The Trouble with Andrew (21 page)

He nodded and started across the street.

She followed him, feeling a well of tension grow within her as she opened the door to Drew's house and went in.

The house was empty.

She made dinner for the two of them, not surprised when Drew didn't come home.

Since school was in session, she made Jordan go to bed at nine o'clock. A little bit after, she went herself.

She lay awake. Very late, Drew came home. He didn't come near her door. She made no move toward his.

She woke early the next morning—very early.

She woke Jordan and went downstairs, but Drew was already gone.

Jordan was amazed that he could have come home so late and gone back to work so early.

Katie wasn't. He didn't want to be around her, and he was determined not to make her feel as if she needed to rush to her house.

“He's very busy. I don't think we'll see a lot of him this week,” she warned Jordan.

He gave her a baleful look. “I'm not dumb, Mom. You've had a fight with him again.”

“Jordan—”

“Don't mess this up, Mom. Please.”

“Jordan, you just can't make people into what you want them to be! Come on—you've got to get to school.”

He was sulky when she dropped him off. Well, he would have to live with it. She felt her nerves twisting tighter and tighter.

She went back for her cameras and film and started to drive around the city, accustomed to the terrible traffic and driving as if she had eyes all around her head.

She started to take pictures of people rebuilding. They were good pictures. She mentally placed them in the book she would put together.

Everything she had sent off to magazines and papers had been bought. She didn't know whether to be glad that she was doing all right or feel guilty that she was making money that was in any way touched by the dreadful storm.

At eleven, she ran out of film.

She told herself she was only going downtown to buy more film. But she kept driving until she arrived at the main branch of the library.

She went through everything again. She reread the account of Drew's father's death, about his horrible fall and what a shock it had been. He'd been almost like a goat on scaffolding and steel framework. No one had seen quite what had happened. There had been other men in the work area, but no one had been with him.

She flicked through what she had already read; she felt that she should be seeing something, and she didn't know what. At last, she turned off the machine and sat thinking for awhile. It was time to go get Jordan.

Again, Drew Cunningham had managed to stay out of his own house the majority of the night. She had fallen asleep, waiting to hear his door open and close.

In the morning, he was gone again.

But it didn't matter, Katie decided.

Because it was Friday.

She didn't do anything all day except shop for a dress. At three she picked up Jordan from school, and they went to Drew's to prepare for the party. She had chosen a short, midnight-blue velvet dress that seemed to deepen the color of her eyes and went well with her honey blond hair.

She liked the way the dress moved on her. It was sleeveless and nicely molded at the bodice.

She told her reflection that she looked fine, and then she remembered that the exquisite Andrea would be among the guests.

It was all right. Katie decided she could hold her own.

At four-thirty she drove to the Hunnicunn office and parked. She slipped into the downstairs reception area and was relieved to find Reva there, as she had promised. “Let's get upstairs. Drew is still in his office—he has a shower in there and all—and just in case, you can meet everyone you want to meet before he makes his appearance.”

“Come on, Jordan,” Katie urged her son.

His powder blue eyes were as hard as Drew's could be.

A little too much bonding had gone on between her son and Drew, she decided. She felt weak and uneasy, worried about what she was doing to Jordan.

But it wasn't time to feel fainthearted. She went with Reva to the elevators and they went to the executive floor, where the party seemed to be in full swing already.

The food had been catered. Delicious-looking finger foods were set out in trays all about them, and attractively dressed servers were moving around, allowing the Hunnicunn employees to sweep up tall, thin glasses of champagne. Katie found herself with a glass, and saw that Jordan—bless him, he would never know how much—was already playing with the twins, stooping down to talk with the pair as they came forward with Drew's secretary.

“Katie, my husband, Cliff Kennedy,” Reva said, introducing her to a tall, dark-haired man with a quick smile and handsome face. Katie liked him instantly, noting the way he stood by Reva's side, politely greeted Katie and kept an eye on his offspring at the same time. “Darling, I'm going to introduce Katie around,” Reva told him.

“Go right ahead. I'm fine here, you know that.”

Katie smiled at him and felt her arm tugged as Reva led her through a group of women to an older man with silvering dark hair. She tried to estimate his age. He wasn't sixty yet, she thought. He was in very good shape.

“Harry!” Reva said. “Just the fellow I'm looking for. Katie is a friend of Drew's. I want her to meet all the people important in our lives, and you're certainly that! Katie, Harry Easton. Harry, Mrs. Katie Wells.”

Harry smiled. He looked nice in the tux he was wearing, a well-built man with the weathered features of one who worked outdoors. He took Katie's hand firmly. “How nice to meet you, Mrs. Wells.”

“Katie lives—”

“Across the street from Drew. Of course. In the cul-de-sac,” Harry said.

Katie gasped. “Yes, of course! I saw you come into my driveway one day.”

He nodded. “Came to see Giles. We want to make sure these roofs are right this time!”

“What are we doing?” a masculine voice asked. “Sam! Sam Jaffe, Katie Wells, a friend—and neighbor, as Harry has pointed out—of Drew's.”

“Very nice to meet you, Mrs. Wells,” the man said. She recognized him from the newspaper pictures. He was older now, of course. And he reminded her very much of a basset hound, with his long features and soulful eyes. He was in his sixties, at least, she thought. “We're sorry about you losing your home.”

“Thousands of people lost their homes,” Katie assured him. “And actually, mine is close to being repaired. You've all worked very hard.”

“We've worked too hard on lots of them!” a husky, feminine voice volunteered.

Andrea. She seemed more stunning than the first time Katie had seen her. She was in a bloodred sequined dress that clung to her like a second skin. The short dress had a deep scooped neckline and no back. She offered a dazzling smile as she moved into their group. “Hello, Katie, the neighbor—right?”

Katie smiled sweetly. Maybe Drew didn't like Andrea, but she was suddenly convinced that Andrea liked Drew. Too much. Despite her half-dozen husbands, she was on her own here, and the taunt seemed a little too tense not to mean something.

“Well,” Katie said, “for the moment, I'm the live-in rather than the neighbor. There's been wonderful work done, but my house isn't quite ready yet.”

“How convenient for you,” Andrea purred.

“Very,” Katie agreed.

“Well, Mrs. Wells, since your temporary roommate doesn't seem to be about, perhaps you'd like me to give you a tour of our offices. We're doing some work on them now, of course, but we can skirt the construction area. Let me take you—”

“Excuse me.”

Katie felt chills streak up her spine as their group was interrupted once again.

This time by Drew. Katie turned. He was in a tux, tall, dark, his hair damp and sleek, eyes gold and piercing. She'd never seen him quite so attractive—or dangerous.

“I'm afraid Mrs. Wells can't stay this evening,” he said, apologizing to Andrea. “She has a heavy work-load tomorrow morning. Katie, come on, and I'll see you out.”

He had a firm grip on her wrist and had her moving before she could protest. She tried to smile a goodbye to the men she had just met and signal a frantic call for help to Reva.

“Drew, Jordan—”

“I'm sure Jordan is fine with the boys. And since he's really your guest this evening, Reva, you and Cliff can drop him by on your way home.”

“Drew, you can't be leaving!” Andrea protested.

The elevator came. Drew practically dragged Katie onto it, spinning to face the others as the doors closed on them.

“Just for awhile,” he said, and his burning gaze fell on Katie. “Just long enough to see to Mrs. Wells.”

The doors closed. And for a moment, Katie felt as if she was alone with a furious demon who was ready to strangle her.

But he didn't look at her. He stared straight ahead at the closed elevator doors, his fingers around her wrist, and said, “I told you to stay out of it.”

“Your sister needed Jordan—”

“My sister should have her head examined.”

“Drew, this doesn't make sense—”

“Katie, get this. I did it, it's my signature on the work orders, and if there's anything else going on, we'll find it from within.”

The elevator doors opened to the ground floor. She found herself being dragged into the parking lot.

“Give me your keys,” he said.

She gritted her teeth. He wrenched her purse from her hands and dug around until he found them. He opened her car door and forcefully urged her into the driver's seat.

“My son—”

“Will be right along. He's fine. Your questions are going to get you into trouble.”

“Drew—”

“Dammit, go home, Katie!”

He slammed the door and stepped back. Exasperated, furious—humiliated!—she twisted her key in the ignition and started the car. She jerked out of the parking lot.

He was keeping Jordan! Of all the nerve. She drove about a block down the highway then pulled off into a side street. She was shaking.

She waited, gathering herself, then pulled out on the highway. She came to a stop at a makeshift sign. While she waited for the opposing traffic to go, she noticed that the headlights of the car behind her were blazing into hers. The driver was close, too close. Right on top of her. She didn't like it.

Katie drove on. She didn't think anything more about the car behind her—she was busy seething over Drew's treatment.

She made a left turn onto the street that would bring her to the cul-de-sac.

The road was dark, nearly pitch black. There wasn't another car in sight.

But there was a car behind her.

Its bumper slammed into hers. She hadn't been expecting the sudden impetus, and her car was easily shoved to the left, almost onto the embankment.

Just beyond the embankment, there was a canal.

Frightened, Katie looked into the rearview mirror. The headlights were streaming so brightly that she couldn't make out the car or driver. She gained control of her vehicle and slammed her foot on the gas.

Not fast enough.

The car slammed into hers again, hard.

And this time her car went careening onto the embankment, pitching downward, straight for the canal. Katie pumped on the brakes, but the wheels refused to catch in the muddy earth. She screamed, bracing herself as she began to hurl wildly toward the water.

Chapter 11

K
atie held tightly onto the steering wheel as she careened through mud and foliage. She'd have to get out of the car. She couldn't panic; she just had to get out of the car…

But the car didn't slide into the canal. It hit the jagged stump of a tree and slammed to a halt. Katie was wearing her seat belt, but the crash brought her head slamming against the side of the car.

Blackness exploded before her eyes.

Sometime later, she became aware of a voice coming to her from out of a fog. She was dimly aware of something around her. Something soft. And then there were arms. Lifting her.

“Katie, Katie!”

She heard the sound of sirens and managed to open her eyes.

Drew was there, crouched by her car. The hood was open and steam poured out of the radiator into the darkness. She stared at Drew, still trying to gather her wits. Her head hurt terribly.

“Katie, Katie, I'm sorry. I should have come with you, I wasn't trying to be such a bastard, I simply don't want you involved. I should have never let you drive!”

He thought she had driven into the canal because she had been upset or angry!

“No!” she whispered.

“You're going back to your father's,” he continued, his passion bringing his eyes to a golden sizzle against the darkness of the night. “God, I was so wrong to try to bring you back, and now this—”

“I didn't drive off the road!” she managed to get out.

“What?”

“I was slammed off, Drew, someone was behind me.”

“Katie, you were knocked out, you don't know what—”

“I know exactly what I'm saying, Drew!” Katie insisted, fingers on his muddied shirt as she struggled against him. “I'm telling you, there was a car behind me that slammed into me and did this!”

He was silent for a minute, but his eyes narrowed and she realized suddenly that he believed her, no matter what he said. “That makes it worse, Katie. You're going to your dad's, and I'll drag you all the way and make sure he keeps you there by force, if that's necessary.”

“Drew—”

She broke off because the sounds of the sirens had grown too loud. An ambulance and a police car were coming off the road.

“How did they come so quickly?” Katie whispered.

“Car phone,” Drew said. “Over here!” he called out.

Katie found herself suddenly surrounded, stretched out on the ground with brilliant lights flashing into her eyes. She said she was just fine—Drew told the paramedic she had a lump like a tomato on the side of her head.