Athena's Daughter (26 page)

“Hey,” Athena said, surprised. “I thought you
were with your dad.”

“I was.” The little girl’s glum voice was a
precursor of her expression as she turned to face her mother. “He
said I had to come back here.”

“He did? Well, shut the door before all the
heat gets in, and come tell me about it.”

In the two months since they’d all moved to
the Chickasaw Gardens house, Elizabeth spent the majority of her
free time with Derek. If they weren’t spending time at the guest
house, they were swimming or getting under Athena’s feet at the
main house. As far as Athena knew, this was the first time Derek
had shown any inclination to be without his daughter’s company.

Elizabeth closed the door and trudged across
the room to plop onto the couch next to Athena. “He’s writing a
song and said he needs peace and quiet to do it.”

“Yeah, I know.” With a grimace, Athena put
aside the inventory lists for Stax of Wax, and slipped her arm
around her daughter. “He’s just getting ready to go back to work.”
The shoulders under her arm remained stiff and unyielding, and she
repressed a sigh. Elizabeth had gotten spoiled having her father
around all the time and had not reacted well to the news that the
situation was about to change. “It’s kind of like when you learn
your spelling words during the school year, you know? You need
quiet so you can concentrate.”

“I don’t want him to go back to work.”
Elizabeth’s bottom lip began to protrude in a pout. “I want him to
stay here with me while you go to work.”

After a week of hearing this refrain, Athena
was growing weary. “Well, that’s not going to happen, and your
pouting about it isn’t going to change things.”

“It’s not fair!”

Athena pulled her arm back and fixed her
child with a stern look. “Fair’s a place where you get cotton
candy. You’ll just have to deal with this, Elizabeth. Do you hear
me?”

When Elizabeth continued to sit and sulk,
Athena’s patience broke. “Okay, that’s enough. If you’re going to
behave like this then you can go do it in your room where I don’t
have to watch it.”

Without a word, Elizabeth got up and slouched
from the room. Athena watched her go, and shook her head in
exasperation. Much as Elizabeth might hate it, it would be good for
her to spend some time apart from Derek, and to learn that there
were parts of his life where she couldn’t participate, just like
she couldn’t go to work with Athena. And Athena herself would be
more than a little relieved when he was gone.

For two months she allowed herself to fall
into the fantasy that they were a family, and that had to stop.
Even if Derek now took all his meals with them and had even gone
with them to her family’s Fourth of July celebration instead of
attending the Rolling Stones concert like he’d planned, they
weren’t a real family and never would be. With no more occurrences
of the “moments” she told Andi about, Athena finally accepted that
Derek had no romantic interest in her, no matter how many evenings
he spent watching TV with her in the den after Elizabeth was in
bed.

When he told her the band was going to Muscle
Shoals Sound Studio in Alabama in two weeks to begin work on their
new album, she breathed an internal sigh of relief. After the album
would come a world tour, and even though she didn’t like the
thought of Elizabeth being without her dad for such an extended
period of time, she hoped it would give her time to get over Derek
once and for all. If she didn’t have to see him every single day
she might be able to move on.

Her ruminations were interrupted by the
ringing phone, and she leaned across the arm of the couch to snag
it from the end table.

“Has Mom called you?” Andi asked without
preamble after Athena answered.

“Who died?” A death in the family was the
only thing Athena could think of that would make her mother call
her to chat without someone holding a gun to her head.

“Nobody. But Donnie got married!”

“Do what?” She sat up straight in surprise.
“Who? When?”

“What do you mean, who?” Andi sounded
indignant at the implied slur to her twin’s morals. “It’s that girl
Aimee he brought to the Fourth of July party. And speaking of
Fourth of July, it was a real hoot to have a British guy at a party
celebrating his country’s loss of a war. He really must love
y’all’s kid. But back to Donnie. As for when, apparently they went
to the courthouse in Nashville Wednesday morning and got
married.”

“Wait a minute.” Athena frowned. “Did he say
anything about it being so serious to you when they were here?”

“Nope. Not a word.”

“Well, well.” Athena sat back with a smug
smile. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

Andi laughed. “I’m thinking that you and I
are going to be aunties.”

After a moment of joining her sister in
snickering laughter, Athena had to ask. “Did Mom say anything about
that?”

“Are you kidding? She wouldn’t admit it even
if Donnie spelled it out in neon letters on the side of the
Goodyear blimp. One good thing, though; you won’t be the only
family pariah anymore.”

Athena snorted. “That’s what you think. It
doesn’t matter how far along Aimee is. They’re all nice and legal
now, and that’s all Mom cares about. She’ll just tell everyone the
baby is premature – which will fool no one – but she won’t have to
bear the shame of having two illegitimate grandchildren.”

“Elizabeth was never illegitimate. You were
married to Steve when she was born, even if she wasn’t his
kid.”

“Try telling that to your mother.” She felt
her lip begin to pooch out like Elizabeth’s had, and made an effort
to wipe the pout from her face. “It was bad enough that we had
Elizabeth’s name changed, but everyone at that party who got a look
at Derek knew immediately that whoever I was married to was never
Elizabeth’s father.”

“Ah, screw ‘em. We’ll just go around telling
everyone Donnie had to get married, okay? He lives in Nashville so
it won’t bother him, and it’ll give Mom something new to fret
over.”

Athena shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. I’m used to
it by now.”

The sound of a drink being sucked through a
straw came down the line before Andi spoke again. “So Walt and the
kids and I are going to Nashville next weekend to welcome that poor
girl to the family. Wanna come? We’re leaving Friday and coming
back Monday.”

“Can’t. I have to work.”

“Nuh-uh! You said you were off this
Saturday.”

“I am off Saturday, but I have to work both
Friday and Monday,” Athena explained. “You know summer’s our
busiest season outside of Christmas. But how about taking Elizabeth
with you?”

“Sure,” Andi agreed. “Why?”

“She’s driving me bat shit.”

“Still moping about Derek’s upcoming work
schedule? Seriously, Theenie. Y’all need to tell her exactly what
this whole ‘work’ thing entails.”

Bristling at her sister’s censorious tone,
Athena gripped the phone tighter. “Look, she’s having a hard enough
time with the thought of not having him at her beck and call all
the time. If we told her he was going to be gone for months and
months after he brings her back from England, she’d go nuts. Got
that?”

“You have a point,” Andi conceded. “Yeah,
we’ll take her with us, try to get her mind off it.”

“Thanks,” Athena sighed in relief. “You don’t
know how much I appreciate it.”

After leaving work on Friday evening, Athena
swung by a local steak house to grab dinner to go. She couldn’t
remember the last time she hadn’t had to take a child’s picky
appetite into consideration when planning what to eat, and she
looked forward to tearing into a nice, juicy steak and a piping hot
baked potato. They’d taste even better since she didn’t have to
cook them herself.

At the last minute she added another steak
and potato to her to-go order. Though she hadn’t been in the guest
house since Derek moved in, she had a sneaking suspicion that he
had no food there. After all, he ate all his meals at her
table.

When she arrived home, she peeked out the
French doors to see if she could detect any activity from Derek’s
house. Instead, she beheld him floating in the pool on an air
mattress. Stark naked.

Okay, she had to look away. She would look
away and pretend she hadn’t seen him. Yep, that’s exactly what
she’d do. Look away.

Her eyes roved over his body, glorious in the
golden light of the early evening summer sun. Damn, but he was
beautiful! Lean muscles bulged slightly under his tanned skin from
his neck to his feet. And speaking of bulging…

Athena drew in a sharp breath. Even though he
wasn’t aroused, he was still magnificent. And she knew just how to
touch him to make him…bulge. What if she went out to the pool, let
him know she was there? What if she didn’t try to hide the fact
that she was not only looking, but wanting? Would he respond? Would
they end up making blistering love in the pool?

Fists clenched, she turned away from the
tempting sight and banished her lusty thoughts. She couldn’t chance
it.

Instead of indulging her fantasy, she went
back into the garage and opened the door of her used white Toyota
Celica. With a heave, she slammed the door shut, making as much
noise as possible. Then she re-entered the house through the
laundry room and banged that door shut as well before heading back
into the kitchen. On tiptoe she went into the breakfast nook and
peeked through the window just in time to see the door to the guest
house close behind an exceptionally gorgeous derriere. Good.
Temptation removed. Now they could just have dinner like they
always did.

She picked up the phone and dialed Derek’s
number, and cursed the way her heart gave a thrilled little thump
when she heard his voice.

“It’s me,” she said. “I’ve got steaks and
baked potatoes if you’re hungry.”

“Starving,” he replied with a soft laugh.
“Missed lunch today because Elizabeth wasn’t here.”

“Well, come and get it.” Warmth flooded her
cheeks at the double entendre.

“Let me grab a shower first – I’ve just had a
swim – and I’ll be right over.”

“See you then.” Athena replaced the phone in
the cradle, and shook her head at her idiocy. All that swearing to
herself that she had to get over him and move on vanished the
minute she laid eyes on him. Thank God he’d be gone soon, and
then….

Grief washed through her with the force of a
tidal wave, leaving her weak and shaking. He was leaving. And as
much as it hurt to see him every day and know he didn’t want her,
not seeing him would be a thousand times worse.

A sob shook her, and she ran blindly to her
bedroom before he could catch her bawling like a baby. She locked
herself in her bathroom and turned the shower on full force. Hot,
scalding tears burned her eyes as she stripped off her clothes and
stepped under the spray. The water sluiced over her lowered head
and poured over her face, taking her tears with it.

Careful not to burn her fingers, Athena shook
a hot potato from its foil wrapper onto a plate. She’d left her
desolation in the shower and was determined to just enjoy what time
she had left with Derek, beginning with dinner. She heard the
French doors open, and worked faster to get the food on the
plates.

“Did you lure me over here with take-away
food?” Derek’s soft voice was full of amusement.

“Guilty.” She tossed an apologetic grin over
her shoulder. “Wanna back out?”

“Not a chance.” He advanced into the kitchen
and started peeling the foil from the second potato. “I love our
daughter, but I’m awfully tired of burgers, hot dogs, and macaroni
and cheese. I’d almost record a polka song if it meant I could have
a steak, take-away or no.”

“Please, Derek. Swear to me you’ll never
record a polka song.” Shuddering at the thought, she rolled her
potato next to the steak on her plate. “Besides, this is good
stuff. I ate at the restaurant a couple of years ago on a date, and
the food was fantastic. Only good thing about the whole date,
matter of fact.”

“Really.” Before Athena could wonder at his
odd tone, he picked up his plate and went to the table. “Then let’s
erase the memory of a bad date with good food. Do you have any
wine?”

“Actually, I do.” She put her plate on the
table, and stepped into the small pantry off the kitchen. “My
brother’s a wine snob and keeps trying to educate me by giving me
bottles as gifts. Red’s good with steak, right?”

“That’s what they say. Where are your wine
goblets?”

She came out of the pantry laughing, a bottle
of wine in her hand. “Sorry. Nothing that fancy. We’ll have to
drink it out of plain old water glasses.”

“That’ll work.” He reached into the cabinet
next to the sink and pulled out two glasses. “I do hope you have a
corkscrew.”

“In the drawer right in front of you. “ She
sat at the table and shook a paper napkin into her lap. “Another
gift from Donnie.”

“Let’s have a look.” He deposited the cork
screw and glasses on the table, and took the bottle, squinting at
the label.

“It says it’s a cabernet sauvignon,” she
said, hesitant. “Is that good?”

“Hm.” He looked up, a glint of mischief in
his eyes. “My only criteria for ‘good’ is whether or not it
contains alcohol. So I’d say this qualifies.”

He was driving her crazy with nothing more
than an easy manner and a teasing look. And he didn’t know it.
Suddenly, alcohol sounded like the best thing she’d ever heard.

“I agree,” she told him. “Pour it out.”

At first, conversation was strained. Without
Elizabeth as a buffer, they were forced to deal with each other in
a more direct manner than they had since that disastrous day in Los
Angeles. Athena had to force herself to reply in more than
monosyllables, and the strain she detected in Derek’s voice let her
know he was having trouble adjusting, too.