Something to Talk About (12 page)

Chapter Eight

Angelique watched her brother-in-law playing with her daughter and could tell that something was troubling his heart. Adam was always so
cool and self-contained
that h
e was difficult to know really well, but in the months since her marriage Angelique had grown close to him, close enough to know when
he was troubled
. She smiled as she watched Adam picking out a tune for Lily Rose on the piano while he held her firmly in his left arm and sang her a lit
tl
e song.

“I think your niece likes your voice, Uncle Adam,” she teased. And it was true; Lily was bubbling with enjoyment and patting her hands together as Adam entertained her.

Adam rubbed his cheek against Lily’s soft curls and kissed her. “I’m just glad she quit screaming at me,” he admitted. Lily Rose was the only member of the family who hadn’t thoroughly approved of Adam’s haircut. She’d
taken
one look at her uncle and yelled bloody murder. It had taken a lot of coaxing and crooning on Adam’s part to convince her that it was really he, albeit with a new look. A few weeks had passed since the great haircutting and Lily Rose seemed to have adjusted, although Adam wasn’t completely sure that he had.

“Do you want me to take her? You seem a
slightly
preoccupied,” said Angelique.

“No,
we’re
fine, aren’t
we
, sweetie?”
Adam said.

Lily Rose cooed and reached for Adam’s hand to encourage him to get back to playing. Adam ignored Angelique’s remark about him being preoccupied; instead he pretended a sudden interest in the new decor of the living room. Big Benny, the Cochran patriarch, had presented the house to the young couple as a Christmas present, as he and his bride wanted to move into a condominium. They’d made a few changes in the house to suit their taste, but the warmth of the big brick home was the same as it had been when he was growing up in the house.

“It’s weird, Angel, but when I look around here I can feel my whole childhood pressing in on me,” he said quietly. “You’ve made some nice changes to the old place. It looks like a beautiful place
in for
my new niece to grow up in.”

Angelique blushed with pleasure at his simple remark and was about to respond when Lily’s sudden cries announced that she was hungry.

“Okay, sweetie, Mommy’s here,” Angelique said cheerfully. She reached for the baby and said she’d be back soon.

Adam knew that Angelique was breast-feeding and wasn’t prone to doing it in front of anyone but her husband, which was fine with him. He wouldn’t like Alicia’s breasts exposed to anyone’s eyes other than his, either. Adam groaned deeply. There it was again, yet another totally inappropriate thought about Alicia. He was supposed to be getting a handle on this obsession, and if anything he was getting worse. His fantasies were getting more frequent, more erotic and fully realized, and he was getting more and more irritable about the whole thing. Ever since Alicia’s transformation, Adam had been more aware of her than ever and his fixation was driving him crazy.

To be honest, he wasn’t entirely pleased by the change in Alicia’s appearance. For one thing, until the fateful day of the haircut, Adam wouldn’t have believed Alicia could possibly be more appealing than she already was. He’d always found her beautiful; now she was completely captivating. When she’d come out of the private room at
Gigi’s
salon he was sure his heart had stopped. With her exquisite features finally on display, she looked like a model for an expensive line of perfume or some kind of skin care. It was impossible for him to look away from her eyes, to ignore her flawless skin and those lips that seemed to be dripping honey just for him. He’d been shocked when she decided to cut off her hair, but the result was obviously the right decision. His Alicia had gone from being a pretty woman to an absolute stunner. And the new clothes she had taken to wearing just made her more appealing.

She certainly hadn’t been a slob before, but instead of wearing tailored shirts and slacks and neat jackets, she was wearing skirts and dresses and feminine blouses in an array of warm colors that brought out all the deep bronze of her skin. After people got over the initial shock of seeing the change in her, there were unanimous raves about her new look. And the same question was on everyone’s lips—“why did you decide to do it?” That was what was bugging Adam, although he wouldn’t admit it even to himself. He couldn’t rid himself of the idea that Alicia was trying to attract some guy’s attention and he had a sinking feeling that the guy was Bryant Porter.

He started playing the piano again, keeping it soft because of Lily Rose, who usually went right to sleep after she was fed. He was playing “Stardust” when his brother entered the room. Donnie’s first stop on arriving home had been the baby’s room, as usual. After kissing his wife and holding the baby until she went to sleep, Donnie was ready to meddle in his brother’s life, something he almost never got to do. He nodded approvingly at Adam’s technique before sitting down in the new club chair that accentuated the fresh, updated look of the room.

“I see you haven’t lost your touch. That sounds pretty good.”

“Yeah, I don’t get to play too often but I try to keep in practice. I’m thinking about getting a piano. God knows there’s enough room for it in the loft.”

Donnie agreed and then segued into the one subject Adam wished to avoid. “Hey, did Renee tell you Bryant Porter is going to be staying in the Outhouse? He stopped by to see her and Andrew and he mentioned that he was looking for some place to stay. The Outhouse will be perfect for him to use for a couple of months. He was really happy about it,” Donnie said guilelessly.

The Outhouse was the family name for the apartment over the garage in the back of the Indian Village home shared by Adam’s oldest brother, Andrew, and his wife, Renee. The house was filled to bursting with the couple and their four girls, but the Outhouse was a nice island of calm. It had one bedroom, a living/dining room, and a
compact but well-equipped
kitchen and was just ideal for Bryant. Bryant and Renee had been friends for years and offering him a place to stay was a perfectly nice gesture on the part of a friend. The fact that this gesture made Adam’s temples throb with tension was his own
private
secret. He was consumed by the fact that in a few weeks Bryant Porter was going to be in Detroit for the entire summer with unlimited access to Alicia. The thought was causing him considerable distress. He brought his fingers down on the keys harder than he intended and stopped playing immediately. He rose from the piano and walked over to the big bay with the multi
-
paned windows.

Donnie tried not to let his amusement show, but he’d been in Adam’s position not too long ago. He too had been in the throes of passion for Angelique, and their courtship had been stormy to say the least
.
Donnie had also been intensely aware of every man who ever looked at Angelique and he knew full well that Adam wasn’t too thrilled with the Bryant Porter situation. He decided to take a shot just to see where the arrow landed. Looking perfectly innocent, he said, “By the way, Adam, I saw Alicia the other day and she was looking
good,
man. She’s always been pretty, but now she’s beyond fine. This woman is an absolute fox, bro. You better look out, somebody’s going to snatch up your partner and rim off with her,” he added with a friendly laugh.

Angelique returned to the living room and instantly caught the dark look passing over Adam’s face and tried to change the subject. “You know what, Adam? I’d like to take a picture of you with Lily Rose. I want to take a portrait with each member of the family. I think that would be a nice keepsake.”

Donnie decided to push a little harder this time. “It’s a good thing you’ve had so much practice being an uncle, Adam. Just think
,
you could be playing uncle to one of Alicia’s babies soon. Because the way she looks, with that beautiful personality of hers, she’s going to be married in less than a year, bet on it.”

“Adonis, come help me in the kitchen.
Now,
please.” Angelique put her hands on her hips as she stared at her thoughtless mate.

No sooner had they reached the kitchen than she turned on her big handsome husband and pointed a finger in his face. “Adonis, you have all the sensitivity of a toilet seat,” she scolded. “Can’t you see that Adam has real feelings for Alici
a?
Are you trying to start a fight with him?”

Donnie laughed and embraced his wife. “No, Angel, I’m trying to start a
fire
with him. I’m just trying to get Adam to bust a move, that’s all. Cochran men are known for being slow and stubborn and he may not say anything to Alicia for years to come. You know how closed down Adam can be when he tries. So I figure a little push here and there won’t hurt,” he admitted.

Angelique hugged her beloved man back but she warned him to lay off his brother. “You keep trying to start a fire with Adam and
you
could be the one who gets burned.”

***

Truth be told, Alicia wasn’t any more excited about her big transformation than Adam was. She liked her new look, especially the easy-care haircut, and she loved the new clothes Roxy had helped her purchase. After Roxy had gotten over her shock at Alicia’s short hair, they’d gone off to some of the best malls around: Somerset Town Center, Great Lakes Crossing, and several TJ. Maxx stores, and come home with bags and bags of new outfits and boxes of new shoes. She now had fashionable alternatives to her normal work wear and several pieces that were for evening wear only. Everyone, including her family, had reacted very positively to her new look and the fact was she felt much better about herself. It was amazing the effect a few well-chosen articles of clothing could have on a person. The only thing that prevented her from feeling totally pleased with her transformation was the fact that Adam was acting strangely toward her.

She tri
ed to explain it to
Roxy as they shared dinner at P.
F. Chang’s. She swallowed the last bite of her lettuce wrap and followed it with a sip of water. “Roxy, I can’t really explain it, but somehow I feel this distance between us. I think he might have started dating someone,” she said sadly.

Roxy’s eyes widened in concern.
“What makes you think he’s taken up with some floozy? I thought he’d been kind of on his own for a while, meaning no serious entanglements with the opposite sex.”

Alicia looked around the trendy restaurant before answering and when she finally spoke, it was with lowered eyes and a resigned tone of voice. “I can always tell when Adam has a new lady in his life. For a few days he’s kind of formal with me, kind of businesslike, and then it goes away. And that’s what he’s doing now,” she admitted. “The day we got the haircuts he was wonderful, just like he always is, and a few days later he starts acting like I’m someone he met at a chamber of commerce meeting. He’s polite and
charming
but he acts like I’m his insurance agent or something.”

“So did you ever tell him why you decided on the big overhaul? I mean, did he ever ask what
was
behind the new you?” Roxy sipped her wine while she waited for Alicia to answer.

“Actually, I did tell him. One night we were working late and he went to get Greek takeout. While we were eating he asked me why I felt the need to improve on perfection.” She smiled dreamily, remembering the sweetness of the words.

“I wasn’t trying to be a femme fatale or anything, but I was really flirty while I told him the truth. I told him it was because I wanted to attract the attention of a certain man. I wanted this man to see me in a totally different way and that’s why I did it.”

Her face grew hot as she remembered the dead silence that had resulted from her statement. She’d hoped for a totally different response, one in which they ended up kissing wildly after he confessed he was already interested in her. She’d prayed that if she made herself more desirable and more sophisticated, he’d respond immediately and they’d be swept away by the kind of passion she remembered from their forbidden night. His reaction was quite the opposite.

“
Rox
, it was terrible, at least it was for me. It was just like this mask dropped over his face, he changed expressions that fast. He went from smiling and sexy to
un
interested and stern in less time than it’s taking me to tell you about it,” she said with a frown. “Here I was trying to look all seductive and cute and he’s looking completely bored with the conversation. It wasn’t a pretty sight, believe me,” she said with a grimace.

Roxy was about to answer when their server appeared and cleared the table before putting their appetizing
smelling entrees in front of them. By the time he departed she had something to say. “Alicia, honey, I’ve always thought you were brilliant. I may have to reassess that evaluation since you obviously have missed the entire point here. Girl, Adam is acting weird because he thinks you’re trying to get with some other man. He thinks all this effort to be gorgeous is for the benefit of some other lucky guy, and it’s eating him up inside. That’s why he’s acting like a nitwit,” she said sagely as she eyed her plate appreciatively and took a dainty bite.