Feeling oddly uncertain, Lacey looked down at her old clothes and wondered if she ought to drive to the nearest boutique and buy something new. She could already envision Brandon’s disapproval. Only her desire to share her idea before she had second thoughts prevented her from leaving. That and an awareness that it was long past time when she had to impress her father-in-law. His visit last night had finally put them on a friendlier footing that she was sure would last and grow.
She walked slowly up the walk, then found herself ringing the doorbell, rather than using her key. It was Kevin who opened the door.
His face looked haggard, as if he hadn’t been getting nearly enough sleep since she’d left. There was a faint stubble on his cheeks that she yearned to reach out and caress. As tired as he looked, he’d never seemed more desirable. She wanted to throw herself into his arms and hold on until the dark days had gone for good.
And there was no mistaking the sudden spark of hope in his eyes when he saw her.
“You’re back,” he began inanely.
She understood the awkwardness, because she was feeling it as well, that and so much more. Trepidation, hope, love.
“Did you forget your key?”
She shook her head. “No. It’s in my purse. I wasn’t sure if I should use it.”
“Lacey, this is your house as much as mine. More, probably.”
She shrugged. “I realized that Brandon was here. I thought maybe, I don’t know. I thought maybe I should wait and come back later when we could talk.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
Just then Brandon appeared in the doorway to the living room. He searched her face, and then, as if he’d seen something he approved of—maybe her new-found confidence—he nodded. He turned at once and went back. It was more discretion than he’d ever displayed before.
“Come on in,” Kevin said. “Dad and I were just finishing up.”
“That’s right,” Brandon said, when they’d joined him. “I’ll be on my way in just a minute.”
It was clear though, that he had been ensconced in the living room for some time. Files were spread on the coffee table. As Lacey walked in, he punched a long series of numbers into a calculator. He nodded in satisfaction, jotted them down and then stood up.
“I’ll leave you two. I’m sure you have a lot to discuss,” he said, sounding as if he couldn’t wait to get away. “Kevin, your instincts were exactly right. Those figures look good. I’ll tell Jason to get on with things.”
“That sounds good,” Kevin said distractedly, his gaze still fixed on Lacey.
“You don’t have to rush off,” Lacey felt compelled to say to Brandon, though she wanted nothing more than to see him leave.
He grinned at her then. “You’re a lousy liar, girl. Same as Kevin.” He grabbed his coat and headed for the front door. “He’s been trying to kick me out since I got here, but was too polite to come right out and say anything to my face.”
“Drive carefully,” she told him.
“Always do.”
He left the room then, and Lacey stared out the front window while she waited for Kevin to come back. The last thing she overheard Brandon ask was when Kevin intended to get back to work.
“I’ll have to let you know about that, Dad.”
Lacey noticed Brandon had left the files and the calculator behind. She was tempted to toss the papers into the fireplace, but she left them on the coffee table, waiting to see what Kevin would do about them.
When he came back into the living room, his expression was cautious. “I’m surprised to see you back so soon,” he began, his tone wary. He’d shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans as if he couldn’t quite figure out what else to do with them. He kept his distance, standing over by the fireplace, rather than joining her.
“No more surprised than I am to be back.” She hesitated, then couldn’t keep herself from asking, “You’re not going to let Brandon push you into going back to work too soon, are you?”
He held up his hands. “Lacey, please don’t start on that.”
“I can’t help it,” she said, gesturing toward the mess on the coffee table. “Just look at what he’s brought. There’s enough there to keep you busy for a month.”
“It’s just Dad’s way of making sure I’m not too lonely out here. He needed an excuse to come back.”
Lacey wrestled with the idea of Brandon making up excuses for any of his actions. She couldn’t imagine it. Then again, in his relationship with his son, anything was possible. She suddenly realized that ever since Kevin had turned down that job at Halloran Industries years ago, Brandon quite probably had feared another rejection. He had never taken Kevin’s presence at the company for granted.
At the same time, she and Kevin had taken each other for granted. They had operated for years now under the misguided notion that their relationship would always remain exactly the same. No wonder the past year had been so rocky.
“Are you ready to go back to work?” she asked finally.
“That depends.”
“On?”
“What happens with us.”
She shook her head. “No, you can’t pin that decision on us, on me. What do you want to do with the rest of your life?”
She thought she knew the answer to that, but she had to hear him say it, had to know if the plan she’d devised made any sense at all.
“Actually, I do want to go back to Halloran,” Kevin finally admitted with an obvious sigh of relief. “Tradition seems more important to me now. Working with my father and my son creates a bond that most men never have. I want that in my life. I didn’t realize until recently how much I counted on that sense of
