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She’d changed out of her jeans and sweatshirt—both covered in sewn-on flowers—and into a loose top and flowing skirt that nearly touched the top of her bare feet. She was a kaleidoscope of color, causing him not to know where to look first.
There was her hair, long and flowing and curly, but pinned up on one side. Her blouse that fell off one shoulder, exposing pale, creamy skin. Her feet with painted toes and at least two toe rings. Her arms, bare except for jingling bracelets.
“So you’re back,” he said.
She closed the door behind him. “What do you mean?”
“You’ve been a little conservative since you moved here. Oh sure, you’ve been playing basketball in the halls and wearing bright colors, but not in the way I remember. This is the first time you’re exactly like you were.”
She smiled. “That’s about the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Come on,” she said, grabbing him by the arm and tugging him toward the kitchen. “I have wine and I’m going to let you be all macho and open it.”
“It’s what I live for.”
They settled in the dining room with a bottle of wine and some appetizers. Charlie retreated to an ottoman where he curled up on the cushy surface and quickly went to sleep.
“I can get him down if you want,” Jack said, jerking his head toward the dog. “He’s great, but he sheds.”
“No problem. A few dog hairs will make the condo seem more lived in. Right now it’s still too perfect.”
“And we wouldn’t want that.”
She dipped a chicken wing into spicy sauce. “Life’s beauty is found in the irregular and unexpected. Ever see a perfect waterfall? A symmetrical sunset?”
“Technically the sun goes down in the same way every—” He broke off and grinned when she swatted him with the back of her hand.
“You know what I mean,” she said. “I’m talking about the clouds, the colors and you know it.”
“Maybe.”
“My point is, dog hair is fine.”
“Great. Maybe you’d like to take over grooming him, too.”
“I wouldn’t mind it. He’s a great dog.”
“I agree.”
She sipped her wine. “I’ve noticed a bit more positive press in the past couple of days,” she said. “There were at least two mentions of the upcoming advertisers’ party. How Hanson Media Group is getting some things right.”
“I saw them, too. David is doing a hell of a job trying to counteract the negative stories.”
“You really like him.”
“In some ways he’s more like my father than George ever was. Or maybe a big brother. He’s not that much older than me. He was always there, making time in ways my father wouldn’t. Even though he traveled a lot, he kept in touch. He took the time. Sometimes that’s all that’s required.”
“I know.” She grabbed for a piece of celery. “After my father walked out, I missed him terribly. Sure there was the whole trauma of going from the rich princess to the kid in castoffs, but it was more than that. Given the choice between getting the money back and getting my father back, I would have gladly picked him. But either he didn’t get that or he didn’t care.”
“I know he walked out on your mom, but didn’t he see you at all?”
She shook her head. “One day he was just gone. That played with my head. How was I supposed to believe my father had ever loved me when he walked away and never looked back?”
She sipped her wine. “Mom was great. She really fought him. Some of it was about the child support. It’s crazy that a guy that wealthy paid almost nothing. But he could afford excellent lawyers and they knew all the tricks. As for seeing me, he would make promises and then not show up. There was always a good reason. Eventually my mom stopped pushing. She saw that it was hurting me more to hope.”
Jack couldn’t imagine what kind of man simply walked away from a child. His own father—no poster child for perfect parenting—had at least gone through the motions. He’d shown up to graduations and big events.
“It was his loss,” he said.
“Thanks. I used to tell myself that, too. Most of the time I even believed it. I grew up determined not to repeat my mother’s mistakes. I didn’t care if the guy had money, as long as I was important to him and we wanted the same things.”
Her words hit him hard. Ten years ago, he’d been that guy, but she hadn’t been willing to see that, or maybe she’d just never thought of him as more than a friend.
“Vance?” he asked.
“I thought so. He’d been married before, so he was cautious. I liked that wariness. It made sense to me. I could tell he liked me a lot, but he wanted to take things slowly and I respected that, too. In hindsight, I was an idiot.”
“In hindsight, we all are.”
“Maybe. But I was a bigger idiot. He talked about how his first wife had been obsessed with how much money he made. She wanted the best, the biggest, the newest. I decided not to be like her, so I didn’t ask for anything. It took me a while to figure out that had been his plan all along.”
Jack didn’t like the sound of that. “He set you up?”
“I think so.” She sighed. “Yes, he did. It’s hard for me to say that because it makes my choice even more crazy. He’s a cardiologist in a big, successful practice. When we talked about getting married, he was concerned about losing that. I wanted to reassure him.”
Jack grimaced. “Prenuptial?”
“Oh, yeah. I was sensible. I read the whole thing. But I didn’t bother to get a lawyer. Why spend the money? Later, I realized he’d played me. He’d made a joke that his first wife was so stupid that she wouldn’t have been able to get past the first page. But that I was really smart and would understand it all.”
She shook her head. “I don’t know if it was ego or my need to prove I wasn’t her. Either way, I did read it, but I didn’t get a lawyer to and I missed all the subtleties.”
Jack practiced criminal law, but he’d heard enough horror stories from co-workers practicing family law that he could guess the outcome.
“It wasn’t what you thought.”
“Not even close. Not only couldn’t I touch his practice or any income from it, but everything of mine was community property. I got nothing of his and he got half of mine. The only bright spot is I didn’t have a whole lot to take half of.”
He reached across the table and covered her hand with his. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I learned an important lesson. My mother used to tell me the trick was to marry a rich man and keep him. I think the real trick is to not need a man at all.”
“Speaking on behalf of my gender, we’re not all jerks.”
“I know.” She squeezed his fingers. “I blame myself as much as Vance. There were warning signs. I didn’t pay much attention to them.”
While he knew intellectually that she was right—that she did have to take some responsibility—his gut reaction was to hunt down Vance and beat the crap out of him. Talk about a low-life bastard.
“Want me to have someone look over the settlement and see if anything was missed?” he asked, suspecting she wouldn’t appreciate the offer of physical violence.
“Thanks, but I’m okay. I’m doing my best to put my past behind me. It’s been hard. Not because I’m so crazy about Vance, but because I tried to be so careful and he made a fool out of me in so many ways.”
“Which makes you naturally wary,” he said.
“Oh, yeah. Between him and my father, I’m now convinced any man I meet is out to screw me, and not in a sexual way.” She grabbed another chicken wing.
“Ah, isn’t this where you say present company excluded?” he asked.
She looked at him. “I want to. You’re a great guy, Jack. I know that.”
“But?”
“You’re still a rich, powerful man. I’m having a little trouble letting go of that fact.”
“I see your point. Here we sit, you thinking if you trust a guy he’ll take off and dump on you in the process. I’m convinced anyone I care about will leave. We’re not exactly a normal couple.”
She grinned. “I like to think there is no normal.”
“Do you believe that?”
“Sometimes. I know that I can’t be afraid forever. I’m trying to get myself back.” She tugged on the front of her blouse. “Dressing like this, for example. Vance hated my bohemian ways. He kept telling me I had to grow up.”
Jack frowned. “Your free spirit is one of your best qualities. I’m sorry he didn’t see that.”
“Me, too. But there it is. He liked me to dress a certain way, that sort of thing.”
“Controlling?”
She shrugged. “He was a cardiologist. He had an image.”
“I know lawyers like that. It gets bad for their wives after they make partner. Suddenly what was great before isn’t good enough anymore. I don’t get it.”
“That’s because you’re reasonable. Not everyone is.” She released his hand and leaned back in her chair. “Now that you know the basic story of my pathetic divorce, I hope you’ll understand why I’m becoming the queen of mixed messages where you’re concerned. I know my past doesn’t excuse my actions. I don’t expect it to. I just hope you’ll understand and accept my apology.”
He stared at her. Until that second he’d never considered there was a reason for her behavior that had nothing to do with him.
“What?” she asked. “You have the strangest look on your face.”
He shook his head. “I was just thinking that you being cautious around me was about you, not me. On the heels of that I realized I can’t separate myself from who I am. I come from a wealthy family, I have a challenging, professional career. I am, on the surface, a walking, breathing manifestation of everything you’re not looking for.”
“Exactly.”
At least she was being honest, he thought grimly. “A lot for us to overcome,” he said, going for a light tone of voice. “I guess I should stop trying so hard.”
She winced. “I feel really horrible. You’ve been nothing but nice to me. And before, in grad school, I loved us being close. You were terrific. I know in my head that you’d never hurt me.”
“It’s the rest of you that can’t be convinced,” he said.
“Yeah. But I’ve also decided it would be a good thing for me to face my fears.”
While he liked the sound of that, he wasn’t sure why she should bother. “You don’t have to.”
“It’s the mature thing to do and I like to think of myself as mature. I want us to be friends.”
Great. So much for making progress. “We are friends.”
“I’m glad. I really love my job and I don’t want to blow this opportunity.”
“You won’t,” he told her.
“I hope not. It’s just that …” She pressed her lips together and looked at him.
In any other woman, he would swear he was being given an invitation. But with Samantha? He wasn’t sure. Better to stay on the safe side of the road.
“Remember that time we were studying in the park and that woman’s dog got away from her?” he asked. “She was running around calling for him and you said we had to help.”
She grinned. “Yes. And you told me that a dog would never come to strangers so I said we had to tempt it with food. So we went to that butcher and bought bones.”
He’d felt like an idiot, he thought, but he’d been with Samantha so he hadn’t cared.
“There we were, running around, calling for a dog and throwing bones around. Every stray in a three-mile radius started following us.”
“It was sad,” she said. “I felt so badly for those dogs.”
“You felt badly? You’re the one who insisted we find a rescue place for them. Then it was my car we crammed them into. Of course you hadn’t realized that dogs like to mark what they think of as new territory.”
She winced. “I felt really horrible about the smell, but the dogs got adopted. So that’s something.”
“Unfortunately none of the new owners was willing to buy my smelly car.”
He’d been forced to get rid of it for practically nothing. Still, it had been worth it, he thought, remembering how happy she’d been about the dogs.
She leaned close. “Doesn’t taking the moral high ground ease some of the financial sting?”
“Not as much as you’d think,” he said, finding his gaze riveted on her mouth.
Dumb idea, he told himself. On a scale of one to ten, ten being somewhere between stupid and idiotic, this was a twelve.
But there was something about the way she smiled and the light in her eyes. Something that spoke of promise and desire.
Hadn’t he always been an idiot where she was concerned?
He shifted toward her and lightly touched her cheek with his fingers. He thought that if he gave her plenty of warning, she would have time to bolt before he kissed her.
But she didn’t. Instead she parted her lips slightly and drew in a quick breath.
He took that as a yes and kissed her.
