“That’s not unusual, Mr. Morgan.”
“Ted,” he reminded her again.
She smiled and repeated, “Ted.” Then her smile slipped away as she added, “It’s hard to talk about loss. It seems to make it that much more real.”
Zack’s father tilted his head and studied her. “It’s a blessing you dropped into my son’s life. Maybe you can get him living again.”
She slipped into her coat. “Right now, maybe I can just hold his ladder steady.”
The temperature had gone up to around forty, but there was wind today and it seemed to penetrate Melanie’s royal-blue light wool coat. If she was going to stay in this area of California, she’d have to buy a heavy jacket.
When she stepped outside, she turned to her left where Zack’s ladder was propped against the chimney. She gazed up at him as he worked, admiring the way his jeans fit, thinking he looked rugged in the flannel shirt and insulated red vest. “Your dad said the ladder’s rickety. Do you need me to steady it for you?”
“The ladder’s fine as long as I have it on solid ground. You could stand out a ways, though, to see if I’ve gotten this straight.”
Melanie stepped back a few feet and gazed up at the angel Zack had attached to the brick chimney. “Her trumpet’s pointing toward the stars. She looks good to me. Are you going to put blue lights in the middle of the roof and white lights on the sides?”
Zack didn’t answer her, and when she looked up at him, she saw that he looked as if he was chiseled out of granite. Finally he asked, “Why would you suggest that?”
Taking a deep breath, Melanie realized that for an instant she’d seen the house the way it had been when Sherry was alive. “I…I thought the combination would look pretty with the angel and all.”
Zack descended the ladder and crossed to her. “The year after Sherry and I were married, she decided Pop should use blue lights in the middle and white lights on the sides.”
“What a coincidence.” For a moment Melanie thought about telling Zack everything. But he was on alert, on guard, and she knew with every fiber of her being that he wouldn’t accept what she had to tell him. Not yet.
She added, “I guess it’s not so unusual that angels make us think of heaven and stars—blue and white light.”
“I suppose not,” he said gruffly, though his gaze was still probing as he looked for answers to questions not yet formed. Abruptly he stared again at the angel.
A blast of cold air made Melanie shiver. She wrapped her arms around herself.
“You’d better go in. Your coat isn’t warm enough for this kind of weather.”
Glad to be off the subject of the lights, Melanie stuffed her hands into her pockets. “I think I’ll go into Santa Rosa this week to one of the malls and buy something heavier.”
It would be a quick trip. The stores would be decorated for Christmas. She didn’t want to spend too much time in them. Bright balls, glittering tinsel and holiday trappings reminded her too much of everything she’d lost. The holidays brought back so many feelings and memories she was trying to keep in a sealed box until she felt strong enough to deal with them. Would she ever be strong enough to deal with them?
“Tell Dad to order the pizza in a half hour,” Zack suggested, breaking into her thoughts. “By the time it gets here, I should be finished.”
Knowing it was best if she went inside, hoping another of Sherry’s memories didn’t come popping out of her mouth, she simply responded, “Amy’s going to love it when you’re finished.”
“She’s old enough to like everything about Christmas this year.” Then he moved toward the ladder once more, leaving Melanie with thoughts of her own daughter and pictures in her mind that would never fade.
On Monday evening after supper, Flo had taken Amy into the living room to play. Zack had been about to sit down on the floor with his daughter, to spend the evening with her, when the phone rang.
He said to Flo, “I’ll pick it up on the cordless in the kitchen. I’m expecting a call from one of my distributors.”
When he reached the kitchen, he saw the phone wasn’t there and realized it had stopped ringing. Sometimes Melanie took the handset back to her bedroom to make calls. She must have done that tonight. Still thinking the phone call might be for him, he went down the hall to her bedroom. Her door was partially open, and he stopped when he realized the call was for her.
“Yes, this is Melanie Carlotti. Oh, hello Mr. Kellison.”
Zack recognized the name of the reporter he’d met at Cecile and Don’s. Why was Tom Kellison calling Melanie? Maybe he wanted her point of view on the office complex.
He realized otherwise when he heard Melanie say, “Yes, I’m that Melanie Carlotti. But I don’t want you to do a follow-up article. Everything that happened is too painful. Please don’t pursue it.”
Zack recalled their conversation with Tom. Tom had thought he’d recognized Melanie’s name, but she’d pushed that idea aside.
Zack thought again about yesterday, the way she’d seemed to know what color lights went on the front of his dad’s house. A fluke? And what about that letter she’d received from the private investigator? Now it seemed her name had appeared in the newspaper for some reason. Whatever the situation, it had been important enough for a reporter to want to do a follow-up. The accident she mentioned? The one she wouldn’t talk about?
All of it added up to some kind of secret. Tomorrow he’d go to the library in Santa Rosa, do some sleuthing and maybe find out what Melanie was keeping from him.
The following afternoon Zack went through the most recent issues of the L.A. Times, not expecting to find anything. Then switching to the microfilm machine, he went back a year. Page by page he looked for references to accidents or to Melanie’s name. He kept going back farther and farther, almost giving up, when finally he spotted the headline in December two years ago: Christmas Tree Fire Kills Father And Daughter.
The name Carlotti jumped out from the article and Zack read with horrified fascination. Apparently the Carlottis’ Christmas tree had caught fire while Melanie was at a neighbor’s. The neighbor’s name was Barbara Adair, the woman he’d called for Melanie’s reference. Melanie’s husband, Phil, and their four-year-old daughter Kaitlyn had been asleep in the house. A passerby had alerted everyone at the Adairs’ party to a fire next door. Melanie had run from the party straight to her house, oblivious to the danger. When she’d opened the front door, oxygen rushed in and fed the fire, shattering the windows. Melanie was knocked unconscious and injured by the shattered glass.
The scars Zack had seen at her temple. Where else did she have scars? How badly had she been injured? How devastating her loss—both her husband and daughter. No wonder she’d seemed so understanding of his pain. No wonder she seemed wise beyond her years. Why hadn’t she told him? Why couldn’t she confide in him?
He understood the kind of pain she must be feeling. He also understood not wanting to relive it any more than she had to. He’d told her Sherry had been in an accident, but he’d never told her how or why because he didn’t want to go there. He didn’t want to go back and remember. He didn’t want the guilt to overtake him any more than it already had.
Did Melanie feel guilt, too? From what he knew about fires, he suspected her husband and daughter had already been dead before she opened that door. But she’d caused the explosion, and she was still alive.
So many questions clicked through his mind. What kind of marriage had she had? How long had she been married? Had her daughter been everything to her as Amy was to him? Certainly the way Melanie cared for Amy, he suspected that was true.
After thinking about it, he made a copy of that page of the paper. He would never have known about it if he hadn’t overheard her phone conversation.
Yet he knew he wasn’t going to bring it up to her. He wanted her to tell him about it.
When he asked himself why, he realized he wanted Melanie Carlotti to trust him…because he was beginning to care about h
er, more than he’d cared about anything since Sherry died.
Chapter Eight
Every year Zack hosted a Christmas dinner for his employees at the Fairmont Hotel in Santa Rosa. It was a tradition. Store managers, sales clerks and his executive officers all mingled. Usually it was like a family having a reunion once a year, and he enjoyed it as much as his employees. This year he’d extended an invitation to Melanie, too, and asked her to accompany him.
It had been more than two weeks since he’d found out about the fire that had taken Melanie’s husband and daughter from her. Whenever they were together, either working or caring for Amy, he’d hoped Melanie would tell him something about her background, about the accident and everything that had happened to her. He was amazed at how much he wanted her to trust him. Maybe tonight she would. Maybe after spending the evening together…Pictures of the two of them doing more than talking had been distracting him for weeks.
As he guided Melanie into the Fairmont’s huge ballroom, he decided she’d never looked prettier or more sensual. She was wearing a silky black dress that came almost to her ankles. It fastened with white-satin-covered buttons down the front and there were white satin cuffs on the long sleeves. Her patent leather high heels brought her head almost to his chin. She looked like dynamite tonight and beside her, with his hand in the small of her back, he was proud that he was escorting her.
She smiled up at him as he guided her toward a round table at the front of the room. “You have a great turn-out.”
“It’s a free meal,” he said wryly.
She looked around at the groups of people talking, noting everyone who waved at Zack as he’d come through the crowd. “I think it’s more than that. You apparently run a well-satisfied ship.”
“I try to be fair. When we’re doing well, I like to share that with everyone. For the long haul, if my employees are happy and my turnover’s limited, my profits go up.”
“You’re a good man, Zack.”
There was admiration in her eyes, and it did something to him. Sure, it made him feel ten feet tall. But it also intensified his desire for her. The way she looked tonight, the increasing closeness he felt toward her, was stoking the fire inside of him, and he didn’t know how long he could contain it.
He led her to a table where his executive officers were seated. Melanie soon joined in the conversation as if she’d known everyone long before tonight.
She fits into your life so well.
The thought startled him and he realized he was considering getting involved with her. That’s why he was giving her a different type of bonus from everyone else in his employ.
The band began playing during dinner. After a superb meal of prime rib, followed by coffee and an ice cream ball covered with coconut, Zack looked over at Melanie and asked, “Would you like to dance?” He’d been waiting all night to hold her in his arms.
“I’d love to.” From the sparkle in her blue eyes, he knew she meant it.
There were already couples on the dance floor. Zack paid them no mind as he took Melanie into his arms.
“I love this song,” she said as a romantic ballad from the eighties played.
“They don’t seem to write them like that anymore.”
The dreamy music wound around them, and Zack pulled her a little closer. Melanie didn’t protest, and he found himself letting go of her hand and putting both arms around her.
“You look beautiful tonight,” he murmured, his lips at her temple. He felt the slight shiver that ran through her. “Are you cold?” he asked.
She tipped her chin up. “No, I—I’m just enjoying you holding me.”
So damn honest. That was one of the things he liked so much about Melanie. No games. No pretense. She usually said what she thought, and he didn’t have to wonder what was going on with her. The idea that she liked him holding her as much as he liked holding her—
He passed his hands up and down her back in a caress that told her he’d like to do more than hold her. “If these were strangers all around me, I’d kiss you.”
He didn’t want to intentionally start gossip among his employees or put Melanie’s reputation in jeopardy.
“You’re thinking about my reputation,” she murmured, reading his mind.
“Maybe I’m thinking about my reputation.”
She laughed. “Somehow I doubt that.”
Suddenly he needed to make something clear to her. “I don’t have a reputation, Melanie. I mean, everyone here knew me as a happily married man and since Sherry’s accident, I haven’t dated.”
“And you don’t want everyone here to think we’re paired together.”
She’d read him all wrong. “I don’t care about that. I just want you to know, one-night stands have never been a pastime for me.”
Her expression was serious. “I never thought they were.”
There was that understanding between them again…a bond that seemed to go deeper than the almost two months he’d known her. They seemed to have a lot in common. They seemed to care about the same things. He thought about her bonus in his pocket, the two of them curled up in front of a fireplace….
He brought her into his chest, very close, and gently kissed her temple. When the song ended, he was sorry.
His arms still around her, he explained, “We can dance again in a little while. I have to act as emcee for a few minutes.”
Zack escorted Melanie back to their table, then crossed to the band leader and stepped up onto the stage, mike in hand. After a few opening remarks, he told his employees how happy he was to have them with him, to be working with them toward the same goal, making Sports & More a success.
A man from a table at his left rose and came toward him on the stage. It was his manager from the Santa Rosa store, John Finney. He’d been in Zack’s employ since Zack opened his first store.
John was holding something in his hand and now he climbed up on the stage with it, grinning. “May I borrow the mike?” he asked jokingly.
With a shrug and arched brows, Zack handed it over.
John was in his fifties with dark hair and black-rimmed glasses. He’d gained about twenty pounds since Zack had known him, but he’d gotten wiser with age and even more efficient. John held up the oak plaque in his hand. “We have something for you this year. It’s the Best Boss Award.”
Zack could see Best Boss engraved at the top and then three columns of names.
“Everyone of us wanted our names on this,” John explained, “because we’re proud to be working with you. Not only that,” he said, striving for a bit of levity, “but your bonuses are the best around.” Then he presented Zack with the plaque.
Zack didn’t know what to say. John knew exactly how difficult the past fifteen months had been and had filled in where needed and never complained. He always had a listening ear for Zack to unload, and he was the most supportive employee Zack had. Extending his hand, he shook John’s, and they exchanged a look that passed for a volume of words.
After John left the stage, Zack said a quick thankyou, told everyone to enjoy the night as long as they wanted and wished them a very merry Christmas.
When he returned to the table, he saw that Melanie’s eyes were shining. She absolutely shimmered tonight and as he sat beside her, he took an envelope from his pocket. “I have a bonus for you, too.”
She looked surprised. “I’m not a regular employee.”
He shrugged. “That doesn’t matter. Besides, this is a special bonus and if you prefer a monetary one to this, just say so.”
Melanie looked puzzled as she took the envelope from him and their fingers brushed. Neither of them jerked away. He thought her fingers trembled slightly when she opened the envelope, but he couldn’t be sure. She pulled out a colorful, trifold flyer for a ski resort near Redding and looked up at him perplexed.
“Flo, Amy and I are leaving for Winter Haven on the twenty-seventh and are coming back December 30. I made reservations for you, too. You’d have your own chalet
and the three of us will be next door. Do you ski?”
“I haven’t for a few years. But I do love it. Oh, Zack, this is wonderful. Are you sure you want me along? I mean, if this is a vacation for you with Amy…”
He knew she was remembering the comment he’d made about her not being a member of the family. “I want you along. That’s why I’m inviting you. Will you come?”
She gave him a wide smile. “If we were in a room of strangers, I’d give you a big hug.”
“I’ll collect it later.” It was a promise, and he knew he wanted much more than a hug or a kiss from Melanie Carlotti.
As Zack drove back to the penthouse, Melanie felt buoyant, headily alive. She was aware of Zack glancing over at her often, aware of her own exhilarating heart rate every time he did. The quivering inside her hadn’t let up since the moment Zack had taken her into his arms in the ballroom. She’d felt like Cinderella tonight. She’d felt as if she was on a date, and though Zack hadn’t called it that, that’s what it was. So much more than a date, too. Zack wanted her to share the holidays with them. He wanted her in his life.
After Zack parked in the garage, he came around to her door and took her hand as she alighted from his car. Neither of them spoke, as if they were afraid they’d break the spell that had wrapped them in a new closeness. Zack held on to her hand as they walked to the elevator. In a few short minutes they were standing inside the penthouse.
Melanie began to unbutton her coat, not sure what to say or do next.
Zack easily took care of that by asking, “How about a nightcap? I have a bottle of brandy that John gave me last year.”
“That sounds nice.” Anything with Zack sounded nice.
“It’s in my office. I’ll get it and meet you in the living room.”
Melanie hardly had time to take a few deep breaths until Zack was towering above her, holding out a snifter of brandy to her. The amber liquid was an excuse for them to spend more time together tonight. She took it, waited for him to be seated next to her, then tried a sip.
A Husband In Her Eyes Page 11