Tim shifted slightly. On anyone else, Kerri would call it a wince.
Lance grinned. “Did I tell you? I’m a hero at work. They’re all talking about how I handled the crazy woman. Nathan came in to the restaurant last week and personally thanked the manager for my quick action. I got a raise.”
“Impressive,” Kerri told him. “So what did Nathan get out of it?”
“Nothing,” Lance told her. He glanced at Tim, then lowered his voice. “There are untold depths to our Mr. King, sweetie.”
“That’s what they say about Antarctica, but those depths are chilly.”
“He’s not all darkly evil,” Lance said. “He gave you the money.”
“I know, I know.” She looked at Tim. “Want to chime in here and defend your boss?”
“No.”
“Tim is very tight-lipped about his work.” Lance winked. “A loyal employee. The only kind our Mr. King hires.”
“You should call him Nathan,” Kerri said.
“Using his last name makes him all the more mysterious.”
“Because you like the guy?”
“Tim likes him,” Lance said. “I trust Tim.”
As Tim had been the one to come up with the idea of announcing the fifteen-million-dollar grant, Kerri liked him, too. But that didn’t mean she trusted his judgment when it came to Nathan.
“We should go,” Tim said.
“I’ll get Cody.”
Five minutes later, Linda was waving goodbye as they climbed into the waiting limo.
“I want details,” her friend called. “Take notes.”
“Promise.”
Cody maneuvered into the car. Kerri grabbed his crutches and followed him into the vehicle.
“Sweet ride,” her nine-year-old said with a grin as he slid onto the long bench on the side. “When I grow up, I want one of these to take me everywhere.”
“I thought you wanted a sports car that goes really fast.”
“Oh. Right.”
“Get both,” Lance said as he settled next to Kerri and closed the door.
“Yeah,” Cody breathed as he rubbed the leather seat. “I’ll get both.”
His words made Kerri’s chest tighten. Please, God, let him live long enough to make that decision, she thought, knowing that, without a miracle, odds were Cody wouldn’t see his twelfth birthday, let alone reach sixteen and learn to drive.
“We should buy a lottery ticket, Mom,” he told her. “If we won big, we could get one of these now.”
“And hire Tim.”
“Tim would never leave Nathan, but you could hire me,” Lance told her.
“It’s a deal.”
Cody looked at Lance. “Mr. King is, like, really rich, right?”
“We’re talking billions.”
“Cool.”
He’d come from nothing, Kerri thought, remembering her research on the man. He’d grown up in Bremerton, a navy town across the sound. He’d left for college and then had managed to amass an impressive fortune.
Maybe that’s what she’d done wrong, she thought humorously. She’d never graduated from college, and apparently beauty school didn’t count.
“Is the charity thing going to be boring?” Cody asked Lance.
“There are a lot of kids there, and games and the food is excellent,” Lance said. “You’ll have fun. There’s a huge arcade set up and all the games are free.”
“Yeah?”
Lance nodded, then turned his attention to Kerri. “I hate your lipstick. Do you have a different one?”
She dug in her purse and found two at the bottom. Lance studied them both, then handed her the pink one.
“Put this one on top.”
As she did, she looked at Cody, who rolled his eyes.
“Not your thing?” she asked with a grin.
He sighed heavily. “Does this limo have a TV?”
NATHAN KEPT a mental list of people he tried to avoid. Carol Mansfield was one of them. She was the tall, thin ex-wife of a high-powered executive and a successful boutique owner in her own right. She was the right age and had the right pedigree—she should have been someone he wanted to date. But there was something about Carol that made him think of a bird of prey coming in for the kill.
“You don’t usually attend these sorts of things,” Carol said as she put her hand on his arm. “You’re more the send-a-check type. Not that it isn’t lovely to see you.”
“I think this is an important cause.”
“Children’s charities?” She raised her eyebrows. “How charmingly unexpected. Are you meeting someone?”
“What?”
“You keep looking around. Either you’re meeting someone or I’m boring you.” She laughed as if the idea of her boring anyone was impossible to imagine.
“A friend.”
“I see. A female friend?”
“Just someone I know.”
“Which means a woman. I didn’t know you were seeing someone.”
“I’m not. It’s not like that.”
He told himself he didn’t owe Carol an explanation, even as he wondered why he felt it necessary to make it clear he wasn’t dating Kerri. Maybe because she’d made it clear she wasn’t interested in him.
If she’d wanted to make sure nothing ever happened between them, she’d done a hell of a job, he thought grimly. Not knowing if her response was genuine or her twisted way of paying him back for the money put him in an impossible situation. Damn her.
He heard the sound of laughter and turned. The sun poked through the clouds just in time to light the entrance to the hotel and cast Kerri in a golden glow.
Maybe it was a trick of the light, but she looked good. Pretty and dressed to fit in. Her hair was curly, which was different but still appealing. She glanced behind her and he saw her kid moving easily on his crutches.
Nathan felt a subtle shift beneath his feet, as if there’d been an earthquake. He blinked and, instead of Cody, he saw his own son. Daniel on crutches, then Daniel in a wheelchair, because that was next. He blinked again and his son was gone, but the reality of what would happen to Cody remained.
Nathan knew what it was like at the end. How the body weakened, how he would go from the chair to bed. How at the end, the drugs didn’t work and all the boy could do was scream from the pain.
He wanted to walk away, to be anywhere but here. What the hell had he been thinking when he’d agreed to the deal?
“You sent me an e-mail,” Kerri said by way of greeting.
“Yes. I needed to tell you where we’d be meeting and what time.”
“I know, but jeez. How did you get my e-mail address?”
“I have a file on you.”
“Sure, but my e-mail address? Isn’t that private?”
“Not in my world.”
She