Lethal Affair (25 page)

“
So you've told me. Doesn't
matter. He's out of the picture.”

“
That's the problem. He's
not.”

Will sidled up close to her, their
legs and shoulders touching. He gazed directly into her eyes. “I
said I'd hold off. Not consider you more than just a friend.
Problem is, I'm battling the urge to kiss you right now like you
wouldn't believe.”

“
Right here, in front of the
roofers?”

He closed in and their hard hats
clunked. He angled his head and their lips met. Just a brief
contact, yet filled with longing and promise.

Kylie sighed. “Damn you, Will. What
about this baby in my womb? Isn't it going to become an issue at
some point?”

Will wrinkled his nose and she felt an
immediate sexual tug.

“
This may be far ahead of
things and going out on a limb, but I think everything happens for
a reason, so if raising an adopted son or daughter is in the cards
for me, then I'm okay with it. It's not the kid's fault his or her
father turned out to be slap happy. It will be part of you, Kylie,
and that will be enough.”

She was utterly blown away. Silently
she allowed herself some relief. Maybe they had a shot at this
thing, whatever it was, regardless.

He smiled toothily at her. “Let's
pretend we're in AA and take it one day at a time. I want you to
come to me, Kylie Lambert. Whenever you're ready.”

“
You sound pretty confident
I will be.”

“
Maybe to you I'm just a
rebound guy.”

She laughed. “How can you be a rebound
guy when we haven't even had sex?”

He wiggled his eyebrows. “We could
remedy that. Like I said, whenever you're ready.”

And damn it all, if she wasn't
suddenly feeling ready. She leaned in close, her lips
poised...

...and a thick cloud of dust billowed
and enveloped them as a flat bed truck pulled up with a squeal of
brakes. Even Dino was choking. The driver slammed out of his cab
and came over to where they sat.

“
Sorry about that, Mr.
Delaney, I let my temper get away from me and put the pedal to the
metal coming in here. Some asshole – oh, sorry miss – some guy in a
sports car was blocking the entrance and I got into a bit of a
scrape with him.”

Will and Kylie looked at each
other.

“
Er, what kind of sports
car?” asked Will.

“
I dunno. It was silver and
the top was down. Serves the mother... er, guy right if it got full
of dirt.”

“
Listen Jake, the guy, what
did he look like?”

“
Well, he had brown hair.
Couldn't tell about his eyes 'cuz he was wearing shades. Guess you
could say he's a looker but he sure needs to work on his
personality.”

“
Did he leave?”

Jake frowned, concentrating. “Not
sure. He finally moved but I saw him pull in a ways down
again.”

“
Okay. Thanks. Why don't you
go and see Al. He's got a list of materials we need you to pick
up.”

“
Gotcha boss.”

Jake wandered off and Will turned to
Kylie.

“
Stay right here. I'm going
to have a word with the asshole.”

Kylie stiffened. “No! Don't do it. I
don't want him to make trouble for you.”

“
I'm not going to stand here
with my thumb up my ass and do nothing. Just stay put. I'll be
right back.”

Kylie saw sparks coming off him as he
strode toward the front of the property. What had she gotten him
into? She knew now that what might have begun just now would have
to be put off, indefinitely. She wouldn't allow Will or his
business to be hampered by her problem.

An ear-splitting screech of clanging
metal on metal reverberated explosively from inside the structure,
echoing hollowly. Ripe curses and screams of pain
ensued.

Kylie hurriedly grabbed Dino and
rushed into the building.

An entire bundle of stacked copper
tubing had tumbled down onto the area where some of the men had
been eating their lunch. Everyone had scrambled for safety but one
unlucky soul had been pinned. The men were working furiously to
uncover him while he howled in pain.

Will rushed in. The worker had a large
lump forming on the back of his head and his wrist was swelling up
fast. Maybe other injuries too.

Al Saunders called emergency
services.

Waiting for their arrival, Will
examined the ropes holding the copper tubing. Someone had sawed
three quarters way through the end rope and the thick cord,
compromised, had given way.

As paramedics carted off the worker,
Kylie asked Will, “What happened out there with Drew?”

Will's nostrils flared as he contained
his anger. “The bugger was nowhere in sight. But I've got a pretty
good idea where he was while I was out looking for him.”

*

Olivia Hammond couldn't find her
gardening gloves anywhere. She had another pair for lighter work,
but these were for the more arduous, heavy-duty tasks and she'd
planned on re-potting two of her root bound shrubs. Now she'd have
to put it off.

It wasn't the loss of the gloves that
bothered her, it was the fact that she'd misplaced them, and she
was a fastidious woman, always putting things in their
place.

Was this a sign of
dementia?

Or maybe she'd been indulging in too
many martini's lately.

The thought of having one right now
slithered through her mind but it was barely noon.

She headed out to the garden anyway;
today she would pluck weeds and trim off dead foliage. Stay busy.
Not give herself time to think.

But think she did. Her troubled mind
bounced from one subject to another, but never far from the worry
over Drew. She hadn't seen nor heard from him since that disastrous
dinner with Kylie Lambert.

When he'd slapped her and she'd run
away.

The day was hot and sweat
beaded along her brow. She should be inside sipping something cool.
Yet she squatted next to a row of Swiss chard and pulled weeds,
brooded. Beneath her floppy garden hat her eyes dimmed as images
from Drew's upbringing ran like a reel of film across her mind's
eye. He'd been such a difficult child, so defiant, so closed-minded
and...
unhappy
.
He'd had few friends at school and even fewer from the
neighborhood, been in fact a loner.

She knew he was faking his own
happiness now as an adult. He would never admit to such a thing,
but she felt his restlessness and discontentment every time she was
around him.

Speak of the devil.

She heard the rumble of Drew's sports
car in the driveway around front and glanced at her watch. It was
late afternoon. The hours had slipped by on dark thoughts and
sinking emotions.

And now she wanted a drink.

Gathering her things and placing them
in her basket of garden supplies, Olivia headed inside and found
Drew poking his head in her fridge. He came out holding a bottle of
beer. His Saturday casual attire of shorts and polo shirt were
caked with fine dust, as were his face and hair.

She flicked something unidentifiable
off of his shoulder and smiled at him in welcome. “Been driving
with the top down I see,” she joked.

Drew grimaced. “Drove past a
construction site and got bombarded. Thought I'd pop in and see you
before heading home for a shower. Been gardening, have you? How's
it coming?”

“
Zucchinis and lettuce
galore. Soon I'll have so much produce I'll be able to supply you
for a while, although it will most likely rot in your
refrigerator.”

“
C'mon Mom, we both know
you'll end up donating it to the soup kitchen downtown.”

Olivia pulled a bottle of vodka from
the freezer, poured it over ice with a splash of tonic.

“
At least the homeless will
appreciate my efforts.”

Drew eyed his mother's choice of
beverage from over the rim of his beer bottle. Hard liquor was
taking the twinkle out of her eye and turning her skin sallow. Her
innate beauty was fading fast.

“
Look Mom, we both know
there's a gorilla in the room. I know you saw what happened with
Kylie and me that night. I didn't mean to hit her like that. It was
a mistake. I'm trying to make her see that but she won't have
anything to do with me.” He hesitated, watching his mother's bland
expression, her non-reaction. Christ, was the booze turning her
into a zombie? “I was wondering if maybe you could talk to her,
make her see that I'm a good guy with good intentions.”

Are you?
Olivia suddenly felt weary. A mother loved her son
unconditionally and she was no exception. But this? She couldn't,
wouldn't play referee. She'd already heard Kylie's take on things
from the woman herself. But of course she couldn't tell him
that.

Taking him by surprise,
Olivia ran a hand over Drew's cheek. “I love you,” she told him,
“but you can't
make
a woman see things your way, Drew. You have to find a way to
redeem yourself through positive actions. Why don't you send her
flowers, or...”

“
Send a woman who works with
plants all day flowers?” Drew scoffed. “Kylie's got her mind made
up to raise my baby on her own.” He slammed the beer bottle onto
the granite counter. “My baby! On her own! Who the hell does she
think she is?”

Oh dear, thought Olivia, alarmed at
Drew's volatility. One moment passive, the next steaming
mad.

She kept her tone level. “Drew,
sweetie, it's these temper flare-ups that scare her away. Don't you
see? No woman wants to put her child in harms way, and she feels...
probably feels that if you hit her, then you could hit the child.
It's a perfectly normal...”

“
Now you're against me too?”
When she placed a hand on his arm he sloughed it off. “I came here
for your help, but obviously you women band together. Thanks for
nothing, Mom.”

Before she could stop him he'd already
run out the front door and was in his car, backing out the
driveway.

She never noticed that her small
garden shears had been pilfered from her basket.

Olivia watched him go. Then reached
for another drink.

*

With Dino on his heels, Max ran through
the diner and straight into the kitchen where Lyle was mixing his
special pancake batter. He'd been promised the best breakfast of
his life and he meant to collect.

Opening time was still hours away but
Kim was already busy prepping for the lunch crowd.

“
Hey kid,” Kim greeted him,
wiped his hands quickly on a towel, then executed the intricate
hand, fist and finger shake they'd perfected over time. “Hope
you're hungry, 'cuz the boss over there is cooking you up a
storm.”

Lyle expertly ladled batter onto the
grill and eyeballed Max's huge grin. “What's so funny,
sport?”

“
You guys look like girls
with those hair nets.”

“
Watch it, or I'll make you
wear one too.”

“
What about Dino? He should
wear a net over his whole body!” Max's peels of laughter at the
strange image that brought to mind had them all howling.

Jolene walked into the scene pulling
her hair net on and the men and boy broke out again.

“
I won't ask,” said Jolene.
“Hey Max, how ya doing?”

“
I'm cool.”

“
Then all is well in the
world. Man oh man, that smells good.” She walked over to the batter
bowl and sniffed. “What you got in here?”

“
My secret ingredients,
woman! Hey, get your finger out of there. Kim, it's time to teach
Jolene how to label and recycle our frozen goods.”

Kim mock saluted him. “I'm on it,
boss.” The two disappeared into the walk in freezer.

Max dragged a step stool over to the
grill, climbed on and observed Lyle's methodology.

Lyle looked sideways at Max's intent
concentration. “This isn't rocket science you know. You wanna give
it a try?”

“
Sure.”

Lyle handed him the ladle and held the
bowl for him. “No squeeze bottles today,” he told Max. “I prefer
the old fashioned way. Just fill the ladle three quarters full and
pull it out gently. Wipe the bottom on the edge of the bowl so it
won't drip. Good. Slowly, hey, I said slowly, pour the batter onto
the grill letting it form its own circle. We could use these metal
forms I have here and they'd be perfect, but it's more fun this
way.”

The lesson had been basic and Max had
performed it perfectly.

“
See this one? The bubbles
on its surface mean it's time to flip. Here,” he handed him a
spatula, “you try it.”

Unbeknownst to them, Jolene observed
from the freezer doorway. A warmth infused her as she watched her
gentle giant teach the boy this simple lesson with so much
patience, so much love. She'd made no mistake when she'd picked him
out to be the father of her children. Now she just had to convince
him of it.