Mine (18 page)

Charlie tugged at his leash, trying to smell something just out of reach, and Rachel adjusted her hold as they walked. The last time she recalled being this out of sorts was ages ago. Could it have been as far back as the week after her father left? The day she realized that her mother was in trouble and if she didn’t pick up the slack left by her parents and do her best to keep things in order, she and Emily might just fade away? Of course, she understood now, as an adult, that children don’t just fade away. At the time, though, she was terrified. She’d spent an entire night wide-awake and staring at her bedroom ceiling, wondering what on earth she should do. Scared, confused, and uncertain, she’d cried silently for hours, worrying about her future, about Emily’s future, about her mother’s inability to get out of bed. By the next morning, tired of endless weeping and realizing nobody was going to come to her rescue, she’d made a pact with herself. She’d take care of anything she possibly could, and eventually, she was sure her mother would pull herself together.

That’s when little Rachel Hart took control of her life; it was her defining moment. She cleaned, she did laundry, and she bathed her baby sister. She cooked dinner. She made sure her mother was breathing. She did her homework and then helped Emily with hers. At thirteen years old, she ran the household for weeks. It might even have been months before Alice emerged from her bedroom showered and fully dressed, and their new life without Rachel’s father began. Somehow, Rachel had never been able to let go of that need for control. She had it to this day. She was rigid, contained, and predictable.

Sending Courtney flowers fell into none of those categories. Neither did counting the days until they’d see each other again.

Blowing out a frustrated breath, she said aloud, “I may be in trouble here, Charlie. I may be in big trouble.”

*

“Hello?” Courtney snatched up the phone on the first ring, making a face at herself for looking so pathetically eager.

“Hi there. It’s Rachel.”

Like Courtney wouldn’t recognize those husky tones anywhere. “All done?”

“Yep. I just want to change out of this monkey suit and I’ll be good to go.”

“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”

“Great. You remember my address?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Top floor.”

“Got it.”

“See you soon.”

Exactly twelve minutes later, Courtney slipped her VW into park and hopped out. The building across the street was huge, solid and beautiful, made of red brick and quite a bit bigger than Courtney had expected. She whistled softly. “Nice piece of real estate.”

An ornate set of wood-and-glass double doors opened onto a small vestibule, which led to a matching set that were locked. Courtney peeked through the leaded glass at the marble floors in the foyer and whistled again. Rachel owned this building and the fact was impressive. On the right was an intercom system with seven buttons, a name printed next to each. She pushed number seven, which was labeled “Hart.” Rachel answered just as the front doors opened and a rugged-looking man entered the vestibule, a set of keys jingling in his hand.

“Courtney?” Rachel’s disembodied voice said.

“Your chariot awaits,” Courtney answered, then smiled at the man when she noticed he was smiling at her.

“I’ll let her in, Raich,” he said to the intercom. “And I’ll tell her all your secrets before I send her up.”

“Thanks, Jeff,” Rachel replied. “Don’t listen to a word he says, Courtney. He’s a big, fat liar.”

They both laughed and Jeff turned his key in the lock, holding the door open for Courtney. Once they were inside the foyer, he held out his hand.

“Jeff Porter.”

“Courtney McAllister.” His hand was warm, his handshake firm but gentle. The softness of his expression surprised her and she liked him immediately.

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Courtney,” he said as he motioned for her to follow him down the hall. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“You have?” Courtney didn’t hide her surprise and it made him chuckle.

“Yep.” He punched the call button for the elevator. “Rachel’s been a good friend of mine for a few years now and we get together every so often to shoot the shit.”

Courtney nodded, not sure what to say, not sure if knowing Rachel talked about her made her feel flattered or uneasy or both. “That’s great. Rachel’s…she’s terrific.”

“She is. You two going out today?”

“We’re going to my friend’s place to watch the Bills game.”

“Sounds like fun.” The elevator dinged and the doors slid open. “She’s on four,” he said helpfully. “I live on this floor, so I’ll see you around.”

“Thanks, Jeff,” she said as she stepped onto the elevator. “It was nice meeting you,” she added quickly as the doors shut. Inside, she let out a big breath, feeling inexplicable relief.
So…Rachel mentioned me, huh? Interesting.
She let a smile creep onto her face, then bit her lip so she wouldn’t look like a silly, grinning schoolgirl.

When the elevator stopped and its doors opened, there was only one other door to head to and it stood ajar. The hallway area itself was gorgeous and sparkling and it took Courtney’s breath away. It looked old and new at the same time, with gleaming hardwood and fancy crown molding alongside an obviously new double-hung window that spilled daylight onto the hallway and a small crystal chandelier that was suspended from the ceiling. Courtney turned slowly in a full circle, taking everything in, before approaching the semiopened door. She tapped on it gently.

“Rachel?”

“Come on in, Courtney,” Rachel called from deep inside the apartment. “I’ll just be a minute.”

Rachel’s apartment gave off much the same feel as the hallway and foyer did. Old and new blended seamlessly together for a unique, classy and elegant, yet warm and cozy atmosphere that you felt instantly. Walking into the living room, Courtney made a game of picking out as much old versus new that she could find in the first few minutes of looking. The hardwood floor was shiny and well tended, but the thin planks that made it up told Courtney they were probably original to the building. Rachel had throw rugs in burgundies and browns tossed in a seemingly casual manner to protect them. An alarmingly large, flat-screen television was mounted on the far wall and Courtney smiled as she remembered Rachel telling her it was her favorite recent splurge. Small surround-sound speakers were placed surreptitiously around the room and Courtney had to fight the urge to turn everything on, just to hear what she knew would be incredible, movie-theater-quality sound that would probably make her drool with pleasure.

“Help yourself to a drink or whatever you want,” Rachel called from down a hallway. “There’s stuff in the fridge. Or open a bottle of wine. Whatever you want.”

“Okay. Thanks.”

The apartment was deceptively huge. Each time Courtney craned her neck, she saw an entry to another room. There was a dining room off the back corner of the living room and she wandered casually toward it, drawn by the large windows along one side of the living room. The view looked out the front of the building and there was a small balcony. Courtney had no trouble picturing Rachel relaxing easily in the summer, on a lounge chair with a glass of wine and a book. She followed the throw rugs into the dining room where a midsized wine rack instantly caught her eye and drew her like it had some sort of gravitational pull.

It was almost full, only three of the twenty-five bottle spaces left open. She slid a bottle out enough to read the label. Then another. Then another. She still wasn’t terribly well versed in wine, but she was learning, finding it was something that interested her a great deal. The most common conclusion she could draw about Rachel’s wine collection was that it was
pricey
. Most of the wines on her rack were brands and varietals that Courtney hadn’t tried yet, simply because she couldn’t bring herself to spend that much on one bottle.

“Wow,” she mumbled as she looked at another bottle of a merlot from the Napa Valley. “Nice.”

“Shall we open one?”

Rachel startled Courtney, making her jump. Shooting a sheepish grin Rachel’s way, she took a moment to admire the well-worn, low-slung jeans and long-sleeve black T-shirt that seemed to hug every single, desirable curve of Rachel’s body. God, the woman could wear rags and still be sexy. Courtney tried in vain to clear her throat. And her head.

“Sorry about that,” Rachel said with a smile. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”

“No, I’m the one who’s sorry. I shouldn’t be snooping.”

“Is that what you’re doing?” Rachel cocked an eyebrow, the twinkle in her eyes taking any sting out of her voice so Courtney knew she was teasing her.

“You have quite an impressive selection here.”

“Do I?”

“Yes.” Courtney furrowed her brows at the question. “You don’t know that?”

“To be honest, probably nine out of ten of these bottles came from clients as thank-yous. I don’t really know much about wine at all.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

“Rachel, you’ve got some very expensive wine here.”

Rachel lifted one shoulder and grinned. “I sell some very expensive houses.”

Courtney squinted at her, remembering she’d used that line once before. She found herself wondering how it was possible for one person to present such an overall puzzle and why it was that she wanted to spend as much time as she could trying to figure her out. “Really? What were you doing selling my modest abode, then?”

Rachel blushed adorably and studied her feet. “I sell some more reasonably priced houses, too.”

“I see. But
you
brought
me
wine.”

“Yes, I did.”

Rachel looked up and their gazes held. “It’s good to see you,” Courtney said softly, feeling like it had been months rather than a couple of weeks.

“You, too.” Rachel gestured to the wine rack with her chin. “Pick one for us to take to Mark’s.”

“What?” Courtney was hesitant. “Oh, no. This is not football wine. This is fancy dinner wine. We should just drink beer or something. Mark doesn’t know a thing about wine. This stuff’s too good…”

“Courtney.” Rachel placed a warm hand on Courtney’s upper arm. Courtney could feel the heat through the sleeve of her jacket and fought to ignore it.

“Hmm?”

“I think it’s silly to save good wine for a fancy dinner. Don’t you? Wouldn’t you rather taste it now?”

Courtney swallowed as she listened to the hypnotic quality of Rachel’s low voice as she spoke about tasting. God, the woman was sexy, whether or not she intended to be. She just was. “Okay,” Courtney managed to croak.

Shifting her gaze to the bottles, Rachel ordered again, “You pick.”

Courtney, too, studied the wine. “Um, okay. Let me see.” She pulled each bottle out again, studying its label, its original location, its varietal. “Okay, this one?” It was a California cabernet sauvignon from a Napa Valley winery called Groth. Despite its simple black-and-ivory label, Courtney knew from her explorations at local liquor stores that it was a $50–$60 bottle of wine, easily. She also remembered all the rave reviews she’d read about it. “This is a really, really nice wine and you
have
to save it for a special occasion.”

“I think I have two bottles of that.”

Courtney did a double take and then checked the other bottles again. Rachel was right. There were two. “Still. It’s absolutely Special Occasion Wine. Save it. I insist. All right? Promise me?” She waited expectantly for an answer.

Rachel nodded. “Only because you insisted,” she said with a wink that made Courtney feel a sudden and inexplicable anticipation racing through her system.

Jesus, how the hell am I supposed to survive this woman?
A mixture of excitement and anxiety churned in her gut as she turned back to the rack and pulled a bottle out with barely a glance. “Okay. This one.”

“Perfect. Are you ready?”

Oh, God, am I ever ready.
“Yup. Let’s go. The game’s already started.”

*

“They seemed good, didn’t they?” Courtney asked as they drove away from Mark’s house and waved to Lisa in the doorway. “Don’t you think they were cute?”

“They were
very
cute,” Rachel agreed. “Very cozy and comfortable with one another. It hasn’t been that long, has it?”

“Only a few weeks.” She thought about how at ease Mark and Lisa seemed with each other, touching, laughing, sharing private moments of eye contact. It had made Courtney simultaneously happy for them and a little envious. She made a mental note to try to figure out a way to ask Lisa how it was going…if she was having an easy or a hard time, if she was comparing Mark to Stephen and if so, how she was handling it.

Quiet descended upon the interior of the car as each woman focused on her own thoughts about the evening. It had been terrific. The Bills pulled it out at the last possible second, causing the foursome to jump up from their seats and scream in elation at the television. Between Courtney, Rachel, and Lisa, they’d polished off the absolutely delectable bottle of Shiraz from Rachel’s wine rack. Courtney sat in Mark’s comfy chair and Rachel spent the evening on the floor between Courtney’s feet, her elbows resting on Courtney’s knees. Courtney found herself playing with Rachel’s hair more than once, threading it through her fingers like golden strands of spun silk. Their position seemed so natural that neither of them moved nor acknowledged it. It just was.

“Hey,” Courtney said, breaking the silence as she drove. “Thursday is Halloween.”

Rachel smiled at her. “So it is.”

“Do you have plans?”

“I don’t.” Tossing a sudden panicked look in Courtney’s direction, she asked, “You’re not going to ask me to dress up, are you?”

“Hmm…I wasn’t, but now that I think about it, that could be fun. Do I get to pick the costume?”

“Um, no.” Both women laughed.

“Party pooper.” Courtney stuck out her tongue. As she made a left and headed down Rachel’s street, she explained, “I suspect I’m going to get a lot of kids at my new house and I’m not used to that. I’ll love it, but I’m not used to it. We lived out in the ’burbs, as you know, and only got the few kids on our street. I think this year will be different.”