Hearts Under Construction (13 page)

“Are you all right? You do remember coming to my house, right? The little talk that we had?”

Cole wondered if he had just cause to murder his brother. He mentally shook his head; it probably wouldn’t hold up in court. He couldn’t stand it any longer. Walking over to his door, he closed it, and sat back down in his chair.

“Cole, what’s wrong?”

He shook his head. “I have no idea how to say this, but it’s only fair that you know the truth.”

She held up her hand. “We’ve been through this, Cole. I know we’re merely coworkers. There’s nothing between us. We established that Friday night, remember? I told you I didn’t think a thing about the e-mails.”

He looked at her incredulously. “Okay, this has gone far enough.”

She looked confused.

For the next few minutes, he told her the entire situation about Caed playing the part of Cole and how upset he had been by it, but didn’t know how to fix it. He felt she had a right to know.

At first, she looked offended. Then she seemed to work through her pride, let the whole idea sink in, and finally, to Cole’s eternal surprise, she laughed.

He couldn’t believe it. His mouth practically gaped. “You’re not mad?”

“Well, nobody likes to be made sport of, but I have to admit it is kind of funny. Boy, he sure looks like you.”

Cole couldn’t believe his ears. Never in a million years would he have expected such a response from her. “You’re amazing.”

She smiled. “Why is that?’

“Most women would be livid, but you, you laugh.” He scratched his head.

She shrugged. “What can we do? It’s over and done. He meant no harm. He had a little fun—”

“At our expense,” he interjected.

“Okay, so at our expense. No one was hurt.”

“You know, there’s something different about you. You’ve changed somehow.”

“You know, I really have.” She told him the reason for her change, how she had finally given the control of her life to God, where it belonged.

Her words pricked his conscience. He knew he had some issues of his own, but he wasn’t ready to deal with all that just yet.

They went through the day’s agenda and got business out of the way. Ellie stood to leave.

“Ellie?”

“Yeah?”

“Change looks good on you.”

“Thanks,” she said with a smile that curled his toes.

Cole had the sneaking suspicion that his life was about to change.

But then, he could handle change, couldn’t he?

“H
ow are you doing, Jax?” Ellie asked as she poured her morning coffee in the office kitchen. She put the pot down and really looked at him. Dark circles underlined his eyes, his hair looked a bit disheveled.

“Let’s just say I’ve been better.”

“What’s wrong?” Ellie asked.

Jax put his finger to his mouth. He grabbed his mug of coffee and motioned for her to follow him. Once inside his office, he closed the door behind them. Ellie was a little worried. Jax normally wasn’t so secretive. She waited while he settled into his chair and took a sip of coffee. He looked up. “I broke it off with Alex last night.”

“Oh, Jax, I’m sorry.”

He rubbed his jaw. “Alex is a nice woman, but well, she’s just not the right one for me.”

Ellie didn’t know what to say to that. She took a drink of coffee. “Is she okay?”

“Well, we’ve been having some struggles lately, so I don’t think she was all that surprised. She didn’t say a whole lot, wished me well. I guess I should be happy about that, yet, something in her manner was a little unsettling to me.” He looked toward his window as if thinking about it.

“What do you mean, Jax?”

He looked back to Ellie. “I don’t know, exactly. It just didn’t feel right, you know?”

Ellie nodded, but she wasn’t at all sure she did know what he meant. “Do you think it will affect your working relationship?”

He grabbed a pencil between his fingers and started twirling it. “That’s what I’m worried about,” he said, watching the pencil.

“I’m sorry, Jax. I’ll be praying for you both.”

“Maybe she’ll talk to you,” he said, surprising Ellie.

“I—I don’t know. Alex and I have never really been close friends.”

He shrugged. “Well, if she does, put in a good word for me, okay?”

“To keep the peace?”

“Right.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” She took another drink of coffee. “Everything else all right?”

“Yeah. Classes are going well. That was another problem, trying to keep her happy, get my work done here, and still work in class and homework time.” He ran his hand through his hair. “I just couldn’t do it all, and she didn’t have the understanding to deal with it.”

“Do you think there’s a chance you could ever get back together?”

“No. It’s just not there for me. I mean, Alex is a great woman and all, but we’re just not a good fit.”

Ellie nodded. “I’m sorry, Jax. You take care of yourself.” She stood. “I’d better get back to work or my boss will get mad,” she said with a wink.

“You mean me?” he teased.

“Well, you and, um, my other boss.”

Jax raised his brows. “Oh, yeah, he is pretty ruthless.”

She laughed and walked through the door. Frowning, Alex stood just outside the door, causing the smile to leave Ellie’s face. Alex glared at her, then walked off in a huff.

Uh-oh, this might call for prayer and fasting, Ellie thought, making a hasty retreat to the safety of her desk.

Ellie reached up to knock on Cole’s door but stopped short when she saw the worried look on his face. He glanced up just as she was about to leave.

“Ellie, you need something?”

She turned back to him. “Oh, it’s nothing, Cole. It can wait.”

“No, please, come on in.” He motioned for her to sit in front of his desk.

She wished she hadn’t come. The look on his face told her he wasn’t in the mood for bad news. For a moment, she fell silent, staring at the floor.

“Ellie, what’s wrong?”

She looked up. “Oh, uh—”

“Come on, Ellie. There’s a problem. You’ve never been able to hide bad news.” He let out a guarded smile.

She sighed deeply. “I’m sorry, Cole. I’m afraid there have been vandals at the Wilson job site.”

His lips formed into a thin line. He blew out a long, deliberate breath and stared at his desk, slowly shaking his head. Ellie waited a moment, allowing the news to sink in.

“How bad?”

“Um, well, it’s nothing a little paint won’t cure,” she said with her brightest voice. In a much softer tone she added, “We will have to rip out the carpet, though.”

His face paled. “Graffiti?”

She nodded.

“How many rooms?”

“Um, actually, every room.”

Cole slammed his fist on the desk. Ellie jumped. “Do the Wilsons know?”

“Not yet.”

Cole stood and began to pace. “What is going on around here? Did they break into the house or was it unlocked?”

“I don’t know the details. I just got the call this morning. I thought you might want to go over there with me and take a look.”

“Where’s Jax?”

“He had to go into school today to meet with his professor.”

“Great. Just great.” Ellie prayed a silent prayer, knowing the responsibility of all this weighed heavily upon Cole. “Okay, let’s go,” he said in a what-else-can-we-do tone.

“Well, it could have been worse,” Cole said as he and Ellie pulled away from the job site in his car.

Ellie looked at him with obvious surprise.

He gave her a sideways glance. “What? You think I don’t have a positive side?” He tossed her a weak smile.

She smiled warmly. “I confess it was a relief to see the carpet only had a spot or two in the back bedroom. That will be easy enough to replace. I had envisioned all the carpeting having to be replaced.”

Cole nodded. “I am concerned about one thing, though.”

“What’s that?”

“How are these vandals getting into the house? There was no sign of forced entry, which means either they have a key or the door was left unlocked.”

Ellie whirled her head around to look at him. “You think it’s someone on the job?”

They pulled up to a stoplight and Cole turned to her. “Let’s just hope not.”

They drove the rest of the way back to the office in silence. Inside, Alex sat at the receptionist’s desk wearing a bright smile. Cole noticed Ellie looked a little apprehensive when she spotted Alex. He wondered what that was all about.

“Hi, Cole,” Alex said with unusual charm. “Could I talk to you a minute?”

He looked at Ellie.

“I’ll talk to you later, Cole,” Ellie said, leaving Alex and Cole alone in the front room.

“What’s up?” he asked, when he reached Alex’s desk.

She licked her lower lip. “Well, I need someone to talk to, and I know you’re busy, but I wondered if you’d have lunch with me today?”

Cole couldn’t have been more surprised by her request. “Where’s Jax?” He didn’t miss the shadow that crossed her face.

“He’s at school today, as always.” Her face brightened again. “So, will you go with me?”

Cole thought a moment. “Yeah, I think that would be fine. I don’t have any appointments until three.”

“Great.” She perked up. She reached a hand up and touched his arm, unnerving him a little. “I’ll look forward to it,” she said with a tone that told him to run. Instead, he smiled weakly, and walked back to his office.

Puzzled by the whole affair, he wondered if he should talk to Ellie about it. But then the last time he had shared something with her, she had gone straight to Jax. No, he’d better wait and see what was up with Alex. Still, an uncomfortable feeling settled upon him, almost a feeling of doom. He couldn’t quite figure it out.

Cole mentally shook his head. Those vandals had him suspicious of everything.

Ellie stopped at his door. “I’m getting a cup of coffee, and since you have been easing back into drinking the office coffee, I thought I’d ask if you want some.”

Okay, now he really was getting suspicious. One woman invites him to lunch, another offers to get him coffee? Hmm, this was August. His birthday wasn’t until October. Why the special treatment?

“Cole?” she asked with a heart-stopping smile.

Ellie’s voice jarred him out of his musings. “Oh, sorry. Yeah, that would be great. Thanks, Ellie.” He could hear her sandals clack on the hardwood floor as she walked down the hall. This was turning out to be a good day after all. He almost felt like leaning back in his chair and resting his feet on his desk. The phone on his desk rang, jarring him from a perfectly wonderful daydream.

“Hello,” he said with a grouse.

“Well, hello to you, too,” came Jax’s voice. “Bad day?”

Cole wanted to say, “What would you know about it, you’re never here,” but he didn’t. “Let’s just say I’ve had better.”

“Uh-oh. Listen, Cole, I’ll be in this afternoon. If you want to schedule a time to meet, that would be great for me.”

Cole rubbed his jaw. “Well, I’m going out to lunch with Ale—” He stopped himself, not sure how Jax would take the news.

“You’re going to lunch with Alex?” Jax wanted to know.

“Yeah, do you mind?”

“Not at all.”

“She said she needed to talk.”

Jax whistled.

“What’s that about?”

“You’ll get an earful about me, no doubt.”

Cole leaned into his chair and got comfortable. “What’s going on with you two, you having a lovers’ quarrel?” Cole smiled at Ellie as she brought him his coffee, and he mouthed “thank you.” She threw him her heart-stopping smile once again, warming him clear through without benefit of the coffee. Ellie turned and walked out of his office, taking his thoughts with her.

“Cole, you still there?”

“Oh, yeah, sorry. Someone just came into my office. They’re gone now.”

“Well, as I was saying, we broke up.”

Jax’s words hit Cole with surprise. “You really did?” He thumped forward in his chair. “I figured when you told me you were having problems that you’d work things out.” Feeling uncomfortable, Cole searched for something to say. “I’m sorry, Jax. If you need to talk, I’ll be around.”

“No need to feel sorry, it’s just one of those things. It wasn’t working, and well, I don’t love her. We can talk more when I see you this afternoon. It’s kind of complicated.”

“Oh, great. I guess I will get an earful over lunch then. I’d better take some antacids with me.”

Jax laughed. “If anyone can handle it, you can.” A moment of silence stood between them. “Hey, listen, Cole, if you find yourself interested in Alex, it’s not a problem for me.”

“Oh, I don’t see that happening,” Cole assured him in a hurry.

“Well, just wanted you to know. I’ve gotta go. I’ll see you, say, around two o’clock, will that work?”

“Sounds great. I checked my schedule. I thought I had a three o’clock appointment, but it turns out it’s not until four.”

“Okay, I’ll see you at two. Good luck at lunch.”

“Thanks a lot.” Cole placed the phone back in its cradle.

The next hour flew by while Cole pored over pressing paperwork.

“Hey, Mr. Workaholic, you ready for lunch?” Cole looked up to see Alex standing in his doorway. She was dressed in a white lace-trimmed tank, which he admired but which he wasn’t at all sure was appropriate for an office setting. Her cream-colored pants hugged her legs, making her shape quite visible. Cole had a sneaking suspicion she’d planned it that way.

“I’m ready,” he said, meaning it. After all, Jax said she was fair game. But, of course, he’d never really been interested in Alex. Still, she was nice to look at, and she would be a safe date. Her type didn’t like commitment any more than he did. Yet, she had wanted to commit to Jax. He reluctantly followed her out of his office and out of the building.

She motioned him to her wine-colored luxury convertible. They climbed onto the leather seats. Cole whistled. “I think I have the wrong job.”

Alex laughed. “Well, trust me, I didn’t get this car on my income. A present from Daddy,” she said, flashing a grin.

Cole raised an eyebrow. “Would he consider adopting a son?”

“Oh, that would never do,” she said. “That would make you my brother, and well, we can’t have that, can we?” Her eyes spoke volumes, and Cole felt his breath leave him as the ball and chain tightened around him again.

Alex put her key in the ignition and started the car.

“Do you mind?” he asked, reaching over to turn on the radio.

She shook her head. Just as they were pulling out of the lot, Ellie emerged from the building in time to see them. Cole waved, but the look on her face made him feel funny in a weird sort of way. Kind of like he had let her down or something. He shook his head. That’s dumb. They didn’t have an understanding between them, other than that they were mere friends.

“How about that new restaurant the staff went to a couple of weeks ago?” Alex asked, pulling into traffic.

“Sounds great.”

They talked of the weather and office chitchat on the way to the restaurant. Ellie’s expression haunted Cole all the way there.

Once seated in their booth and after placing their orders, Alex began. “I guess you know about me and Jax?” she asked, her eyes searching his face.

Cole wasn’t at all sure he liked being placed in this situation. “I just found out.”

“From whom?” she asked before taking a sip of her diet drink.

“Um, Jax called just before we left.”

“Oh,” she said with an obvious sneer in her voice. “And what did he tell you?”

“Look, Alex, I don’t want to get in the middle of whatever is going on with you two.”

She held up her hand. “You’re totally right. I shouldn’t have asked. Sorry.”

Cole took a drink of his iced tea. “So why did you want to go to lunch with me?”

“Well, I noticed you and Ellie have kept your relationship purely professional from what I can see, and I thought maybe you and I could get together once in a while.”

Oh, boy. He had been around bold, pushy women before, but this one should run for president. After all, Jax was his best friend, and he and Alex had just broken up. Cole wasn’t at all sure he wanted to go there. “I don’t know, Alex—”

“Look, Cole, I know you and Jax are great friends, but I don’t think it’s a problem.”

“Are you trying to make him jealous?”

“Not at all. We had a good thing going for a while, but then it just didn’t work out anymore. We have different interests. We’re both ready to move on.”

Cole stirred the ice in his glass. “Well, it takes time to get over relationships, Alex. I think you need to wait awhile.”