Sweet Entanglement

by Jean C. Gordon

  Were all of Ray and Gerry’s friends and clients obnoxious, or was she becoming more sensitive to it as her dissatisfaction with her job increased?

  “I’m going to head in so we can get started,” Dallas said.

  “We all should,” Lauren said.

  Bill stood where he was, half blocking her and Jesse’s way to the meeting room. “I’m surprised you’re representing Brewster.”

  Lauren didn’t have to be touching Jesse to feel his rigid stance.

  “I don’t know what you’ve heard about me, but Lauren …”

  “Nothing about you, although you did have quite a reputation for a while in the racing circuits. No, I was talking about Lauren’s conflict of interest.”

  Her conflict of interest?

  “Acer and Acer is one of Indigo Bay’s consulting legal advisors.”

  Jesse glanced at her, and a shadow passed over his face.

  He couldn’t think she’d do anything other than represent him with everything she had, could he?

  His shoulders sagged.

  Or, maybe he could, given the distance she’d created between them.

  “If you mean the pro bono I do for the public defender’s office in traffic court and minor criminal cases, there’s no conflict.”

  “I didn’t mean your pro bono work,” Bill checked his watch. “We’d better get in for the meeting.” He turned on his heel and strode away.

  “What was that about?” Jesse asked.

  “I seriously don’t know.”

  Jesse’s eyes narrowed a fraction, a small change that anyone who didn’t know him well would miss.

  “But I’m going to find out.” Her words were as much for her as for Jesse. She’d hoped speaking her intentions would heal the cut of his doubts. But her wounds were still raw.

  Lauren breathed a sigh of relief at the smiles and nods Jesse received from the board members when he followed the engineer’s presentation with his project overview and financial details. From the way he straightened and the bounce in his step as he returned to the seat next to her, she was sure he’d read the board’s reaction the same way.

  “Thank you, Mr. Brewster,” the board chair said. “We have no problem with your six-to-eight months completion date.”

  Jesse fairly vibrated next to her.

  “However.”

  The vibrations stopped.

  “The city’s engineering firm has an interim requirement.”

  Lauren tensed, earning her a questioning look from Jesse. “Later,” she whispered. The city’s engineering firm was the same one Ken Kostner used for projects in this part of the state, and if she remembered correctly, the firm’s owner was friendly with Bill. Talk about conflict of interest.

  “The board wants to see the structural repairs needed on the main house done within six weeks.”

  Lauren watched Jesse’s Adams apple bob as he swallowed. “I see.” He ran his palms down his thighs under the table.

  “Tell them about Shelley, the cottage,” she urged.

  “That’s personal. I won’t use her as a pawn to get what I want.”

  She couldn’t see how explaining his situation would be using his daughter as a pawn. But she knew when Jesse dug his feet in, there was no moving him. That determination might be enough to meet the board’s time frame.

  “Do you have something more to add?” the chair asked.

  “A question,” Jesse said. “What’s the rationale for the additional stipulation?”

  “We’re headed into peak tourist season. We want to be proactive against any accident the failing structure could cause if someone were to be on the property.”

  “Trespassing,” Lauren said.

  “Unfortunately, yes. And the city could have some liability because of the rehabilitation agreement. The engineering firm recommended only four weeks, but the board thought that was unreasonable.”

  Jesse nodded, his expression blank.

  “What if Jesse keeps the front gate locked at all times?” Lauren shook off Jesse’s frown. She was acting in his best interests.

  “It’s okay. We can do it with additional hired help.” He squeezed her hand under the table, sending a red-hot flash up her arm that she was sure showed on her face.” A glance at the board, showed all of them, except Bill, focused on Jesse.

  “I’ll sign the agreement,” he said.

  “The board secretary has a copy for you.”

  The woman Lauren had talked with on the phone when she was researching the condemnation notice walked over with a folder.

  “Read it, and have your counsel read it.” The chair nodded at Lauren. “You can return a notarized copy to the city clerk. Let me know if you want any substantive changes. The board will have to review them before it signs the agreement.”

  Lauren nodded as she shot her hand out to take the agreement, afraid Jesse would just sign it to get it over with. “If everything is agreeable, we should have your signed copy back first thing tomorrow morning.”

  Their business done, Lauren and Jesse left the city hall.

  “Thanks,” he said, holding the door open for her.

  “For what?”

  “Taking charge. I might have just signed the agreement to get it done and over with.”

  Lauren stepped outside, warmed by the summer night air and Jesse’s appreciation. “That’s what you’re paying me for.”

  Jesse let the door slam shut behind him.

  Lauren’s mood grayed. She’d meant her words as a tease.

  “Back to your office to read the agreement?” he asked, all business, as she pressed the key fob to unlock her car.

  “No, let’s go to Caroline’s. My treat.” She smiled at him as she settled behind the steering wheel.

  A quizzical look accompanied his return smile. “Sure.” Had he picked up on her reluctance to conduct their legal business at the office? The odds were neither of the guys would be there, but she didn’t know for sure. Sometimes, she felt Jesse knew her better than she did herself. Lauren pressed the gas harder than necessary to pull out of the parking space, earning her another questioning glance from Jesse.

  “Did I tell you about my new project at work, once we review the agreement and my business with you is finished?” she asked to reroute any thoughts Jesse might have about going to Caroline’s instead of her office before he asked questions.

  “Nope, and our legal business isn’t quite done. Shelley’s last name still needs to be changed to Brewster.”

  “That’s just a matter of filing, which I’ve already done. There’s no reason your petition won’t go through quickly.”

  “Sounds like you’re anxious to get rid of me.” His voice dropped to a deep murmur. “Not so fast. We have that other business.”

  Lauren’s heart slammed against her chest once with the impact of his words and again with fear of them.

  Yes, yes they did.

  C H A P T E R 10

  Lauren had made herself scarce for the past couple of weeks since the planning board meeting. Sonja had said she was busy with that new project with her firm’s biggest client. If Jesse didn’t know better, he’d say his fearless Lauren was afraid of their attraction and what they were going to do about it. He bounded down the stairs. Or she really had moved on to break the tie that had bound them even when they’d ended things before. But what Lauren didn’t know was that he’d moved on, too, leaving behind the rash racer he’d been as a younger man. He had the patience now to wait and find out for sure.

  Without a conscious thought, he found himself humming “I’ll Wait for You,” their song. The bittersweet memories it evoked ran through his head. He raked his hand through his hair. Next thing he knew, he’d be picking up a few extra bucks writing a column for the lovelorn in the local paper. Not that he couldn’t use the bucks.

  Lauren’s appearance at the other door stopped his steps. He’d learned patience, but only to a point. When they’d arrived home at the same time yesterday, it had hit him how muc
h he’d missed her. So, he’d talked her into stopping by today to see the progress he and his dad had made, couching it as an inspection in case she ran into anyone from the planning board.

  She opened her door.

  “Hi,” he said. “You’re up and out early.”

  “I know you usually leave about now.”

  So she kept track of his schedule. He tamped down the boost to his ego. She probably knew what time his father left, too. She did live right next door.

  “And I have an early client meeting this morning.” She walked onto the porch wearing one of what he thought of as her more lawyerly suits. If her intent was to look business unisex, it didn’t work on him, at least. Lauren was all woman, no matter how she might try to hide it.

  “You can look at our work progress another day, if that would be better. The improvements will still be there.”

  She caught up with him on the slate walkway leading from the house. “Today’s fine.”

  Was it, or did she just want to get the inspection and time with him over with? She had avoided him for two weeks, which had to have taken some effort, considering they lived in the same building. What was with him? He didn’t second guess things, and Lauren wasn’t a person whose words had double meanings.

  “I’ll follow you over,” she said, heading toward her car in the driveway while he continued down the walkway to his truck parked on the street.

  He hopped into his truck, powered it on, and flicked the directional to pull out. The flash on the dashboard was like a light bulb going off. What was with him was that he wanted Lauren to cheer on his construction work like she used to cheer him on at races. His stomach clenched at his neediness. This love stuff was sick torture.

  Jesse stopped at the mansion gate, got out of his truck, and unlocked the gate. He swung it open and walked back to her car. She rolled down her window.

  “I’ll pull in so you can get around my truck. Go ahead up to the house. I’m going to relock the gate.” He paused. “What the planning board chair said about people trespassing and possibly getting hurt on the property made me nervous.”

  Lauren nodded solemnly, but the corners of her lips twitched.

  Jesse felt her gaze on his back as he walked to his truck and drove through the open gate. He needed to stop trying to impress Lauren and be himself, or it would be the death of him. Jesse waited in the truck while Lauren pulled around him and headed up the driveway. Then he locked up and followed her, excitement building. Wait until Lauren saw what he and Dad had accomplished. He’d had trouble getting the foundation people scheduled until this week, so they’d done all the foundation prep they could and concentrated on the cottage, which was nearly done. They probably could move in this weekend and get one thing off his plate.

  He pulled behind Lauren’s car and exited his truck with a big grin on his face. A grin Lauren didn’t return.

  “I’m so sorry,” she said.

  Sorry for what? His gaze followed hers to the cottage. All the windows, his custom- ordered windows had been smashed. His breakfast settled like a dead weight in his stomach as he rushed to the door and unlocked it. As if he needed to with the tall living room windows busted out. He braced himself, but it wasn’t enough to stop the bile rising. The damage inside in the living room was limited to graffiti on the newly painted walls. He should check the bedrooms and kitchen, but his work boots were rooted to the hardwood floor, which thankfully, hadn’t been damaged.

  Lauren stepped beside him and squeezed his hand with hers. “This time, you’re calling the police.”

  He gave her a noncommittal grunt. “I need to check the kitchen and bedrooms.”

  Lauren tightened her hand on his, and that unrooted his feet. He blew out his pent-up breath when they entered the kitchen. No damage. “That leaves the bedrooms.” He tugged Lauren along, his boost from the kitchen inspection sinking with each glimpse into the three rooms. The unpainted interiors were untouched, but the windows had been broken.

  “I’d thought we’d move in this weekend,” he said, as much to himself as to Lauren. He closed the last door and reassessed the living room.

  “You still have two weeks to meet Judge Trexler and Child Service’s deadline.”

  “All of the living room windows were custom-ordered and took a week to come in.”

  Lauren cocked her head to the side. “But you just need to replace the glass, don’t you?”

  Where was his head? He examined the window frames. She was right. They were fine. All he needed was a glazier to help him and Dad replace the glass. Jesse strode back and hugged Lauren.

  “You’re right.” He rested his forehead against hers, resisting the pull to lower his lips and take solace in hers. “But Dad and I would have to take time out of the other work to repair the cottage before we can I move in. And we only four weeks now to have the mansion stabilized, too. I couldn’t find anyone that could start the foundation work before today.”

  Jesse lifted his head and Lauren stepped back. He glanced out the window. Speaking of the foundation work, the contractor should be showing up any minute with its equipment.

  Lauren nodded. “Considering the circumstances, I see no problem with your provisional custody being extended until the structural work on the mansion is done and the cottage is repaired.”

  He knew that was supposed to reassure him, but it didn’t. He didn’t want anything to jeopardize his custody of Shelley. Jesse kicked an empty beer can the vandals must have left behind. “I’m supposed to take care of my family.”

  Lauren reached up and placed her finger to his lips. “You are, to the best of your ability. That’s one of the things I lo … admire about you.”

  Her word tumbled out and a blush sent a shiver down his spine.

  She dropped her hand to her side. “I’ve got to run.”

  Away from him, from what she’d started to say?

  “That meeting. Call the police.” Lauren’s voice was all business now.

  An army of emotions warred inside him as he watched her walk to her car. The problem with giving his best was that it never seemed to be good enough.

  Officer Ben Andrews closed his pad. “This could be random vandalism. You’re sure you can’t think of anyone who might want to get back at you for something?”

  “I haven’t been here long enough to make any enemies,” Jesse said.

  “I’m only asking because you were a national figure on the motocross circuit. Anything from then?”

  Had Ben emphasized were, or was he being overly sensitive? He had kind of liked the guy after he’d learned he was happily married, and that he and Lauren really were no more than friends. That is until he’d grilled him earlier on the insurance coverage on the property, as if he’d done the damage himself for money.

  “And I heard you recently got custody of your daughter,” Ben said.

  Jesse fisted his hands. From living with Mac and Dana in Chenango Falls as a teen when he first started racing, he knew how people tended to know everyone’s business in a small place. But he didn’t need Shelley dragged into this.

  His dad, who’d been boarding up the back windows, came up behind him. Before Jesse could say anything, his dad faced off with Ben, looking every inch the custom bike shop owner he’d been. “I heard what you were saying to Jesse earlier about the insurance. We had the cottage all finished, ready for us to move in as the final step in Jesse having permanent custody of his daughter. He wouldn’t have done anything to jeopardize that, no matter what there was to gain financially.”

  Jesse uncurled his fingers and touched his father’s arm. They’d had their differences in the past, but Jesse just realized something they had in common. A fierce protective love for their family. Child and adult. His heart thumped, remembering his and his father’s love for his mother and, then, what Lauren had almost said earlier—or what he thought she’d been about to say. Protective love for the women in their family and those they wanted to be part of their family.

 
; “Mr. Brewster. I was only going to ask if Jesse had gotten any pushback from his daughter’s mother’s family.”

  “No,” Jesse answered. “My daughter’s aunt, her only relative on record, dropped her off with nothing more than a suitcase and said she was my responsibility before speeding away, address unknown. Until then, I didn’t even know she existed.”

  Ben lifted the plastic evidence bag with the beer can in it. “I’ll take this back to the station and see if we can lift any fingerprints. Unless you can think of anything else that might help.”

  Jesse shook his head. “No.”

  Ben hesitated. “Is Lauren still your attorney?”

  “Why? Do I need one?” Technically Lauren was until the name change was done. But Jesse was anxious to break that connection ASAP for a better one with her.

  “No. Acer handled the property, the estate settlement. She might have some insight from that.”

  Jesse scuffed the toe of his work boot against the sandy ground. “Right.” Lauren had pressed him hard to report the stolen and replaced gas. Which he hadn’t.

  “Did you tell him about the gas?” his father asked, as if reading his mind. More likely, he was still peeved about the insurance questions.

  “What about gas?” Ben asked.

  Jesse filled him in.

  “I could have used this information sooner. Report anything else right away,” Ben said.

  “You’ll keep us informed?” Jesse’s father asked.

  Ben nodded and strode to his patrol car.

  Jesse surveyed the damage to the cottage again. “What am I going to do?” he asked more to himself than of his father.

  “We’re going to work harder and smarter,” his dad answered.

  Jesse patted his father’s shoulder. He appreciated all Dad was doing. And that the project and little Shelley had pulled his father back into life. But Jesse knew how tired he was at the end of their long days, and how worn out Dad looked in the evening. How much more could his father—and he admitted it, could he—give?

  “That college kid Sonja recommended from church is starting tomorrow,” his father reminded him.