Lone Star Millionaire (19 page)

He looked at Thea, who was studying him. If it would help Kendra, he had no objection to Thea sticking around. After spilling his guts, there wasn't a whole lot she didn't know. He nodded slightly and she took her purse off her shoulder.

“Now, forget about the house,” he said, glancing at the pregnancy test. “There's something more important we have to focus on.”

“That's none of your business.”

“I disagree,” he shot back. “I'm your father. If you're having sex—”

“I don't want to talk to you about this.”

“I don't care. Are you pregnant?” he demanded.

“That's none of your business,” she said angrily.

“The hell it's not. You're my daughter.”

“An accident of birth doesn't give you the right to tell me what to do.”

“Actually it does. And another reason I can is that I pay all the bills around here.”

“There won't be an ‘around here' much longer, thanks to you,” she said.

He glanced at Thea, who was diplomatically silent. Then he met his daughter's angry gaze. “It's not going to work.”

“What?” she asked defiantly.

“You're trying to take the heat off by changing the subject.”

“And you don't give a damn about my feelings.”

“If you're talking about the house again, I'm not going there.” He took a step forward. “Focus, Kendra. That pregnancy test tells me you're having sex. I need to know if you're going to have a baby and who the father is.”

Like heat rising from blacktop, animosity rolled off the teen in waves. “I can't believe you. For the last eighteen years, you've practically ignored me. I'm eighteen. I'm an adult, too old for you to interfere in my life.”

“You'll never be too old. And I'll always be your father. It's my job to interfere.”

“Why can't you just leave this alone? Leave me alone?”

Scott felt frustration and anger coiling inside him, but struggled to control the feelings. Before he could, she turned and ran from the room. “Kendra? Come back here,” he shouted.

The stomping on the stairs was a good indication that she planned to ignore him. He started to go after her.

“Scott?”

He felt a hand on his arm and looked at Thea. “What?”

“It might be best to let her go.”

“But I have to know.”

Thea's brown eyes were warm with sympathy. “And she'll just continue to stonewall you if you charge after her.”

“So? I'll wear her down.”

Thea shook her head. “Not in her present state of mind, you won't. You can talk, but you can't force her to reveal anything.”

When she removed her hand from his arm, he missed the warmth of her fingers. “Do you have a suggestion?”

“Yes.”

“Care to share?”

She nodded. “Give her some space. Let her calm down. You might want to do the same.”

“I am calm.”

“Oh?” Thea blinked up at him and then she smiled.

“What's so funny?” he asked.

“You're stretched so tight, if you were a rubber band and let go, you'd put someone's eye out.”

He released a long breath. “Okay. Maybe you're right.” He stared at the doorway where his daughter had stood moments before. “But I don't get it. What was all that about ignoring her for eighteen years?”

“I don't know,” Thea said.

“Maybe this is payback.”

“For what? Being a good father?”

He looked at her. “For how I felt when I first found out my wife was pregnant again. But when I saw Kendra for the first time…” He searched for words to express the power of his emotions and couldn't find any. “It was love at first sight,” he finally said.

“Have you ever told
her
that?”

“I don't know.” He rubbed the back of his neck.

“Under the circumstances, she might have some unresolved feelings,” Thea suggested. “Some girls confuse sex and love.”

“Are you saying she's looking for love in all the wrong places because she thinks I don't care about her?”

“I have no idea.” She sighed. “I'm just the caterer. They say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. I'm not sure there's a parallel, but she contacted me to do her graduation party. And she didn't tell you she was doing the party on that scale. I'm no shrink, but it's obvious to me that she's sending you some kind of message.”

“Can you decode it?”

“With my magic garlic press? Or maybe the decoder in my secret slotted spoon?” she asked, one corner of her full mouth tilting up.

“Okay. Stupid question. But you're a woman. Do you have any thoughts about what she's trying to say?”

“Yes.”

When she didn't say anything further he added, “Any you'd care to share?”

“Do you really want me to? After all, I've never had any children,” she said pointedly.

“Okay. I deserve that for patronizing you. But I'm desperate. Lady, I need all the help I can get. If you've got any ideas, I'm listening.”

“Okay.” She nodded. “I suggest you give her some time. When she's ready to talk, you listen to her.”

“That's it?”

She nodded, then said, “And one more thing.”

“Yes?”

“Think about having the party, and not just an average backyard barbecue. Give some thought to doing it the way she wants it,” she added.

“Because you need the gig?”

She shook her head. “I don't need the job badly enough to take advantage of your situation. If one job was that important, I wouldn't be looking to take on a bigger house and mortgage.”

“Okay. Then why should I think about doing the shindig her way?”

“Because my impression is that she's basically a good kid. And this was important enough to her to go behind your back.”

“So you're saying I should reward her bad behavior?”

She thought for a moment and then said, “Think of it as hearing her cry for help. If she knows you're listening
instead of lecturing, she's more likely to tell you what you want to know.”

“How can I just listen when I need to make her understand that if she's not careful, she could ruin her life?”

“If I could answer that question, I'd be a financially independent woman.” Thea shrugged and smiled a little sadly. “Goodbye, Scott. Good luck,” she added.

It was odd, but when he'd found her in his kitchen, he'd been irritated. Watching her leave irritated him even more. And the implications of that didn't sweeten his temper.

T
he following morning Thea parked her car in front of her office, then went to let herself in. She found the door was unlocked, which meant her workaholic partner was already there.

“Connie?” she called out, setting her purse and briefcase on her desk.

“Back here,” came the reply.

She'd been best friends with Connie Howard since the seventh grade. They'd gone through everything together—their weddings, the birth of her friend's two children and the death of Thea's husband. She would have gotten through it without Connie, but probably not with her sanity intact.

Thea walked through the doorway separating the front office from the kitchen/work area in the back. She'd leased this space when her business outgrew her condo. Sometimes she cooked for a job at home, but mostly she and Connie prepared food here.

They'd furnished this office with a top-of-the-line double oven, a microwave/convection oven, a large side-by-side refrigerator and the best set of pots and pans their budget allowed. The drawers and cupboards were stuffed with the latest gizmos to make a cook's heart go pitter-patter.

Connie was industriously wiping down the countertops. As Thea approached, her tall, redheaded friend glanced over her shoulder. “Hi, T.”

“Hi, yourself. It's only eight-thirty. What are you doing here so early?”

“It's not
that
early. Besides, I had a day off.” She faced Thea and put her hands on her boyishly slim hips. “So how did your appointments go yesterday?”

The image of Scott Matthews instantly popped into her head. Not surprising, since thoughts of him hadn't been far from her mind since leaving his place yesterday. She'd wondered whether his daughter was going to have a baby. Some appointment.

“I took deposits for several parties,” she said vaguely.

Connie's green-eyed gaze narrowed on her. “And?”

“And nothing.”

“Don't blow me off, T. You've got a funny look on your face.”

Thea sat on one of the tall stools outside the U-shaped work space and looked at her friend. “One of my appointments got a little weird. The initial contact was made by a teenager who didn't have parental permission for a catered graduation party.”

“Bummer.”

“Yeah,” Thea said, sighing with what felt like regret. And she wasn't sure why. Like she'd told Scott—it wasn't as if they needed the catering job to survive. This business was thriving and word of mouth was their best free advertising.

Connie leaned forward and rested her elbows on the counter. “It's just as well you found out she was pulling a fast
one before putting time, effort and money into the event. How did the underhanded little stinker get caught?”

“Kendra's father came home unexpectedly while she and I were discussing the party.”

“What about the kid's mother?”

“Out of the picture,” Thea answered. “And I get the feeling Kendra is having some feelings about it. She accused her father of ignoring her.”

“I was going to high-five you on your perception, but most teenagers are giddy with happiness when their parents ignore them. I'd say that's a big clue she's got issues.”

Thea laughed. “There's more.”

“How can there be more? Is this kid in training for
America's Most Wanted?
How old is she?”

“She's eighteen, getting ready to graduate and go to college. Scott wants—”

“Scott?”

“Her father. He wants her to go away to school and she was talking up the local junior college. Reading between the lines, I think maybe she's getting cold feet.”

“So she's acting out? Masterminding a covert event to get even with a pushy dad?”

Thea shook her head. “Your flair for the dramatic comes in handy for planning themed events. But in everyday life, not so much.”

“I'm not the one trying to pull a fast one,” Connie protested.

“Maybe she has reason. She was upset about her father getting ready to sell the house when she goes to college. He hadn't said anything to her about it yet. Selling, I mean.”

“Still, he's the grown-up. I don't think a failure to communicate is cause to take him out back and beat the crap out of him. So to speak,” she added.

Thea shrugged. “I think he's guilty of premeditated failure
to communicate. He didn't want to deal with his daughter's emotional fallout until it was absolutely necessary.”

“Chicken,” Connie said.

“I can't say I blame him.”

“Now you're defending him?” her friend questioned.

“I guess it's my tragic flaw that I can see both sides of an issue. He was somewhat hostile in the beginning. But then I began to feel sorry for him.”

“Why?”

Thea rested her chin on her knuckles. “I guess it was the pregnancy test he found.”

“Whoa.” Connie shook her head as if to clear it. “You're going to need to back up and explain that one.”

“It's not that complicated. Joyce took a tour of the house for the market evaluation and I tagged along. It's a great place, by the way. Just what I've been looking for.”

“Yeah, yeah. Get back to the test.”

“Kendra's bathroom looked like a beauty supply store threw up all over it. He was shocked and appalled in equal parts and instinctively grabbed the bag of trash. When he was dumping it, the little stick fell out.”

“Is she pregnant?”

Thea lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “Inconclusive because it's only accurate for a certain length of time. He didn't know how long ago she'd done the test before tossing it in the trash.”

“Did you tell him you knew this because you'd recently used one yourself?”

Thea shook her head. “He was in a state of shock and didn't ask how I could read it.”

“And if he had?”

“I'd have told him it's none of his business. My pregnancy has barely gotten off the ground. In my experience, it's bad luck bordering on a jinx to talk about it until I've successfully completed the first trimester.”

“Okay.”

The tone of that one word said she was crazy and superstitious.

“Connie, don't you go judgmental on me. You know better than anyone why I feel this way. In vitro fertilization is personal and private. I've done it twice and twice I thought I was pregnant. The first time, I told everyone. Strangers on the street, people on the phone, it didn't matter. And then I lost the baby. I had to go back to everyone I'd told and relive the pain of losing a child over and over. But once wasn't enough. I did it again because apparently I'm incapable of learning from my mistake. Third time's the charm. I won't do it again. Especially because I've got all my eggs in one basket. So to speak. I have no more eggs, at least none that are fertilized.”

“I'm aware of that. And, by the way, that was quite a speech.”

“It's from the heart, Con. If I lose this baby, too, it will be like losing my husband all over again.” She took a deep breath to relieve the sudden pressure in her chest. “I promised David I would make sure part of him went on.”

“And you've done that,” Connie said, sympathy lacing the words.

“Not yet. Not until this child is born. To do that, I will not breathe a word to anyone—”

“What am I? Chopped liver?”

“You're my best friend. I had to tell you. Besides, you'd have known. Sort of a best friend ESP.” She shrugged. “But I will not discuss this baby with anyone else until the first trimester is under my belt.”

“So to speak.”

“Yes.” Thea reluctantly gave in to a smile.

“Not even your family?”

“Especially not them. Mom and Dad can't be emotionally involved until the risky first three months are done. They
were crushed the other two times and I don't want them hurt again. Or my brother and sister, either.”

“You don't need to protect everyone, Thea.”

“Not everyone. Just my family, including this life inside me. Con, I can't remember a time when I didn't want children. Even when I was a little girl, I was drawn to babies. When I see a pregnant woman, or someone with kids in a stroller, the yearning to have one is so powerful, it's almost a pain inside me. Does that sound crazy?”

“Yes.” Connie tucked a strand of red hair behind her ear. “But I understand. If I'd never had a couple of little misery-makers, I know I'd feel as if something was missing from my life.”

Connie's choice of words belied the fact that she was a devoted wife and mother. She'd been Thea's rock through everything: when Thea and David were trying unsuccessfully to conceive; the subsequent exams that indirectly led to discovering his cancer; freezing sperm so they could have children following his chemotherapy; remission; the two IVF attempts that were unsuccessful and so incredibly heartbreaking; David's relapse and death. Now this one last try.

“I will do anything,” Thea said, “to ensure the success of this pregnancy.”

“And I'll help in any way I can.” Connie made a gesture, as if she were zipping her lips.

“Thanks.”

Connie grinned. “So tell me about Scott Matthews.”

“He's got baggage, big-time.”

“Who doesn't?”

“You, for one.” Thea toyed with the diamond-studded heart on a delicate chain around her neck. “He's raised his two girls on his own—a father for the first time at twenty. It was an enormous responsibility and he was understandably upset to learn his daughter used a pregnancy test. And concerned she'll repeat his history.”

“Wow, that's a lot of information.”

“I guess he felt comfortable talking to me. That happens sometimes with a complete stranger.”

“And how would you know that? Sharing information isn't something you do,” Connie pointed out.

“And you know why. When David was sick, I found out the hard way that sharing details can be a huge mistake.” One she didn't plan to repeat. Burn me once, shame on you. Burn me twice, shame on me.

“Still,” Connie said, “there's something different about you since I last saw you.”

“Probably the pregnancy glow,” she said wryly. “Although I think that's an old wives' tale. I haven't got the energy to glow.”

“Don't be so sure. There's a sparkle in your eyes. Could it be because of Scott Matthews?”

“I think someone's been whacked with the whimsical stick,” Thea said. “I'm the same as usual. Besides, Scott joked about wanting to be alone when his daughter goes to college. But I think many a truth is spoken in jest.”

Thea could tell him, alone wasn't all it's cracked up to be. She wouldn't share that with her friend and give her any ideas. But the truth was, as a caterer, she cooked for many people, but no one special. There was no one waiting for her at home, no one to take care of, no one to talk about her day with.

“No one's whacked me with anything,” Connie said. “I just know you. What does Scott Matthews look like?”

“Oh, come on—”

“Humor me.”

Thea let out a big sigh. “He's tall. Dark hair. Blue eyes.”

“Not bad. What does he do for a living?”

“Kendra told me he's a building contractor,” Thea answered. “And if his house is any indication, he does all right financially.”

“So you had this communication thing going on, yet you're blowing him off?”

“He was annoyed that I met with his daughter behind his back. For Whom the Bell Toils didn't get the job. I have no reason to see him again. That doesn't constitute blowing him off. There's nothing to blow off.”

She heard the ding-dong from the reception area indicating someone had come in the front door. “Anyone here?” The voice was decidedly masculine.

“I'll get it,” Connie said, untying her apron.

“No. I'll go. Saved by the bell.” Thea stood and grinned at her friend. “Now I know how Kendra felt when her father started in on her.”

Thea walked through the door and was surprised to see the father in question standing there. Her stomach did a funny little shimmy. She knew it was too early for that movement to be about the baby. So it had to be all about Scott Matthews. She hadn't expected to be attracted to a man again. She'd thought that part of her had died with her husband.

She smiled at Scott. “Hello again.”

“Thea.” One corner of his wonderful mouth quirked up. “Or should I call you Obi-Wan?”

“Excuse me?”

“You did see
Star Wars?
”

“Of course. But I don't get the reference.”

“The teacher and the student. Are you sure you don't have children?”

None that she'd cop to just yet. “No. I mean yes, I'm sure. Why? What are you talking about?”

“Wise you are, as well as beautiful,” he said, imitating one of the movie characters.

“I think that's Yoda-speak. But if it was a bona fide compliment, thank you.”

“It was. And you're welcome.”

“Why am I wise?” she asked, refusing to acknowledge the beautiful part of that compliment.

“I managed to talk to Kendra without anyone leaving the room in hysterics, including me.”

She laughed. “What happened?”

“I took your advice and simply listened and asked questions. I tried not to lecture or offer advice.”

“And that didn't make you hysterical?” she couldn't resist asking.

“Of course it did. I'm a guy. And I build things. So the need to fix it
now
is especially strong. But I was a brave little soldier and didn't let it show.”

“Wow. Congressional Medal of Honor material.”

He leaned a jean-clad hip against her desk and half sat. “It almost killed me not to bring up the pregnancy test, but I tried it your way.”

“And?”

“She admitted she feels bad when there's an event and her mother isn't there. Which proves your theory—listen you must, then talk to you she will.”