“I’ve never harvested lettuce,” Kendra said to Doris, Max, Philip and Philip’s father after Reid went to his room, “but I know when strawberries are ripe, and I can pick them. I can also tie up the limbs of saplings, and I can hand shingles and boards to the men.”
The three of them stared at her. “I didn’t know you intended to help,” Philip said. “I think it’s best that you walk around, see what you want to do, and if you feel inclined, do that.”
“All right. Thanks for that great meal, Doris. See you in the morning.”
She slept well, and found that getting up at four-thirty posed no problem. She walked into the kitchen a few minutes after five, stunning Philip, Reid, Doris and Max.
“What’s the matter?” she said with a laugh. “Did the four of you think I had the backbone of a piece of twine? Bring on the grits, scrambled eggs, sausage, biscuits and strong coffee. I’m ready for a man-sized workday.”
Her words brought a round of laughter, and as Doris rose from the table, Kendra placed a hand on her shoulder. “I know where the stove is, Doris.” She helped herself to a plateful of food, poured a cup of coffee and went back to the table.
“I could get used to eating good food that I don’t have to cook. I suppose Doris said grace.”
“Oh, she did,” Max said, “or none of us would be eating. You can bet on that.”
She quickly found a job sorting shingles that had become detached from the roof of the barn. Half of them were useful only for burning.
“These are perfect,” she told Max shortly before lunch, “but this pile is good for nothing but starting a fire. I counted seven hundred good ones and about as many useless ones.”
“It’s good you counted them,” Max replied. “Reid will know about how many Philip has to buy. It’s a quarter past eleven, and we eat at noon. Do you want to rest now?”
“Not really. I’m tired, but I’m not exhausted. Give me something to put them in, and I’ll pick some strawberries if you show me how.”
He got a crate of empty cups and walked with her down to the strawberry patch. “Take them by the stem and break the stem with your fingernails. Like this. Run your hands over and through the leaves and especially along the sides where the sunshine strikes them. You ought to get about a quart every two feet of row, sometimes more. We usually hire berry pickers, but there’s no help anywhere around today. People are cleaning up after the storm. Put this marker on the row where you stop.”
She filled the crate in no time, picked it up and started toward the house with it.
Reid came toward her, shaking his head as if perplexed. “What the hell are you doing carrying that thing? What is that?” He got close enough for a good look. “You picked strawberries? Max told me you sorted those shingles. That’s back-breaking work.” He took the crate of berries from her and kissed her cheek. “Looks as if Philip finally got a modern crate for these berries.”
“I picked them, and it was fun,” she told him.
“You must be exhausted.”
“I wouldn’t be able to run in a marathon right now, but I’m not ready to keel over, either.”
After lunch, he suggested that they swim, but she knew that if she hadn’t been there, he wouldn’t have considered it, not with the work facing them. “Maybe after dinner—’scuse me, I mean supper—if you don’t mind swimming at night,” she told him. “I didn’t pick more than twenty feet of that row of berries, and there must be a hundred more rows.”
“You want to pick berries?” Reid asked her.
“I want to help, Reid. I didn’t come here to pose while everyone else works. At least I’m being useful if I pick strawberries.”
“You were useful this morning when you sorted all those shingles. Philip ordered what he needs for a replacement, and tomorrow morning I’ll show Jack and Max how to repair the roof of the barn and the stables.”
“Have we accomplished much so far?” she asked him.
“Yes, indeed. We’ll finish the men’s quarters today. A couple of the men have put supports on the biggest trees with sagging limbs and cut away the limbs that couldn’t be saved.”
“Then I think I’ll pick strawberries. When you see Max, please ask him to get me some more empty cups. I have only about a dozen out there.” Reid didn’t know what to make of her, she realized, but it was time he accepted that she wasn’t a fragile doll, but a flesh-and-blood woman who didn’t mind rolling up her sleeves and doing what had to be done.
She said as much to Doris later that day when they sat in the living room, along with the three men, relaxing with drinks before supper.
“Max had to learn that,” Doris said. “I work all day here looking as if I’m almost ready to go dancing, but when we’re alone in our apartment, I let my hair down and allow him to feast his eyes and body on the woman he married. I’m always there for him when he needs me, and, honey, I know he needs me. It’s a great feeling.”
“I imagine it is,” Kendra said.
“Honey, don’t you know Reid needs you? Funny thing is you’ve had him completely flabbergasted all day. Maybe he thought that since you’re a judge, you won’t soil your hands. He came in here this morning, sat down and asked me if I thought you’d get angry if he told you to come down off that stable. I told him to give you a sturdy ladder and leave you alone.”
Kendra couldn’t help laughing at that, because she didn’t think that was the advice Reid wanted to hear. “He’s very protective,” she told Doris.
“Yeah, and bossy, too. I’ve been working here since Philip was seven. I raised him. Of all the men Philip has helped find a new life—and there’ve been at least thirty—Reid is the only one who’s come back after getting on his feet and leaving. They write and call, but they don’t come back. Reid is an exceptional man. Loyal as they come.”
Kendra hadn’t thought a great deal about Doris, but she realized that if she got to know the woman, she would probably like her. “Thank you for telling me this,” she said.
After supper, Philip turned on the lights around the pool area. “I’d wait at least an hour before going in,” he said.
She looked at Reid, whose gaze, she discovered, had been locked on her. “You want to swim for a little while?” he asked her.
“Why not? My muscles could use it.”
“Philip said we should give our food an hour to digest, so I’ll be back down in about an hour.”
Once in her room, she showered, applied lotion to her body and put on her red bathing suit. “This must be the skimpiest bathing suit ever made,” she said aloud, wishing she’d brought the more generously cut yellow one instead. She wrapped the floor-length transparent red and tan beach skirt around her hips, but, still dissatisfied with what she regarded as her near-nudity, she put on the white terry-cloth robe that she found in the closet.
She told herself that she’d experienced a sudden case of modesty because she didn’t want to shock Philip’s father, but in truth, she feared that Reid might be embarrassed, though she didn’t know why she felt that way. She put on the flip-flops she found in the closet and went downstairs. Reid met her at the bottom of the stairs.
“I was beginning to think you’d fallen asleep. You look pretty. It’s hard to believe you worked in that sun all day.” He wrapped his arms around her and bent to kiss her.
“Please,” she said, stunning him. “Do you want me to drown?”
“Do I want you to…What’s come over you?”
“Kissing you makes me drunk, and if I swim while I’m drunk, I’ll drown.”
She could almost see the words sinking in, along with the slow exposure of his pearl-white teeth and the grin that gradually changed the contours of his face until at last, he doubled up with laughter.
“I wouldn’t take anything for you,” he said and brought her into his arms. Though his kiss was brief, through the thin fabric of her swim top, her nipples felt the naked skin of his chest, and desire sent her hot blood racing to her loins.
He looked down at her. “You were right. That wasn’t such a good idea.”
“For Christmas, I’m giving you a pair of red bathing trunks,” she said. “Boy, what a sight that is.”
They left the house by a side door off the dining room and found Philip sitting on the deck beside the pool drinking a margarita. “You’re getting fresh,” Reid whispered to her.
“Just because I said you look cute in that nothing you’re wearing? Be glad that’s all I said,” she whispered.
“You seem as fresh as if it were morning, Kendra,” Philip said. “I know you don’t drink much, Reid,” he said, “but I have lemonade and soft drinks or wine.” He pointed to the bar. “You two help yourselves to whatever you want.”
“Thanks,” she said, smothering a laugh, because he’d used the same word to describe her that Reid had used, though in a different sense. “I think I’ll swim first.” She dropped the robe on a chair, untied the skirt, threw it across the robe, strolled out to the pool and dived in. What a luxury, she thought. There was much to be said for wealth, and Philip Dickerson had a good share of it. She didn’t envy him; he was too nice a person, a man whose hard work and common decency had made him a blessed individual.
She heard a splash and knew that Reid had joined her. They swam together for three laps until she began to tire. “I think I’ve had enough,” she told him. “A few more minutes, and you’ll have to carry me into the house.”
“Want me to get your robe?” he asked her after they climbed out of the pool.
Taken aback, she stared at him. “Why?”
“Because…because…your…You haven’t got anything on.”
She looked down at her bikini, saw that it was still there and relaxed. “If I get it myself, you’ll be mad, won’t you?”
“He can see the same thing I can see, and his attitude toward what he sees will be the same as mine.”
“What if we compromise, and I go in the house through the kitchen, on up to my room and change into a shirt and a pair of shorts?”
“Uh…all right. I didn’t know you were so stubborn.”
“Well,” she said. “If I’m stubborn and you’re bossy, are we going to make a go of it?”
“We’ll probably learn to compromise. At least I hope so.”
When she got back downstairs, Reid and Philip were laughing about something and Arnold, Philip’s father, had joined them. “I think I’ll have a glass of white wine,” she said. Arnold got up immediately, poured a glass of wine and brought it to her.
“You and I haven’t had a chance to talk, Kendra,” he said, “but I want you to know that you had my admiration when you first visited us, but today you won my deep affection and gratitude. I wish my son had met you first.”
“Thank you,” she said. “That’s the nicest compliment you could have paid me.” They talked for an hour, about her work as a judge and his before he retired as an automotive engineer.
“We didn’t make the money those guys make nowadays, but we designed far better cars. Philip wanted no part of it. He had a desire to make things grow, so he’s a professor of agricultural science, and he loves what he does. I think that’s how he and Reid became so close. They’re both dedicated to doing their very best. Reid designed the men’s quarters as if he had a commission from the White House and acted as the engineer for the project. You see how it withstood that storm. Didn’t lose a thing but some roofing. Those two men love their work, and they’re both good at it.”
“I’m enjoying talking with you, Arnold, but I’m sleepy. Getting up at four-thirty is a new experience for me. What time do we rise tomorrow?”
“Early,” Reid said. “We’ll leave around three, but I’d like to get some work done on the stable roofs before we go.” He looked at Kendra. “Will that suit you?”
“Yes, of course.” She told them good-night, picked up the robe and skirt and went to her room. When she heard Reid open his door, she peeped out of hers.
He walked over to her. “Thanks for all you did today. We’ll talk about this another time. Right now I’m bushed. I haven’t done this kind of work since I left here, and I didn’t have to work that hard when I was here. Open up for me a little bit.” He slipped his tongue into her mouth, and immediately her tiredness vanished, but she didn’t advertise it.
“I’ll make up for it,” he said, letting her know that he understood her emotions.
She enjoyed a sound and peaceful sleep, rose early and went out to pick strawberries. To her chagrin, the part of the row that she had finished the previous day now glistened with red berries. “Well,” she said, refusing to start the row over, “I’m not retracing my steps.”
After lunch, as they prepared to leave, Reid had a sense of accomplishment, but he knew that Philip still needed his help. “I’ll try to get back next weekend, Philip, but I’m not sure I can bring Kendra. She bought a new house, and a couple of hours before we left to come here, I discovered that it has serious flaws. I haven’t told her yet, but she may have to indict the builder. And that’s a sticky wicket, because he’s the same builder who cost me my reputation.”
“If you need me, just call. I have to ask you something personal, but first I want to remind you that you are my brother, that I love you as if we had the same parents. Whatever you tell me will be gospel to me. I’ve observed that Kendra is attached to you, but a man can want a woman and not be serious about her. Are you serious about Kendra?”
Reid was accustomed to Philip’s straight-shooting, so he was hardly surprised. “I’m in love with her. If you’re interested, I’m sorry, because I’m in deep.”
“Your answer doesn’t surprise me. She’s beautiful and a credit to herself and to any man. Please don’t mention this to her, because I wouldn’t want her to be self-conscious around me. There’s nothing lost, because I haven’t spent time thinking about it, so not to worry.”
Reid threw up his hand for a high five. “It won’t bother you if I bring her back with me?”
“Not for a second.”
Chapter 7
“I didn’t expect you to break your back working like a laborer,” Reid told Kendra during their drive back to Queenstown. “I brought you with me so I’d know you were safe, that you wouldn’t be fooling around in that basement.”
“I was glad I could help.”
“And I appreciate it. I learned a lot about you these past two days. Believe me, I hope I never see you pulling shingles off the top of another barn again, or that one, either. Woman, you almost gave me a heart attack.”
“I thought it was my bathing suit that rang your bell.”
He wished she hadn’t brought that up. “Why can’t you wear a one-piece bathing suit? That thing is skimpier than your underwear.”
He glanced at her to see her reaction, but she seemed unconcerned, a signal that she didn’t plan to change her style. “One-piece bathing suits for women my age are almost as hard to find as those modest swim trunks that men wore back in the 1950s,” she replied. “Trust me, your bathing trunks are definitely an advertisement for your equipment, so why can’t I show off my assets? Did I make a stink about Doris seeing you like that?”
He pressed his lips together, because he didn’t want to laugh. “Doris wasn’t out there, and you didn’t even notice. You’re making it up.”
“Who says I didn’t notice? You bet I did. I could hardly take my gaze off…I could hardly stop looking.”
“You didn’t act like it.”
“I was too tired. Are we having an argument?”
“If so, I hope it’s an example of the amount of heat we can expect in all of our disagreements. By the way,” he said, choosing his words carefully so as not to alarm her, “you’ve got a real problem with your house. I think you should charge Brown and Worley with criminal negligence. It will cost you between thirty and fifty thousand to correct the defects in your house.”
She jerked forward. “You’re not serious.”
He slowed down for the exit
onto Route 17. “Oh, yes, I am. If I were you, I’d get a registered, certified examiner to check the house from roof to basement and provide a notarized report. If you like, I’ll ask my boss which one he uses. It will stand up in court.”
“My goodness! You are serious! I’ll check with the bank and see what I can do about this.”
“The bank doesn’t care, baby. It gets its money no matter what. But Brown and Worley do care, because they’re already in trouble with the community.”
She leaned back and clapped her hands. “True. What am I thinking? Get the name and phone number of that examiner for me, please.”
He supposed that humming a gay tone meant he’d pleased her.
“Reid!” She said his name as if she had just discovered a treasure, and maybe she had.
“What is it?”
“It’s just occurred to me that whatever that examiner documents will support your case, as well.”
“You’re right.” He parked in front of her house. “It’s only seven o’clock. Let’s go to a decent restaurant, but first I have to go home and change.”
“Good idea. I was going to eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and call it a day. I’m not up to cooking.”
He went inside to look around for problems that might have cropped up during her absence. He did not rejoice in her discomfort; far from it. But what he saw gave him a peculiar kind of pleasure, for it validated his claim that the partial collapse of Worley Towers in Baltimore was the fault of the builders and not of Reid Maguire, the architect.
“You’ve got a flood in your guest bathroom,” he told her, “but since it’s stopped raining, I don’t think it will get worse. It would be a good thing to leave it so that the examiner can document it. Do you want him here tomorrow?”
“If possible, yes. Reid, what would I do without you?”
He guarded his facial expression, because he didn’t want her to know what he felt right then. “I’m trying to make myself indispensable, so please don’t raise that question. I’ll be back shortly.”
One Night With You Page 13