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“That’s absurd.”
“Is it?”
* * *
AARON WAS ANNOYED as Skylar left; her reply hadn’t made any sense. Maybe he didn’t have George’s commitment to Cooper Industries, but he didn’t hate the company. And he didn’t hate Cooperton. Sure, he didn’t have the greatest childhood memories of the small town, but that didn’t mean he was out to destroy it.
Belatedly he realized he should have walked Skylar to her car and hurried outside in time to see her drive away in the old truck he’d often seen at the Nibble Nook.
Frowning, he headed for home himself. Melanie was sixteen, not six, and leaving her alone wasn’t irresponsible...yet somehow it felt irresponsible, having to be reminded that staying late for a business meeting wasn’t necessarily the best idea.
By Skylar, no less.
Skylar.
Aaron shook his head. As a teenager she’d gotten under his skin with her curvaceous body and wild nature, and now she was still bothering him in other ways.
CHAPTER FOUR
KARIN LAY ON her bed looking at her geometry textbook. Algebra was all right, but this junk about points and lines and angles was so easy it was boring. Still, if she was going to be a great scientist and save lives someday, she’d better pay attention. She wasn’t sure where geometry fit into being a scientist, but it must somehow. After geometry she had to take trigonometry and calculus, which sounded just as dull. She liked chemistry and other science courses the best.
Closing the book, she grabbed her smartphone and dialed Melanie’s number. Honestly, how did anyone survive in the dark ages without cell phones? It must have been awfully primitive.
“Hi,” Mellie answered. “Is your mom still gone?”
“Yeah, she said the meeting would go late.”
“It might be over. Aaron just got home, and he doesn’t look happy.”
“Does he ever look happy?” Karin couldn’t remember a single time when Mellie’s brother wasn’t acting pissed or disapproving.
“Sometimes he isn’t so bad.”
Karin heard the front door open and close. “Mom’s back, too,” she said. “See you tomorrow.” With a hurried “bye” she turned off the smartphone.
Her mother was in the kitchen putting the teakettle on to heat. “Sorry, it took longer than I expected.”
Karin shrugged. “It’s not like I need a babysitter or anything. Mellie told me that her brother was going to the meeting. What did Mr. Hollister want?”
“Just some city council business. You’ll probably hear about it in a few days.”
Uh-oh. Now her mom seemed uptight and not very happy, either. Darn it, anyhow. Karin was glad that Mellie had come to Cooperton and she wouldn’t be here if her brother wasn’t here, too, but why did he have to be so awful? The kids at school were always talking about Aaron because their parents worked at the factory and hated him. Jill Vittorino’s dad was the mayor, and she said that her father was worried that Aaron Hollister might even move the company to another place where they didn’t have to pay workers as much.
“Is everything okay?” she asked cautiously.
“It’s fine. Did you get your homework done?”
“Define done.”
Her mother rolled her eyes. “Stop imitating that actor on Psych or I’m taking your television away until you’re thirty. You know perfectly well what I meant.”
Karin giggled. “It’s done. Even geometry.”
“Good. Parent–teacher conferences are coming up, and I don’t want to be asked why you aren’t doing your assignments.”
Karin laughed again, but an odd thought occurred to her. “What if I was flunking? What would you do?”
“Are you flunking?”
“No, I just wondered. Kids flunk, you know. Susan Lightoller is real smart, but she’s blowing calculus, and everybody knows that Tiffany Baldwin got an F in English last year.”
“From what you’ve said about Tiffany, I’m surprised she isn’t failing all of her classes. It sounds as if she spends most of her time doing her hair and makeup and flirting with boys.”
The kettle whistled and Karin fidgeted as her mom made a cup of tea. “So what would you do if I was getting F’s? Like...ground me or something?”
“I would try to find out why you were failing. There’s a difference between not trying to do the work, and having trouble with it. If you were having trouble, I’d get a tutor to help.”
“And if I was just goofing off?”
“I’d ground you for life. We don’t do things halfway in this family.”
We don’t do things halfway in this family.
Karin gulped. She hadn’t heard that since her dad had died. It was something he used to say when they were having a special load of fun. He’d say something like, “You want a second ice cream cone, don’t you? We don’t do things halfway in this family.” Hearing it now made her feel both sad and good.
“Okay. I’m going to get ready for bed.”
She practically ran to her bedroom, blinking to keep from crying and making her mom cry, too.
* * *
SKYLAR TRACED THE steaming rim of her mug, thinking about the past. At eighteen she’d been determined to raise Karin alone—scared, but determined. Then Jimmie had asked her to marry him, and she’d loved him so much she had finally agreed. Now she was back to doing it alone, with a grieving teenager to boot.
It was awful not knowing how to help Karin. They’d talked with a grief counselor, yet there were times when it seemed as if her daughter was hurting more now than in the first months after losing her father. Maybe it would get better after the pennant race and World Series was over.
And now Aaron was back in Cooperton, complicating matters.
Perhaps she should have explained to Karin why he’d been at the meeting. Her classmates might start talking about it, and they’d soon know her mother was responsible for deciding whether he did or didn’t get approval.
It still astonished Skylar. She would never have guessed the city council was capable of such creative maneuvering; perhaps they were better politicians than she’d thought. Of course, since they couldn’t know the history she shared with Aaron, they’d likely figured it was the best solution all around. Yet it was going to take a huge amount of work to do the thing right—the zoning question alone bothered her. She hated seeing farmland being covered by roads and buildings.
But Chet and the others were right about one thing—a big chunk of the Nibble Nook’s customers were Cooper Industries employees. She might be able to stay in business if the company shut down, but what would the town do? You couldn’t suddenly throw hundreds of people out of work without having a major impact on everyone. The town might not survive, which meant that no matter what she didn’t like about Aaron’s plans for expansion, she’d probably have to give her approval.
At least she hadn’t been the only one blindsided by the city council. The look on Aaron’s face had been priceless, both when he’d realized she was a member, and then when he learned he would have to deal with her to get what he wanted.
Skylar’s tea had long cooled by the time she followed Karin to bed. She still hadn’t decided how she was going to handle Aaron’s proposal. It wouldn’t be so bad if it was anyone else, but their personal history aside, she didn’t have any faith in his concern for anyone except himself.
* * *
THE NEXT MORNING Aaron was driving Melanie to school when she cleared her throat.
“Uh...Aaron, Karin and I want to go to the movies tomorrow. There’s a Matt Damon flick playing. The Saturday matinee starts at 12:20 and afterward we thought we’d go for pizza before the baseball game starts. Is that okay?”
Instant refusal hovered on his lips. Aside from Karin Gibson’s mother, he didn’t have anything against the teenager, but Skylar was the problem, along with the general undesirability of his sister hanging out at a place like the Nibble Nook. On the other hand, he didn’t have any reason to think Skylar was still the outrageous troublemaker she used to be.
Aaron thought fast. “Actually, I’d like to spend more time with you and thought we could go to San Francisco tomorrow. It’s close enough for a day trip if we leave early in the morning.”
Melanie’s hopeful smile vanished. “But you’ve been planning to work at the office. You know, I could have gone to the movies without telling you that Karin was going to be there, too. But I asked, just like Mother says I’m supposed to.”
True enough. He ought to be grateful that his sister was being honest. And he was grateful. Taking her for the year had filled him with concern.... What if she got on drugs when she was in his care, or something equally bad, simply because he didn’t know the right thing to say or do? He’d never considered having children, much less how to deal with a teenager, so it was uncharted territory for him.
“Wouldn’t you like to see San Francisco instead?” he urged. “It’s a beautiful place and quite different from other cities you’ve visited like Paris and London. We could eat crab and fresh sourdough bread on Fisherman’s Wharf and get ice cream at Ghirardelli Square. Maybe we would even go out to Alcatraz Island and take a tour of the old prison. They say it’s haunted. You have all those DVDs of that Ghost Hunters television reality show, so I know you’re interested in that sort of thing.”
Melanie shook her head. “I’d rather see a movie with Karin. Please say yes, Aaron. I’ve never had a friend like her before. That’s better than San Francisco.”
Aaron glanced at his sister. Her eyes were wistful, and regret went through him. In one of their arguments Skylar had accused him of not caring about Melanie. He’d reacted angrily, maybe because he knew that it was partly true in the beginning—he had mostly looked out for his sister because it seemed the right thing to do. Now he was growing fond of her, and it was hard to think of her unstable childhood, being sent from one household to another. She had lived in a number of glamorous places, yet she’d never had a real friend.
“All right,” he said slowly. “You can spend the afternoon with Karin.”
Melanie’s delighted smile made him sigh—he would have agreed to practically anything after seeing that sad look on her face. Hell, maybe he should even consider keeping her until she graduated.
He stopped in front of the high school. “Have a good day.”
“You, too.” She gave him an impulsive kiss on the cheek and got out.
Aaron watched her disappear inside the old building. The high school hadn’t changed much since he was a kid. It was like everything in Cooperton, old-fashioned and tired. The whole town needed a facelift...or a funeral.
He drove on and as he passed the Nibble Nook, decided to stop and see if Skylar was available. She’d claimed she would call in a few days to set up a time to meet, but he didn’t want it turning into weeks or months.
At least two dozen customers were eating at the picnic tables, and more waited in line at the window. The scent of coffee and food wafted through the air and there was a babble of cheerful conversation. Yet as Aaron got out of the Mercedes and approached, the chatter faded into watchful silence. At a guess, a number of the customers were Cooper Industry employees—probably from the night shift, eating breakfast after getting off work. They must have recognized him.
Well, hell.
He didn’t intend to justify his decisions, no matter how unpopular they might be. They were necessary to keep the company afloat and to preserve jobs, though he wasn’t entirely sure why he cared if the business survived. At the same time, the hostile atmosphere heightened his concerns about Melanie being around people who so plainly disliked him. That was one of the problems with small towns: you couldn’t get away from the people who knew you.
“Good morning,” he said when he got to the front window. “Is Mrs. Gibson here?”
“No, sir. Skylar is picking up a load of produce, but she should be back soon.” The tall young man smiled, a pleasant contrast to the sullen customers in the eating area. “Would you like to order something?”
“Sure.” Aaron hadn’t gone to a hamburger stand since he was a teenager, but he looked at the breakfast menu and ordered the spicy breakfast burrito and a cup of “special brew” coffee, whatever the hell that pretended to be. The prices seemed excellent, and the amount of food the server passed through the window was generous.
He went to the Mercedes to eat, and his first surprise was the coffee. He’d figured it would taste like pencil shavings, despite being billed as a “special brew.” Instead it was rich and boldly flavored.
As for the burrito...Aaron took a bite and his eyes widened. It was stuffed with bacon, cheese, eggs, green chilies and potatoes and was absolutely delicious. The flavor reminded him of the breakfast burritos he’d eaten in Santa Fe where he and Matt had managed to meet up one weekend. Aaron liked Matt; he just wished his brother hadn’t followed in their father’s playboy footsteps.
When he finished eating, he phoned Peggy and told her that something had come up and he would be later than expected. He settled back with his coffee, keeping an eye on the traffic from the road. Customers came and went, and it wasn’t long before the old truck he’d seen Skylar driving the previous night arrived and pulled around to the rear of the building.
He followed and found Skylar putting down the tailgate of the truck. The cashier who’d helped Aaron earlier had come out and was talking to her.
“Here he is,” said the young man.
She looked up and her expression turned chilly. “Did you need something, Mr. Hollister?”
Suddenly Aaron’s plan to push for a meeting time to discuss Cooper Industries didn’t seem like the best idea. Antagonizing her wouldn’t help his cause, though he suspected he was already screwed after their clashes over his sister. Skylar wasn’t likely to put her personal feelings aside to make a rational decision.
“Melanie mentioned she has plans to see a movie with your daughter tomorrow afternoon. Sharing a pizza was also discussed.”
Skylar nodded. “They’ve been talking about it.”
“I thought you should know that I told her she can go.”
“You’re okay with it?”
Aaron could tell that Skylar had expected him to refuse and felt like a fraud. He’d tried to talk Melanie into a trip to San Francisco instead of going with her friend—essentially a bribe. It spoke well of his sister that she’d chosen Karin, even if it wasn’t what he had wanted.
“I’d prefer her spending less time at the Nibble Nook, but a movie sounded all right,” he replied frankly. “And I could see how much it meant to her. I’ll make sure she has cash for both the movie and food.”
“Oh, that’s something I’ve been meaning to bring up... Stop giving Melanie fifty-dollar bills to use. It makes her conspicuous. If she needs to carry so much money, give her tens or twenties and have her tuck most of them out of sight in different places in her wallet or purse so it isn’t obvious how much she’s got.”
Aaron didn’t appreciate the obvious being pointed out to him, but she was right. Somebody might get tempted by the idea of easy cash.
“I should have thought it through better,” he admitted grudgingly. “I’ve just been giving her whatever’s in my wallet, and I know my father sends her cash in large bills. I’ll tell Melanie to have me change it into smaller denominations.”
Skylar lifted a crate of lettuce and handed it to her employee. “Thanks, Peter. You should get back inside. I heard more cars arrive out front.”
When they were alone, she dusted her hands. “Why didn’t you just call and leave a message about okaying the girls’ plans? Aren’t you too busy for this kind of personal contact?”
Was that a subtle criticism, or was he just being overly sensitive?
“I was driving past on my way to the office and decided to stop. I’m not familiar with the appropriate protocols for dealing with a teenager.”
“Whatever.” She hopped back into the truck bed and shoved a stack of boxes closer to the tailgate, a healthy flush of color in her cheeks.
One thing Aaron had to say for Skylar, she worked hard. He just wasn’t sure of anything else when it came to her—while she may have changed since her disreputable high-school days, he had a hard time trusting people in general, and women in particular. Ironically, his father seemed to be the opposite. S. S. Hollister was an eternal optimist, always on the lookout for romance.
It was his children who’d learned to be wary of marriage and relationships.
“Don’t you have employees to handle the heavy lifting?” Aaron asked, resisting an impulse to help. She must do this sort of thing every day; she didn’t need him.
“They’re busy. When things are quieter midmorning, I’ll have them slice the onions and tomatoes and wash lettuce for the lunch crowd. We want our ingredients to be fresh.”
“We?”
Her expression went blank. “Saying we is a habit. I ran this business with my husband for more than a decade, and he’s only been gone a year.”
Aaron wasn’t sure how to respond. He’d been noticing how well Skylar filled out her jeans and T-shirt—slim, yet sweetly curved in all the right places—only to be reminded she was a widow.
“I see,” he said awkwardly. “Well, I’ll go, since you’re obviously busy. You’ll call when we can get together to talk about my expansion plans?”
