Serendipity (20 page)

No doubt she thought Ethan wouldn't know what to do with a kid like Tess. Maybe Kate even believed he wouldn't care. Based on his past, he knew everyone figured he'd run at the first sign of trouble.

Well, they were all right about one thing only. He
didn't
know what to do with Tess. He only knew what seemed right. What nobody had done when he'd been wild and out of control, he realized suddenly and filed that thought away for another time.

“I hate you,” Tess said, whirling past him and storming up the stairs, deliberately adding a loud stomp with each step.

Kate sighed. “I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring her back here and interrupt . . .”

“You didn't,” Faith interjected, the desperation in her tone making a lie of her claim.

Kate shot her an
I know better
look. “I just thought bringing her right home would make a stronger statement than letting her stay and think she got away with something.”

“It's fine,” Ethan assured her. “I appreciate the trouble you went to today.”

“It wasn't trouble. I feel sorry for her. Therapy's a good idea. Any way you can show her that no matter how much trouble she causes, it won't change the fact that she's your sister, should help. But it'll take time.”

“I hear you.” Ethan ran a hand through his hair, wondering how he'd get through it. “I was also thinking I'd have Dare take her on a tour of the jail and juvenile detention facilities. Scare her a little. Because right now, she doesn't seem scared of a helluva lot.” Which frightened him to no end.

Kate raised her eyebrows. “Another good idea. Maybe I misjudged you,” she allowed, her expression softening.

He laughed. “You wouldn't be the first and you won't be the last.”

His gaze slid to Faith, who was still antsy, moving from foot to foot and unwilling to meet his gaze. That wouldn't do.

“I should get going,” Kate said.

“I'll go with you. Can you drop me off at my place?” Faith asked, taking him off guard.

“I can take you back as planned,” he said.

“That's okay. We're . . . finished and Kate's going now.”

But he heard the desperation in her tone and knew even if she stayed, he wouldn't get anywhere with her now. Better to give her breathing room. And if he were honest with himself, he could use some too. To deal with Tess and to process what the hell had gone on between them upstairs.

Because he'd had sex many times in his life. And that hadn't been just sex.

 

 

Faith remained tigh-lipped on the car ride home, and Kate, good friend that she was, didn't push. She dropped Faith off at her apartment because she had to get back to the center, and Faith was grateful for the time alone.

Not that she wanted to think. She didn't. So she threw herself into her to-do list, starting with buying a new car. She no longer wanted to be on anyone's schedule but her own. Ironically, she'd need Kate to take her to a dealership to look for a vehicle, but then she'd have wheels and freedom.

Feeling the beginnings of a headache coming on, Faith realized it was almost dinnertime and she hadn't eaten anything in hours. She called Tony's Pizzeria and ordered up a small plain pizza for delivery. An hour later, she'd eaten, showered, and watched some mindless television. By ten o'clock, she could no longer avoid the inevitable and she let her mind wander to this afternoon.

To Ethan.

At sixteen years old, she'd wanted him. She just had no idea what that really meant. At twenty-seven, with boyfriend experience and a marriage behind her, she thought she'd been prepared. But how could she have anticipated anything like the explosive chemistry they'd shared? She'd never craved any man like she did him. No man had ever made her bold enough to ask for what she wanted in bed. None had made her scream out loud. And none had ever taken her to such unbelievable heights of passion. He was alternately tender and giving, strong and demanding, taking everything she had. And she'd willingly complied, both emotionally and physically.

She wasn't sure, but she knew it threatened the very fragile, new foundations of the life she was building for herself. And that she couldn't allow.

Her phone rang, rescuing her from herself, and she eagerly picked up the receiver. “Hello?”

“Hello, princess.”

It was as if she'd mentally connected to him and he called. Her stomach curled with warmth and pleasure while her mind rebelled against wanting something that frightened her so much. Just a few short days ago, her independence had been all that mattered to her. Jumping back into another relationship had been the last thing she planned because in her mind, relationships equated to giving up pieces of herself and her needs for someone else. Until she'd cemented who she was, she couldn't let a man distract her.

“I just thought I'd say hi,” he said.

His sexy voice blanked out every objection she ought to have.

She swallowed hard. “Hi. How's Tess?” She grasped for a safe topic. “Did she like her room?”

He let out a groan. “Tess is Tess. And I have no idea how she feels about her room. She's not speaking.” She heard the frustration in his tone. “But I didn't call to talk about her.”

“Oh.” Faith's mouth went dry. “What did you call to talk about?”
Please say your house, furniture, something safe,
she thought.

“
Us
—as if you didn't know.” His low laughter reverberated in her ear.

Us.
With that one word, heat washed over her body in undulating currents.

“And before you say there is no us”—she figured the man must be a mind reader—“let me assure you there definitely is.”

His rich voice oozed through her like maple syrup on Rosalita's pancakes, warm, gooey, and delicious, one taste making her crave so much more.

“Ethan—”

“Don't worry. I'm not asking for a lifetime commitment. I'm not even asking for that pesky relationship you don't want. I'm just saying it's pointless to lie to yourself and say there's nothing when whatever it is was so damn good.”

That did it. Liquid fire settled between her legs and she squeezed her thighs together, only serving to heighten the tension, not ease it.

He was right. Whatever it was, was damn good and too potent to ignore. They were both adults who could indulge and walk away when it was over.

“I know you're there. I can hear you breathing,” he said lightly.

She clenched the receiver tighter in her hand. “I'm here.”
Adult,
she reminded herself.
Go with it.
“You're right,” she said to him. “It's something.”

He exhaled hard. “Good.”

She nodded. “Good.”

“Night, princess.”

“Night,” she said, a lump in her throat, but she didn't know why.

He'd offered her exactly what she could handle at this stage in her life. She ought to feel good. Then why did she feel so empty and abandoned inside instead?

 

 

Faith awoke the next day, determined to keep building her life. She and Kate went car shopping, resulting in her buying a white Volkswagen Jetta. The car fit her new lifestyle and didn't put a major dent in her savings, especially thanks to Ethan's house job. She frowned at the notion. Everything came back to Ethan. Her thoughts, emotions, and now even her financial state.

No more.

She picked up her new car a few days later and her first stop was the newspaper office where she intended to purchase an ad for her business. The classified editor recognized her name and tried to push for information about her father's time in prison, something Faith wouldn't know anything about. She still hadn't spoken to her father and didn't intend to. Nor did she plan on filling this little weasel in on her personal life.

The editor in chief, upon learning she was in the building, came out to attempt to coax her to sit for an interview about being the daughter of the town's most well-known felon. Again, she declined to comment. He wasn't happy.

Nobody appreciates the high road,
Faith thought.

After dodging the small-town press, she managed to take out an ad for Faith's, hoping to drum up business.

Next she distributed her business cards to local shops like April's Consign and Design, asking her to recommend Faith to people who came into her store.

She called Kate and informed her that she wanted to join her monthly book club and then headed to the coffee shop to let Lissa know in person that she'd better accept her because Faith wasn't going anywhere. Lissa seemed to appreciate Faith more when she was outspoken than when she meekly allowed the other woman to verbally abuse her. So a wary truce was formed, and Faith felt like she'd taken a further step toward inserting herself into the fabric of Serendipity.

A few days later, an older woman walked into Faith's. Since it was the first person who'd come in off the street, Faith took heart. Although she hadn't been in business long, it seemed obvious the people in town weren't flocking to Faith Harrington's new venture.

As the woman came closer, Faith recognized her. “Mrs. Bretton!” Faith rose from her desk where she'd been busy planning the schedule for construction on cabinets and wall units in Ethan's house.

The dark-haired woman had been a friend of Lanie Harrington's for as long as Faith could remember. Unable to have children of her own, Caroline Bretton had been one of Lanie's country club friends who busied herself with tennis, golf, mah jong, and whatever other social activities could keep her busy.

“Faith, dear, welcome back to town,” Caroline said.

Faith smiled. “Thank you.”

Faith was surprised to see her. These days, she didn't know if Caroline was one of the women who'd abandoned her mother or whether Lanie had just frozen her out as she had her daughter. Her mother was tight-lipped about her postscandal personal life.

“So what are you doing here?” Faith asked.

“I saw your ad in the paper. It just so happens I'm ready to redecorate my family room. I thought I'd give you a chance!”

Faith blinked, stunned. “Really? That's wonderful. Thank you!”

“If it works out, I'll hire you for the rest of the house.” She patted Faith's hand.

Faith's heart beat faster inside her chest. “I don't know what to say.” Faith was grateful for the other woman's generosity.

“I know you haven't had an easy time. It's the least an old family friend can do.” Caroline smiled.

So her mother's friend hadn't turned her back on the Harringtons. Lanie just hadn't informed her that Faith had opened her own business. Faith was hurt but not surprised. Her mother had already made her feelings on Faith's business clear.

“I hope my mother knows what a good friend you are.”

The older woman shook her head and met Faith's gaze. “No. She doesn't. But you knew that already.”

Faith sighed. Her mother hadn't had many real friends that Faith could recall, just people who had wealth and status in common, but she remembered Caroline had always been different. She'd called the house, seemed interested in Faith whenever she saw her, and even her mother knew she could count on Caroline. Lanie didn't know how to return friendship any more than she knew how to be a real mother. Yet Caroline had seemed to accept her mother for who and what she was, and apparently that hadn't changed.

Maybe I ought to take a lesson from her,
Faith thought. “Mrs. Bretton—”

“Please, call me Caroline. We're going to be working closely together, after all.”

Faith nodded. “Caroline, how is my mother
really
?”

“In complete and utter isolation. Yes, most people in our social circle ostracized her, thinking she knew about your father's illegal activities or afraid they'd catch the scandal by breathing the same air. But there were those like me, who knew better. Your mother was too concerned about her lifestyle to worry or think about where that money came from.”

Faith bit the inside of her cheek and nodded. “That about sums her up,” she agreed. “I don't believe she knew either. Which isn't to say she shouldn't have, but like you said, she wouldn't look too deeply as long as her life was going along the way she wanted it to.”

“Exactly.” Caroline's hazel eyes bored into hers. “I always liked your mother. Despite the fact that she could be so superficial, she was also smart and honest. I respect a woman who tells it like it is. And give her one martini and she became an excellent listener. Just not anymore. Now she's holed up in that house on the outskirts of town, refusing to have anything to do with real friends like me.”

“So she has no one?” Faith asked, surprised and a lot guilty.

She'd reached out to her mother, but it was superficial, doing her duty as a daughter, Faith admitted. A phone call here and there to tell herself she was trying.

“No, but that's her own choosing,” Caroline said. “Don't beat yourself up over it.”

Faith disagreed. How could she not? She was an adult, but she still viewed her mother through a child's eyes. Instead, she should have looked deeper, should have made an effort to push herself into her mother's life, to see what was going on.

“I appreciate your honesty,” Faith said. “I know my mother is who she is, but I'll try harder to reach her.”

Caroline fingered her overly large pearls. “Just don't expect too much or you may be doomed to disappointment. I still call her weekly, but she shuts me down and never returns the gesture.”