Father Formula

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He pushed in his chair. “Not at all. They do a good job for what they are. If you don’t want to make adjustments to light or shutter speed or anything, they’re good enough. Where are you off to now?”

Alexis felt a hopeful little stir inside her. The time spent with the McKeons had been warm and cozy, and her enjoyment of them with Trevyn made her feel less alone. He might be part of her family soon. She had to learn to get along with him.

“Nowhere in particular,” she replied casually. “I’ve just been taking pictures.”

“My studio’s in an interesting old building.” He pushed the door open for her. “Want to see it? I rented it before I left for Canada, but now I have to decide how to make it appealing to customers. I’ve got to be open in a couple of weeks if I’m going to get any of the Christmas trade. Thank you for dropping the McKeons in my lap, by the way.”

“Sure.” She stepped outside into the cool, overcast day. “You know, Gusty’s the one who should see your studio,” she said. “She has a gift for decorating. Her home and her classroom are always very inviting.”

He gave her a thin smile as she unfastened the dog, who snatched the bite of cookie out of her hand while she worked. “Decorating’s not one of your strengths?”

She shook her head as they started down the street, the dog taking the point, tail wagging happily. “I live in a small apartment with a gorgeous view, but spend most of my time at a studio that I share with several other artists. Consequently, except for the occasional milk bottle of fresh flowers, I don’t do too much to decorate.”

“Isn’t it hard to be that far from home? Or is it home now?”

“I’m comfortable there,” she replied, “and feel as though I belong, but home will always be where my sisters are. I get most lonely when I catch cold or get the flu. It makes me revert to childish whining and carrying on. Our mother was never much of a nurse, but Aunt Sadie was.”

“I remember getting some tropical bug on a CIA job in Malaysia. I was sure I was going to die, though all the natives assured me it was nothing. I’ve never missed home as much as I did then.”

“Does Dancer’s Beach feel like home now?” she asked.

“I love the place. But I can’t live on Dave’s property forever, especially now that he’s married. I’ve spotted this house in the cove, a sort of bungalow-style with lots of angles and windows. It’s on a little knoll surrounded by trees. If it ever comes up for sale, it’s mine. Then this will really be home.”

“Any siblings?”

“Just me.” He stopped in front of an Italianate building on the corner fronted by a series of arches. Within each arch was a storefront. The second one was Trevyn’s.

He pulled a key out of his pocket, unlocked the door and reached an arm in to flip on the lights. Then he stepped back to let her in first.

TREVYN LIKED THE SMELL of the place, clean but old, disinfectant mingled with the musty smell of the building that had been here at the turn of the century. A theater in the middle was flanked by three shops on each side.

It was a large, open space with plank-wide strips of fir making up the wooden floors. The white walls had grown dingy, but two ornate light fixtures, each with half a dozen crenellated tulip shades, hung from the ceiling, obviously left over from the building’s earlier employment.

Alexis seemed to like it. She walked into the middle of the room, looked up at the chandeliers and smiled, doing a tight turn under one of them as though imagining herself in a performance.

“The chandeliers lend a lot of charm,” she said, then glanced at him with a smile before going to the wall that connected the shop to the next one. “And people who are charmed undoubtedly show it in their faces when they pose.”

Now that was an angle that hadn’t occurred to him.

She rubbed her fingertips gently over the wall.

“It’s ten feet high and thirty feet long. It’s going to be a decorating problem, I know. I guess my only recourse will be to hang portraits all over it.”

She considered that, then turned and wandered along the other two walls. The front had a large display window, but the other had light switches, a fuse box, a wall telephone and built-in shelves. “Wouldn’t they be better in the window? And your counter will have to go here where the phone is. You still have quite a bit of wall space to display portraits and customers can admire your work while they’re asking for information.”

She looked avid, he thought. As though she were really interested in what he planned to do. But her eyes kept going back to the long blank wall.

“You told me you weren’t much of a decorator,” he teased, “yet you’re thinking like one.”

She put the flat of her hand to the wall as though feeling for something. “No, I’m not,” she said, giving him a glance over her shoulder. “I’m thinking like a muralist.”

A mural. Another angle he hadn’t considered.

He went to where she stood and tried to imagine the wall painted with…what?

“You mean like one of those trompe l’oeil things you see in Architectural Digest?”

“No.” She took a step back and ran her eyes the length of the wall. He guessed she was seeing images. “I’m not sure. Something appropriate to a photo studio. Maybe old scenes of Dancer’s Beach. Certainly someone must have some. Or a sort of montage of portraits interspersed with landmarks. Or maybe just the stretch of beach.” She took a few steps along the wall and stopped. “The dancers just walking on the beach in white lace and parasols.” She smiled, apparently warming to her own idea. “You know, to represent a time when they knew they were safe, maybe already falling in love.”

He couldn’t quite picture it, but he liked the idea. “And you can do this?” he asked.

She came out of the trance the wall had inspired suddenly and looked at him in surprise. “Me?”

He shifted his weight and folded his arms. “I don’t imagine there are too many muralists in Dancer’s Beach.”

“But we’d be confined in the same space,” she argued, “and you hate me.” Then she frowned as though she hadn’t intended to say that aloud.

He laughed softly. “Not all the time,” he said, knowing an outright denial would not have rung true. They’d had some fairly combative moments since their unfortunate meeting in the dark kitchen. “Or are you afraid you can’t coexist with me long enough to get it done?”

“I am,” she admitted candidly. “Half the time I want to kill you, and the other half…”

She stopped, apparently thinking better of whatever she’d been about to say. For an instant, he wanted to know what that was more than he wanted anything.

“And the other half?” he asked.

She met his gaze and held it. She made no sound, but he swore he could almost hear the words forming in her mind.