Second Time Around (19 page)

“You know that painting hanging above the couch in the lounge that looked like a Monet? She took that,” Alec told her, proud of himself.

“You gave her the Monet?” Halley screeched. Unable to help herself she jumped off the stool and thumped Alec on the chest. “How could you? It didn’t just look like a Monet. It was one!”

It only took a moment for the reason for Halley’s sudden fury to sink in. Alec’s face blanched.

“No, it couldn’t be genuine,” he protested, grabbing her hands before she could strike him again. Halley struggled, ripped her hands free and stalked out of reach.

“Well it was,” she snarled, turning around to face him.

“But you told me that Krystal had it valued and it was just an imitation. The dealer said most of the value was in the frame,” he said desperately.

“If you recall our conversation was interrupted by Corey getting a piece of Lego stuck up his nose.” Halley folded her arms tightly against her chest. “I never got a chance to tell you that Krystal took the painting to another art dealer for a second opinion. That one told her that it was easily worth several million and that she should get it insured.”

Alec felt sick.

“I need to sit down.” He sank onto one of the bar stools and leaned on the breakfast bar, head in his hands.

Halley took the stool beside him.

“Why did you go ahead and do something like that?” she asked in disbelief.

Alec raised his head. He looked miserable.

“She turned up demanding things yesterday just after you went upstairs for a nap. I didn’t want to disturb you so I took her through the house; she wanted to take photos of everything so we wouldn’t sell assets without her knowledge.” Alec ran his fingers through his hair then slowly sat up. “She was very interested in the painting and took a lot of pictures of it. I remembered what you told me about the painting and I saw a way to get rid of her for once and for all so I took it.”

Something occurred to Alec and he frowned.

“If the painting was worth so much why didn’t you sell it? It would have set you up for life.”

“I was hoping to find my missing bank account so it wouldn’t be necessary to sell it. Until all this business with the lawyer is settled I didn’t want to do anything that might raise eyebrows and at any rate the painting belongs to the children, not to me,” Halley said reasonably.

“I can’t believe I let her walk out with it,” Alec groaned. “I feel awful. Maybe we can think of a way to get it back.” Halley almost felt sorry for him; he really looked miserable. “Perhaps we can persuade Chantelle to swap the painting for the china,” he mused.

Over your dead body
, Halley thought, all sympathy for him instantly evaporating.

“Is there anything we can learn from this?” she asked briskly, ignoring his suggestion.

“Check the value of everything before giving it away?” Alec offered.
If only I had known
, he berated himself.

“I’m sure there’s something more profound you can come up with,” Halley said tightly, drumming her fingernails on the breakfast bar.

Alec thought for several seconds then it came to him.

“I know, I know. I shouldn’t have made the decision without checking with you first.”

He tucked his head against his folded arms on the breakfast bar, his chin resting on his chest.

“Lesson learned?” Halley prodded.

“Lesson learned,” Alec agreed, his voice muffled by his sleeve.

“Good.” Halley hopped off the barstool and patted him on the shoulder. Thinking that he might not be too happy with what she had to say next. She took a few paces back until she was out of his reach. “I hope I didn’t hurt you before,” she ventured. “You know, when I hit you.”

Alec raised his head and thought of his aching sternum. He was going to have a bruise there, he knew it.

“Nah. Didn’t hurt a bit,” he lied.

“Good, because…” Halley took a deep breath. “I made up the whole thing about the painting being worth millions.”

“What?” Alec stared at her, incredulous.

“I know you meant well but I don’t need to be mollycoddled,” Halley said firmly. “Please don’t make my decisions for me.”

“I don’t believe this,” Alec muttered, swiping his elbow off the breakfast bar. He slid off the stool and stopped in front of her. “I was just trying to help.”

“I know and I appreciate it.”

Halley linked her fingers and pressed her hands down and Alec thought that maybe she was feeling a little bit bad for having him on. He suppressed a smile. Two could play at that game.

“So is this how you’re going to
act
every time things don’t go how you want?” he asked harshly. “Instead of just telling me straight up, we’re going to have to go through this sort of drama, Princess?”

Shocked by the way he was speaking to her, Halley looked up and saw the twinkle his eye. For a moment there she had really thought he was mad. She stiffened.

“That’s Time-Sifting Princess to you,” she said imperiously.

Alec laughed and tugged her forward into his arms.

“I’m sorry for not letting you know about the deal I made with Chantelle,” he said into her hair. “You had enough to deal with and I just wanted to take care of her for you.” Halley looked up and their eyes met.

“I’m sorry for being a brat about it.” She sighed. “Thanks for taking the initiative when you saw an opportunity to get rid of her.”

“Are we good?” Alec asked.

“Yeah, we’re good,” Halley replied with a nod. She leaned back in his arms. “I think we’ve just had our first fight.”

“I’m glad we got that over and done with,” Alec said with a grin. “Now comes the best part.”

“What? Kiss and make up?”

Almost before the words were out of her mouth Alec leaned down and started kissing her. Halley responded with enthusiasm. Tongues twined and as Alec pressed her closer he realised that it had never been like this for him before; kissing for the sheer sake of it, without any expectation of it going further. He continued to kiss her simply because he wanted to.

A cry from the baby monitor perched on the breakfast bar had them breaking apart.

“I think that call is for you,” Alec said, pleased to see that Halley was breathing as heavily as he was.

“I don’t think I can do it,” Halley said to Leonora as she took out a batch of double chocolate muffins from the oven.

For the past month Alec and Rufus had been back and forwards to Melbourne, getting the new branch of JB Recruitment up and running. Tonight would be the first time she had seen Alec in a week and Halley was nervous because she’d had her six week check-up and the doctor had said she could ‘resume marital relations’.

“Of course you can.” Leonora hooked out a muffin with her fingertips then let it fall to the countertop. “Ouch. That’s hot.”

“You think?” Halley shook her head then pulled out a plate and slid the steaming hot muffin onto it. “Here you go,” she said, setting it in front of Leonora. “You can sit and watch it cool for the next five minutes.”

“Thanks. It’ll give me time to remind myself that my hips don’t need the extra padding,” Leonora joked.

Beside her, Buddy wagged his tail expectantly.

“You’ll burn your mouth you silly dog,” she scolded affectionately then returned her attention to Halley. “Just put on a slinky nightgown and accidentally go to the wrong bed tonight.”

“But I’m nowhere near my pre-pregnancy weight and my tummy looks like dough,” Halley complained.

“I think Alec will be far more excited that you are in bed with him to worry about that.” Leonora broke off a piece of muffin and dropped it. “Oops,” she said unapologetically as Buddy snapped it up before it could hit the ground.

Halley rummaged in the pantry and pulled out a handful of dog biscuits. She pushed them across the bench to Leonora.

“Here, drop these instead. Chocolate’s not good for him.”

Leonora swept a dog biscuit off the side of the bench with the back of her hand. Buddy caught it and swallowed it without tasting.

“Do you think Cassie would like to try some of the muffin?” Leonora smiled at the eight month old who had pulled herself upright against the coffee table in the living area and had started banging a coaster against the table top.

“I think she can wait a while longer before she develops a relationship with chocolate,” Halley answered as she checked on Lily who had fallen asleep in her bouncinette. Why was it that the two girls could never seem to coordinate their naps? She picked up the bouncinette and moved it out of the kitchen to a quiet corner of the dining area where Lily would be away from Buddy and Halley would have advance warning if Cassie crawled in her direction.

Cassie found the remote to the television and accidentally turned it on as she started smacking it against the coaster. On screen Riker Sell was being interviewed about his upcoming movie which had been partly filmed in Sydney.

“No, no, no sweetie.” Halley rushed over and took the remote from her and went to switch the television off.

“Wait a moment.” Leonora came out from behind the counter with Buddy trotting after her. She stopped beside Halley and sighed with appreciation as she watched Riker Sell laugh at a joke the interviewer had made.

“I thought you and Rufus had a thing going on,” Halley remarked as she handed Leonora the remote.

“It doesn’t mean I’m dead,” Leonora said just as the interview broke for an advertisement break. She pressed the mute button and turned her attention to Halley. “So what’s Riker Sell like in real life?”

“He was sweet and fun.” Halley shrugged. “That was a long time ago though. I can’t claim to know him now. He probably wouldn’t even recognise me.”

“Was he a good kisser?”

Halley’s face reddened at Leonora’s bluntness.

“Yes, he was,” she said with dignity. “In fact he was my first. Strictly onscreen,” she added as Leonora started patting over her heart.

“I hope you had to practise those scenes over and over,” Leonora said. “How wonderful.”

Halley decided to set Leonora straight before she got carried away.

“For your information we only kissed in the scene before my character died and it was filmed in one take. Besides, it’s hardly wonderful when you’ve got lights shining in your faces and about thirty people standing around watching.”

“Way to take the romance out of it,” Leonora complained then switched off the mute button as the interview came back on.

Halley left her to it. She didn’t want to watch. The interview had moved onto discussing the critical acclaim Riker had received for his last role in a period drama. It just reminded Halley of what she possibly could have had if Chantelle hadn’t ruined things for her.

Halley busied herself by cleaning up the dishes and then she threw the remaining dog biscuits out onto the lawn for Buddy to eat outside. She had half mashed a banana for Cassie when the interview ended and Leonora turned the TV off.

“Do you still want to feed Cassie?” Halley asked as her friend scooped Cassie up.

“Yes, we love mashed banana, don’t we?” Leonora jiggled Cassie on her hip and Cassie laughed. “I still can’t get over how different this place looks with furniture in it,” she remarked as she carried Cassie over to the dining table where a booster seat with an attached tray was set up as a high chair.

Halley smiled as she gathered together the things that Leonora would need. After the will had been finally settled they had put Krystal and Paul’s house on the market. Chantelle had been highly motivated to find a buyer and when the sale had become unconditional last week they had started bringing over the furniture they had left in the house to stage it. Krystal and Paul’s furniture wasn’t great quality but it was better than empty rooms and because the kids had broken everything in they had the bonus that they didn’t have to stress about keeping it all pristine.

Leonora clipped Cassie into her booster seat and accepted the items from Halley.

“I still think you should go for it,” Leonora said as she fastened a bib around Cassie’s neck.

“Go for what?” Halley looked at her blankly.

“Seduce Alec, not that it’ll take much. Drat, she grabbed the bowl.” Leonora quickly wiped Cassie’s hands with the bib before Cassie could rub the banana into her clothes. She fed Cassie a spoonful and returned her attention to Halley who was trying hard not to hover.

“I don’t think I want to talk about this anymore.” Halley sank onto a chair at the dining table and watched as Leonora continued to feed Cassie.

Leonora shot her a glance.

“Do you want me to say something to Alec?”

“No.”

Leonora sighed.

“Then what’s the problem? Do you have the hots for Riker Sell?”

“What? No!”

“Didn’t think so.” Leonora smiled with satisfaction then shovelled another spoonful into Cassie’s open waiting mouth. “So what is it? I promise whatever you say won’t go any further than me.”

“I just don’t feel desirable,” Halley mumbled. “What if Alec rejects me?”

“You’ve got to be kidding.” Leonora paused with the spoon halfway to Cassie’s mouth. “That man has been talking about you since you first met. There is no way he’ll turn you away.” She felt a tug on the spoon and turned her attention back to Cassie to find the baby had grabbed the end of the spoon and banana squishing between her fingers. “Oh no.” Leonora grabbed Cassie’s hand and wiped it.

Once the task was complete she continued to feed Cassie, talking as she did so.

“I’ve heard nothing but Halley this and Halley that for months. Take my word for it. Sometimes you’ve just got to jump in and test the water for yourself.”

“If that’s the case then why are you not in Melbourne with Alec and Rufus?” Halley asked. “I know that Alec wanted you to go.”

“I didn’t go because Rufus wanted me to book two rooms for accommodation.”

“So?”

“He didn’t intend to share with Alec.”

“But I thought you two were a couple.”

“Yes but Rufus has seen more beds than a mattress manufacturer so I wanted to wait.” Leonora swept an electric blue coloured lock of hair behind her ear. “I don’t intend to sleep with him until he realises that there is more to me than my body.”

“I think he probably has an inkling,” Halley said dryly. Alec had enjoyed relaying Rufus’ frustration with the situation to her. Halley liked Rufus and decided to do him a favour. “Alec says Rufus hasn’t been out with another woman for months. Has he?” she asked, already knowing the answer.

“No, he hasn’t,” Leonora agreed thoughtfully. In the past it hadn’t been unusual for Rufus to date multiple women during the same period of time.

“That’s because he respects you,” Halley pointed out.

“Either that or he fears me.” Leonora considered that. “Either way works in my favour.”

Leonora stayed the rest of the afternoon and for dinner. Alec had asked her to check in on Halley while he was away but she stayed for longer than necessary because she liked Halley and was enjoying herself. That and the fact that Halley was a wonderful cook and all she had to look forward to eat in her one bedroom apartment was a selection of frozen supermarket meals.

After seeing Leonora off Halley took her time getting the children through the bath and ready for bed. Alec was due home in another hour and she needed something to take her mind off what she hoped to accomplish. However, despite caving to requests for a second and third bedtime story, all the children and Cassie were soon settled down to sleep. She kept Lily awake as long as possible; deluding herself that in doing so Lily would sleep through the night.

Finally Lily was tucked up in her bassinette. Upon seeing the time Halley raced to the shower where she washed her hair and marvelled again over being able to see her feet as she shaved her legs. She brushed her teeth and indulgently blow dried her hair then padded back to her bedroom to change.

The nightgown she slipped on was white and had a lacy bodice that exposed more than it concealed. It was also very short. Krystal had bought it as a gift for her wedding night but Halley had never worn it because Rob had spent that night with another woman and after their argument the following morning she hadn’t been inclined to try it on.

She smoothed down the silky material, loving the feel of it under her fingers then glanced at her reflection in the mirror. Upon seeing how transparent the fabric was she quickly grabbed a dressing gown and put it on in case one of the children woke and needed her for something before Alec arrived home.

That done, she checked on the children then let herself into the master bedroom. Like the rest of the house before they had moved in, Alec’s bedroom contained minimal furniture. The only piece was a lovely big bed with a solid wood headboard that he had told her he had bought on sale after his divorce.

In lieu of drawers his clothes were kept in boxes neatly lined up against the opposite wall and boxes also served as bedside tables. The one nearest the door had a desk light clipped to it and an alarm clock.

Halley already knew this because she changed his sheets each week and returned his freshly cleaned and folded clothing back to their respective boxes.

Reaching the window side of the bed she folded back the doona and stared at the fresh sheets. She wasn’t sure if she felt brave enough to follow through. After standing there for several minutes she slid into the bed leaving her dressing gown on. That way if Alec wasn’t interested she didn’t have to be any more embarrassed than necessary.

Should she wait for him sitting up or lying down? Which way would be more seductive?

Halley propped a pillow up against the headboard then leaned against it. Perhaps she could stage a seductive pose from this spot. She decided that there was the benefit that if Alec wasn’t interested she could slide down, let the pillow fall on her face and suffocate herself with it.

What could she do to entice him?

She sucked in her stomach, flicked her hair over her shoulder then patted the bed beside her and smiled. Deciding that she was onto something, Halley practised the sequence again and again. As she did so Halley wished that Alec had a large mirror in the room so she could see herself in the bed then came to her senses and was glad he didn’t.

Eventually she was satisfied with her seductive technique. Leaning forward in the bed, Halley checked the alarm clock. Alec’s plane would have landed nearly an hour ago and he should be home soon.

She made herself comfortable and waited. After half an hour had passed she wished she had brought some magazines to bed to flick through until he arrived home. Leonora had brought over several but they were in the lounge.

After considering it for a moment Halley leapt out of bed then sped downstairs as quietly as she could. Finding the magazines she scooped them up and headed back to Alec’s room. As she dumped the pile on the bed the magazines spread over the doona and Halley’s eye was caught by a perfume ad on the back of one. The couple in the picture were naked and appeared to be enjoying themselves.

Perfume!

She needed to wear perfume. How silly of her not to think of it sooner.

With an ear out for the sound of the garage door opening Halley sprinted back to her room to study the small collection of Krystal’s perfumes that she had inherited. She had never bought perfume before because she considered it a frivolous expense which could explain why it hadn’t occurred to her to put some on.