While Kate was out picking the kids up from school, a knock sounded at the front door. My heart leapt. Nick Angelos? He’d come back to see me so soon?
“Just a minute,” I called out from the couch as I debated if I should shout for him to let himself in or make a good show of limping over to answer. With Kate’s help, I’d changed out of my suit to my shlumpy sweats and a tee. Better to stay on the couch. I fluffed my hair, licked my lips, and called out a seductive “come in.”
The door opened slowly, as if he hesitated, unsure. Suddenly I didn’t want to look the overeager one. I leaned back into the couch, my best Sleeping Beauty pose, eyes closed but not quite asleep. I imagined him approaching and kissing me fully awake. A little role play never hurt in a relationship.
The floorboards creaked with the approaching footfalls. Closer, closer. I breathed slowly, making sure my lips were plumped out, tempting. He stopped right over me. Should I open my eyes, say hello? Or wait for him to get the hint?
“Ugh!” Something hit me solidly in the chest, something small enough not to hurt much but big enough to make me jump. I opened my eyes. “What the—”
“Your keys.” Josh Brandon stood over me, a small crooked smile on his lips. “Who did you expect? Prince Charming?” With his Boston accent, it came out “chahming.”
He laughed. Laughed! At me.
I picked keys out of my cleavage and sat up. “I was resting my ankle. Remember? I kind of got hurt at your work site. Maybe I should sue?”
“Yeah. That’s going to happen. You’re gonna sue your new employer? I don’t think so, Princess.” Without waiting for an invitation, he plunked down in the opposite armchair. “Congratulations, by the way. Leslie told me the good news. So, how’s your ankle?”
Maybe it was the way the hulking brute took up the entire chair, legs spread, no concern for the Andrew Martin fabric or delicacy of the English wingback-style frame. Or perhaps it was the way he’d made air quotes with his thick workman’s fingers when he’d said “good” news. Or the simple fact that he laughed at me upon entry. Whatever it was, Josh Brandon made my blood boil. “My ankle’s fine. Just fine, thank you.”
“You went for X-rays? The doctor said it was fine?”
“I didn’t need X-rays.” I shrugged. “Nick Angelos took care of me.”
He huffed loudly, as if annoyed, and ran his hands through his shock of prematurely gray hair. “He’s a doctor now, too, is he? Along with his other lofty credentials? Philanthropist, entrepreneur, architectural engineer.”
I sat up straighter. “You really don’t like him, do you?” Apparently Nick and I were two of a kind, both having earned the Josh Brandon stamp of disapproval.
“Nah, it’s not that.” Josh stared across the room at the framed prints of my family lining the staircase, or into space. He didn’t seem particularly focused. “Never mind. So, your car’s out front now, if you need it. I didn’t think it would be safe on the street near the site all night.”
Instantly, I was flooded with a mix of gratitude and remorse. “My keys! That’s right. Thank you. Thanks so much. That was really nice of you. But—what about your car?”
“Leslie’s borrowing it for the night. She’s got to drive up to check on her mom in Vermont.”
Leslie, a city dweller, relied on public transportation, but she needed wheels to get to her mother’s place. I remembered that Leslie’s mother had been going through treatment for breast cancer, bringing on a second wave of remorse. I’d been so focused on myself I hadn’t even thought to ask Leslie how her mom was doing. “How is her mother? Is everything okay?”
Josh finally stopped staring into the distance and met my gaze. The brightness of his silver-blue eyes made me blink a little in surprise. I’d forgotten how those eyes could penetrate, as if he could see right into me. He really did have amazing eyes, especially in contrast with the silver of his hair.
“She’s recovering,” he said, after a minute’s hesitation, as if he was trying to decide if I really cared about Leslie’s mother, or anyone other than myself. “They did the double mastectomy but nothing seems to have spread. Leslie’s spending the weekend up there with her.”
“So how are you getting home? If Leslie has your car and you brought my Lexus, then you need a ride?”
He shook his head and stood up, as if taking it as a cue to leave. “It’s a nice day for a walk.”
“Don’t be silly. You live miles from here.”
“Four miles. It’s no big deal.”
“And then for the weekend? You’ll be stuck.”
He looked surprised that I was even capable of giving any thought to someone else’s predicament. “I’ve got my bike.”
Yes, that fit. I could picture him as the leather-clad biker type. He probably spent his weekends at Harley bars surrounded by big-haired buxom types. I debated if I should repeat the offer of a ride or thank him again, and then became distracted by the image of Josh Brandon as tough guy biker tooling down the highway. To my imagination’s surprise, he looked pretty good in black leather.
I startled at the sound of the door opening. Kate came in, followed by an exuberant Sarah and a dark-haired smiling Spence, who looked miles apart from the sulky image he was so desperate to project. You couldn’t keep a good St. James down.
“Hey, gang.” Josh was first to greet them. He’d met the kids when we volunteered as a family earlier in the year. He knew Kate from a previous acquaintance. Ellie’s father. “Whoa, what happened to you?”
“I’m a Goth.” Spencer beamed and tossed his dark spikes of hair. “Cool, huh?”
“He’s doing it to impress a girl,” I added quickly. I wasn’t sure what Josh might think of Spence’s new look, but I didn’t need to give him more reason to criticize.
“Ah.” Josh nodded. “Did it work?”
“I think so. Shelley’s coming over to do homework tomorrow.”
“Well, all right, my man.” Josh did some kind of guy salute move, a fist in the air. “Good for you. And, Sarah? What’s new with you?”
Josh might have called me a princess, but he didn’t mess with Sarah. No “little lady” or “angel” or any of the girlie nicknames that drove her crazy, even though her delicate face and long red hair put most people in a girlie frame of mind. At last, I’d found something to appreciate in Josh. He had a seemingly innate sense of how to deal with my kids even though he’d only met them briefly on a previous occasion.
“I made the hockey team,” she said in a matter-of-fact way that did nothing to disguise the fact that it made her so proud. “We’ve got our first game in a few weeks.”
“Whoa, hockey. I love hockey. Would you mind if I came to watch a game now and then?”
“No problemo.” Sarah returned the fist salute that Josh had shared with Spence earlier. “So, Mom, Aunt Kate says you took a donkey. You okay?”
“I didn’t think Aunt Kate spoke in such colorful terms. But yeah, I’ll be fine. Just a little ankle twist. Where’d Kate go? She was just here.”
“She’s getting groceries out of the car,” Spencer said. “We’re dropping off our book bags and going back out to help her. Then we’ll be in our rooms, and out of your way.”
“More like out of the way of boring adult conversation.”
“That, too.” Spence smiled. “Good to see you again, Mr. Brandon.”
“Call me Josh. No need for formalities.”
“Later, Josh.” Sarah slapped him a high