“Wow. This looks a ton better than it did yesterday.” Kade stood at the top of the stairs leading to his flooded basement. All the water had been pumped out, and there were fans sitting in the corners. Thank goodness it was still concrete down there. If it had been a finished basement, and they’d had to rip out carpet . . .
“Yeah, the guys worked hard.” Dillon gave a nod and then stepped back into the kitchen, where the plans for the house were laid out on the counter. “I wanted to ask you about the cabinets while you’re here. I need to get back to Jean—she’s not feeling so great.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. Anything I can do?”
Dillon shrugged. “Nothing comes to mind, but I’ll let you know if I think of anything.”
Kade spent another thirty minutes talking to Dillon about kinds of wood and taking measurements and choosing paint colors, then realized what time it was. He sent his best wishes to Jean and jogged out to his truck. When he’d been asked to judge this pageant, he’d thought his schedule was pretty clear because the team wasn’t in training just then. He hadn’t planned on this house project being such a big deal. It was one of those live-and-learn things, he guessed.
As soon as he entered the hotel, he noticed Mrs. Fitzpatrick standing in the lobby, tapping one foot on the floor. He was pretty sure it was just for dramatic effect—he’d never seen anyone actually do that naturally.
“I’m really sorry, Mrs. Fitzpatrick,” he told her as he drew near. “I know I’m coming off as unreliable—”
“Mr. Smith, aren’t you aware that we have a tight schedule? We have to be ready for the pageant itself on Friday night, which is being broadcast live on a local channel, and we don’t have time to wait for you and your so-called emergencies.” She fixed him with a look. “All the contestants are waiting in the anteroom, your fellow judges are waiting in the interview room, and none of us are impressed by your behavior.”
Kade ducked his head. If this lady ever wanted to coach for the NFL, she’d be good at it—she could bring a whole field of football players to their knees. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled.
“Well, get in there and do your job.” She nodded toward the interview room, and he took off.
He passed the contestants, who were sitting in chairs along the edges of the waiting room, and entered the next room, where Mayor Morgan and Elaine sat behind a long table. His chair, of course, was empty, and he felt a new pang of guilt when he saw it.
“I’m really sorry,” he said as he slid into place. “I’m going to owe Mrs. Fitzpatrick a dozen roses after this.”
“She doesn’t like roses,” the mayor said. “She’s more into tulips.”
“And how would you know that?” Elaine asked him.
His cheeks colored a little. “She and I courted for a while.”
Elaine threw Kade a look that clearly said she was intrigued. “Was this a long time ago, Mayor, or more recently?”
“Oh, it’s been about five years.”
Elaine opened her mouth, about to ask something else, but just then, the door opened, and the first contestant came in. Kade smiled, trying not to feel bad for Elaine. There she was, hot on the trail of some juicy gossip, only to be interrupted. That had to hurt.
Thankfully, all the interviews were done by noon. Chelsea did really well—or at least Kade thought she did—and he gave her high marks. Many of the other girls were poised and intelligent. One burst into tears, which totally confused Kade because nothing upsetting had happened. And then there was a girl named Lacey, who just made his skin crawl, she was so gushy.
“Just a few more to go,” Mayor Morgan said, consulting the list. “Next is London Russell.”
When London came in the room, Kade’s heart did a weird little flip-flop thing, and he had to take a deep breath. She wore a dress of pink satiny stuff, and her hair was down and sort of pulled to one side. She looked amazing.
“Thanks for meeting with us this morning, darlin’,” the mayor said. “Please, have a seat.”
London smoothed her dress and sat down, crossing her legs, which showed off her calves and ankles. They were very nice calves and ankles. A few of the other girls had shown quite a bit more than that, but Kade wasn’t interested—he liked subtlety.
“Miss Russell, I hope you know that it wasn’t our idea for the newspaper reporters to go after you the way they did,” Elaine said, leaning forward a little bit. “I for one found it repugnant, and I was proud of you for handling it so well.”
“Thank you, Ms. Denning,” London said. “I appreciate that a lot.”
“And now we need to get down to business,” Mayor Morgan said. “We’ve asked each contestant the same questions to start with, and then we’ve asked a few additional questions that are more personal. It’ll take about ten minutes, if that’s all right.”
London smiled. “Of course. Whatever you need.”
The mayor asked the first few rather mundane questions—where London went to college, what sports she enjoyed, if she had any hobbies. Then it was time for things to get a little tougher, and the spotlight shifted to Elaine.
“What can you tell us about your religious and political beliefs, Miss Russell?” she asked.
“I’ll tell you anything you’d like to know, but I must say, that’s a rather odd question for this stage of the competition,” London replied. “My beliefs in these two areas can’t, by law, be used either to help me win or to make me lose, so it seems counterproductive to bring them up when we have so little time to spend together today.”
Kade grinned. That was the best answer he’d heard yet, and he’d heard a lot of answers.
Elaine nodded. “Thank you for your forthrightness, Miss Russell. Next question—”
“No more about religion or politics?” London asked, a smile on her face.
“I think we learned all we needed to,” Elaine replied, a note of humor in her voice. “I would like to know, though, about one social issue that is close to your heart.”
“There are so many that it’s been difficult to narrow it down for my platform,” London said. “I’m very concerned about child trafficking, and have done some print ads and radio commercials pro bono for an organization that actually infiltrates the groups and brings them down. It’s called Operation Underground Railroad, or OUR, if you want to Google it. I’ve also been looking into childhood literacy rates and how they correlate to crime rates. Did you know that the better a child can read, the less likely they are to commit crimes later in life?”
“I didn’t know that,” Elaine said. “That’s fascinating.”
Kade couldn’t help but watch London’s eyes as she spoke. It was obvious that she was passionate about her topic, and her eyes were filled with fire. It just made her more beautiful. But he wasn’t going to think about that.
“If you did have to narrow it to just one, and you do, actually, which one would you choose?” Elaine pressed on.
London shook her head. “Difficult. Very difficult. But the one I’ve chosen as my focus for this week and for my reign, if there is a reign, is the power of believing in oneself.”
Kade frowned. “I’m sorry, Miss Russell, but that doesn’t seem to fit with the other things you were talking about. Is there a connection, or did we just totally change subjects? Not that it’s wrong to change subjects—I was just wondering.”
“Oh, they’re very connected, Mr. Smith. Think about it for a minute. When you believe in yourself and in your ability to influence the world around you, everything becomes possible. You can become educated. You can make a difference to those in need. You can start companies or defeat that bully or overcome that phobia. We each carry a seed of greatness within us—we just need to nourish it.”
Why did she have to be so compelling just when he’d made up his mind to stay away from her? She was making this very difficult for him. “And how do you go about nourishing it?” he asked as a follow-up question, even though it wasn’t his turn yet.
“You trust your instincts. You do the things you love to do. You spend time alone, getting to know who you are when you’re not surrounded by other people. And a lot of the time, you leap off cliffs and see where you land. Metaphorically, of course,” she added, and the three judges laughed.
“I think our time is up, but we’ve enjoyed this little chat quite a lot, darlin’,” Mayor Morgan said. He stood up and reached out to shake London’s hand, and then she moved on to Elaine and then ended with Kade. As he clasped her hand in his, something jolted through him, like he’d stuck his finger in a light socket, but it was deeper. Warmer. He had no idea if she felt it too—and if she did, if she’d recognize it for what it was, or chalk it up to static electricity.
***
Lunch was being set up in the dining room, and London couldn’t get out of that interview fast enough. Not only was she hungry, but she had to get out from beneath Kade’s gaze. She’d felt his eyes on her the whole time she was speaking, and she didn’t know if she’d made any sense at all. He just had that effect on her. She walked over to where the other girls were congregating in the hallway and leaned against the wall, trying to catch her breath.
“Well now, look what I just got,” Lacey said, walking toward her, holding up a newspaper. “Funny how you keep denying it when it’s right here for everyone to see.”
“What is, Lacey?” London asked, too tired to play this game.
Lacey handed over the newspaper, and London gasped. There on the front page was a picture of her with Kade at the swimming pool the night before. It had been taken right after she pulled the towel off her head and was running her fingers through it to dry it—it looked for all the world like she was flirting with him, trying to make herself look alluring or something.
“How did they even get this picture? We were alone at the pool.” She couldn’t remember—had she seen a flash go off or heard anything? She didn’t think so, but she might have had water in her ears.
“You were alone?” Lacey smirked. “I knew you weren’t telling me everything about this nonexistent relationship. I think I’ll enjoy watching the press have their fun—there’s so little else going on to entertain me right now.” She snatched the newspaper out of London’s hand and walked to the other end of the hallway to show it to some of her friends down there.
London needed her own copy. She walked as quickly as she could in her strappy sandals down to the check-in counter. “Excuse me. Do you have newspapers for sale?”
“We do, and I think I might know just the one you want.” The concierge pulled out a copy of the same paper Lacey had been reading. He gave London a smile as he said, “Would you like me to charge it to your room?”
“Yes, please.” She took the paper, her face burning, and walked over to a sofa in the corner of the lobby to read it. Yep, sure enough, they were making a big deal of the fact that she and Kade both happened to be at the pool at the same time. Well, in truth, he followed her in there, but that was totally different from going there together, which is what the newspaper was implying. She really didn’t need this right now.
A small commotion from down the hall had her turning her head to see that the dining room doors had been opened. Thank goodness—she badly needed to eat. The first talent competition was that afternoon, and she had to bring her A game.
When she walked into the dining room, she spied a table near the back, and she headed toward it. She didn’t want to draw attention to herself—she wanted exactly the opposite. But that’s not what she got. As soon as the other girls saw her, they crowded around her table, and she was bombarded with questions. She noticed Lacey standing in the back of the group, a little smile on her face. Good grief.
Finally, she held up both hands. “Kade Smith and I are not an item,” she said. “We went to high school together, we ran into each other here, and we’ve chatted a few times. That’s all.” How many times would she have to give this little speech? She felt like that was all she’d said since she walked through the doors of this place.
“Looks like our secret is out, London.”
She whirled around at the sound of Kade’s voice. “And what secret might that be, Mr. Smith?”
He turned to the group of girls. “We might as well admit it. London and I are secretly married, and we just learned that she’s expecting triplets.”
The other contestants looked at each other in disbelief.
“No, no, it’s true. I know it is because I read it in the newspaper, and you must believe absolutely everything you read in the newspaper.” He fixed them each with a stare, one at a time. “Isn’t that right?”
They slowly walked away from London’s table and sat back down at their own. London couldn’t help but smile. They looked so dejected, so put in their places.
“Well, Mrs. Smith, may I join you?” Kade asked, motioning to the chair next to hers.
She wanted to say no, but really, what reason did she have? She’d wanted to avoid rumors, but that hadn’t worked at all. Anything else she tried would be pointless. “You might as well,” she said with a sigh.
He rested his hand on the back of the chair. “You don’t sound very excited about it. If you’d like me to leave—”
“No! Please sit down,” she said. “I don’t mean to be so testy. I’m just trying to move forward, and I keep getting dragged backwards to rehash the same things over and over again. I feel like I need to wear a sign around my neck explaining how you and I know each other, and that we’re not dating.”
He chuckled. “That bad?”
“The worst.”
The wait staff came in just then, carrying trays with plates, and London smoothed her napkin on her lap. She was having lunch with Kade Smith. This wasn’t awkward. At all. And it certainly wasn’t awkward to remember that little zing of electricity that had passed through her earlier when she shook his hand. It meant nothing, absolutely nothing. Except that it reminded her of what Chelsea had said, about touching his hand and feeling nothing. And it sounded like Sleepless in Seattle. And of course, thinking about Chelsea reminded her about what Chelsea had said … Why had Kade been talking about her while he was on a date with another girl? Definitely not awkward.
A moment later, Elaine Denning came in and joined them, and that made things much better. London asked her questions about the cosmetics company and about skin care in general, and they had a pleasant chat all during lunch. Plus, London was able to scoot her chicken away from her potatoes before any real damage—like touching—was done.
“Well, I’d better get ready for the talent show,” London said at last. “I’ll see you in a little while.”
Kade stood as she left the table. “Good luck,” he called out. “Or should that be, break a leg?”
She turned and smiled. “Either’s fine.”
The trick now was keeping her nerves under control until it was all over. And not getting distracted by Kade and all his mysterious weirdness and the fact that she’d just noticed that he had incredible eyes.