Inheritance, page 26
At his name, Yoda pranced over. Mookie followed.
“That’s right, I’ve got you. And you, too, when you’re around.” She rubbed both dogs. “And I should let them out.”
“I’ve got it. Are you trusting him on his own?”
“I’ve let him out a couple times. Watched him like a hawk. He stays close.”
“And he’ll stick with the Mook. He doesn’t wander off.”
Trey opened the door, but watched while the dogs played in the snow.
“Yoda sees them—or someone I don’t—now and then.”
Trey glanced back at her. “Mookie did whenever I brought him over to see Collin. Jones, too.”
“You said you saw a woman on the widow’s walk. A woman in white. I didn’t believe you then. I do now.”
“It wasn’t Astrid. She was blond, and the woman I saw had dark hair. I couldn’t really see her face. My father says I used to babble at ghosts when I came here as a toddler. I don’t really remember.”
Because she hoped he’d linger, she topped off her wine, got him another beer. “Anything else?”
“I was five. I know that because I’d just started kindergarten. I remember—it’s a little blurry, but I remember seeing this guy in Collin’s office. Wearing a tux. I knew it was a tuxedo because Owen—well, his parents—had a dog, and his markings looked like a tuxedo. It’s why they called him Tux. Anyway, he was sitting there with a glass in one hand and a fat cigar in the other.
“I could smell the cigar smoke. He blew smoke rings and laughed. ‘Young Oliver,’ he called me. He said I was a good boy for visiting a lonely man. And to watch out for the witch or she’d gobble me up.”
He glanced back. “I said that witches were for Halloween, and he said: ‘Not around here.’ I mostly remember because that one sent me running back to my father to tell him. And that’s how the story goes.”
“Did they check it out?”
“Apparently I wouldn’t have it otherwise. But no one was in there. I’m going to let the dogs in the mudroom. Got an old towel?”
“There’s one in there.”
She rose to go with him, grabbed a second towel so they dried off the snow-coated dogs together.
“Kids and dogs then, I guess.”
“I guess. One other time, and this I do remember.” He straightened to lay the towel over the rod. “I was about twelve, and just taking up the guitar. Dad and Collin were in the game room—the one just beyond the library—playing chess. I didn’t then nor do I now have any interest in chess.”
“He left the chess table and pieces to your father.”
“Yeah, he did.”
The dogs followed her back into the kitchen, where she got them both treats.
“I was bored, so I went down to the music room. Collin told me I could practice on the guitar in there anytime. I knew how to strum a few songs. Didn’t have any fingering down, but I could strum a couple.”
He picked up the beer. “So I’m working on it, trying to play Tom Petty’s ‘Free Fallin’’—an oldie, but Tom Petty, and the chords are pretty basic. I tell myself I’m jamming it, and I look up, and there she is. Really hot babe.”
He took a swig of beer.
“My twelve-year-old system’s a lot more jolted by really hot babe standing there, smiling at me, than where the hell did she come from.”
“Did you recognize her?”
“Not then.” He shook his head. “Long blond hair, waterfall long and straight. She’s wearing these jeans that ride low and tight on the hips and flare out below the knees, and this little white top, short enough that I can see—holy shit—skin.”
He grinned as he waved a hand in front of his stomach. “It’s got these flowers like embroidered up here, where it rides pretty low again, so oh my God, boobs are happening right under there. She’s got beads—lots of them—hanging where I’m trying not to look. Pale pink lips, eyes that have all that stuff—liner and all that—thick, catlike so they just sing a song to a boy’s libido.”
“That’s a lot of detail you’ve remembered on this one.”
“It imprinted on my brain and my balls in that moment. ‘My man,’ she said, and I might have drooled a little, ‘you can handle that axe.’ At twelve, I didn’t know axe meant guitar, so I think I said: ‘Huh?’ And she told me Petty was great but to try learning ‘Satisfaction’ because the Stones were gods. Then she shot me the peace sign, and she tapped those two fingers on those pale pink lips and blew me a kiss that left me a quivering puddle of hormones.”
He lifted his beer in toast. “And she was gone.”
“That’s some story.”
“I never saw her again, and Owen and I both looked. That is, until I saw her picture in Collin’s book. I had my first real crush over the ghost of Lilian Crest, who called herself Clover.”
That struck Sonya like a lightning bolt. “My father’s birth mother.”
“Don’t hold it against me. I saw a hot babe, and she’d have been about eighteen. Actually, except for the pale pink, you’ve got her mouth.”
“Oh.” Instinctively, she pressed her fingers to it. “That’s so strange to hear.”
“It’s a really nice mouth. So those are my experiences with the haunted and haunting—that I remember.”
“But did you learn to play ‘Satisfaction’?”
“Oh yeah. I like to think she heard me when I whacked away at it in the music room.”
“I’m not a music history buff, but I don’t think Tom Petty was around—professionally—in the sixties.”
“No, he didn’t hit until…” With a frown, Trey trailed off. “Now, why didn’t that come home to me before?”
“Twelve-year-old hormones.” Impossible, Sonya admitted, to ignore the fact that the man who currently had her hormones humming had once crushed on her biological grandmother.
In spirit, she supposed.
“She kept up, somehow.”
“Must have. Collin liked music. You saw his vinyl collection.”
And with a second lightning bolt, Sonya raised a hand. “Trey, maybe she’s the DJ.”
“Having that same thought.”
On the counter, Sonya’s phone played ABBA’s “That’s Me.”
“Holy crap.” She grabbed her wine, took a gulp. “Give me a second, because this is good. Unsettling for a minute, but good.”
“That’s your biological grandmother.”
“Okay, back to unsettling. But it’s good. We have an identity, and that has to be positive. I’m not calling her Grandma. I mean, when you think about it one way, she’s younger than I am. I wonder if Collin ever met … his mother.”
“I don’t think he ever mentioned that to my father. I didn’t tell my dad or Collin. I told Owen, because hot babe.”
“Is it odd that I’m going to feel easier knowing who she is?”
“I think it would be odd if you didn’t. She isn’t trying to scare you. She wasn’t trying to scare me. She was, and is, making a connection.”
“She died here.” And it hurt Sonya’s heart to think of it. “She had to be afraid, in pain, but she plays music for me. I got a chance to bid on a major account today, and she played happy music for me.”
“What major account?”
“Oh.” Distracted, she pushed a hand at her hair. “Do you know Ryder Sports?”
“Sure. Based in Boston. I’ve bought plenty of their stuff online.”
She smiled. “What did you think of their website?”
“Sucks you in, easy to navigate. Your work?”
“I headed the team that designed it. They’re expanding, putting a store in Portland, and want to update. I’m going to be competing for the job against my old company. Which is … let’s go back to unsettling.”
“Not for long.” He said it so matter-of-factly, he gave her a boost she hadn’t known she needed. “You’re confident in your work for a reason.”
“They’re a strong, innovative company. But I’ve got the chance, and I’m taking it. And as you’re a client, I’ll say this in no way means I won’t give your firm exactly what it needs and wants.”
“Never doubted it. And speaking of clients, I’ve got a little work to do for the one I saw before I got here.”
“We’ve still got pizza.”
“No breakfast tops the breakfast of cold pizza.”
“On that we agree. We’ll split it.”
Chapter Nineteen
It would help, Sonya thought as she took two slices for a plate, if she didn’t like him so much. His looks, his manner, that easy way. She wasn’t a puddle of hormones, but she could definitely feel them pulsing whenever he came around.
It was either get over it, or make that move and see.
A casual goodnight kiss at the door, she decided. And she’d know if they equaled hang-out buddies or had the potential for more.
He reached for the pizza box just as she turned. Bodies bumped. For one humming second, eyes locked.
“Sorry.” He took a full step back.
No casual kiss at the door then, but …
“Are you sorry because you are or because you think you should be? If it’s the first, I’ll stop wondering. If it’s the second, I’d like to know why.”
“I’m sorry I think I should be.”
“All right, sort of. But that doesn’t answer the why.”
“First off, the firm represents Collin’s estate.”
“Your father represents the estate, and my interests.”
“We’re a family firm.”
“Okay, but … I kind of looked it up.”
The faintest hint of a smile came into his eyes, then curved his lips. “Did you?”
“I thought it might, possibly, become an issue. My take is, I’m not actually your client, and even if I were, you’d continue to represent me competently. And, at your father’s advice, I hired a lawyer in Boston. I’m not going to date him.”
“Good policy.”
“Especially since he’s my mother’s boss. But you said first off. If you’re not attracted that way, then—”
“You’re not a stupid woman, by any measure. But that’s the beginning of a very stupid statement.” He slid his hands into his pockets. “The way I see it, you’ve had a lot of major upheaval in less than a year. You called off your wedding.”
“That’s right. I think that’s the sensible thing to do when finding your fiancé in bed with your cousin, don’t you?”
“Sensible doesn’t mean you weren’t hurt.”
“I was pissed. Shocked, and that still grates because it makes me a fool. And pissed, which is better. But I’m a little ashamed to admit I wasn’t as hurt as I should have been. As I would have been if I’d loved him the way I thought I did. The way I should have loved a man I was going to marry. But he wasn’t the man I thought he was, and that makes me a fool.”
“You’re not—”
Fire snapped into her eyes as she jabbed a finger at him and stopped him cold.
“I knew something wasn’t right. I knew it, but I kept telling myself it was wedding jitters. I don’t generally get jitters, but, well, I never planned a wedding before. And he wanted exactly the opposite of what I did. I wanted lovely and intimate and romantic, and he insisted on…”
She waved her arms in the air. “Big, fancy ballroom in the big, fancy hotel with a few hundred of our not-so-close friends, top-shelf open bar, and on and on. We looked at houses, and I wanted something like this. Not this scale, but I wanted a house with history and character, which is why this place had me at first sight. And he wanted sleek, modern, new, important neighborhood. I kept giving in, which isn’t like me either. Why did I keep giving in? Because I’d said yes, and I thought I loved him.
“Fuck!”
After grabbing her wineglass, she circled the kitchen while he stood and watched her. While both dogs sat and watched her.
“I’m shelling out ridiculous amounts of money for deposits because I’d said yes. Because it felt like we had more in common than not, and the sex was fine. So don’t tell me I’m not stupid, don’t tell me I wasn’t a fool when I was. On the day, the very day I walked in on him and Tracie, I canceled an appointment with the breathtakingly expensive florist because I just couldn’t take it. I needed a break, all the while telling myself it was just wedding jitters.”
She glugged some wine. “My ass! And there they were, their clothes scattered along the way to the bedroom. And if I had loved him, it shut off just like that!”
She snapped her fingers. “All I felt was pissed off and disgusted. I kicked them both out of my house. Both of them mostly naked. That was satisfying.”
She drank more wine. “With him claiming it didn’t mean anything, she came on to him, he just slipped. And that was it for me, but he wouldn’t leave it alone. He went to our bosses and strung them some bullshit about me having a little breakdown when I had no intention of telling them what he’d done. But he’s going to lay it all on me? Just hell no. So I told them, and we thought we’d worked it out. I loved working there, and they’d see to it we didn’t work on the same projects. He obviously didn’t love me, so he’d get over it, and we’d both move on.
“But no. He found little ways to get under my skin, and I ignored it. Then he found bigger ways. He keyed my car, he let the air out of my tires so I had to call an Uber at midnight. Midnight because he’d sabotaged my work, just wiped my work off my computer, my backup, so I had to stay late and put it back together. I couldn’t prove it, but come on, who else? They couldn’t fire him, no proven cause, so I had to quit.”
She jabbed a finger at Trey. “You’re not rebound guy because I’m not rebounding. And that was a lot. Wow. I’m still pissed.”
“Done?”
“Yeah, sorry.” More than a little appalled at herself, she dragged a hand through her hair. “That was way beyond where I meant to go.”
“We’re going to back up a little.” He picked up the second beer he’d only half finished. “Why did you pay the deposits?”
“He was going to pay part of the balance, and for the honeymoon—mostly. Traditionally, the bride’s family pays … because I’m an idiot.”
“Stop it. You’re not.”
He didn’t jab a finger at her—not his style—but held up a hand and just as effectively cut off her response.
“He manipulated you, and it sounds like he’s damn good at it.”
“I suppose. I got some of it back—more than I expected, largely due to Cleo. She took some of it on, and she’s got this way of talking and talking, all calm and reasonable.” As it hit her, she took a slow sip of wine.
“A lot like you.”
“Good. Now let’s talk about him keying your car, giving you flat tires. Did you file a report?”
“Yeah. What were the cops going to do? Nobody saw him. What could the bosses do? And if they’d fired him, I think it would have made it worse. I did what was right for me, and found out I like working freelance. I like being in charge of, well, all of it.”
“Has he bothered you since?”
“Not really. Then I moved here. And this is the most I’ve thought of him since I have.”
“I want to know if he does.”
She frowned at him. “You’re mad,” she realized. “It hardly shows, but it does, a little.”
“Of course I’m mad. We’ll put aside him screwing your cousin. That’s just the move of an asshole who thinks cheating’s no big deal. He manipulated you into pumping out money for something you didn’t want, and if you hadn’t caught him, you’d very likely be living in some slick house you didn’t want. That would’ve been your mistake.”
She opened her mouth, then shut it again. Because truth was truth. Her mistake.
He set the beer down again. “But the rest is vindictive, mean, petty, criminal, and dangerous. So yeah, I’m mad, and I want to know if he comes at you, in any way, again.”
“All right.” The fact she could see the mad not only calmed her but gave her another boost she hadn’t known she’d needed.
“Will you punch him in the face?”
“That’s always satisfying, in the moment. But you can prolong the moment by maneuvering him into doing the punching, in front of witnesses. Then he’s got an assault charge to deal with.”
“I bet you could do it, too.” She let out a breath. “Now, the whole point of that unhinged rant was to say yes, I had an upheaval, but it unleashed rage—pretty obviously—and didn’t leave me with a broken heart, weeping into my caramel ice cream while watching sad movies.”
“You made your case there. I figured you’d quit your job because it was too awkward to work in the same office. So, moving from there, you still have upheavals. Learning your father had a twin, Collin’s will, packing up your life in Boston to come here. Add what you’re dealing with here.”
“I love this place. It surprises me how much. Still, I understand you might not want to get involved, on a personal level, with a woman who goes on an unhinged rant about a man she broke things off with months ago.”
“You didn’t.”
“I didn’t?”
“You went on a rant about a situation and your reaction and responses to it. Which, in my opinion, you’re taking too much of the blame for. But you’ll get over that.”
“I will?”
“Because you’re really not stupid, Sonya. But he did hurt you. Even if it was only your pride, your ego, your sense of trust, he hurt you.”
“Cleo said about the same. Maybe I should try to fix you up with Cleo.”
“I like her, but I’m interested in someone else.”
“After all that?”
“More after all that, actually.”
He took a step toward her. The phone jammed out with “Let’s Do It Tonight.”
When she laughed, he drew her in. Slow. In a kind of glide that had her heart bounding into her throat, then dropping down to her toes.
He watched her as his hands slid from her shoulders, down her arms. Watched her as he eased her just a fraction closer. Watched still as his lips brushed hers, just brushed.
She lost her sense of time and place as he took the kiss deep. Slow, sumptuously slow and deep.
