by Mary Calmes
She pulled back to smile into my face. "Since I called you this morning and demanded you bring him with you... yes, Sammy it's okay. How are you, my darling?"
"I'm good." I smiled into her eyes.
We stared a few minutes before she let me go and grabbed my hand, dragging me over to where she was chopping potatoes and onions.
"I'm going to teach you how to make Hungarian goulash."
It sounded scary but I was game. "Okay."
Sam left me and I heard the shouts of his name as the swinging door closed behind him.
I stayed in the kitchen and helped his mother with dinner, alternating between preparations and dishwashing and listening to her talk. When Sam's sisters showed up with their husbands and kids, I was introduced to everyone. Jen came with her husband Mitch, and gave me a big hug when she pretended to meet me for the first time.
"Jesus, Jen," Mitch chuckled, shaking my hand afterward.
"Don't crush the kid."
"He's not a kid," she said as she stared into my eyes. "He's got a very old soul."
"Oh does he?" Mitch teased her, pulling her sideways to kiss her temple. "You're adorable."
And I saw her flinch, like every kindness was painful. The guilt was smothering her. "You wanna help me?" I asked, trying to give her some relief.
"Yes," she breathed out, taking off her coat and gloves, shoving them both at her husband. "I'd love to."
I was introduced to her daughters, Ally and Carla, and they both wanted to hug me. Carla touched my hair and told me how much she wanted gold hair instead of brown. I explained how much better brown was than gold. She gave me a look as she twirled her fingers in my hair.
"How come it's so long?"
"'Cause I need a haircut?" I answered, realizing that my hair now hit my shoulders.
"It's too pretty to cut, Jory," Jen told me. "I would kill for your highlights."
"Yes," Regina echoed her daughter. "You have beautiful, thick hair, leave it alone."
I shrugged and put Carla down on the counter so I could go back to cooking. I told her she could help me and pass me ingredients. It was cute how she scooted around, getting comfortable and then looking up at me expectantly. Her sister, being only two, had more interest in walking around the kitchen opening drawers and peering inside.
Sam came in the kitchen a half hour later with two other guys and his father. Amazing how much he looked like Thomas Kage. They were both big, tall men, but while Sam was covered in thick, hard, rippling muscle, his father had grown a little softer in the face and around his middle.
"I just think we should sell it, Dad, and get our money out of it. Who the fuck cares what these assholes want? They don't give a shit about you."
"Samuel Thomas Kage," Regina snapped at him. "It's the Lord's Day."
"Mother—"
"What's going on?" I asked quickly.
He looked over at me and I waited.
"My dad and I have a piece of property in Naperville that we need to sell."
"And?"
He tipped his head at the other two men. "These two have been saying they're gonna buy it for like three months but nothing's happening. I'm sick of holding onto it, so I wanna sell it."
"I see," I nodded, looking over at Mr. Kage. "What do you think, sir?"
"I'm sorry, who are you?" he asked me jovially.
"This is Sam's friend, Jory," Regina explained.
He nodded as he looked me over. "I see. Well, Jory, I think that I want to wait for my nephews Levi and Joseph to buy it."
I looked back at Sam. "If your dad wants to wait, why're you arguing with him?"
"Because it's crap. Half of it's mine and I wanna get rid of it. We could wait for years before these two jerks get enough money to—"
"Okay." I yawned. "Here's whatcha do. Let your dad win the argument this time and you got dibs on the next one.
Better to not be an ass where your family's concerned, right?"
"I'm being an ass?"
I gestured at his cousins. "Well, yeah. I mean, who cares how long it takes them? They're your cousins. Wait forever if you can help them out. What do you need the money for anyway?"
He glowered at me and I arched a brow for him as we shared a long look.
"Fine." He threw up his hands, stalking to the refrigerator for a beer. "I don't give a shit," he said before he left the room.
I shrugged and looked at his mother. "I think he enjoys the complaining more than anything."
"I would agree," she said quietly, nodding. "I think you've got him pegged right."
I went back to the dishes until I felt the hand on my back.
"Jory."
His dad was next to me, looking at my face.
"Yessir?"
"How long have you known Sam?"
"Not too long," I told him. "I actually got in a little trouble and he's helping me out."
"I see." He smiled warmly. "Well, thank you for speaking up. He actually owns fifty-one percent to my forty-nine, so if he wanted to, he could sell it."
"He won't if you don't want him to," I assured him. "But you know that."
"Do I?" He indulged me. "I don't know about that, Jory."
"I don't either." One of the men moved over to hold out his hand. "Joe Kage, man, good to meet you. This is my brother Levi."
I shook his hand and then his brother's. "Good to meet you both."
Levi smiled as he looked me straight in the eye. "And you, Jory."
The door swung open suddenly and Rachel, Sam's oldest sister, came in. "Oh Mother, how could you let your son bring that woman back over here after the last time?"
Regina chuckled. "Do you mean Alexandra?"
Her moan made everyone laugh. "Oh God, yes. Could she be any more condescending or conceited or... ohmygod Mother, she's such a bitch."
Regina laughed out loud. "Rachel!"
"Mother," Rachel said sharply, pointing out into the other room. "Do you have any idea what she just said to me?"
"No," she giggled, unable to stop.
"She said it was wonderful that I could throw away all my dreams to stay home and raise children. You're lucky I didn't smack her right there!"
"She's young dear, and—"
"Rach," a guy began as he walked into the room. "Why're you being such a jerk to Alex?"
"Ohmygod Mike, did you hear what she said to me?"
Michael Kage looked a lot like his brother, but where Sam's features were fine, chiseled perfection, Mike's were blunt and unfinished. He was still handsome—as far as I could tell all the Kage men were—but not one of them was as drop-dead gorgeous as Detective Sam Kage.
"Yeah, I heard, Rach, and she was only responding to you asking her if she wanted kids. I mean, could you be any more obvious? Just because I'm ready to settle down and get married and start a family doesn't mean she is. We've only been going out for three months. For crissakes, could ya lay off her?"
"I—"
"So she's different from you and Jen and all your friends.
Give her a break."
"Oh so, what? I'm the wicked witch because I chose to be a housewife?"
"That's not what I said. You just gotta—"
"C'mon, Mike," she huffed at him. "She's a prissy, snooty little—"
But she shut up instantly as the door opened and a woman walked into the kitchen. The lady in question was stunning but far too immaculately dressed, with perfect makeup and designer shoes, for a simple Sunday dinner in the suburbs.
"Hi," she said softly, her eyes glancing around the room. "I just—Jory?"
I forced the smile. "Hello, Miss Ralston."
She came into the kitchen, her entire focus on me. "How are you?"
"Good, thank you. And you?"
"I'm well," she said, her stiletto sling-backs clicking across the linoleum floor as she reached me. She brushed a lock of hair out of her eyes, all the rest of it pulled up into a French twist. If Barbie could come to life, she would look like Alexandra Ralston. But not like Malibu
Barbie or something simple like that. Alexandra would be the expensive kind, the one you never took out of the box. She was a collector's item, flawless, perfect, with beauty that was unattainable unless you, too, were encased in plastic.
"You look well," I said to be making conversation.
She bit her bottom lip and I saw her take a quick breath.
"How is Dane?"
"He's good."
"I was hoping to see him at the AIDS benefit."
What she had hoped was to be the highest bidder at the bachelor auction and thus win the privilege of going to dinner with him. I forgot about her when I was thinking of women that would have paid to be alone with him. He had definitely shortchanged the charity by just giving them a check for ten grand. He could have easily made them double that amount if he'd just bothered to show up.
"He made a sizable donation," I told her. "But you know he hates that kind of stuff."
She nodded, even though she had no idea what I was talking about. This, then, was why he had walked away from her. She loved being rich and all the social events that came along with it. Dane did only those things that were necessary.
They could not have been more different. "I haven't seen him in months."
I smiled, trying not to squirm.
"Will you give him my best when you see him tomorrow?"
"Yes, ma'am."
She turned and left the room and all eyes were on me.
"Jory, is it?" Michael asked me as he came closer.
"Yes."
"You know I met Alexandra Ralston after she came from Harcourt, Brown, and Cogan. Do you work for Dane Harcourt?"
"Yes."
"Are you his assistant?"
"Yes. Are you an architect too?"
"Yes, I am, though not in Dane Harcourt's league."
"I'm sure you're brilliant." I gave him my automatic response, because people complimented my boss all the time.
"Well, thank you, but your boss is amazing. I actually tried to get a job there but he said my sketches were rudimentary and unimaginative."
I squinted at him. "Were you there before lunch?"
"Pardon me?" I had surprised him. It was not the answer he'd been expecting.
"Lunch. Did you come, say, around ten-thirty?"
"I don't—"
"'Cause he's kind of worthless before lunch. If he's eaten and his blood sugar is balanced out, he's way nicer," I assured him, smiling.
"I'll keep it in mind for next time."
"Good," I nodded.
"Maybe I'll have you talk to him for me. Being his assistant, you must have quite a lot of pull."
"Yeah, right," I scoffed as my phone rang. "Speak of the devil. Excuse me," I said as I moved away from the others.
"Hey, boss."
"Is my schedule done for next week?"
"Of course. I e-mailed it this morning, didn't you see it?"
"No."
"Did you check?"
"No."
"Well, that could be the problem."
"Don't be flip."
"No sir."
"Did you leave Friday open for my trip to Dallas?"
"Yeah."
"Yes," he corrected me.
"Yes."
"I need to have a dinner party for a client tomorrow night.
You need to coordinate that for me now."
"Sure," I said quickly. "How many for dinner, boss?"
"Fifteen. I want to have a very intimate meal, so get the best, all right?"
"Of course."
"And I want you there, understand?"
"Aren't I always?"
"I'll see you in the morning."
"Yessir."
"Jory."
"What?"
"Don't say what."
I made a noise before I said, "Yes?"
"Better."
I groaned.
"Now I forgot what I was going to say," he said irritably.
"Hey, guess who I just saw?"
"I'm sure I have no idea."
"Alexandra Ralston," I teased him. "She said to give you her best."
"Uh-huh." He could not have sounded any more bored.
"So I'll see ya in the morning."
"Good. How are you feeling?"
"I'm okay."
"All right. Good night."
I clicked off my phone and then entered the party in on the calendar on the touch screen on my phone. "You are the man to call, Jory," Michael teased me. "Put me on the guest list."
I smiled at him, and once I was done with my entry I asked Regina what she wanted me to do next. She wanted to show me her house, so I followed her through it.
We had a good time looking at old movie posters and I looked at scrapbooks and photo albums. I never tire of looking at other people's history, since I have none of my own.
Dinner was a loud undertaking with kids running all over, lots of talking that I thought bordered on arguing, and conversation about a thousand things I knew nothing about, like raising children and baseball. I concentrated on eating until the doorbell rang. We all looked up when Rachel returned in no time with an older couple and a younger woman. There was a loud yell from the table as both Thomas and Regina got up to greet them.
"Oh my goodness, look who it is." Michael beamed, getting up to go around the table.
I leaned in next to Jen. "Who're they?"
She put her arm around my shoulders and whispered to me. "The Gordons, they're old friends of my folks. Their daughter Nora and Sammy used to date back in high school. I had no idea she was back from California."
I nodded; feeling like the air was being sucked out of the room. "How long has she been gone?"
"I dunno, years."
"Why'd she leave?"
"She went to school out there."
I nodded, leaning back in my chair.
Sam stood up and Nora moved fast, coming around the table to fill his arms. She pressed herself in tight against him, her breasts crushed to his chest as she kissed his cheek and his jaw. He looked at me, directly into my eyes, and I turned all my attention to my food. I heard his rumbling laugh and felt my face get hot.
I was first up to help clear the table, but I went out the back door to stand around the side of the house instead of starting the dishes. It was cold outside in just my shirt and cardigan, but I needed the moment alone. Hard to sit and watch her put her hands all over him and do nothing. When I heard the yell from the kitchen, since I was under the window, I decided to go back in.
Sam was standing in the kitchen, yelling, while Michael held onto him. Nora was begging him to calm down while one of his other cousins stood on the other side of the room, with Levi holding onto him. Regina stood at the sink with Jen, who was pressing a paper towel to her nose. It was bleeding, and when the door swung open and Mitch came in, followed by Thomas, I saw him lunge toward the same guy Sam was yelling at.
"You drunk asshole!" he yelled as Thomas grabbed him, arm around his neck and another across his chest. "Get the hell outta here!"
"Oh fuck you, Mitchie, I could kill you, man. I didn't mean to fuckin' hit Jen, I meant to bitch-slap Michael, not her."
"I told you not to invite him," Michael yelled across the room. "But you never listen, Mom. Jesus Christ! You know he's a total deadbeat and you invite him anyway."
I saw her eyes fill as she held Jen's head back.
"Shut the fuck up," Sam yelled at Michael, shaking him off, striding across the floor toward the guy trying to twist out of Levi's grasp. "Mom wants to help... let her fuckin' help. But we deal with this shit right now. This bullshit is gonna—"
"Sam!" Nora shouted at him. "Don't be such a mindless brute. We don't just beat people."
"Watch me," he said, shoving Levi off, grabbing the guy around the throat.
"Sam!" Thomas barked at him.
"Sam!" his mother yelled at him. "That's your cousin, leave him alone!"
"Hey," I called over to him.
He stopped and looked over his should
er at me.
"You're gonna end some guy in your mom's kitchen?"
His eyes locked on mine.
"Maybe we just put him in a cab, huh?" I smiled at him.
You could hear a pin drop in the room. I saw the look on the guy's face, the terror there, knowing how close he was to being put on the floor.
"Fine," Sam growled, shoving the guy hard away from him before he went to check on his sister. "Call a cab, Mike."
His brother pulled out his cell phone and was on it seconds later. I leaned back against the door as everyone scrambled around the kitchen. When Regina moved Jen over to the small table in the kitchen to sit down, I took my place back at the sink to start the dinner cleanup.
"Hello."
I looked sideways and found Nora. "Hi."
"I didn't meet you yet."
"I'm Jory."
"Well, Jory, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance.
Usually when Sam's that mad we don't get him back. I remember once a guy cut us off in traffic, and he followed him all the way home—with me in the car no less—and beat the crap out of him."
I shrugged.
"How long have you and Sam been friends?"
"Not long," I told her as someone turned up the radio, and suddenly Jen was beside me. "Hey you," I smiled at her. "You all right?"
"I am now that Sammy didn't kill poor Charlie. It was an accident."
"I'm thinking he shouldn't have been trying to touch Mike either."
She chuckled and it sounded nasally from the blood in her nose. "True. Can I help you?"
"Only if you sing along with me."
She heard the beginnings of the Dionne Warwick song.
"Jory, we're both too young to know this song."
I started singing "Then Came You" and she laughed at me before she joined in, singing along with me at the top of her lungs. When I dried my hands on my jeans and held out my hand to her, she took it, and we were moving around the kitchen together. I saw Regina smiling and Thomas's deep breath as he calmed. I surrendered her to Mitch when the song changed and returned to my dishes. Rachel and Regina sang along with Aretha Franklin and me as they helped.
"Ooh, Jory, look at you move, honey," Rachel cooed, watching me dance next to the sink. "Somebody's missing out."
I arched a brow for her and she smacked my ass.
"Hey."
I turned at his voice; Sam was standing at the back door.
"Can you come here for a second?"