The Accidental Encore (10 page)

“Pretty good. I think I’ve got it down.”

“Did you want to talk about something before I go home?”

“Yes. I wanted to ask about your stepmother. Are you close
with her now?”

Allie seemed surprised at the question. Her eyes bulged and
she made a funny fish like expression with her lips. “Not really, but that’s
mostly because I didn’t make it easy for her. I was upset about the divorce,
and she was the best person to blame.”

“Did your parents split up because of her?”

“No. My parents split up because they didn’t have anything
to say to one another when they weren’t fighting.”

“Oh,” was all Leah could think to say. “That doesn’t sound
like much fun.”

“It wasn’t.” Allie reached over and patted Leah’s knee. “My
stepmother, Suzanne, she was always nice to me, making cookies and offering to
make my favorite meals. I didn’t like the fact that instead of listening to my
mom and dad argue about my mom working all the time, my mom just stayed at work
all the time. I didn’t like the fact that my dad could move on and get happy
when I was so miserable. And when Suzanne got pregnant, I didn’t like the fact
that they would have their own family when he still had me. So I was never very
nice to her, even though she was always nice to me. My dad couldn’t understand
my behavior, well…he never really tried, and things just went from bad to
worse.”

Allie unfolded her legs. “I’m not trying to scare you, Leah,
I’m just trying to make you understand that you have a big say in how
successful this relationship with Carolyn is. My situation was different
because I wasn’t always with my dad and Suzanne, so I didn’t have to change my
behavior. I got to escape for a while until my next visit and my mom, because
she hated my dad, always backed me up. Carolyn will be here with you and your
dad all the time. The harder you try to make it work, the easier it’ll be on
all of you.”

“Uncle Craig said that Carolyn’s probably as scared as I am of
her living here.”

“He’s probably right. Looking back, I can see that Suzanne
was scared. She was always trying to make me like her because she loved my dad
and he loved me. I’m the one who made it hard.”

“It’s weird to see him with her,” Leah admitted. “Kissing
and stuff.”

“Yeah, but that’s just because you’re not used to it yet.”

Leah twisted the pencil in her hand and tried to think of
how to admit what she felt without it sounding strange. “I sort of feel like
I’m being replaced. Like I wasn’t enough for him.”

“Oh, Leah.” Allie put her hand on Leah’s shoulder. “Your
dad’s not replacing you. He’s fallen in love again and that’s a wonderful
thing. He’s a young man with a big heart and a lot of love to give. Just
because he loves Carolyn doesn’t mean he loves you any less.”

“But I don’t need anyone else.”

Allie crossed her arms over her chest and stared down her
nose at Leah. “You’re not planning to have a boyfriend? Ever?”

“Well, yeah.” Leah felt her cheeks heat. “At some point.”

“And when you get this boyfriend, do you think you’ll stop
needing your dad?”

“No, of course not.”

“Then why would you think your dad doesn’t need you just
because he has a wife?”

Leah took a deep breath. She thought of her dad and all the
ways they took care of each other. It wasn’t going to be the same with Carolyn
around to take care of her dad the way Leah was used to doing. “I do a lot of
stuff for him. He’s always calling me his conscience and his alarm clock.”

“Maybe, instead of thinking of all the bad ways things are
going to change, you can think of the good ways things will change.”

“What good ways?”

“Come on,” Allie said. “I’ve heard you complain about having
to make dinner. I know sometimes you’ve felt left out because other girls
complained about their mothers and you couldn’t complain.”

“So now I’ll have someone to complain about?”

“And someone to share girl stuff with.”

“Hummm.” Leah slid down her bed and stared up at the
ceiling. She’d never let her dad paint over the clouds her mom had painted when
she was a baby. “You’ve given me a lot to think about.”

“Nobody said this was going to be easy, Leah. But it’ll be a
whole lot easier if you start off with a positive attitude.”

“Okay,” she said. “I can do that. For my dad.”

“For you, too, okay?”

“Yeah,” Leah admitted. “For me, too.”

Chapter 12

Craig saw the Mercedes pull up to the curb and knew he only
had a minute or two more to use the clamp saw before Davis swept in for his
weekly review. The kitchen demo was well underway, so if Stacy had changed her
mind again, she was out of luck. Craig cut the power and lifted the safety
goggles from his eyes as Davis rounded the walkway whistling like a man without
a care in the world.

“Hey, man,” Davis said as he surveyed the damage. “Wow. This
is going to cost me some serious time and money.”

Craig wiped his brow with his sleeve. Even with the cooler
air outside, he’d worked up a sweat. “When your wife decided she wanted to go
from a rehab to a refurb, I told you it wouldn’t be cheap.”

“Nothing about Stacy’s been cheap since the day we met,”
Davis said. “Isn’t it always that way with women?”

Did he really want Craig to answer that or just nod his head
in agreement? God knew Julie had loved to spend money. “Don’t get all freaked
out because it looks like a mess. This is just the initial tear out.”

“I’m not. You were right about the wall and this was my
idea. How far is this going to set us back time wise?”

Craig did some mental figuring. “Kitchen work is precise and
a lot depends on the pace of the subs. Did you look over that list of cabinet
companies I gave you?”

“Yeah, but I don’t want to waste my time on stuff like that.
You pick one and I’ll be fine with it.”

Craig bit back his sarcastic retort. Davis had been the one
to insist he pick the cabinet contractor in the first place. “I’d go with Steen
& Sons. They’ve done work for me in the past. They’re good and they don’t
dick around.”

“Fine, fine. Go with them, then.”

“I’m going to need to set up a meeting with you and them at
least once to pick out countertops and wood finishes.”

“That’s Stacy’s department.” He put his hands inside his
trench coat and eyed the clamp saw as if it were alive and could eat him at
will. “I’ve got a friend I want you to meet. He’s bought an old house along the
river that needs a lot of work. I told him about you and he’s not the kind to
drag his feet and interview a bunch of contractors. If I say you do good work,
then you’re as good as hired.”

Craig nodded. “Appreciate that.”

“But,” Davis said with a wink, “I expect this job to take
priority.”

When Craig said nothing, Davis chuckled and swung his head
from side to side. “I gotta tell you, man. You’re one hard nut to crack. I
thought you’d jump at the chance for another job.”

“I am,” Craig said. “I appreciate your recommendation.”

“But…” Davis asked.

“But I don’t want to over-commit. I’m not looking to take on
workers. I like being a one man shop.”

“You can’t handle both jobs?”

Craig could handle both jobs and a dozen more with his hands
tied behind his back. But getting bigger, working with a crew, and juggling
multiple projects held little appeal. “I can handle both. I prefer to do one
job at a time.”

“You must not have the bills I have to pay.”

“I’ve got plenty of bills. I just don’t let work take over
my life. Been there, done that.”

“The beauty of being a bachelor,” Davis decided and slapped
Craig on the shoulder. “When you’ve got a wife and a couple of kids in private
school, work takes over whether you want it to or not.”

“Bring your friend over anytime,” Craig said. “I’ll be happy
to take a look at his job.”

“I’ll do that, man. Let me know about the cabinet guy.”

Craig watched Davis walk out to his car and pull away from
the curb before starting the saw and getting back to work. He’d had a wife and
a lot of bills to pay years ago, and working like a dog to keep the wolf at bay
had nearly destroyed everything. It probably had destroyed everything. The
greatest regret of his life was that he’d never know.

But why shouldn’t he take on more and more work? If he
wasn’t willing to jump back into the dating pool, he may as well spend more
time at work. He wasn’t going to be able to come up for air at Mark and Leah’s
anymore.

As he started up the clamp saw and watched the blade move
back and forth, he knew that his reaction was knee jerk and not based in
reality. He’d buried himself in work years before and ended up with a broken
marriage and an assload of uncertainty when the world came crashing down. Damn
it, Mark was right. He needed to get back out there. The best way to do that, the
easiest way, led him straight to Allie.

Convenient that she was coming over that night for Leah’s
lesson—her last before Mark and Carolyn returned. He’d suck up his pride
and ask her to help him get started. She must know how to navigate her way
around the various online dating sites.

He still couldn’t understand why a woman like her even
bothered with online dating. Did she own a mirror? Yeah, she seemed a little
insecure about her looks and she could certainly use a little softening around
the edges, but most guys—at least guys with a set of eyes in their
head—would overlook her prickly manner.

And there he was thinking about her again. “Not your type,”
Craig mumbled to himself over the hum of the saw. A beautiful, high-maintenance
woman with high-dollar taste and a boatload of baggage was the last thing he
needed in his life. The best she could do for Craig was to set him up for
online dating so he didn’t spend his days thinking about her and wondering what
the hell was wrong with the men in her life.

***

“Why are you in such a good mood?” Melissa asked Allie. They
had just taken their seats in a crowded deli near Allie’s house. Melissa sat
back after wrestling Henry into the high chair.

“My last lesson tonight with the crazy uncle. God, I can’t
wait to be free of him.”

Melissa pursed her lips. “You’re always talking about this
guy. I think you like him.”

“What?” Allie tried to hand Henry a Cheerio from Melissa’s
brightly colored snack bowl. “Are you out of your mind?”

“I just think you spend an awful lot of time talking about
him, which means you’re spending an awful lot of time thinking about him.”

“Because he’s so annoying. Do you know what he said to me on
Tuesday when I stayed for dinner?”

“You stayed for dinner? When he annoys you so much?”

“Leah wanted me to stay. She’s worried about her new stepmom
and she’s been asking me all sorts of questions. I’m trying really hard not to
screw this up.”

“You don’t have a good relationship with Suzanne,” Melissa
pointed out.

“I know, which is why I’m trying to help her. Leah’s mom is
dead. If she and her new stepmom don’t figure out how to make this relationship
work, her teen years are going to be awful.”

“So what did he tell you on Tuesday?” Melissa asked. She
didn’t want to veer away from the subject of the not-that-attractive uncle that
was driving Allie crazy. A man who got a rise out of Allie was a rarity.

“He asked me why I online date when I could snap my fingers
and men would come running.”

Was Allie really expecting her to do anything other than
agree he’d hit the nail on the head with his assessment? “And what did you tell
him?”

“Come to think of it, I don’t think I actually answered his
question, but I started to vent about how terrible online dating is.” Allie
picked up the bowl when Henry knocked it off the table, scattering Cheerios
everywhere. “Anyway, he’s just annoying and I won’t have to deal with him again
after tonight.”

Melissa couldn’t help but stir the pot. Despite her
insistence she wasn’t attracted, Melissa knew better. “I think I know what
bothers you so much about him.”

“That he’s breathing?” Allie offered with a chuckle.

“He’s immune to you and you don’t know how to handle it.”

Allie’s mouth flew open. “What do you mean?”

“I mean he’s not swallowing his tongue whenever you’re
around. You’ve never experienced that before.”

“Oh yes, I have. Not every man on the planet is attracted to
me.”

“Yes, they are.” Melissa knew she had Allie’s attention when
her friend didn’t notice that Henry was throwing Cheerios in her hair. “At
least at first they are.”

“You mean before they get to know me?”

“I mean on sheer looks alone, all men are attracted to you.
And you know it.”

“That’s ridiculous!” Allie sputtered. “Look at Ben. We met
him at the same time and he went home with your number.”