Wayward Dreams (8 page)

“Please, I've fallen out of enough trees to last me for a lifetime.” Bianca made a rude sound with her mouth and turned her eyes to the passenger-side window. “I need a man like I need a hole in my head.”

Julia couldn't take it. “You really don't want to talk about it?”

“I really don't.”

“Bianca…”

“Give it a rest, Julia. I was wrong about him. I've been wrong before.” Bianca wrenched the car door open and stepped out. Hefting her purse, she walked purposefully back into the dim confines of Vive la Reine.

“Then we'll have to see what we can do to get it right next time,” Julia promised softly, following her sister back into the shop.

CHAPTER 5

“April showers may bring May flowers, but they're bringing nothing but aggravation this morning,” Bianca fussed, easing the Jaguar past a large UPS truck. Oblivious to blocked traffic, the driver swung down from the truck and raised the rear door. Climbing in, he ignored the honking horns and shouts from other drivers, as well as Bianca's narrow swerve around the truck.

“Praise Jesus,” she muttered when she found the parking lot on her left. Pulling into a parking slot, she cut the ignition, and fell back in her seat, trying to relax. “I'm going to have to add the frustration of this traffic to the cost of my free rent, and…” The tap at her window cut off the thought.

A man dressed head to toe in rain gear stared through the window. He made a cranking motion with his hand. “Five,” he said, when she eased the window open. “Five to park here.”

Lord, please let monthly parking be included in my free rent.
Bianca reluctantly extracted a five from her purse and passed it to the man. He gave her a soggy ticket, and she dropped it on the dashboard before turning to pull her rain hat and raincoat from the backseat, glad they had not been left in storage with the rest of her belongings.

Digging deeper into the contents of her back seat, she found a ruffled pink umbrella. Pulling it free, she opened her car door and opened it into a gust of wind that caught it and flipped it inside out, before snatching it from her hand. A second blast of wind sent it sailing into the street and beneath the wheels of a passing car.

Praying her hat wouldn't meet a similar fate, she clamped a hand down on it as she climbed out of the car and started walking. Half a block away, her cellphone rang. Digging it out of her purse, she nearly fell over a crack in the sidewalk as she answered.

“It's me, Julia. I'm caught in traffic, ten minutes away, fifteen at the most.”

“Well, I'm here now.” Bianca crossed the street and looked up at the sign on the building in front of her. “I'm at the Children's Museum.”

“Yeah, that's downstairs. Wait inside, out of the rain, and I'll see you in a few minutes.”

Stepping through the building's tall glass doors, Bianca was a little surprised to find she really was in a children's museum. Looking around, seeing the scaled-down exhibits, the brightly colored walls, and the excited little people, she couldn't help smiling.

The tug at her raincoat made her look down to find a child watching her. Small, round, and brown, the little girl didn't look as though she planned to let go of the coat, even when the woman in charge of the children called to her.

“I can't get the ducks,” she said. “My teacher, Miss Janice, is busy. Can you help me?”

“Oh, Ella, don't bother the lady.” The slender woman walked closer and reached for the hand of another little girl.

“It's not a bother,” Bianca said, pleasantly surprised to find that she meant it.

“If you're sure…” Miss Janice didn't look totally convinced.

“Really, I don't mind.”

“You'll help me get a duck?” The little girl looked over her shoulder at her teacher, then back up at Bianca, her quick motion setting her pink-and-white barrettes swinging.

“I can help her. I don't mind.”

Pointing back at the children laughing around a small pond, the little girl's expression was urgent. “I know how to count, but I can't get the duck by myself.”

“Where are the ducks?”

“Over here.” The child pulled at the raincoat again. When Bianca was slow to move, the little girl loosened her grip. “Oh,” she said, “are you not supposed to talk to strangers? Miss Janice says talking to strangers is dangerous. I'm not dangerous. My name is Ella. What's your name?”

“Bianca.”

“Binaca. That's pretty. Now you're not a stranger. You can help me get the duck, okay?”

Not bothering to correct her, Bianca followed Ella across the high-ceilinged room. Still holding onto Bianca's raincoat, Ella marched over to a wall of yellow plastic raincoats and selected one.

She pulled the slicker over her pink blouse and pants, and looked up. “You have to wear this, because it gets wet when you get the ducks.” She eyed Bianca's coat and decided that it would serve. Reaching up, she took Bianca's hand and towed her over to a rack filled with tiny fishing rods. She took one and looked up at Bianca again, measuring.

“Are you a mommy or a kid?”

“Not quite either.” Bianca grinned and lifted a reassuring hand when the teacher drifted close again.

“Miss Janice says these are only for kids.” Unwilling to break or bend the rules, Ella looked concerned, then brightened. “I know. I'll get a duck for you.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Ella explained the game quickly: Each child selected a fishing pole with a number on it, and then had to catch that many ducks. When the number of ducks caught matched the number on the pole, the child got a prize. Five minutes later, she was on her knees helping the little girl to cast her line into the floating raft of plastic ducks.

Six was the number on Ella's pole, and Ella really wanted a prize, so she fished while Bianca cheered her on and held the captured ducks.

“Six,” Ella screamed, throwing her chubby arms around Bianca's neck. On her knees, Bianca hugged back and enjoyed the warm little girl scent of candy and something else sweet until Ella squirmed free and ran across the floor cradling all six ducks to show her teacher.

“Having fun, little girl?”

Recognizing Julia's voice, Bianca reached out for an assist. On her feet, she nodded and adjusted her coat. “You were late and I had to find a way to occupy myself.”

“Aw, you know you liked it.”

“Yeah, I did.” Across the room, Ella danced from foot to foot as she received her prize. “She caught six ducks,” Bianca said.

“She looks happy. So do you.”

“Why wouldn't I be?” Bianca offered her sister a sidelong glance that suggested caution. “I'm about to move into a great condo in a beautiful building.”

“Bye, Binaca,” Ella called. Raising her hand to wave back, Bianca thought her name had never sounded sweeter.

Julia held her tongue until they were standing shoulder-to-shoulder in the elevator. “Looks like you made a new friend—
Binaca
.”

Eyes straight ahead, Bianca couldn't stop smiling. “She had a little problem pronouncing my name, but she was cute, wasn't she?”

“Adorable.” Julia scanned her sister's attire. “And I see you're dressed for playtime.”

Pulling her raincoat open, Bianca looked down at her jeans and Atlanta Falcons shirt. “I'm dressed for moving. I didn't know I would wind up in the Children's Museum.” Julia just smiled.

The elevator opened on the eighth floor, and Julia led the way out into the hall. Stopping in front of a unit six doors away from the elevator, she slipped the key into the door. When the door swung open, she handed the key to her sister, and stepped inside. “What do you think?”

Polished hardwood floors, subdued overhead lighting, spacious rooms opening off the entry, a kitchen big enough to eat in. What was there not to like, Bianca thought, touching the marble counters. No way was this place a step down from anything, one bedroom though it was. Facing east, from where she stood in the living room, she could see Stone Mountain, a view not unlike the one from KPayne's living room and bedrooms.

This view is better, and I'm glad to have it. Julia promised that nobody was going to dump me out of here and I believe her. Why did it take so long for me to work up the nerve to call her? Why did it take so long for me to trust her? I trusted KPayne almost immediately—for all the good it did me.

S
he continued down the hall, going from the living room to the bedroom. Opening closet doors, she was pleased to find deep walk-in closets, and a shiver of delight coursed down her spine. Walking back to the living room, Bianca turned thumbs-up to her sister. “I'm going to be paying you rent for a long time. I love this place.”

Julia looked up from where she sat on the floor in front of the windows with her cellphone in her hand. “You really like it?”

Spreading her arms, Bianca dropped to the floor beside her. “Love it.”

“Then why do you sound like that? A little…I don't know…sad.”

“I'm not sad.” Her stomach growled and she dug deep into her purse to find a candy bar and offered half to Julia, who eagerly seized it. Munching chocolate in companionable silence, they sat on the floor watching the rain. “You know that monkey quote you like so much? The one about monkeys falling out of trees?”

Savoring the candy, Julia licked her fingers. “
Saru mo ki kara ochiru
?
”

“That's the one. I didn't tell you, but I came close to forgiving KPayne a few days ago and I had to ask myself: am I really that pitiful? Why doesn't my heart understand what a bum he is? That I deserve better?”

“Old habits are hard to break,” Julia said softly. “But here's the thing, why has he got to be a bum?” Flinching when Bianca's eyes raked her, she raised her hands defensively. “Hey, don't shoot the messenger. I'm just saying…”

“I know what you're saying. We were together for six months, and that was long enough for me to see him for what he is. A bum.”

“Then what does that make you?” Julia asked, raising her hands again. “I'm just asking…”

“You think I haven't already called myself fifty flavors of foolish? Here I am, stuck on stupid and totally dependent upon you because I trusted a man to do for me. Because I let myself believe I deserved…Never again,” she finally said. “And, since we're doing this sister thing, don't you have to be on my side?”

“This is not about taking sides. He did what he did and I'm not saying you don't deserve better, because you do. I'm just asking: Did he ever want what you wanted? If he didn't, he's not a bum. Maybe he's immature and selfish, maybe he's irresponsible and callous, maybe he's just an evil son of Satan and his mother dresses him funny, but none of that makes him a bum,” Julia said. “You gave him six months. Maybe he just got to be a habit. So did you ever tell him what you really wanted? In life? In a man? In a marriage?”

“More than six months, that's for sure. What makes you think I wanted to marry him?”

“You were with him for six months. That's time invested. You stayed for a reason, right?”

“Never thought of it in those terms. I wasted enough time with him to know what I really do want.” Interest stirred in Julia's eyes. “Don't look at me like that.”

“Don't blame me…”

“I'm not blaming anyone, I just know what I want.” Bianca felt the weight of Julia's words. “There is no one to blame because I want someone to grow old with. Whoever the right man for me is, I want to hold his hand and know that his is empty without mine. I want us to sit and eat ice cream together. I want our children to bring our grandchildren back to the home they grew up in. I want a life.”

“Sounds nice…” The knock on the door cut Julia off. “Movers,” she said, going to the door with her sister hard on her heels. She swung the door wide and stood back as a burly quartet of men in damp jeans and T-shirts trooped past, hauling furniture into the condo.

“Where do you want this?” The speaker stood behind an upended strawberry-colored sofa on a hand truck, and his voice was low, compelling, and almost ridiculously male. When he stepped forward, he owned the space and generally sucked the air out of the hall.

Noting her sister's suddenly languid finger sweep through her tousled curls, Bianca almost laughed out loud. Tempting as homemade sin, with all the swagger in the western world, there was no name on the dreadlocked man's shirt, but Bianca was fairly sure she could name him:
Tall and Gorgeous, and definitely trouble
.

She could feel trouble steaming off him in sensuous waves and he certainly looked wildly sexy and dangerous. Looking up at him, she caught his eyes skimming her sister's face and body before arrowing in on hers. Caught in the act, his smile admitted game and his brief perusal became a bold and claiming stare.

Mister, you don't know me like that,
Bianca thought. “It's going in the living room.”

When her eyes refused his invitation, Tall and Gorgeous lifted his head, and his face caught just enough light to accentuate his heavy-lidded bedroom eyes, high cheekbones, wide full-lipped mouth, and perfect skin beneath the hall lights. He was more than just good-looking and he knew it.

Tall and Gorgeous tilted his head and raised a hand to throw a heavy sheaf of dread-locked hair over his shoulder, and Julia sighed. Bianca shot her besotted sister a glare; the woman was grinning like a fool.
One of us has to act like she has some sense.
She jabbed Julia with her elbow and stepped back. “Over there,” she said, pointing. “You can put it in front of the window.”

Finding a place on the sofa, Julia was content to sit with her legs crossed and the grin pasted on her face, watching Tall and Gorgeous. When Tall and Gorgeous walked in with an upholstered chair, the muscles in his arms and chest rippling, she was visibly pleased.

“Act like you've seen a man before,” Bianca whispered.

“I am.” Julia propped her elbow on the sofa's cushioned arm and smiled dreamily. “I know what I like, and I'm just enjoying seeing him in action. You should take advantage of the moment and enjoy him, too.”

“I've already told you I'm not interested in any more Men of the Moment.” Tall and Gorgeous walked by carrying a headboard and Bianca felt his eyes strafe her again.

“So pretty,” Julia murmured.

“Pretty doesn't last.”

“So bitter.” Julia's eyes touched her sister's, then followed Tall and Gorgeous.