Chapter Five
“Isn’t this great?” Kelly brought a third coffee mug to the table. “Now that you’re back, Maureen, we’ll be able to get together all the time.”
“It is great,” Maureen agreed. She’d refused Jake’s offer of a ride, instead choosing to walk the six blocks from the town house complex to Kelly and Mick’s home.
She’d found Cathleen and Kelly in the backyard, watching Amanda have a picnic with her stuffed animals.
Billy, a few years older, was at school.
“Amanda and Billy are both so independent,” Kelly said. “Very easy to take care of.”
Of course they’d learned that independence the hard way. After their father’s death in a motor vehicle accident last fall, their mother, an alcoholic, had eventually abandoned them. Sharon’s latest known location was Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
“Amanda seems much happier than she did at Christmas,” Maureen noted.
“A lot has changed since then,” Kelly said. Maureen noticed her fingering her new wedding band. Kelly and Mick had married last January. Taking on two children, as well as a new husband, sounded like a lot to Maureen.
“You look really happy,” Maureen stated rather than asked.
Kelly’s smile widened. “Mick is the most amazing man.”
“Next to Dylan, you mean?” Cathleen said, pausing as her sisters laughed. “I hope I’ll be as good of a mom as you, Kel, when the time comes.”
“Is the time coming?” Maureen looked bluntly at her sister’s slim waist.
“Not yet. Maybe soon.” Cathleen turned back to Kelly. “What about Sharon? Have you heard from her lately?”
Kelly sighed. “That’s my biggest concern these days. She hasn’t called the children in over a month. She’s living with a guy in Cabo, working in one of the bars. The worst occupation for someone with her drinking problem. Mick and I can’t help but worry.”
Maureen gave her a hug. “Nothing you can do about it, Kel. Sharon’s a grown woman.”
“I know. Anyway…enough about that. Tell us what you thought of the town house.”
Maureen leaned back in her chair and fixed Cathleen with one of her best, superior, big-sister glares. “Why don’t you two level with me? It’s not real estate you want me to buy. It’s a man.”
“It’s been a year since Rod died,” Kelly said tentatively. “We thought it might be time.”
“Maybe. But Jake Hartman? Honestly, just because we’re both available doesn’t make us a winning combination.”
“Have you got something against blond, rugged good looks?” Cathleen asked. “Or maybe you object to tall men, in excellent condition, running a very successful business.”
“Oh, he’s a hunk, all right,” Maureen conceded. “And he may even be well-off. But dig a little deeper and what do you find? A man near forty whose life revolves around fun and games. Been there, done that, thank you very much.”
Cathleen looked at her thoughtfully. “Jake is nothing like Rod. Dylan never would have suggested you invest in his business if he was.”
Maureen shrugged. She hoped they were right about Jake. Time would tell.
“What about the town house?” Kelly asked. “Did you like it?”
“It had possibilities,” Maureen admitted. More than possibilities—it was practically perfect. But she still had to get her head around also being three doors down from Jake Hartman.
Never in a million years would she admit as much to her sisters, but what really bothered her was that she did find the man attractive.
Maureen considered herself an intelligent woman.
She didn’t like to think she was the type to make the same mistake twice.
But perhaps something in her genetic makeup drew her to good-looking yet immature men.
How else to explain the erotic thoughts that had struck the minute she’d stepped inside Jake Hartman’s bedroom?
Thankfully the man was not a mind reader, or she’d be too embarrassed to work with him.
Her sisters, however, were proven mind readers. And the way they were smiling at each other right now confirmed that her hormonal impulses had shown.
The best defense… “I insist you two put a stop to this matchmaking business. Jake and I are business partners, and only business partners. Besides…” She had a trump card, and now was the time to play it: “Holly is still so broken up about Rod’s death.
I honestly don’t think she could cope if I started dating again. ”
*
Maureen picked her daughter up after school that afternoon, planning to drive straight to the town house to meet the real estate agent. “How was the first day?” she asked.
Holly flung her backpack into the rear seat, then did up her seat belt.
“Okay.” She leaned forward to change the radio station.
Abruptly, an upbeat dancing tune by Taylor Swift replaced Glenn Gould’s performance of Bach’s D minor piano concerto.
Maureen didn’t mind. Nothing on the airwaves could be as bad as what Holly chose to listen to in the privacy of her bedroom.
“Did you meet your friends from science camp?” Maureen struggled to recall their names. “Mads and Adam?”
“Yeah.”
“And…was it good to see them again?”
“It was okay.”
Maureen gave an exasperated sigh. “If I enjoyed pulling teeth I would have been a dentist.”
Nothing. So Maureen changed the subject. “We’re going to look at a house. Your aunts found something they thought we might like.”
“Already? I thought we were staying at the B and B for the first few months at least.”
Her daughter sounded as petulant as a preschooler. Maureen signaled for a right-hand turn and took a deep breath. “Even if we like this place, we can’t have possession for four weeks, so we won’t be moving right away.”
“Four weeks! Why can’t we live at the B and B forever? There’s lots of room—”
“The B and B is a business, honey. Your aunt won’t accept my money, so they’re losing income for two rooms every day we’re there.”
Beth Gibson, dressed in a wrap-around navy dress, her steel-gray hair cut short and stylish, got out of her Porsche Cayenne as Maureen pulled up to the side of the road.
Maureen put on one of her professional business smiles and met Beth on the sidewalk in front of the For Sale sign.
Holly trailed behind. “This is it? It’s so small.”
Maureen turned and raised her eyebrows in warning. She hadn’t expected enthusiasm from her daughter. But she did expect Holly to be polite.
“As town homes go, these are quite spacious,” Beth said diplomatically. “Hi, good to see you again, Maureen. This must be your daughter, Holly.”
A wrist full of gold bracelets jangled as Maureen shook hands with the woman.
“Thanks for arranging this showing, Beth. I’m looking forward to seeing inside. Cathleen and I were by this morning, checking out the exterior.”
“So you’ve seen the river. Lovely, isn’t it? Wait till you catch the view from the kitchen. Coming, Holly?”
Inside, they all removed their footwear, then Maureen followed Beth, while Holly struck out on her own brisk tour. Maureen was still in the kitchen—a bright, well-laid-out room the mirror image of Jake’s—when Holly resurfaced. “I’ve seen everything. I’ll wait outside.”
“But did you like—” Maureen stopped talking.
Her daughter was gone. She turned to the French doors, which opened to a small balcony with room for a table and chairs and an outdoor barbecue.
With the river in the foreground and the distant mountains, what a setting this would make for early-morning coffee…
She could imagine herself living here quite happily. Separate bathrooms and a finished basement would give Holly the privacy she needed in her teenaged years.
Reluctantly Maureen had to concede the home was practically perfect. She’d be foolish to let her worries about being Jake’s neighbor overshadow the town home’s attractions.
“Are the window coverings included?” she asked Beth.
*
As he pulled up to his home, Jake recognized Maureen’s car. Shining black, it had to have been washed in the past day or two.
Their encounter that morning had taken a toll. Set back the production of brochures by at least a week and edged his blood pressure up a few points, as well. He didn’t know whether to be amused or annoyed. Harvey had suggested a silent investment partner. Maureen was anything but.
Jake hit the button of his electric garage opener and was about to pull into the single parking space when he noticed a young girl leaning against the passenger door of the BMW. Holly, Maureen’s daughter.
Instead of disappearing inside the garage, he left his vehicle in the driveway and walked back to say hi.
“Holly? I’m Jake Hartman. Your uncle Dylan’s cousin.”
The young girl, dressed in strategically torn jeans and a light brown leather jacket, looked his way, pushing aside her overgrown blond bangs to see him more clearly. Her deep blue eyes transmitted mild suspicion tempered with curiosity. “I know you. You’re the one with the heli-skiing business?”
“Exactly.” He glanced back at the unit for sale. “Is your mother in there?”
“Yes. Taking forever.”
Jake smiled. He remembered the days when fifteen minutes could seem that long. “Would you like to see some pictures of Grizzly Peaks? That’s the heli-skiing company your mom is investing in.”
“That would be cool,” Holly conceded. She pushed away from the car door and followed him to his house. Once inside, she glanced around the rooms with half-hearted interest.
“Do you like the town house?” he asked. “Do you want your mother to buy it?”
“I’d rather stay at the B and B with Poppy. She’s my great-grandmother,” she added as she slipped out of her trainers. “My aunts visit there all the time and I’m allowed to ride the horse and there’s a dog, too. My mother won’t let me have a pet.”
“Yeah, well having pets can be complicated,” Jake said trying to be diplomatic.
He’d always wanted a dog but his lifestyle made that impossible.
He led her to the kitchen then set his laptop up on the counter.
“A few years ago we had some professional shots taken for publicity purposes.” He started scrolling through them.