The Backup Plan

by Sherryl Woods

  Dinah just stared at her. “But you’re crazy about him.”

  “And some people love peanuts, but get sick eating them. It’s just a fact of life. I’ve gotten over it. So should you.”

  Dinah thought about what Cord had said to her the night before about fighting for a dream. “You can’t just give up,” she advised Maggie. “Tell me about the date. What did you do?”

  “You’re not dropping this, are you?” Maggie looked at her with a resigned expression. “We went to the movies, then had dinner.”

  “Someplace romantic?”

  “When did you turn into some sort of voyeur?” Maggie inquired impatiently.

  “I’m not looking. I’m asking for pertinent details so I can help. Was it romantic?”

  “There was candlelight, if that’s what you mean. And fancy silverware on the table. It wasn’t romantic, because when I looked into Cord’s eyes, all I saw was friendly interest. Not one single spark I could interpret in any other way.”

  “The man’s an idiot,” Dinah declared. It wasn’t the first time she’d come to that conclusion.

  Maggie smiled at her fierce tone. “No, he just has a single-track mind. He always has.”

  “Meaning?”

  “You’re the one he wants, Dinah. Why you haven’t figured that out by now is beyond me. And, frankly, if you don’t do something about it now, then you’re the idiot.”

  “Cordell is not in love with me,” Dinah said dismissively, but suddenly the memory of the heat in his eyes when he’d asked about the other men in her life came flooding back. Was it possible that jealousy had put that trace of anger in his voice?

  It didn’t matter, she told herself staunchly. She wasn’t interested in anything with Cordell Beaufort, especially not with her best friend pining for him.

  “Have you seen him again?” Maggie asked.

  “We had dinner last night,” Dinah admitted. As she’d said to her mother, she also assured Maggie, “It was no big deal. I’d just found out about Bobby’s engagement, which you should have mentioned. I was a little down. He drove me along the coast to Murrells Inlet to cheer me up.”

  “Did it work?”

  “Actually he spent most of the evening infuriating me.”

  Maggie grinned. “There’s that chemistry thing again.”

  Dinah scowled at her. “Go suck an egg. If you want Cordell, you’re more than welcome to him.”

  Maggie shook her head. “If only that were true. Nope, I’m afraid he’s yours, unless you turn out to be too stupid to grab him.”

  “And what about you?”

  “Oh, I have a few irons in the fire, romantically speaking. Don’t you worry about me.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Would I lie to you?”

  “If you thought it was the only way to give me permission to be with Cord, yes.”

  “Well, I’m not lying. And you don’t need my permission to do whatever you want to with Cord. That’s between the two of you.”

  Dinah was oddly relieved to hear that, even though she adamantly believed that she would never agree to spend another evening with Cord and his steady harangue of uncomfortable questions. That was not what she’d come home expecting.

  But, she thought ruefully as she got in her car, she of all people should know that life had a way of taking surprising twists.

  Maybe Cord had been right. Maybe she’d been wrong to dismiss the idea of going to Atlanta after Bobby. She should at least give him the chance to tell her himself that it was over between them, that this Rianna person was the woman he wanted.

  Pushing aside that nagging voice in her head that was shouting about scruples and good sense, she impulsively whipped her car around in the middle of down town Charleston and headed for Atlanta.

  A few hours later she was pulling up in front of an impressive restoration project that was clearly nearing completion. A tasteful sign on the side of the building announced that it was the work of Beaufort Construction. Below that was an Atlanta contact number for leasing information. She jotted that down and picked up her cell phone, then decided the call could wait until after she’d poked around inside to see for herself what Bobby and Cordell had been up to.

  The inside of the old brick building had been carved up for shops of varying sizes. Judging from the painted signs on the windows and doors that opened onto an airy central corridor, most of the spaces had already been leased to some very upscale boutiques. Restaurants and a large independent bookstore would serve as anchors, taking up huge square footage at each end and in the middle. With a new multiplex movie theater going up just down the block, Dinah knew that this would quickly become a hot new Atlanta destination.

  Just as she was about to head back outside to call the office, a man in blue jeans, a tight T-shirt and tool belt headed her way.

  “You need some help, sugar?” he inquired with an impudent smile that reminded her just a little too much of Cord’s.

  “I was looking for Mr. Beaufort. Is he around?”

  “Would that be Bobby or Cordell?”

  “Bobby.”

  “Now what would a spunky woman like you be doing looking for an old stick-in-the-mud like Bobby?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “You are Dinah Davis, aren’t you? I’ve seen you on the news. You’ve got gumption, I’ll give you that. Wouldn’t let a woman of mine do what you do.”

  Dinah forced a smile. “Then aren’t I lucky I’m not one of your women? Is Bobby around or not?”

  “Not. I believe he’s gone over to Charleston to meet with his brother. I’m Josh Parker. I’m the foreman around here. Anything I can help you with?”

  Dinah groaned. So much for being impulsive. “No. I need to speak to Bobby. How long is he going to be over there?”

  “Hard to tell. He might be spending some time with his fiancée while he’s there. If so, then he won’t be back before tomorrow. You want me to tell him you came by?”

  Dinah debated that and decided to let well enough alone. She’d made one impetuous move to see Bobby and missed him. Maybe that was the final sign that she ought to give up on this ridiculous quest of hers.

  “No. I’m sure I’ll catch up with him sooner or later,” she told the man. “Thanks for your help, Mr. Parker. The building’s lovely, by the way. You and your crew should be proud.”

  “The credit goes to Cordell. The man’s a stickler for getting every detail just right. I’ve learned more from him than I have on any job I’ve ever done and, believe me, I’ve worked on some of the best restoration projects around.”

  “And you think Cord knows his stuff?”

  “Best in the business, no question about it. This company’s going to do great things, thanks to his expertise and Bobby’s salesmanship. Me, I’m just going along for the ride.”

  Dinah was very much afraid she was going to have to change her opinion of Cord, if accolades like this kept piling up.

  Wearing goggles, Cord concentrated on cutting the new crown molding that would match the original when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He jerked the power saw upright and very nearly severed his arm.

  When he whirled around he saw his brother, which was an even worse shock. He stripped off his goggles and threw them at him. “Jesus, Bobby, scare me to death, why don’t you?” he snapped.

  “Sorry. I was trying to let you know I was in the room.”

  “Then try walking around and standing in front of me, instead of sneaking up behind me. What the hell are you doing here, anyway? You’re supposed to be in Atlanta.”

  Bobby kept his expression neutral and merely stared him down. “You’re in a piss-poor mood this morning,” he accused eventually. “You get up on the wrong side of the bed or have you been sleeping alone too long?”

  Cord bit back a sigh. “Maybe both.”

  “I’m sure you could remedy that, if you wanted to. Half the women in this town would trade their fancy BMW convertibles for a roll in the hay with you.”

&nb
sp; “I think you’re overestimating my appeal,” Cord said dryly. There was at least one woman who wasn’t impressed with him and unfortunately, she seemed to be the only one he wanted. “Come on downstairs. I could use something to drink. You can tell me what you’re doing here.”

  In the kitchen, which already had a large, professional-grade refrigerator installed, Cord reached for a couple of cans of Coke and tossed one to Bobby. He popped the top on his, then took a long sip.

  “Damn, it’s hot,” he muttered. “I never thought I’d say this, but I’ll be glad when we finally get the central air-conditioning installed in here.”

  “I thought you’d been fighting that,” Bobby said. “Something about maintaining the historical integrity.”

  Cord grinned. “I lost that battle, and for once, I’m damn glad of it. Now tell me what brought you home in the middle of the week.”

  “Rianna has some fancy party she wants to attend to night,” Bobby explained. “I couldn’t say no. I’ve said it way too often lately. I figured I’d come by here, get a look at the progress. Then tonight I’ll suit up in my tux and do the party scene, then scoot back to Atlanta tomorrow.” He studied Cord with a narrowed gaze. “You have a problem with that?”

  “No,” Cord said. How could he? It was a perfectly reasonable plan. He just prayed that Dinah wouldn’t show up at whatever party the two of them were attending. As vulnerable as she was, he doubted she was ready to face the sight of another woman on Bobby’s arm, even though she would now be prepared for it. Thanks to Cord’s silence, however, Bobby wasn’t prepared at all to bump into Dinah.

  “Whose party is this?” he asked.

  “Some friend of Rianna’s from college is hosting a fancy black-tie dinner in some hotel ballroom downtown to celebrate something or other.” He grinned. “You know me. I don’t give a rat’s ass about that kind of thing. Other than making sure I got the date right, I didn’t pay much attention to the rest of the details.”

  Cord laughed. He completely agreed with his brother. He might be welcome—or even expected—at all the city’s society balls and black-tie functions now that he was considered a respectable businessman, but he got out of about twice as many as he actually at tended. He showed up just often enough to stay in the good graces of the people with whom he was doing business at any given moment.

  At any rate, it didn’t sound as if wherever Bobby was going tonight was likely to be such a big deal that Dinah would be included. She and Rianna had never traveled in the same circles. Rianna had gone to the Charleston public schools. Ironically, Bobby was her ticket into the upper echelons of Charleston society.

  Still, even though it seemed unlikely that Bobby and Dinah would cross paths at this particular event, maybe it would be a smart idea to make sure she was otherwise occupied.

  “Listen, bro, there’s something I need to do. Wander around and get a good look at the place. It’s coming along great. Give Rianna my best when you see her tonight, okay?”

  Bobby regarded him with a puzzled expression. “You’re suddenly in an awfully big hurry to take off. Where are you going?”

  “Just some business I need to take care of.”

  “Oh?”

  “Nothing for you to worry about. Will I see you before you go back in the morning?”

  “Yeah, I think so. Something tells me there’s something going on in your life I should know about. I’ll come by the house before I take off. Make sure the coffee’s on.” He gave Cord a speculative look. “Or will I be interrupting something?”

  Cord chuckled at his display of discretion. “Sadly, no.”

  Bobby shook his head. “What’s happened to you, man? You used to be my idol. You had a date every night.”

  “It got old,” Cord said. After he realized that he could sleep with every woman in Charleston and it still wouldn’t help him forget the one he really wanted in his bed, he didn’t enjoy the dating thing.

  And now that Dinah was back in town and driving him flat-out crazy all over again, he wasn’t about to waste his time on also-rans. As unlikely as a lasting match-up between him and Dinah was, he intended to give it his best shot.

  Bobby gave him a long, penetrating look, then asked quietly, “Who is she, Cord?”

  He stared at his brother, keeping his expression blank. “Who’s who?”

  “The woman who’s got you tied up in knots.”

  “You’re imagining things,” he lied. He removed his hard hat and clamped it down on his brother’s head. “Keep it on while you’re here, okay? I know you’ve got a thick skull, but accidents happen.”

  He strolled out of the kitchen, aware that his brother’s worried gaze was on him the whole way.

  Once he was out of earshot, he uttered a curse that rarely crossed his lips. It was the first time in his life that he’d kept anything from his brother and he didn’t like the feeling one bit. Maybe when Bobby showed up at home in the morning, he’d just tell him everything about Dinah’s return, her hopes for reigniting something with Bobby and his own fantasies about stepping into Bob by’s place in her life. Then he’d let the chips fall where they would.

  He considered such honesty, then sighed. He knew when he faced Bobby in the morning, he wouldn’t say one single word. There was too much at stake for all of them…Bobby, Rianna, Dinah and maybe for him, most of all.

  10

  While Cord drove home, he formulated a plan for getting Dinah to agree to spend the evening with him. He had a hunch she was going to be a tough sell, because he knew she’d been unnerved by all of his questions during their dinner at Murrells Inlet. She wouldn’t want to subject herself to that again, even if a good shaking up was exactly what she needed to get herself to think things through and get back on track with her life.

  That meant that calling her and inviting her on a date was out of the question. She’d just turn him down, assuming he could even get her to accept his call in the first place. His only choice, then, was to show up uninvited and make the invitation so irresistible she’d simply have to accept. As confident of his charms as he was, he wasn’t entirely certain what Dinah would find irresistible. He hoped her mother was around to give her a little nudge in his direction.

  He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and called the Davis number, which he now knew by memory thanks to the frequency of the messages he received on any given day from Dorothy Davis. Dinah’s mother answered on the first ring. He liked the fact that answering the phone wasn’t a task she relegated to the housekeeper.

  “Hey, Mrs. Davis,” he said, knowing his refusal to call her Dorothy annoyed her.

  “Cordell,” she said, her exasperation plain. “What can I do for you?”

  “Is Dinah around?”

  “She just got home a few minutes ago. I believe she’s upstairs. Hold on and I’ll check.”

  “No,” he said urgently. “I don’t want to speak to her. I just wanted to make sure she was home.”

  “If you don’t mind me saying so, you’re not making a lot of sense.”

  He laughed. “Nothing new about that. Actually I was hoping to persuade Dinah to go out appointment tonight, but I may need you to help me coax her into it. What do you say? Do you know if she has other plans?”

  “I’m sure she doesn’t,” Mrs. Davis said. “And if you can get her to budge out of this house, more power to you. When she came in just now, she looked even more glum than she did when she got back here last night. I’ll help in any way I can, especially if it means you can finally figure out what’s going on with her. I suspect you didn’t have a bit of luck last night.”

  “Not much,” he admitted.

  “Well, I know you tried, because she was quite annoyed with you.”

  “I figured as much.”

  “Okay, then,” she said briskly. “Let’s concentrate on tonight. What do you want me to do?”

  “I honestly don’t know. I was hoping you’d have some ideas. You usually do about everything else.”

  �
�Thank you, I think,” she said, chuckling. “Let me give it some thought. I’m sure I can come up with something. What time will you be by?”

  “Around seven,” Cord said. “Will that work?”

  “Perfect. I’ll encourage her to dress for dinner tonight, so she won’t be able to claim she has nothing to wear or have any excuses about holding you up while she changes.”

  “Have I mentioned that I love how your mind works?” he teased her.

  She laughed. “No, you’re usually too busy telling me what a nuisance I am, so thank you again.”

  “You’re welcome. See you soon.”

  “Cordell?”

  “Yes.”

  “Thank you for spending time with Dinah, too. She needs friends, whether she realizes it or not. Something tells me you’re going to be a good one.”

  Cord was more touched by her confidence in him than he cared to reveal. “Thanks.”

  “She won’t make it easy, you know.”

  He laughed. “Oh, trust me, I’ve gotten that message. But you know me, Mrs. Davis. I never walk away from a challenge.”

  “Yes,” she said quietly. “That’s one of your most attractive traits, Cordell. You haven’t even let me scare you.”

  “You?” he teased. “You’re just a woman who knows her own mind. I admire that.”

  She chuckled. “Stop wasting all that flattery on me. You’ll need it with Dinah.”

  “Don’t worry. I have more than enough for both of you. See you soon.”

  He hung up, smiling. A lot of men would shy away from getting tangled up with either of the Davis women. They were too strong-willed and cantankerous. But Cord figured all that practice he’d had battling wits with the mother was just a good warm-up for holding his own with the daughter. Besides, what was the fun of chasing after a woman if she made it too easy?

  After her fruitless trip to Atlanta, Dinah watched three straight hours of television talk shows. Her mind had been going numb and she had changed channels in search of a cable newscast, but each time she’d started to watch a report from anywhere in Iraq, Israel or Afghanistan, her stomach had knotted up and she’d gone back to the discussions of obesity or abuse or teenage rebellion. The world was clearly a mixed-up place, even thousands of miles away from a war zone.