Roast beef? Im starved! Drew ran on ahead, food being his number one priority in a three-way tie with video games and sports.
My stomachs fine now, Leslie said, but Im more interested in holding Abigail than eating.
Maybe after dinner. Shes taking her evening nap. I dont want to disturb her routine.
Kenzie stumbled as she stepped up onto the front porch. Ann had managed to instill a routine in a five-month-old? Amazing. Kenzies recollection of the twins first year was blurred, but theyd practically never sleptat least, not at the same time.
Should Kenzie seek her sisters parenting advice on how to deal with Drews recent moodiness? Ann was certainly a solution-finder by nature. But any conversation about Drews anger would inevitably lead to a discussion of Kenzies ex-husband, Mick Green, absentee father and Aspiring Musician. He always talked about his dream as if it deserved capital letters.
Once, Mackenzie had been his biggest fan, a dewy-eyed teenager who just knew she was marrying the next Springsteen. Mick and Macgag. Looking back with adult hindsight, she would call their marriage the biggest mistake shed ever made, except for one thingwell, two actually. Whatever else hed failed to provide, Mick had given her the twins.
Even when Drew was glowering and Leslie was tossing her cookies, Kenzie loved them fiercely. The thought steadied her. Her little family could handle this transitional period.
Yesterdays mistakes had yielded todays blessingsand tomorrow stretched ahead of them, full of promise.
NEED HELP? The man addressing Kenzie had an intriguing voicesort of low and growly, yet not unpleasant.
His tone, though, was laced with so much skepticism, as if she were clearly beyond help, that Kenzie wondered why hed offered. Maybe it just seemed like the thing to do since she, a torn cardboard box and all of the boxs former contents blocked his path. Her groan stemmed from equal parts embarrassment and sore muscles.
Glancing up from her sprawled position in the stairwell, she got her first good look at the potential knight in armor. Paint-stained denim and cotton, if you wanted to be literal, which she did. The new-and-improved practical Kenzie couldnt afford flights of fancy.
Then stop staring at this guy like hes the mystical embodiment of your fantasies.
Frankly, it had been too long since shed had a decent fantasy, but if she had, it would look like him. Thick, dark hair, silver-gray eyes, strong jaw and broad, inviting shoulders. None of which were as relevant as her still being on her butt. She got to her feetmore or less.
As if she were having an out-of-body experience, she watched her wet sneaker slide across a piece of debristhe plaster head of a panda, she realized as she fell backward. The handsome stranger grabbed her elbow. Large hands, roughened skin. Since he was theoretically saving her from ignominious death in a dingy stairwell, she could forgive the lack of a delicate touch. The way her luck was running this morning, she would have broken her neck if he hadnt come along.
The man shook his head. Lady. Was the undertone exasperation or amusement? Hard to tell from the single word.
Its Kenzie, she said, grabbing the stair rail with both hands. Kenzie Green. And thank you.
No problem. Hed stepped back, either to keep from crushing her belongings under his work boots or simply to avoid her rain-soaked aura of doom.
She grimaced at the mess that covered half a dozen stairs. The coasters she was always admonishing the kids to use. Assorted books, her texts from some correspondence courses alongside Leslies Mary Pope Osborne stories. Two mauve lamp shades. A statuette of a now-headless panda Kenzie had once received for donating to a wildlife fund, and various other small belongings that had been packed, taped up and neatly labeled Living Room in black marker.
Guess they dont make cardboard boxes like they used to, she grumbled. What was wrong with the stupid box that it couldnt withstand being weakened with water and dropped down a few lousy steps?
Thank goodness Kenzie was such a levelheaded pragmatist. If she were given to the slightest bit of paranoia or superstition, she might see it as a bad sign that her first summer day in the sunny South was under deluge from a monsoon. She might be rethinking that rent check shed written for a place where the elevator doors wouldnt even open.
Are you the handyman? she asked suddenly, taking in the mans clothing and an almost chemical smell she hadnt initially noticed. A cleaner of some kind, or paint? Maybe the elevator would be fixed before Ann arrived with the kids, not that Drew couldnt take three flights of stairs in a single breath. But he hardly needed new reasons to complain.
The handyman? Tall, Dark and Timely let out a bark of laughter that was gone as soon it came. In fact, all traces of amusement disappeared from his expression so quickly she wondered if shed imagined them.
Ill take that as a no, she said. It was an educated guessMr. Carlyle assured me that a handyman would be taking care of the elevators today. Which would make moving in a lot easier.
Mr. C. is the handyman, in addition to being the property manager and the one who knocks on the doors whenever youre late with rent.
She stiffened. Im never late with rent.
He raised an eyebrow at her hostile tone. I meant in general.
Sorry. I take money seriously.
You and everyone else. He grimaced absently, as if he were scowling at an unseen person. Did he owe someone money?
Oh, dont let him be one of those charming but perpetually broke deadbeats. There were too many of those in the world already. Then again, this guy wasnt technically all that charming. Hot, definitely, but not so much with the personality.
Imagining how Leslie would react to her mother calling a man hot, Kenzie grinned. Well, thanks again. It was nice to almost meet you.
The corner of his lips quirked. Im JT. Good luck with the rest of your move. He started to pass, but stopped, watching as she wrestled with the lamp shades and books. With the box no longer intact, carting her belongings was problematic.
I hate to impose, she began, but were you in a hurry? Its going to take me a couple of trips to haul everything to the third floor, and if you wouldnt mind sticking around in the meantime to make sure no one What, stole her stuff? Who would want the book of 101 Jokes for Number-Crunchers Drew got her last Christmas? To make sure no one trips. Id hate to be sued my first day in the city.
I have a better idea. He was already sweeping up an armful of debris. After years of not having a guy in the household, it seemed bizarrely intimate to see this big man handle her possessions.
Books, Kenzie, not lingerie. Besides, people with better budgets than hers hired strangers to move their stuff all the time.
JT gestured toward the decapitated panda. You keeping this poor fellow?
Sure. Thats what they make glue for, right? A couple of drops of that super all-stick compound and, as long as she managed not to chemically bond her fingers together, the panda should be as good as new.
Using the soggy cardboard in a way that reminded her of the baby sling shed bought Ann, JT cradled the awkward bulk against his body. Between the two of them, they got it all up to her floor.
There were four units, two on each side of the hallway. Hers was the last on the left. As she unlocked her door, she heard JTs slight intake of breath, as if he were about to say something, but nothing followed. So she set down her load, turned to relieve him of his and thanked him one last time.
Ive got it from here, she said, hoping she sounded like a confident, self-sufficient woman.
You sure?
She thought about everything aheadthe new job, this temporary moving before the real move, trying to keep the kids from expiring of boredom until school started, and trying to keep them in their teachers good graces once it did.
Absolutely, she lied through her teeth. Next time she lectured the twins never to fib, shed have to add the mental exception: unless its the only thing between you and a nervous breakdown.
Chapter Two
Youre late. Sean Morrow glanced up from his lunch menu as JT took a seat on the other side of the table. With Seans lean build, fair hair and expensive suit, the two men were a study in contrasts. Dare I hope this means you were so caught up in a new painting that you lost track of time?
Actually, I was assisting a damsel in distress.
Sean pursed his lips, looking unsure about whether or not JT was kidding. An attractive damsel?
Only if drenched waif is your type. To himself, JT admitted his words were a glib, incomplete assessment of Kenzie Green. Good name. Sounded like a vibrant, bright colorthe kind he seldom used anymoreand it certainly rolled off the tongue more easily than phthalo green or Antioch blue.
Though Kenzie wouldnt necessarily turn mens heads on the street, she was put together with a grace of form that belied how theyd met. She was a slight woman with layers of burnished-gold hair that were probably a lighter honey when dry. Her deep blue eyes looked like the ocean when you were so far out the shore was no longer visible, and there was something geometrically appealing about her small facedelicate blade of a nose, angular cheeks, an almost pugnaciously pointed chin that reminded him of some award-winning actress whose name eluded him. Holly would have known. Holly had been his link to pop culture.
Shed been his link to just about everything outside the studio, reminding him that there was a movie coming out he might like, reminding him of the names of acquaintances at openings, reminding him that he hadnt bothered to eat in nearly twelve hours. How can I trust that youre going to help take care of this baby, shed teased him once, when you cant even remember to take care of yourself?
Pregnancy had transformed her from the shyly smiling girl hed first met to a laughing, excited woman with irrepressible humor. I plan to decorate the nursery behind your backI know youre the big-shot artist, but Im scared youll turn it into some abstract expression on spatial dynamics. I was thinking ducks and bunnies.
JT! Seans tone was pitched halfway between annoyance and concern. Did you hear anything I said? You had that look again.
Stalling, JT sipped his water and tried to bring himself back to the present, a difficult feat given how much part of him longed to remain two years in the past. For the first few months after her death, thinking of Holly had hurt, creating electric shocks of pain that racked his whole being. Now that the sting had lessened, recalling cherished memories was comforting, beguiling. Easier than facing a future without her.
Its hard, he said simply.
I know. Sean lowered his gaze, a touch of sadness creeping into his own voice. I know, man, but Holly wouldnt want you to be miserable. She would have wanted you to move on with your life. And shed definitely want you to paint.
It wasnt as if he hadnt tried. The encaustic series hed collaged in the weeks after the funerala sickening double funeral during which hed felt he was putting his entire world into the groundwas his best work ever. But the frenzied creation of those paintings had hollowed him out somehow, leaving a void where inspiration had once been. Hed allowed Sean to hang the dark wax-and-oil images at the gallery, but couldnt bring himself to sell them.
The gallery. JT willed himself to focus. It wasnt fair that he left everything up to Sean these days; the two men were supposed to be equal business partners. JT was the one who knew art; Sean was gifted with people and finances.
Out of nowhere JT thought of the book hed seen Kenzie holdingsomething about number crunching. Then there had been the reproachful set of her rosy mouth when shed mentioned the importance of money. I should introduce her to Sean. Though the thought was mostly facetious, it certainly wouldnt be difficult to arrange. JT lived directly across the hall from his new neighbor.
Ive lost you again, Sean muttered.
I was thinking about setting you up on a date.
Seriously? Sean grinned. Not that Ive ever needed help meeting ladies, but I take it as a good sign that youre thinking about anyones love life.
Im not a monk, JT said defensively.
JT had gone on a half-dozen dates this year, but nothing lasting had come of them. It wasnt just that he missed Holly, it was more that he was still unsure of who he was without her. Theyd met in Chicago when they were both college students. Hed become an adult during the years theyd been dating; hed become a critically acclaimed artist during their marriage. Hed been about to become a father. With all of that taken away
Since her death, JT had slept with only one woman, an art dealer Holly had liked and respected. In a bizarre way, JT had felt his late wife would approve. Marsha had been recovering from the shock of her husband walking out on her, needing to reaffirm her own feminine attraction, and JT had craved the touch of another person to penetrate his isolation. Their affair had lasted less than a month before they parted amicably, each somewhat healthier for the encounter, but knowing they had no future together. Sean had hinted several times that JT needed more of a social life. Even Mrs. Sanchez, who lived on the second floor of Peachy Acres and had appointed herself JTs godmother, for lack of a better description, nagged that his apartment needed a womans touch.
Thankfully, the waitress came to take their orders, which gave JT something to think about besides his inability to paint and unwillingness to date.
Would there come a day when he could once again consider painting a joy, not an obligation? Would he ever again view love as a blessing and not a dreaded danger?
Some of his best paintings had evolved from brushstrokes with no direction, just moving his arm intuitively and watching to see what evolved on the canvas. If he kept getting out of bed each morning and facing each day, one after another, would his life begin to take some kind of shape? He couldnt be certain. But in the absence of an actual plan, he supposed hed find out.
KENZIE THROBBED everywheremuscles she hadnt realized she possessed were angrily making their presence known. She had a ton of unpacking to do, but all she really wanted was a long, hot soak in the bathtub. There wasnt time, though. Ann had called from her cell phone to say she was en route with the kids and backup brawn. Besides, Kenzie was scared to test the bathrooms hot water. If it, like the buildings elevator, the ceiling fan in her bedroom and the stoves faulty pilot light, neglected to work, she might cry.