Head Over Heels (18 page)

“Got your message about coming home for the holidays. I’m not sure if I can get away. I’m in training for a fight coming up in January. Hopefully Gid and Thane will be there. I talked to Gideon. Still can’t get in touch with Thane. Think he’s avoiding me.” Gunnar sounded a bit down at the tail end of his message.

Thane leaned back in the chair. Maybe he needed to let the past go. If it didn’t hurt as much as it did, he would have.

“Final message.”

Good. Thane didn’t know how much more of his past mistakes he could take in one sitting.

“Hi, Queen. It’s Arlene Sortoberg calling about the girls. I’ll be there around the first or second week of March with the girls to try on dresses. I appreciate that you do this for the Rosa Parks Middle School students each year. You don’t know how much it makes their day.” The woman’s bubbly voice echoed in the small office.

Thane pulled out his phone and glanced at the date. With it being the middle of the second week in March, maybe this woman had forgotten.

As though he’d cued it, a knock sounded at the door. He thought about avoiding the person on the other side. He could sit still in the office and act like he hadn’t heard it. He made the mistake of peeking through the doorway from his seated position to view the front door. A corner of a newspaper that hung in the window remained pulled down, allowing the person at the door to look through and spot him.

“Oh, hello!” A plump woman beamed as soon as she made eye contact with him. She waved at him and pointed to the door.

“Great.” He lumbered to his feet and made a slow trek to her.

He unlocked the door but blocked her entry.

“Oh, my. Aren’t you a—” She fanned her face. “I don’t remember you here at Sharp.”

With the chill of the spring air down at the Oceanfront, no way could she be hot. He shivered thinking that he could have elevated her temperature.

In her purple top and matching pants and purple suede boots, she looked like a grape. It didn’t help that she’d topped her look with a green hat. Her light brown skin tone almost matched his mother’s, but she looked a bit ashen. The piles of makeup she used to cover a multitude of sins didn’t help her cause.

Her eyes widened and she pointed at him. “I know you.”

Thane had expected her to talk about his baseball career.

“You’re Queen’s boy, the one who helped her around here. I haven’t seen you here in years.” She opened her arms and pulled him in for an unexpected hug.

The large woman caused Thane to stumble backward into the store.

“Thane Wells. I’m Elizabeth’s son.” He pried himself out of her grasp.

“Arlene Sortoberg. I’m a counselor at Rosa Parks Middle. You and your mother have done great things for the girls at the school.” She smiled and patted him on his shoulder. “Where is Queen? I was hoping to see her.”

Thane felt like a waterfall of ice water had dropped on him. He had assumed everyone who knew his mother knew about her passing. “My mother passed away about a week ago. Her funeral was earlier this week.”

Arlene covered her mouth with her chubby fingers. “Oh, no. I had no idea.” She fanned her face again, but for a different reason.

“Let me get you a chair.” Thane darted to a dressing room and pulled out a wooden chair. He placed it next to Arlene and helped her take a seat.

“Thank you.” She shook her head. “It sounds silly, but I never thought Queen would ever die.” She pulled out a couple of tissues from her large red purse. “When kids come to me when they experience death in their families, I tell them how death is a part of life. I need to give myself that pep talk.” She dabbed under her eyes, careful not to remove any of her caked-on makeup. Then she peered up at Thane. “It’s great that you’re continuing your mother’s work.”

He sighed. “That’s the thing, Ms. Sortoberg. I’m—”

Arlene cut off his speech. “Your mother did such great things. She was so generous and giving.” She dove into her purse again.

“Yes, she was. I know you getting these dresses is important to you.”

“And the girls.”

Thane nodded. “Yes, but—”

“I need to give you this.” Arlene pulled an envelope from her purse and held it up to Thane.

He didn’t want to take it until he looked at the outside and recognized his mother’s handwriting. He didn’t mean to, but he snatched it from Arlene’s hand.

“I got that in the mail earlier this year from Queen with a note saying not open it, but to bring it with me when I came to get the dresses. She said to give it to whoever was here if she wasn’t.”

Thane tore into the envelope and read the letter.

If you’re reading this, that means I’m no longer here. I’m either enjoying myself at my beach house or I’m at that big beach house in the sky.

He smiled at the reference.

Whoever is here when Arlene comes in, be sure to help her and those girls. They don’t have a lot. These dresses give them some self-worth. Stand up straight. Always say please and thank you. I love you.

Thane stared at Arlene. “You got this earlier this year?”

She nodded. “It was in my Christmas card, but I didn’t open it until January. I spent my two weeks’ vacation from school visiting my oldest boy in Michigan.”

Elizabeth must have known about her failing health before she went into the hospital the first time. The fact that this woman had kept the letter in her purse all this while amazed him. It could have been a check for a million dollars. It wouldn’t be out of his mother’s character to do something like that. He crumpled the letter and ran his free hand over his head.

“So I’ll be back here on Friday with about twelve girls, okay?” Arlene nodded.

“Great.”

Kari hadn’t stopped thinking about the kiss since it happened that morning. She wanted to push it and Thane’s disappointed expression out of her mind, chalk it all up to bad decisions. Now she had to think about her next step. She couldn’t go back to work with her tail tucked between her legs. She’d promised Frank she could sign Thane to their agency. If she didn’t, she could kiss her chances of a promotion good-bye.

She would have to avoid catching up with her boss and Chelsi on her progress. She had other priorities.

As Kari sat in her hotel room, she picked up her phone and called Reagan.

“Hey, boss.” Reagan’s voice sounded light.

Must be a good day at home.

“Hey. How’s my little man?” Kari crossed her legs.

“Excellent and exceptional, of course. How are you doing? How’s the headhunting going?”

“Okay.” She peered up and caught her reflection in a mirror over the dresser. She wondered if her lips looked different than before. Had the kiss made them swell?

She touched them, brushing her fingertips over the thin skin. It brought her back to memories of the man who had possessed them without apology. Her skin tingled like it had only a few hours ago. Kari ran her hand up her arm and averted her gaze from the mirror.

“Hey, I was thinking maybe you two can pack a bag and come on down to Virginia Beach to hang with me for a week.” Kari twirled her hair around her finger, a habit she thought she’d long outgrown.

“Whoa. Really?” A pause lingered before Reagan spoke. “What happened with the pitcher? Did he sign already?”

Kari kicked around the idea of lying to her friend, but she could barely look at her reflection now. She couldn’t imagine avoiding Reagan’s stare. “Let’s just say that I want to enjoy a week with my family and friends before I get fired.”

“Holy crap. That bad? Are you sure? Maybe it’s—”

“Michael’s out of school on Friday, right?” Kari stood from the bed and strolled over to the desk in her room where she had her tablet. She kept a constant vigil over all gossip sites to see if any of them reported information about Thane.

“Yes, half a day tomorrow and off on Friday and all next week for spring break.”

Kari smiled. She couldn’t wait to see her baby again. He would give her balance. “Good. Drive down here on Thursday after he gets out of—”

“Hey, stop on third. Don’t slide on home. You know me and driving long distances. Not a good thing.”

Kari imagined Reagan shaking her head and tightening her already thin lips.

“Okay, fine. I’ll pay for a one-way flight down to Virginia Beach. I’ll pick you two up at the Norfolk Airport and bring you over to my hotel. Will that work for you?” She moved off the tabloid site to make travel arrangements for Reagan and Michael.

“First class?”

“Don’t push it. Michael’s passport is in my desk drawer. Be sure to pack his bathing suits and plenty of underwear. The hotel has an indoor pool. And it’s chilly here so lots of hoodies, long pants, and socks.” Her son would hate to hear how much she fussed over him.

She also imagined that he wouldn’t be too happy to hear about him going so far away from New York when his father would be there. Kari would have to make it up to him somehow.

“You got it, boss. See you later.”

Kari disconnected the call. She stared at her phone. She reviewed the calls she’d recently received. When she saw Thane’s name and number, she almost smiled. Again, that passionate kiss filled her thoughts.

His scruffy beard felt better against her skin than she’d imagined. In his hands, she’d felt safe and desired all at once without him having to touch her breast or her ass. She brushed her ear when she remembered how he’d whispered,
“Stay.”

Her body screamed for her to drop her silly rules and give this man a ride. She couldn’t. She had more at stake than her job. A man like Thane Wells could damage her already fragile perception of men and relationships.

Kari threw her phone on the bed and made the reservations for her child and his nanny. She didn’t care that they would get in late on Thursday. The sooner she could get them down with her, the better.

When her phone rang, she immediately thought it would be Reagan complaining about the time of the flight or the seat assignment. When she saw her boss’s name across the screen, she shoved her phone into her purse. Kari didn’t know how to explain to Frank that she hadn’t gotten her client because she’d decided to be ethical and not sleep with him.

A walk. That would help her clear her head. Kari slipped on her trusty white Keds and grabbed her purse and room key. Even though tourist season hadn’t officially started, she could still enjoy a peaceful stroll on the boardwalk.

The crashing waves along with the seagulls’ call offered her some peace. She filled her mind with thoughts of what to do with her child while he visited her. Where would she take him? What would he like to see? When she passed the closed fun house, she had to smile. Michael would have loved something like that. Maybe she could bring him back down to Virginia Beach in the summer when the Oceanfront area came alive.

After walking a couple of miles down the boardwalk, Kari bought herself a coffee from a small diner and headed back to her hotel room. She heard her phone chime in her purse again. For a split moment, she thought about not looking at it. She knew it would be Frank calling a second time. Then she thought about Michael and realized it could be Reagan.

She dove into her purse and pulled out her phone. When she saw Thane’s name across the screen, her heart thrummed.

Going against her better judgment, she answered the call. “Kari Meyers speaking.” If she kept up the professional tone, he would get the hint that she had no designs on slipping her standards.

“I need to apologize for this morning.” His husky voice rumbled through her phone.

“No, you don’t. I shouldn’t have kissed your cheeks. I wouldn’t have done that with anyone else. I crossed the line. I’m sor—” She stopped herself when she remembered what Thane had told her last night. “I apologize.”

“I would like to see you again…to talk about business, of course. I have a dinner date tonight.”

Kari’s heart slowed. “Oh. Okay.”

It hadn’t taken Thane long to find someone to put in her place.

“I’m having dinner with my brother Gideon. Nothing else,” he quickly supplied.

She smiled and continued walking. “After you asked me to leave this morning, I didn’t think you would want to see me again. I definitely didn’t think you would want to do business with me.”

“Only an impetuous young man would turn down a potential business relationship because of a misunderstanding. I told you, I’m patient.” Thane’s voice dipped down lower. “I have some time right now. Are you able to meet me?”

Kari’s insides did cartwheels. Before she could allow herself to say yes, she blurted, “I can’t. I have to go to the airport tonight.”

“What? You can’t—”

“You have my contract. If you’re serious about signing with me, do it and send the contracts to the address at the bottom of the last page.” She threw her coffee cup in the trash can outside of her hotel’s front door.

As soon as she stepped inside, an employee said, “Welcome to the Cavalier.”

Kari smiled and went to the elevators. “Unless you need me for anything else, I don’t think it will be wise to meet again, at least not in hotel rooms. Good day, Mr. Wells.”

Before he could mount any kind of argument, Kari disconnected the call and put her phone on mute. She didn’t need the interruptions or the distractions. If Thane really wanted to do business with her, he had all her information. She would wait and see what he had in store.

* * * *

Thane thought about flaking out on Gideon on purpose this time. He couldn’t get that close to perfection only to lose her. He couldn’t believe after the kiss they shared that morning that she wanted to hop on a plane and leave.

He came up to the guard shack into Gideon’s complex. An Asian woman occupied the small space.

She smiled at him. “How can I help you?”

“I’m here to see Gideon Wells.” Thane smiled back only to be pleasant.

His agreeable expression waned as soon as she scowled at him.

“What’s your name? What is your business with Mr. Wells?” She picked up a clipboard and scanned it.

“I’m Thane, his brother. I’m here for dinner. That’s all. Do you need to see my ID?” He started to reach in his back pocket for his wallet.