Lacey briefly considered fleeing, but figured a stint in the French Foreign Legion wouldn’t take her far enough. She satisfied her need for some illusion of control by letting him lean on the buzzer downstairs for five full minutes before letting him in.
Brandon glared at her when she finally opened the door, then breezed straight past her, carelessly tossing his Halloran cashmere coat over the back of a chair. He left his umbrella dripping all over the kitchen floor, then stalked into the living room. It looked smaller than ever with him prowling from one end to the other, a disapproving scowl on his face. He rubbed his fingers over the cheap upholstery on the sofa and shook his head, his dismay unmistakable.
“I’m delighted to see you, too,” she said dryly, when it looked as if it might be a long time before he got down to saying exactly what was on his mind.
“What’s the point of making small talk? We both know why I’m here.”
“I doubt that,” Lacey retorted.
He shot her a puzzled glance as her implication sank in. “What the devil’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means that you couldn’t begin to know what’s gone on between Kevin and me the last couple of days, not unless your son has broken a lifelong cardinal rule and confided in you.”
“I know you’re here and he’s still on Cape Cod.”
“And how did you discover that?”
“I drove out there today.”
Lacey’s eyebrows rose at that.
“I had some papers to drop off,” he retorted without a trace of defensiveness. “Kevin tried to cover for your absence, but he’s a lousy liar. That’s enough to tell me you two fools still haven’t settled your differences.”
“Brandon, you can’t charm me into doing what you want,” Lacey said dryly.
He gave her a sharp glance. “I wasn’t trying to charm you. Dammit all, can’t you stop jumping down my throat for five minutes and listen to what I have to say?”
Lacey drew in a deep breath and apologized. “You’re right,” she said, sitting down opposite him. “Would you like something? A cup of tea, maybe?”
“I came here for a real heart-to-heart, not to see if you’re up on your social graces.”
“Fine. Say whatever you want to say.”
He nodded in satisfaction. “Years ago I did you a grave disservice. Nobody’s sorrier for that than I am. You and Kevin came pretty close to lighting up a room with the kind of love you had. When the two of you stood up to me, I thought there’d never come a day when something more powerful than me would come along and change that.”
She found herself grinning at the high esteem in which he held his own power.
“What’s so danged funny?” he grumbled.
“Nothing,” she said. “Go on.”
“I’m not here to ask you again what your differences are. Kevin’s old enough to plead his own case.”
To her astonishment, he actually looked uneasy. Before she could figure out what to make of that, he said, “I just want you to know if this has anything at all to do with those old days, I’m sorry for what happened and nothing would make me happier than to see the two of you back together.”
Touched by the apology, even though it had come nearly three decades too late, Lacey found herself reaching for his hand and clasping it. “Brandon, this isn’t about you. I swear it.”
“Halloran Industries then? You never did want Kevin to work there.”
“That’s not true. I just wanted him to make his own choice, not to be bulldozed by you.”
“Well, if it’s not me and it’s not my company, what is it?” he demanded as if the thought of anything else were totally preposterous.
Lacey burst out laughing at that. “And Kevin complained because I had a narrow world.”
Brandon glowered at her. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means, you crotchety old man, that I adore the single-minded purpose with which you protect what’s yours. Kevin obviously inherited that from you.”
Brandon was shaking his head. “You think he’s anything like me?”
“A lot more than either of you suspect, I think. Thank you for coming by. It means a lot.”
“You going back there in the morning?”
“No,” she said firmly.
Brandon looked disappointed. “My powers of persuasion must be off a little.”
“Don’t worry. I’m just a tougher sell than your run-of-the-mill client.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Tomorrow I’m going to build a house.”
He regarded her as if she’d suddenly started speaking in Swahili. “Am I supposed to understand what that means?”
“No,” she said, laughing.
“Good. I’d hate to think I’d started losing my wits, when I have some plans for the future I’ve been thinking about. If I could just get the two of you settled and get that great grandbaby born, I might start thinking about my own life.”
This time it was Lacey’s turn to be confused. “Am I supposed to know what you’re talking about?”
He gave her a wink. “Nope. This business of keeping secrets goes both ways.”
* * *
Lacey felt her spirits begin to climb just a little as she arrived at the housing site in the morning. The thought of what the half-finished house before her would mean to some family was gratifying. Maybe she couldn’t do much to fix her own life, but she could do her part to help someone else get a new start.
She wandered around the house in search of Paula or Dave, so she could get an assignment. She found Paula atop a ladder. Her husband, his hair tied back in a ponytail, was holding the ladder steady with one hand. The other was sliding slowly up the back of Paula’s denim-clad leg in an intimate caress.
Lacey felt the sting of tears as she listened to their familiar bickering. There wasn’t a hostile note in the exchange, just the fond give and take of two people who’d found their own shorthand way of communicating.
When Dave’s hand reached Paula’s bottom,
