasn’t certain—if she had come back here with just Jordan.

  And at that time of night, there truly wasn’t anywhere else to go. People were saying there wasn’t a hotel room to be had for two hundred miles.

  Upstairs, in her room—his room—she lay awake for hours, trying to reason things out. Nothing illegal had been done, and yet it hadn’t been right. But the other neighbors weren’t angry with him at all, and from what her father said, she would lose her case if she did try to sue him, since nothing he—or his corporation—had done had been illegal.

  And maybe she didn’t want to be angry with him. Maybe she didn’t want to lie on sheets that still carried the slightest hint of his masculine scent. Maybe she’d been so in love with the idea of being in love that she couldn’t think anymore.

  In Drew’s code of building, quality building, it had been wrong. So what had happened? Was he guilty of wanting to make more and more money?

  And if not him…

  Then perhaps someone was playing games behind the corporate back.

  The thoughts revolved in her mind.

  She stared at the hidden door that separated the rooms when she heard Drew enter his room. She tensed and waited.

  But the door didn’t open. She waited and waited. Ready to fight, dying to be persuaded. But he didn’t come. It seemed that she sat up, in misery, forever.

  Sometime, though, she must have slept. When she woke up, light was streaming into the room. Jordan was standing over her.

  “Gramps is downstairs having coffee. He says he takes it that you want to leave today, so we’d best get started in the next few hours.”

  “Where’s—Mr. Cunningham?” she asked.

  “Drew has gone to his office,” Jordan said. His voice was reproachful.

  Even her child was on the man’s side.

  “He left a note, saying that he probably wouldn’t be back and that we should have a nice drive and take a hot shower for him somewhere along the line.”

  Katie rose slowly. Her head hurt. She slipped into a robe and went downstairs.

  Her father was at the breakfast table, watching the little television, sipping coffee. “Morning,” he told her.

  “Morning,” she said.

  “Wonderful house.”

  “Wonderful.” Katie started to pick up her coffee cup.

  “So what’s going on between you and Drew Cunningham?”

  She almost dropped her cup. “He’s given us a place to stay since our house is a wreck,” she said simply.

  “Katie, I’m getting old, not stupid.”

  “Dad!”

  “Great house. Good man. Seems like a shame you’re just going to hand him over to some other woman.”

  “Dad, I get the impression that he has plenty of women in stock—just like copy paper—for any contingency.” She was not ready for her father’s advice—or tormenting. “I’ll clean up and pack. Orlando will be great, after all. Hot water, air-conditioning. I can’t wait.”

  “You won’t be getting anything but tourist pictures up there,” Ron said.

  She paused a moment. “Dad, I took at least fifteen rolls, thirty-six exposure, of the storm damage. I think I covered most of it. Drew brought me around.”

  “The cad!” her father exclaimed.

  “Oh, stick your nose in a coffee cup!” Katie told him, and hurried out of the kitchen as Jordan was unhappily wandering in.

  But as she dressed, Katie decided that she couldn’t leave things the way they were. She’d been about to slip into bike pants and a tank top, but she hesitated, then slipped into a knit dress instead. Taking only her purse, she hurried downstairs.

  “I’ve got a quick errand to run,” she told her father.

  Ron had the Reader’s Digest open before him. “You know where his corporate offices are?” he asked her.

  Katie set her purse down with a sigh, a smile on her lips. “No, Dad. Where are they?”

  He turned. “Right on the highway.”

  Jordan stood. “Can I come, Mom? I want to say goodbye and thanks to him.”

  “I’ll go for the ride, too, Katie,” Ron offered quickly, “and Jordan can keep me occupied if you need to talk about—about the house or anything.”

  His office was only ten minutes away—even in after-Andrew traffic—a large, white, modern, beautifully designed building. To the left, construction had apparently been going on before the storm. On the third floor, glass had been shattered out of the reflecting windows, and naked
girders stretched out into the sunlight.

  A receptionist in the center of the first floor called upstairs, and then they were allowed up to the third floor and the executive offices, where they were asked to wait once again.

  Katie looked around. The office was impressive. The foyer floors were marble. Soft neutral carpeting covered the desk areas, and the long, broad reflecting window looked out on the day.

  The hum of generators could be heard, keeping lights and business machines in action.

  Katie’s father suddenly stood up and asked the receptionist if there was anywhere to buy coffee. She directed him downstairs. “Tag along with me, Jordan. We’ll be back up in enough time to say goodbye and thanks.”

  Katie looked at her father. He winked. She wanted to hit him.

  Ron and Jordan disappeared down the stairway and she was left in the waiting area by herself.

  A few minutes later, a striking redheaded woman, looking absurdly cool and fashionable despite the sticky weather, came toward the desk, a portfolio beneath her arm. “Is he in?” she asked the receptionist.

  “I’ve just beeped him,” the young woman said. “Jeannie says he’s in the building somewhere, but he hasn’t appeared yet.”

  He appeared right then. Striding down the hall, unrolling the sleeves of his tailored shirt. He didn’t see Katie at first. He saw the redhead, and he smiled and whispered something soft as he touched her arms and kissed both her cheeks.

  Katie felt like a spoke sticking out of a wheel.

  “Mr. Cunningham,” the receptionist said, “there’s a Mrs. Wells to see you.”

  He spun around, seeing Katie. His eyes narrowed, his features tensed.

  “Ah, Mrs. Wells! To what do I owe the honor?” he asked.

  Katie grated her teeth together. “Jordan wanted to say thank you,” she lied.

  To her surprise, the redhead gasped and came toward her. “Hi, you must be Katie Wells. I’m Reva Kennedy,” she said, very much as if Katie should know her.

  “My sister, Reva Kennedy,” Drew said.

  “He didn’t tell you he had a sister?” Reva said, arching a brow. “Ouch!” she told Drew. “Well, he told us a great deal about you. I’m so sorry about your house. And we’re all stunned, of course, and we will get to the bottom of what happened. Not that a lot might not have been destroyed anyway, but our roofs are supposed to be among the best in the country!”

  Katie stood, taking Reva’s eager hand. “It’s very nice to meet you.” She smiled pleasantly at Drew. “There was a great deal your brother chose not to share with me,” she said sweetly.

  “He hasn’t that much family left,” Reva told her. “He should mention us now and then. Drew—these are some sketches I’d like you to look at. I’ll leave you two to your business, but beware! It’s a family day.” She winked at Katie. “Mom is downstairs with the twins. She wants to say hi, since she hasn’t seen you in person since the storm. We both live in West Palm so we came out of it all fine,” Reva explained to Katie. “It was so nice to meet you. Drew, we were hoping to go to lunch, but I don’t mean to interrupt anything—”

  “You won’t be,” Katie said hastily. “I have to leave. We’re going to Orlando for—for awhile. My father’s home is there.”

  “Maybe you could join us for lunch before you leave. A number of the restaurants just to the north have opened again today. Places that have gotten their electricity back, or places that have good generators. Anyway, I know we’ll find something good. Be warned, though. I have three-year-old twins.”

  Katie smiled at her. “Three-year-olds are no threat to me, but I’m afraid we need to get on the road. Knowing how traffic is, you’ll understand.”

  “Ah, well, then…” Reva smiled at them both, waved and started for the stairway after placing her portfolio in her brother’s hands.

  Drew still didn’t look in the least pleased to see Katie. “My office is just down here,” he said, directing her to the left hallway.

  Katie stepped ahead of him, nearly feeling his breath at her nape as he followed behind her. But when she entered his office—a pleasant, spacious place with a patterned sofa, dark wood desk, a conference table, numerous swivel chairs and floor-to-ceiling windows—he leaned against the door while she walked on in and stared out the window.

  “You have something to say?” he asked her.

  “I told you—”

  “Right. Jordan wanted to see me. Well, where is he?”

  “With Dad, trying to get a Coke or coffee or something. He’ll be up immediately. Although actually…”

  “Yes?”

  She shrugged. “I wanted to—perhaps I judged you just a little bit too harshly.”

  “Really?” he murmured. He still seemed angry.

  Hurt? she wondered. She swallowed hard. “Well, you are the damned builder of the house! And you didn’t tell me—”

  “Everyone else knew.”

  “I never had occasion to know!” Katie said angrily.

  He was silent a moment, watching her. “If this is an apology, it isn’t good enough.”

  “What?” she gasped.

  “Maybe you’re not quite as much at fault as I thought you were!” he said, imitating the style of her speech rather well. “Just what are you mad at, Katie? The house? Or your own insecurity in yourself? Five years is a long time to be alone.”

  “It’s not so long when you see what happens when you aren’t alone!” Katie retorted swiftly. She had been foolish to come. She couldn’t tell if he hadn’t been that emotionally involved from the beginning, or if she had angered him so much he didn’t care about her anymore.

  “Katie—” he began, but he broke off as there came a determined tapping at his door. He frowned, stepping away from it, and it opened to admit a slim, tiny woman with beautiful silver-gray hair, bright green eyes and one cute little redheaded boy in her arms and another by the hand.

  Jordan was standing right behind her, and Ron Wheeler, his hands on his grandson’s shoulders, was behind Jordan.

  “Hi!” the woman said to Drew, starting to set the toddler down to give Drew a quick kiss and hug. Then she stepped across the room, offering a hand to Katie. “You must be Katie—your father has just been telling me all about you, although of course, I’d met Jordan over the phone before. How nice to meet you. We’re so sorry, dear, about everything that has happened. I know that Drew will get to the bottom of it.”

  “My mother, Tina Cunningham,” Drew said, the exasperation in his voice well masked.

  “It’s very nice to meet you,” Katie said. She glanced over the woman’s shoulder to see her father grinning like the Cheshire cat.

  “We should probably be on our way,” Katie began.

  “Oh, but your father said it would be fine to have lunch with us, that you’d have plenty of time to get on the road,” Tina said.

  Katie narrowed her eyes at her father, who lifted his hands innocently.

  “Mom, Gramps said we could. And Reva said that I’m great with her kids. They may be little, but at least they’re boys this time!”

  “Really,” Katie said, “we wouldn’t want to intrude.”

  “But, Mom—” Jordan said.

  “It’s lunch, Katie, just lunch,” Drew said.

  She wondered if anyone else could hear that he was speaking through clenched teeth.

  She lifted her hands. “Fine.”

  In a few minutes, they were all leaving the office. The twins were Sean and Cameron, and they were very well behaved for being such little urchins, and surprisingly articulate, but Tina told Katie that they were almost four and went to a wonderful nursery school where they were taught while they played.

  They met Reva at the foot of the stairs, and she seemed very pleased to see that Katie and her family had agreed to go.

  “We’ll need two cars,” Ron said to Tina, as if they were the social organizers for a club. “Where should we head?”

  “I know a place in South Miami that’s very com
fortable and family oriented, and they’ve just reopened today,” Tina told him. “Just follow me.”

  As they started across the parking lot, a little Lotus drove in.

  A woman exited from the car, unfolding her model’s length with startling sensuality. She was tall, slim, shapely, and wearing a short skin-tight dress that would have been too much on anyone else—but on her it seemed to add to the sexy appeal. Her hair was long, parted at the side, nearly white-blond.

  “Drew!” she called. She walked forward anxiously, hugged him, kissed him. Not on the cheek. On the lips.

  Katie wasn’t sure what Drew’s reaction was to the woman.

  She was only certain that the blonde wasn’t another sister.

  They had all paused, she realized. Every one of them—including the suddenly silent twins. And they were all staring at Drew and the blond woman.

  He spoke to her softly. She spun around and waved. “Hi, Tina, Reva! Did you all make out okay?”

  “Just fine,” Tina called back.

  “We were on our way to lunch,” Katie heard Drew say. “But I do have to talk to you.”

  “Would you like to join us?” Tina asked politely.

  The blonde laughed softly. “No, thanks. You’ve got quite a party with you already. I’m much better at … smaller affairs. Drew, I’ll be here for a while,” she said, and breezed past, into the offices. Drew followed his sister to her car, apparently unaware that the blonde had caused a stir. “I’ll drive,” he told Reva, taking her keys.

  Katie slid into the passenger’s side of her father’s car. She was silent and tense as they drove, wanting to yell at her father … But not in front of her son.

  “Wow! That was some … girl,” Jordan said.

  “Woman,” Ron corrected.

  “And not his sister,” Katie murmured.

  Her father shot her a quick glance. He arched a brow. “Chicken, kid?” he asked her.

  “Dad, you don’t begin to understand—”

  “I’m your father. I don’t want it spelled it out,” Ron said. “Where’d they go?”

  Katie pointed into the right lane. “We just had to go to lunch, huh?”

  “I just met the most stunning widow I’ve come across in ten years!” Ron told her. “Play along, give me a break.”