The Sparkling One

“I’m sorry,” she said. “Did I call at a bad time?”

“I’m afraid so. I’m in the middle of prepping for court.”

She stiffened as if he’d slapped her. The implication of his words being that his work was far more important than hers.

Bitter regret burned on her tongue. His rejection couldn’t have been more plain. She swore silently as she realized that once again she’d risked believing the best about Zach only to have the worst proved to her.

She’d thought he was a real person. She’d thought they were establishing a connection. She thought their night together had mattered. Damn if she hadn’t been wrong on every count.

“I won’t keep you, then,” she said, forcing her voice into a bright, cheerful “you don’t matter because I’m doing fine” tone. “I’m very excited by the positive response to the party and wanted to let you know.”

“I appreciate it.” He cleared his throat. “Don’t feel you have to give me regular updates. Until I hear otherwise, I’m going to assume everything is going great.”

In other words-Don’t call me, I’ll call you.

Her eyes burned, her chest hurt, and she wanted to curl up in a ball and sob. Instead she clutched the phone more tightly.

“Not a problem. Good-bye, Zach.”

She hung up without waiting for him to respond.

It took several minutes for her ragged breathing to return to normal. A few tears escaped, but she congratulated herself on only needing two tissues. He wasn’t worth more than that.

When Katie had gathered at least a facade of control, she placed her hands on her desk and told herself she’d been lucky.

Zach wasn’t for her. He never had been, but she kept forgetting that. Jumping into bed with a man she wasn’t emotionally involved with had never been her style. For reasons she didn’t understand, she’d slept with Zach, and now she was paying the price.

It hurt. It hurt bad. But in time the pain would ease and she would be grateful not to be taken in by a good- looking guy in a six-hundred-dollar suit. Yes, he was funny and smart and fun to be with. And a good father. Oh, and a great kisser and dynamite in bed. But he didn’t care about her. She was a means to an end. One in a long line of women he’d conquered. He used women, then tossed them aside.

If she felt confused and out of sorts, well, so what? She would get over it. People healed from broken hearts all the time. Not that her heart was broken. The fact that he was more than a pretty face and that she hadn’t responded like that to a man since…okay, since never…was interesting but not significant. She would get over him in a flash because she had nothing to get over. Nothing had happened. She’d learned a cheap lesson, and now she was going to move on.

Zach drove slowly through the UCLA campus and circled up toward the dorms. It had been three days and he still hadn’t heard from David.

He’d called dozens of times, left at least ten messages, and not had one of them returned. Zach was done waiting. He would find his son and make him understand that he had never been anything but the best part of Zach’s life.

Careless words, he thought as he parked and climbed out of his car. How many relationships were destroyed by careless words?

He entered the dorm building and spotted several kids hunched over a video game. A couple looked familiar. Zach walked toward them. One of the boys looked up, frowned slightly, then smiled.

“Mr. Stryker?”

“That’s right.” Who was this kid? Jackson? Jason? Oh, yeah. “Justin, I’m looking for David.”

“He’s playing pool. Just back there.”

Zach nodded. “I know the way. Thanks.”

He walked down the back hallway to the rec room. Three pool tables sat in the center of the huge room. There were vending machines along one wall and ratty sofas along the other. All three tables were in use. One had a group of girls, another had guys in sports jerseys playing, while the third had only a young couple at one end.

The girl laughed and turned. As she moved, the overhead light glinted off her long red hair. Zach stopped just inside the room. There was no mistaking Julie, nor his son. David smiled, then slipped his arm around the girl and pulled her close. She welcomed him with an easy familiarity that made Zach’s gut tighten. They kissed, slowly and deeply, losing themselves in the passion.

Victory, he thought. The engagement would end and life would go back to normal.

He waited to feel relieved. Happy. But there was nothing except for a hollow emptiness and disappointment in his son’s behavior. He didn’t care how many girls David slept with, but he hadn’t been raised to cheat.

Zach backed up and returned to the hallway. He wanted to talk to David, but not under these circumstances.

As for Julie-and Mia-Zach didn’t know what the hell he was going to do. There was no way the marriage could take place-not with David sniffing after someone else. But what was he going to say and to whom? He didn’t want to be the one to tell Mia what was going on. That was David’s responsibility.

“A hell of a mess,” he muttered as he walked back to his car. And he didn’t have a clue as to what he was going to do about it.

The hacienda kitchen was empty for once. Francesca glanced around in surprise, then headed for the refrigerator. She was about to drive to Los Angeles for one of her experiments and wouldn’t have time to eat once she arrived. Not if she wanted to be in place by the time people were leaving work and hurrying home.

She dumped some leftover pasta into a bowl and stuck the bowl into the microwave. While her food heated, she bent over and studied the tattoos on her ankles. While she planned to carry an umbrella, the rain might still splash on her legs. Unfortunately in the fake-tattoo world, water was not her friend.

Still, she would have to take a chance. She’d pulled on a relatively short skirt and pumps, leaving her legs bare. A long vine-with-roses tattoo wrapped around one ankle, while a butterfly hovered on the other. She’d put another butterfly on the back of her thigh, just at her hemline, so anyone watching her walk would catch glimpses of the design. With luck, she would get some great reactions today.

The microwave beeped. She drew out her bowl and fished a clean fork from the drawer by the dishwasher. Then she headed for the kitchen table. Unexpectedly a door slammed in the house.

Francesca put down her bowl and headed for the noise. A subtle tension seemed to thicken the air, making her heart rate increase.

As she made her way down the hall, she could hear voices coming from the library. Although the door was closed, muffled words became more distinct as she approached.

“ ’Tis God’s punishment,” quiet Grammy M said with a force Francesca had never heard from her. “It was wrong thirty years ago and it’s still wrong.”

“God has no reason to punish this family,” Grandpa Lorenzo roared. Something heavy, probably a book, slammed on the desk. “We’ve been good Catholics for generations.”

“Sometimes that isn’t enough to please the Almighty,” Grammy M said.

Francesca’s father spoke next.

“This is an old argument that doesn’t change anything.” His voice sounded frustrated. “Do you think there’s a day that goes by that Colleen and I don’t regret what we did? Do you think there’s a day we don’t think of him?”

Francesca froze. She didn’t want to hear any more, but she couldn’t seem to tear herself away. She heard the sound of crying and would guess her mother had given in to tears. Grandma Tessa said something, but was too quiet to be audible.

“I should have been stronger. I should have run away rather than agree.”

Francesca heard her mother’s words and cringed.

“We’re all to blame,” Grammy M said, her voice heavy with pain. “We all carry the burden.”

Francesca took a step back, then another. She didn’t know what her family was talking about, but she didn’t like it. She grabbed her purse and hurried toward her truck. Once she was inside, she turned on the engine and cranked up the stereo as loud as it would go. Maybe the pounding beat would drive everything she’d just heard from her head.

Katie paced through her small house. Normally she found the space cozy rather than confining, but not tonight.