CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Easter actually turned out to be a nice day. As expected, my mother texted me at six p.m. the night before and informed me that I could show up for an early holiday dinner at two o’clock.
The boys practically tackled me when I showed up with two towering baskets full of candy and other goodies. My mother greeted me with a glass of wine in her hand. She started to offer me one but stopped before she finished her sentence, looking embarrassed. At least this time I didn’t have to remind her that alcoholism was a lifelong addiction. My father emerged from his study alongside my brother and I expected to be offered the usual polite, stiff hello due a distant third cousin.
Instead Aaron Gordon smiled when he saw me and said, “William and I were just talking about your success at Lester & Brown. According to your brother, you’re doing great work on the courthouse building. Keep it up.”
“Thanks,” I said, trying to overcome the mild shock I felt at receiving a semi-compliment from my father. The last such occasion I could recall was after my performance in The Nutcracker at the age of eleven.
My father nodded and wandered over to the minibar. Then he nudged William over to the corner of the room, probably so he could harass my brother about running for city council again.
Leo and Isaac wanted me to help them put together a puzzle featuring a cartoon rabbit carrying a giant egg. To my mother’s chagrin, we cleared a space at the immaculately set dining room table.
We’d never been a church-going family, but while the boys and I were piecing together the puzzle, Leo mentioned that his mother had taken them to a morning service.
“So Jennifer goes to church now,” my mother sniffed as she nibbled on a stuffed mushroom appetizer that the housekeeper, Luanne, had prepared the day before. “That’s rather ironic, considering.”
“Mom,” I hissed, glancing around and feeling some relief that William was out of earshot, still on the far side of the dining room and being lectured by my father. William looked bored. Or annoyed. And luckily the boys didn’t think anything of their grandmother’s sarcastic comment. This morning I’d thought about texting Jennifer, just a short and sweet “Happy Easter” to dissolve the icy distance between us a little. She probably would have answered, maybe sent some photos of the boys discovering their Easter baskets this morning. I realized the next move should come from me, that she might have been waiting for it ever since we ran into each other at Esposito’s, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it quite yet.
My mother’s cutting remark about her ex-daughter-in-law turned out to be the only briefly uncomfortable moment in an otherwise pleasant afternoon.
Spending time with my nephews put me in a good mood that was still going strong on Monday morning. My phone went off when I was driving over to the courthouse site.
ED: Did you receive a voicemail from Bracero on Friday?
I frowned. I hadn’t actually spoken to Mark Bracero since the day he haughtily called me “young lady” and suggested that I find employment in an alternate industry. But I checked my voicemail anyway before responding to Jason, just in case. There was nothing there, and when I stopped at a light I texted to Jason that there had been no voicemail from Mark Bracero. Jason didn’t follow up with another message until I was pulling into the construction zone at the courthouse.
ED: Don’t worry about it. Dude probably can’t remember what he was doing an hour ago.
I suspected that wasn’t true, but I wasn’t going to waste the morning worrying about whether Mark Bracero thought he had called me. It didn’t make sense anyway. Whenever he sent an email he addressed it to Jason, and Jason had to forward it to me so I would know what was going on. That’s work life with the bosom buddy of one of the names on the company masthead.
Work at the site was humming along like it should. There hadn’t been any mishaps since the crane accident. I was walking along the perimeter when a shadow crossed my path.
“Good morning, Audrey,” boomed a deep male voice, and I found myself looking up into glacial blue eyes.
“Lukas.” I blinked, a little surprised to encounter him here at this hour. He’d texted me on Saturday and asked me to dinner, but I had declined.
He gazed out at all the activity, squinting in the sunlight. “I like to stop by here if I happen to be in the neighborhood,” he explained. “I never get tired of the sight of something created out of nothing.”
“I see.” I stared down at the sturdy shoes I was required to wear when visiting a construction zone.
“I’m lying,” Lukas said.
When I looked up, he had an eyebrow cocked and he was staring down at me intently.
“You’re lying?”
He nodded. “Most of the time I stop by here hoping to run into you.”
“Lukas, I’m sorry but—”
He cut me off. “It’s okay, Audrey. You don’t have to say it. Shit.” He shifted his weight, and his handsome face winced. “I’ve become a creepy stalker, haven’t I?”
“You’re not a stalker or creepy,” I said, even though I didn’t entirely mean it, because loitering around my work zone in the hopes of striking up a conversation seemed juvenile and, yes, a little creepy.
“But you don’t want to date me,” Lukas said with a half smile.
I shook my head. “No. I guess I should have been more clear.”
Lukas’s customary aloof mask had slipped. He actually appeared vulnerable as he lowered his head for a moment and said, “My loss.”
I hadn’t realized how tense I’d grown during this conversation until he said those sad words, admitting defeat. Then I managed to exhale the breath I’d been holding. I didn’t know whether Lukas had it in him to be a good man, but I did know it wasn’t my job to find out.
“Audrey!” That voice didn’t come from Lukas. It was even more familiar to me.
I looked up, surprised to see Jason Roma barreling in our direction. I found myself admiring the broad lines of his shoulders and the powerful strides of his strong legs even as I wondered why he was practically sprinting over.
“What’s wrong?” I shouted, having panicked visions of falling cranes.
Jason stepped in front of me. “What the hell are you doing here again?” he challenged Lukas.
“What’s your fucking problem, Roma?” Lukas growled back. “For weeks you’ve been giving me the side eye. In case you forgot, I’m the goddamn architect on this project.”
“I didn’t forget,” Jason said, and got right up in Lukas’s face. Jason was about two inches shorter, but all the hours he obviously logged in the gym, combined with the fact that he had spent years in mixed martial arts training, made him a worthy opponent even for Lukas Lund. What I didn’t know was why the hell he was suddenly spoiling for a fight.
“I’m only gonna say this once.” Jason closed in. “Leave her the hell alone.”
Oh. That’s why.
“Jason,” I started to say, but he ignored me because he was busy pushing a finger into Lukas Lund’s chest.
“Stop shadowing her,” he warned. “Stop showing up out of the blue and pretending like you have a fucking reason to be here. I know what your fucking reason is, like I know you can diddle with your blueprints a lot better back at your drafting table.”
Lukas’s hands had tightened into fists. His jaw was set so hard he could probably crack diamonds in his perfect teeth.
“Touch me again”—the look in his eyes was nothing short of homicidal—“and I’ll fucking break that pretty-boy face of yours into sixty separate pieces.”
“Eat shit, asshole,” Jason scoffed. “You won’t connect one swing before I flatten you in the fucking dust.”
Lukas scowled. Jason glowered. I knew I ought to try to separate them, but I couldn’t even believe this was happening. Two well-dressed, highly successful men about to brawl in the dirt?
“Just keep your fucking distance from now on,” Jason warned, and started to turn his back.
A frightened cry escaped my throat because I saw what Jason hadn’t. Lukas had reached full-wrath mode and he was rearing back for a hell of a punch.
But I underestimated Jason. He sidestepped as the powerful fist came sailing his way. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion as Lukas stumbled when his assault was thwarted. Jason took advantage and delivered one mighty, impressive kick that swept Lukas Lund right off his feet.
“Stop!” I yelled, finally finding both my voice and the presence of mind to get between them and start handing out lectures like a teacher at the schoolyard. “Knock it off, both of you. You’re being ridiculous.”
Given that we were on the far north perimeter of the site, we weren’t within view of most of the workers. Only a few curious stares came our way.
Lukas got to his feet and brushed the dirt off his knees. He looked disgusted. With me, with Jason, maybe even with himself.
“Fuck this shit,” he said, and stalked off in the opposite direction.
Jason touched my arm. “Are you okay?”
I shook him off. “I’m fine. What the hell was that all about?”
He narrowed his eyes at Lukas’s departing figure. “Tired of seeing him lurking around here. Like a goddamn spider hunting its prey.”
“And so you opted to go full alpha-male idiot and assault him in broad daylight? What the hell makes you think I need your protection, Jason? Did I ever once fucking ask for it?”
He shook his head and gave me a stubborn glare. “No, Audrey, you’ve never asked for a damn thing. You’ve certainly never asked for protection. But you have it. Whether you want it or not.”
“That’s fantastic, Jason. You sound just like a Neanderthal.”
“Neanderthals didn’t have advanced language skills.”
“Shut up. You know what I mean.”
To my chagrin I saw that several workers had wandered away from their posts and were openly observing the entertainment.
“We’re making a hell of a scene,” I said, feeling extremely tired all of a sudden. But I still had enough fire in me to fix Jason with a severe glare. “Let’s get one thing straight. I don’t need to be guarded as if I’m some breakable treasure. I’m every bit as capable as you are.”
“Really?” Jason challenged. “And what the hell would you have done if that dickhead had made a grab for you? You think you could have defended yourself and taken him down, all hundred and twenty pounds of you?”
I crossed my arms and stood my ground. “Jason, right now I’m going back to the office, but I want you to listen to me carefully first. Do not come busting into situations you know nothing about to offer any more of your so-called help. I am not yours to defend.”
Jason didn’t blink. “Noted, Audrey.”
He didn’t follow me when I walked away. In fact I did not see him at all for the rest of the day.