“All my life, I’ve seen the results money can buy. Because of my parents’ foundation, I’ve seen how a little help can go a long way—how it can touch more than one person. I’ve watched the trickle-down effect play out right here in Meadowview, with Sadie’s American Playwright’s Festival.”
Chessie nodded. The American Playwright’s Festival was funded by the Courant Foundation and run by Sadie, and now her husband, Ethan, too. Because of the success with the festival, the local economy of Meadowview had greatly improved. People who once had been out of work now held full-time positions. Businesses that had been suffering were now reaping a high profit, thanks to the tourist dollars that poured into the community. The Festival was a perfect example of the trickle-down effect Theo had mentioned.
“And the Meadowview Sanctuary,” she said.
“Exactly. Lia’s sanctuary for women and children in need does the same thing. The Courant Foundation helps fund that, too.” Theo rolled his head from side to side, obviously tense. “Those women come in needing a week or two of help. Maybe more. Lia gets them back on track, keeps them safe, and gets them working. Helps keep their kids in school.”
When she remained silent, he continued. “Every time someone contacts the Foundation, whether it’s for individual scholarships or for village-wide inoculations, I can see the benefit. Someone gets an education, and they become a doctor and save lives. One child gets immunized, and they don’t die of measles and go on to become a teacher. What I said earlier came out wrong—I’m just frustrated I can’t do enough.” He dropped his head down and the lock of hair swept forward again, falling into his eyes.
Chessie reached over and brushed his hair back. “Sorry if I sounded like I was lecturing. Although I suppose I was.”
He gave her a halfhearted smile. “I guess I’m used to throwing money at problems, big problems, and seeing them solved. I don’t know how to be there for someone except by throwing money at what needs to be fixed.”
“You’ll get there,” she said.
“Maybe. Maybe someday.”
For several minutes they sat in silence, allowing the sounds and scents of the oncoming night surround them. In the distance a dog barked, and then another joined in, the sound amplified by the cool air.
The light wind shifted, bringing with it the scent of pine and wet cedar. Chessie shivered, goose bumps forming on her forearms. Beside her, Theo yawned.
“Time for me to help you to bed?” she asked. They’d ditched the wheelchair after the second week, when Theo’s sprained ankle was given the go-ahead by the doctor to provide support. Sometimes he used crutches, but often he used Chessie. Something she liked. A lot.
“Not just yet,” he said, tugging her in tighter.
She noticed that he was wearing the scent she blended specially for him. Yummy. The scent did something delicious to her tummy. She smiled. Their agreement of unencumbered sex had been working out well. More than well, actually. Theo had kept up his end of the bargain and didn’t beg for sex during the middle of the day, although sometimes she initiated a quickie. She’d been able to work on her national launch with only a few interruptions, and Theo had been able to fulfill most of his responsibilities for the Courant Foundation. And every night and every morning, they indulged in one another’s bodies.
Soon Theo’s casts and brace would be off, and he’d return to San Francisco and his social life. Soon she’d have the house to herself again, something she’d been looking forward to since the day she had grudgingly agreed to Sadie’s hysterical request.
Chessie sighed. She’d definitely miss the sex, though. She’d grown used to sleeping with Theo.
But it wasn’t just the sex she’d grown used to, she realized. She’d grown used to sharing meals and evenings together, Theo’s laughter and goofy facial expressions, talking to him about his emails every evening, and the feel of his fingers tapping out a rhythm on her leg as they sat on the porch swing together watching twilight fall. In short, she’d grown used to Theo.
It dawned on her—as wonderful as it would be to have her life back, she’d miss having him around.
Oh hell, she would actually miss Theo.
“Chessie,” Theo said quietly, “I want to ask you something.”
“Sure. What’s up?”
Without looking at her, he said quietly, “Why won’t you kiss me?”
The question caught her off-guard. For a moment, she sat in silence, unsure what to say. How to answer. What to even think. She toed the boards under her feet, sending the porch swing into movement. The ratcheting squeak from springs in need of a good dose of WD-40 echoed in the night. In the distance, the low boom of amplified bass speakers pulsated through the air—Madison and her friends had the sound system on high, probably.
“It’s fine,” Theo said suddenly. “You don’t have to answer. You gave me a good enough reason before. I wasn’t sure if maybe there was something else you weren’t telling me.”
“There is.”
“Really, it’s okay. Forget I asked.”
She sighed. “No, I think maybe it’s time you knew. I mean, what I told you before is true, but I didn’t really go into why I don’t like kissing.” She gave a short laugh. “I mean, I like kissing, I just don’t like what it does to my heart.”
He nuzzled the top of her head. “Seriously, you don’t have to share.”
She shook her head, partly to let him know she wanted to, and partly to rid herself of the painful part about the memory she was about to share.
A memory of last time she’d been in love.
Correction: the only time she’d been in love.
“Did you ever meet my college boyfriend, Arthur?” she asked.
He shifted his weight. “Not that I remember. Jack mentioned him a little. He went to Stanford, right?”
“Yeah. I met him at one of the first charitable events you’d held in your new position at the Courant Foundation.”
“Which event?” he asked.
“We helped build a community garden in a decrepit neighborhood outside of San Francisco. Shoveled manure to make compost. It was stinky.”
“I vaguely remember. I’d put a notice out on my frat’s email list and told people to forward the list to anyone they knew in the fraternity or sorority system. Got a lot of volunteers that way. I may have promised beer.”
She laughed. “I was still at UC Davis, studying horticulture, but I met up with Arthur. I was attracted to him right away.”
“You hook up with him that night? All stinky from manure?”
She laughed. “It took him all of a day and a half to get me into bed. By the end of Week One, I’d fallen in love.”
“How long did you two go out?”
“A year. He said he loved me. Thought I was funny and intelligent and super sexy. We couldn’t get enough of each other. It was love for me, and I thought it was for him, too.”
“Not so much?”
“You know, we spent so much time in bed that I barely noticed how little time we spent with each other’s friends or families, especially his family.”
“Were they local?”
She nudged his belly with her elbow. “You have a lot of questions for someone who told me I didn’t need to talk.”
“Fine. I’ll keep my mouth shut. Or at least, try. But why didn’t you spend time with his family?”
Chessie laughed. Theo couldn’t help it—questions were popping out of the man’s mouth like a kid trying to understand a movie that was way over his head. “His family was different than mine, that’s for sure. His mom wouldn’t let anyone kiss her on the cheek because it might mess up her makeup. And she didn’t just want to keep up with the Joneses—she wanted to surpass them. Plus, she made Arthur’s dad work two jobs so they’d have enough money to go on vacations to the Caribbean or buy a new car each year.”
“Please tell me they gave to the Courant Foundation,” Theo said dryly.
“Not a dime. These were not givers. Not by
a long shot. And I hate to speak ill of anyone, but they actually weren’t very nice people.”
“Wow. Chessie Gibson, you’re being such a bitch.”
She giggled. “Yeah, right? Anyway, at first I didn’t notice—I was just so in love. My brother was worried about me, though. But I had chubby babies, a white picket fence, and a golden retriever on the mind and didn’t look at the warning signals.”
“I won’t ask.”
“It’s not like he cheated on me or anything. The signals were pretty vague, to tell you the truth. Then he and I went camping one week, down in Yosemite, and I thought he was going to propose. Instead, he dumped me.”
“Tell me he did not dump you in a tent.”
“Yep. I was in a sleeping bag.”
“The cad.”
She snorted. “Totally.”
“What excuse did he give? He had another girlfriend?”
“I wish. Might have made it easier on me.” She took a deep breath, then plunged on. “Turns out I wasn’t good enough for him. He said his parents were pressuring him to get married and that he loved me but his parents thought I wouldn’t fit into his world. I wasn’t the ‘type’ of girl they thought he should marry. He ended up with a girl from his parents’ social club.”
Chessie didn’t have to ask what Arthur meant by “type.” She didn’t need an explanation—she knew what he’d meant. His mother had made it perfectly clear the first time she met Chessie that she wasn’t in her son’s league. No pedigree and too many pounds. Possibly good enough to screw her son, but not good enough to introduce around the country club.
Arthur’s “type” would never be a country girl who loved all things vintage, who would rather rub a bud of lavender on her wrists instead of douse herself with expensive perfume, and whose idea of jewelry was the white gold peace symbol strung on a thin strip of leather that nestled between her more than voluptuous breasts.
“The guy was a dick, Chessie. Any man who says he loves you and then doesn’t marry you because you don’t match what his parents think is his type is a fucking asshole. You’re better off without him. God, are you better off. I’m so glad you aren’t with him. I’d be furious if you were married to a dickwad who didn’t realize your worth.”
The vehemence coming from Theo caught her off-guard. How sweet of him to protect her. To try to make her feel better.
He stood, wobbling a little as he gained his balance, then looked down on her. “And Chessie? I totally get why you won’t kiss a guy. I don’t agree with your decision, and I’d rather you’d kiss the living hell out of me, but I get it. Don’t worry—I won’t ask you to kiss me again. Promise.”
Funny, how his statement should have made her feel better…but only ended up causing her to feel worse.
The day had had started out well enough. Theo had an appointment with his doctor that morning to assess how well his fractures were healing. Chessie had driven him there, dropped him off, and then went to the organic nursery to pick up several bags of organic compost and run a few additional errands before returning to pick up Theo.
She arrived back at the doctor’s office to find Theo elated. His casts were to come off in a two days, he told her, a full week earlier than had been anticipated. In forty-eight hours he’d have his life back.
She wasn’t sure what had bothered her more: the fact that Theo had been so excited, or the fact that she wasn’t.
Theo had insisted on buying lunch to celebrate. Chessie found a Thai restaurant with an outdoor patio where Theo and his crutches could fit and that had an outdoor space heater. With soft Asian music piped in overhead, she’d listened as Theo detailed the various activities he intended to indulge in once he regained full use of his limbs. None of the activities he was excited to return to held any appeal for her. She was blatantly reminded of how vastly different they were when Theo mentioned nightclubbing in San Francisco.
While at lunch, they were approached by a slender young woman, impeccably dressed in a black pencil skirt and fitted white blouse, her blond hair pulled into a sleek ponytail at the nape of her neck. The blonde had flirted with Theo, who’d flirted back and hadn’t bothered to introduce Chessie.
From what Chessie could gather, the skinny-assed blonde’s parents belonged to the same yacht and country clubs as Theo. She and Theo shared stories about regattas and banquets and balls until Chessie wanted to gag. When the blonde had walked away, her phone number now conveniently typed into his cell phone, Theo’s eyes had followed her ass all the way out the door. Let him look, she mentally grumbled. In two days, he would be out of her bed and out of her life.
After lunch, she discovered her pickup wouldn’t start. She cranked the engine over several times, but it refused to catch.
“Crackers!”
On the bench seat across from her, Theo laughed. “Don’t you ever swear?”
She bit her lip instead of replying and cranked the key again, only to be met with a half-hearted rrr instead of the throaty hum of a running motor. Not good.
“This decrepit old thing finally bit the bucket?” Theo asked.
“My truck is not decrepit—just old. Needs a little TLC,” she answered, but without humor. The incident with the blonde at lunch still ate at her. The world the girl and Theo lived in was the same one Arthur had grown up in and had refused to leave for her. A world Chessie wanted to avoid like the plague.
“I can call us a cab,” Theo said.
“No. It’s just a dead battery.”
“Then I can call us a tow truck.”
She pumped the gas—just a bit, not wanting to flood the engine—and cranked again. Same rrr.
“I’m calling a tow truck.” Theo moved to pull his cell phone out of his pocket. “And then I’m buying you a new truck. I need to pay you back somehow for all you’ve done for me. How much would a new 4-wheel drive cost? Twenty-five, thirty-five thousand? I can put it on my credit card.”
“I don’t want a stupid new truck. I want my truck to work!” Suddenly, she realized she was shouting. And angry. So very angry. She worked to pull herself together and glanced about. Parked smack-dab in the middle of Market Street, she and Theo were on display for the throng of tourists and a few locals who were on the wooden sidewalk. No need for half of Meadowview to witness her having a hissy fit. “All it needs is a new battery. I just have to pop the clutch,” she added, more quietly.
“Seriously, Chessie, I’m calling my assistant to get us a tow truck and a rental car. I have phone calls I need to make—we can’t spend all day waiting around for you to tinker with your truck.”
Fury rose up inside her. “You are such spoiled brat!” The words burst out of her mouth, surprising her, but she couldn’t stop them. “You only think of yourself, and you think money can solve all problems, and you have had no idea of what I’m capable of doing. Or what matters to me.”
Uncharacteristically, Theo sat in silence.
She sucked in a deep breath, held it. Willed her heartbeat to return to normal. For the rage to ebb from her veins. After what felt like a minute but had to be a few seconds, she steadied herself and said, “I’m sorry I lost my top. Hold the steering wheel for me, will you? I need to push it to get it going down the hill, and I don’t want it to run into Swinton’s Bakery.”
“Sure.” Theo’s voice was tight, missing its usual lighthearted lilt. But he didn’t argue with her, and instead leaned across the bench seat to hold the steering wheel steady, pinching the steering wheel between his thumb and forefinger, grimacing when the cast banged on the steering wheel.
Within moments, she’d managed to get the truck rolling down the hill enough for her to jump back into the seat and pop the clutch. When the engine caught and purred, she wanted to smile. But the events of the morning wore on her, and she wasn’t sure what had upset her the most—that Theo had flirted with a girl she figured would be her replacement in bed, or that he’d been audacious enough to suggest buying her a new truck. Or that he’d thought she couldn’
t pop a clutch. Theo had been sleeping with her for over a month now—did he seriously not know her at all?
Five minutes later, when Chessie turned down her lane, neither she nor Theo had said a word.
“What’s that?” Theo asked as she started to turn into her driveway.
She looked to where he pointed—at the white picket fence surrounding her front yard—and gasped.
Disgusting pictures of genitalia and slang covered the fence. “Fucking hippy,” “crazy cat lady” and “fat-ass bitch” were among the most prominent of statements.
“Chessie, stop the car.”
She complied with Theo’s command. Brought the Chevy to a halt. Then sat, frozen in the driver’s seat, hands gripping the steering wheel, and staring blankly at the mess as Theo got out and hobbled over to the fence.
“I don’t even have a cat,” she whispered.
Then she broke down and cried.
“I’m calling Remy,” Theo called out, his back still to her. Then he turned around and saw her crying.
“Oh, god, Chessie—”
He didn’t pause. Didn’t stop for one second. Just came to her. Yanked the driver’s side door open. Then clumsily pulled her into his arms and stroked her hair, murmuring sweet, caring, gentle words under his breath as she hiccupped against his shoulder.
* * *
The strain of the long day pressed down on her. Naked, Chessie slid into the bed, coming up close to Theo’s body. She sank her weight deep into the mattress, the soft satin of the brushed cotton sheets caressing her skin. Theo was already flat on his back, breathing evenly, his eyes closed. A deep sigh escaped, taking with it all the day’s tension. Bone-weary, she longed only for sleep.
She’d spent the remainder of the day sanding the fence boards to remove the disgusting images and statements. Theo had offered to call a painter, but she’d refused. He hadn’t pressed the issue. Instead, he’d gone into her potting shed and come back out, a bucket of paint and a paintbrush held between his fingertips. His strokes had been awkward, and the paintbrush had fallen a few times, but together, they’d managed to get the fence back to glittering white.
Tempting the One (Meadowview Heat 4; The Meadowview 4) Page 12