Her Eyes (24 page)

He often wondered about Claudia's living arrangement. Something romantic was happening in her home. She tried to play it off as her roommate, but Frank suspected more. Claudia wasn't a tramp, though. There were genuine qualities, a goodness to her. She and her live-in couldn't be very serious if she was willing to see so much of him down at the dog park.

Unless she only thought of Frank as a friend. That was possible. They hadn't kissed or dated. In fact, all they really did was talk about general things, nothing serious. He felt such a connection to her that he could only think of her in a romantic light. That was a strange thought considering he wasn't completely over Pam. Claudia pricked something deep in his heart.

"Forgive me, Pam.” Odd, he'd want Pam's forgiveness and could care less about his wife's. Not that Catherine was in a position to forgive anything.

It was too soon to start anything with Claudia, especially with her living with another man, a man who was a cop and investigating Catherine. This was crazy. He looked forward to her company though. It would be nice to have her at work, talk to her all day.

When he first met Claudia, he checked her eyes, hoping against all odds that they would be green. They were, but not the same way Pam's had been. Hers were mixed with gray, a very sexy combination.

He kept driving, thinking more about Claudia. They could have lunch together. He hoped she would let him take her out. Win seemed to like her too. That meant a lot to him. He decided that from this point forward all women he dated would have to pass the “Win test.” If his dog liked her, then they could date.

The idea of dating made him a little sick. He'd never really done it. Marrying right out of high school killed that. Now he didn't want to think about it, only Claudia. With any luck, maybe her live-in was gay.

Then again, he'd seen her with Mike, the detective. The guy was a walking vat of testosterone. He was not gay, no how, no way. Still, Claudia didn't talk much about him, called Mike her roommate, and there was no ring, nothing to indicate that they were more than just friends. The last thing he wanted to be was a home wrecker. Being married to a cheat was bad enough. He certainly wasn't going to follow down that road.

Monday morning, after a pleasant and quiet weekend with Mike, Claudia showed up at the construction site bright and early. She was not surprised when Frank's smile went right to her core. A genuine, warm, welcoming smile and butterflies filled her stomach.

"You're really here.” Frank started to hug her then took a step back, offering his hand.

As his hand slipped into hers, electricity shot through to her core. Mike was sweet and she owed him a lot but not once had she felt such a strong connection with him. This fact might make her a terrible person. Guilt had lodged itself in her core since she had accepted the job. Still, she had to acknowledge that Mike was not the man for her.

"Did you think I would miss my first day at work?"

"No, well ... maybe. I wasn't sure how your friend, your, ahh, roommate, would feel about you taking a job."

He hadn't liked it and had pouted all weekend. During Sunday night dinner, he had barely eaten, although she had made his favorite pot roast with roasted potatoes. The conversation also lagged. He'd stopped by the house five times on Saturday when he was supposed to be working and even followed her to the bathroom a couple of times.

"No one owns me, Frank."

Frank showed her around the office and introduced her to a few of the men as he took her around the site. She quickly found herself feeling very much at home there. Everyone was polite and she found the job easy to handle. Frank was a wonder with records. His system didn't take longer than a couple hours to learn.

The best part of her job was the view. She loved watching Frank work. He was ruggedly good looking. His hands were work-hardened. On the rare occasion when they touched hers, she discovered that she found them very sexy. When he looked her way, his eyes held a warm glow.

Before she knew it, the work day was finished, and thankfully, Frank had been busy at a different location when Mike came to pick her up from work. It was foolish, but she didn't want those two to meet. Her blessings were doubled when Mike informed her that he couldn't take her to work the next day. She was sure he wanted to ruin her chances of keeping the job. He had a smug grin when he told her that it wouldn't be possible for him to bring her any longer. One phone call and her transportation worries were over.

Frank began picking her up and bringing her home. Amazingly, they never ran into Mike. Mike's work kept him busy, and he was hardly ever at home, which suited Claudia fine. It was almost like Mike had started distancing himself from her. She often ate dinner alone, and Mike didn't come home until midnight or later.

Cooking for herself seemed silly. She didn't even know how to make single portions, which was another clue into her life. What it meant, though, she didn't know. Another sandwich did nothing to help her appetite. Toward the end of the day several weeks after she had started working for Frank, deciding it was time to treat herself, Claudia opened the phone book to the restaurant section. She didn't remember ever eating many places in the area and hoped might find a place with some good take-out.

"What are you doing?"

"Just finding someplace to eat."

"What about your boy—roommate?"

She caught his slip but didn't correct it. They'd had this discussion before and she didn't like the doubts it raised in her. Besides, she couldn't move out yet. She didn't have enough money to rent a place of her own. She had also remained in Mike's bed. Nothing much happened there, not since she had started working for Frank, but she feared going back to her old room would make Mike more jealous.

"He's been working late.” She looked back at the long list of restaurants. “How are things with your wife?"

"Ex, the separation is final, now I'm waiting on a court date over the divorce."

"Really?” She ran her fingers over the listings, but didn't really pay them any attention. “Word around here is that there's more to the two of you than you admit. That Catherine has quite a reputation."

He cocked his head to the side and looked at her. “Have dinner with me and I'll give you some true confessions, deal?"

She tried to hide the smile spreading across her face. “Deal."

Frank glanced at the clock and started turning off the lights in the trailer. They usually worked later than this, but with dinner plans, Frank had stopped being such a workaholic. Claudia took the hint and filed away the last of her papers.

"Ready?"

"Ready."

Frank walked with her outside, but she noticed that he checked the construction site several times. His easygoing demeanor changed every time they left the office. Even now with the last of the men heading home for the day, he watched the traffic, then turned around.

"Something wrong?"

"We'll talk about it at dinner."

At last, he got in the truck and double clicked the locks. His nervousness seemed worse tonight. There were times when he'd taken her home that he passed her house and circled, as if he feared being followed.

They went to the little Italian place where they had first seen each other, Claudia remembering the sad look in Frank's eyes that night, a look that had seemed to fade as she spent more time with him. Their meals ordered, Claudia dug right in. “So, tell me about you and Cathy?"

"Catherine, she was never a Cathy. Anyway, the short story is we met in high school, had hot sex a couple of times, and thought it was love. We ended up getting married, and after a few months, I realized I didn't know the woman I married. Things went downhill from there. She was a grabby, cold, mean-spirited piece of work. I know you aren't supposed to say things like that about your wife, but that's the truth. She started having affairs not so long after our first anniversary. I knew, but I didn't know. Does that make sense?"

Claudia nodded.

"I guess I just didn't want to know. I didn't want to think about how I was unlovable. After all, why else would you have an affair if your partner was otherwise all right. So I ignored the signs, hoped she'd start to feel something for me, something besides disdain and dislike. But she didn't. I had a call at a site one afternoon, some remodeling work, and as I arrived I saw Catherine getting into an elevator with some guy. There was no doubt it was her. I looked over the job and waited for her to leave. It was her and it was obvious what had been going on. Suddenly her afternoons out, late nights, it was clear, she was having an affair.

"At that point, I moved into the den and got Win. Somehow, and I know this sounds crazy, I felt like I needed him to protect me. Turns out I did."

Claudia watched as he swallowed, a distant look coming into those kind eyes of his.

"Claudia, I've never told anyone this before. Not the police, not my best friend. But, somehow, I feel like I can tell you. I had to finally tell the police, but so far, they haven't been able to prove anything. And, well, I felt so, so, I don't know, confused after the first attempt I couldn't do anything."

"I'm listening."

"She tried to kill me. My wife actually tried to kill me."

"
What
? You're kidding, right?"

Claudia stopped and grabbed the table with both hands. Dizziness overcame her, and for a minute, she felt like she was falling, but not on the floor. Blackness surrounded her, and she could hear a voice, a cold hard voice replaying as part of a memory.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes. Just keep talking. Please."

"I told you, she is cold. It seems one night she decided that she didn't want to be married, didn't want a divorce, she wanted me dead. From what I could put together, I was sleeping in the den, she came in, went to shoot me and Win saw what was going on and went after her. He shredded, literally shredded, her face. The gun did go off, that's what I think woke me, not Win growling or anything. When the police came I told them that someone tried to break in and she saved me by shooting at him. I lied because I just couldn't admit to anyone that Catherine could do that to me. That I was that undesirable that my own wife wanted to kill me."

Undesirable, was he kidding?
This was the most wonderful man she'd ever met.

"Frank, that is horrible. I'm so sorry."

"This may scare you, big time, but I figure it's better to get it out. I'm sure you heard about Jose. The police can't directly connect her to his poisoning, but I believe Catherine did it."

"Scare me? You think she may come after me?” Claudia swallowed hard, fear rising within her.

"No, she could care less if I date anyone. I mean ... not date, but you know, spend time with a woman friend or employee. I just don't want a bystander accidentally getting hurt. All this sounds too weird."

"Hey, I'm coma woman, can't be any weirder than that."

"Coma?” His eyes grew bigger and she found him staring at her more intently.

"Relax. I don't remember any bright lights. None of that fun stuff you hear about on television. I remember very little actually. One day I'm in Montana, and the next I wake up here. Mike, my roommate, took me in when I woke. I had no family, no friends, nothing. I'm Mike's charity case."

He studied her again, almost as if he searched for something in her eyes. “Okay, let me ask you first. Do you remember anything from when you were in the coma? Seeing or hearing anyone? Maybe calling out for Frank?"

"No.” And it was pretty strange that he thought she would call for him. Maybe he was being funny. “It was like suddenly there I was. Awake in the hospital room."

"Well, now I'm not saying I believe this, okay? Just this is what seemed to happen.” At her nod he continued. “Catherine had a face transplant. Not just a skin graft or anything like that, we're talking almost a whole new face, including a new eye. Catherine had blue eyes, cold blue eyes. It was like looking in a glacier when you looked in them. The eye they got her was green like a bottle. Well, she was always stuck on her looks, how pretty she was. With the scars, she wasn't so beautiful anymore. So one night she tried to kill herself. Took an overdose of pills."

He stared at Claudia for a moment probably gauging her reaction. She wouldn't mock him and nodded for him to continue. “While they were trying to bring her back all the electronic equipment in the room went crazy, and here's the part that ... well, I don't know if I want it to be or it really was, but there was like a gush of wind, like someone passed through me. When Catherine woke up, she was different, warm, compassionate, caring. She was very much like a friend of mine from high school. My best friend actually and the woman I was really in love with. The woman I wanted to spend my life with."

"Why didn't you?"

"I married Catherine. Pam, her name was Pam, was everything Catherine wasn't. She moved away toward the end of high school, before I married Catherine. I know now that I was in love with her. That she was my soul mate."

"Why don't you find her, tell her?"

"I did.” His gaze grew distant.

"And?"

"Claudia, this is where it gets dicey. She-she, ah ... she died."

Claudia's hand went to her mouth. For some reason, his story made her heart hurt. It was sweet and romantic, but pulled at something deeper in her. His loss ebbed through him and seemed to find a home in her.

"Oh Frank, I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

"But she didn't just die. Man, this is going to sound so crazy. Like I said, I haven't told anyone, except this psychic whoo-whoo guy named Parsons, the whole story, but I feel like I can tell you and you won't go running and screaming away."

"Go on. I'm listening."

"Pam died the night Catherine tried to shoot me. She was in a bad car accident. They brought her to the hospital same hospital Catherine had been taken to. Pam was the donor for Catherine's transplant work. When Catherine woke up she started reminding me of Pam, and she would go back and forth between being like Catherine and Pam. One of my neighbors told me about this thing called a walk-in."