Rescue Me (9 page)

“She called me after the guy didn’t show up after three weeks. I swear if I ever find him I’m going to take joy in killing him.”

Alex shook his head, sharing her anger. The number of fake contractors out there ripping people off was staggering. The demand was so high, all a criminal needed was a pickup truck and a sign on the door advertising his fake business.

“We’ve been trying to do as much as we can on our own, but it’s been slow,” Renee said. “We don’t have the proper tools. Just that old sledgehammer and our hands.”

“Wait? You and your aunt have been working in this house?”

She nodded.

“What did the contractor do?”

“That’s it. He didn’t do anything. He wouldn’t start the work until my aunt gave him half, and when she did, he took off. I’m just sorry she waited so long to call me. By the time I moved here from Florida, all of this had already happened. There was nothing more for me to do but to help her out as much as I could with the demolition.”

A car horn blew.

“That must be Rashad,” Renee said. She walked over to the side door and poked out her head. A minute later, Rashad Richards came through the door.

“What are you doing in here?” Alex heard him ask.

“We’re checking out the house,” Renee answered.

Richards turned, spotting Alex for the first time. “Mr. Holmes, how’s it going?” he said, reaching out to shake Alex’s hand. Alex returned the gesture, unnerved by the surge of jealousy that shot through his system at the realization that Rashad Richards was the reason behind Renee’s knockout dress. Alex had figured they were a couple when he first saw them together in the teachers’ lounge at St. Katherine’s, but having it confirmed, especially after catching a full frontal view of a naked Renee, was way past disappointing.

“Are you ready?” Richards asked, covering his mouth and nose with his sleeve.

“We still have a few minutes, don’t we? I want to show Alex the copper piping in the bathroom and kitchen.”

“We’re going to smell like mold. They’ll put us out of the theater.”

“I can check the piping on my own,” Alex said. “You want to try saving it, right?”

“If at all possible,” Renee answered.

“I’ve got a pretty clear picture of what needs to be done already,” Alex said.

“Yeah, everything,” Richards said with an insensitive snort.

“Basically,” Alex agreed. “But most of the framework is
still in good shape. This cedar is from the swamp, so it can hold up to the waters from the flood without encountering too much damage. We’d have to get rid of the warped ones, but most of it can be saved.”

“Renee? The smell,” Richards whined like a schoolboy. What was she doing with a guy like this?

“Why don’t we get out of here,” Alex suggested, “so you don’t get put out for stinking up the theater?” He hoped Richards caught his sarcasm.

Renee did. Alex could see the smile in her eyes, and couldn’t help but return it. He wondered if Richards realized just how lucky he was to have
that
woman, with
that
smile, wearing
that
dress, on his arm to night.

Richards was first out of the house, followed by Renee, then Alex. Once they were on the porch, Renee pulled the mask over her head, and shook her hair out.

“So, what do you think?” she asked Alex.

That she had the prettiest brown eyes he’d ever seen. That her legs looked amazing in that dress. That they looked even more amazing out of it.

“Mr. Richards summed it up,” Alex answered. “Everything needs to be overhauled.”

Her eyelids slid closed and she brought her hands up to rub her temples. “I know there’s a lot of work ahead of us.”

“Don’t worry about any of it right now,” Alex said. “I’ll have a crew out here tomorrow to tear out these walls and the ceiling. Once they’re done, they’ll wash down the studs with a mold killing solution and set up dehumidifiers throughout the house. I want to make sure we save as much of that cedar as possible. That wood probably goes for twenty times as much as it did when the house was built.”

“I know this is early, but can you give me a ballpark figure of what this is going to cost?” Renee asked.

Alex hunched his good shoulder and shook his head. “I can’t be sure. Give me the weekend to work on it. Once my
foreman gets a look, he and I can get a clearer picture of exactly what we need and I can give you a few numbers.”

“Renee, we need to get going,” Richards said. “The movie starts in an hour and we have to eat first.”

God forbid the woman worry about putting a solid roof over her head, not when there was a movie to watch. This was just another reason not to like Richards, in addition to the fact that the insensitive bastard was dating Renee.

“Give me just a minute, Rashad.” Renee turned back to Alex. “Thank you so much for doing this. Keep the key, just in case no one is here tomorrow when your crew comes.”

Great. Just what he needed to think about to night, Renee Moore not being at home because she’d spent the night at Richards’s place.

She took his left hand and squeezed it. “Thank you so much.”

“My pleasure,” Alex answered. He stood on the front lawn long after Richards’s blue Mustang had pulled out of the drive.

Chapter Seven

 

“I can’t do this anymore.”

Margo took a sip of her dry white wine and waited for a reaction from the man sitting across the table. There was none, just as she’d expected. Gerald Mitchell brought the linen napkin to his mouth and dabbed at both sides. He folded it, returning the napkin to his lap.

“Gerald, did you hear me?”

“Yes, I did,” he answered with a calmness that was the complete opposite of the anxiety coursing through her bloodstream. “What exactly do you mean by that?”

“Just what I said. I can’t do this anymore. I cannot continue lying to my boys.”

“Then don’t.”

“That’s your solution?”

“Yes, Margo. I’m still not sure why you had to lie to your sons in the first place.”

“Gerald, you don’t know my boys. They would have a fit if they knew I was seeing you.”

“They’re grown men. They can handle it.”

Margo pushed her plate of half eaten pecan crusted flounder to the side and finished off her glass of wine, her hand shaking slightly as she set the glass on the table. She knew it was time to tell her sons about Gerald. She was growing weary of coming up with excuses about her whereabouts.

It had never been her intention to deliberately keep Gerald a secret, but the more serious their relationship had become, the more Margo had to consider how news of her seeing a man would affect other aspects of her life. After so many years alone, it had taken
her
a few months to get used to the idea of dating again. She couldn’t just spring Gerald on her family.

Thank goodness she had her future daughter in law to confide in. Monica was the only one she’d told about Gerald. And even though she thought Margo was being too considerate of her boys’ feelings, Monica had proven to be a wonderful ally.

But the subterfuge had gone on too long. After their six months of seeing each other several times a week and talking on the phone nightly, it was obvious Gerald had become an integral part of her life. She just had to figure out how to integrate him into the rest of her life.

Gerald reached over and covered her hand with his. Margo looked up and smiled at him. He was a handsome man who looked much younger than his sixty three years. His black hair had only a sprinkling of gray around his ears,
which were a bit darker than his walnut colored skin. He’d probably gone out on his boat without any sunscreen on his ears.

Margo tamped down the urge to chide him. She’d spent so many years mothering her boys; it was hard for her to switch hats. But Gerald didn’t need a mother. He needed a companion, a lover.

Just the thought caused Margo’s pulse to quicken.

It had been years since she had felt this way about another human being. Gerald Mitchell elicited emotions Margo thought she had buried when she’d laid Wesley to rest nearly seventeen years ago.

She thought about what Wesley would think of her dating again after all these years. Knowing Wes, his biggest complaint would probably be that she’d never allowed him to take her to an expensive restaurant.

With three boys to raise and a house to pay for, an expensive night on the town was something they could not afford in those days. There were times Margo thought she would have to choose between paying the electric bill and putting food in her sons’ bellies.

Price was not something that concerned Gerald. With the money he pulled in as a corporate attorney, the man sitting across from her could buy this restaurant and everyone in it.

“Are you done with dinner?” Gerald asked.

“I am. It was delicious,” she said. “This restaurant is amazing. I’ve always wanted to dine here,” she said, marveling at the elegantly dressed dining room, with its impressive chandeliers and silk covered walls.

“It brings me great pleasure to show you a good time, Margo. You’re so busy making sure everyone else is okay that you don’t take time to do anything for yourself.”

Hadn’t she accused Alex of doing the very same thing?

Margo had never considered the support she provided to her family a burden. She cherished every moment she spent
helping her boys, and don’t get her started on her grand child. They were what she lived for.

But what about when they were all gone?

Both Eli and Toby would be getting married soon, and Jasmine was becoming more independent by the day. Before she knew it, her grandbaby would be out of the way, and Margo wouldn’t be needed anymore. In fact, it had already started. The fact that Alex had left her house so soon after his surgery was extremely telling. What would happen when her family didn’t need her anymore?

“If you’re done with dinner, I thought we could go to this little jazz club that just reopened,” Gerald said.

Margo thought about what she originally had on tap for the rest of the night. She had planned to start the base for her special bread pudding that had to stand for twenty four hours. Eli had requested she make the dessert for Sunday dinner. A dinner he wasn’t even sure he would be able to attend because of his schedule at the hospital. A few months ago, Margo would not have considered taking time for herself at the expense of preparing one of her son’s favorite desserts.

But now…

Maybe it was time she start thinking about herself.

Margo placed her hand in Gerald’s. “I would love to accompany you to that club, Gerald. I’m in the mood for a little jazz.”

Renee broke off a piece of graham cracker crust and smashed it with the tines of her fork, creating a mess on the edge of her dessert plate. It had occurred to her less than a half hour into this date that she was bored stiff, and that was before the movie nearly put her to sleep.

This wasn’t the first time she’d been out with Rashad and found herself thinking about the million other things she could be doing with her time. Yet it had never occurred to
her to just tell him that she wanted to leave. She hated the thought of being rude after he’d been such a friend these few months since she’d moved from Florida. He didn’t deserve to be treated that way.

But she wasn’t feeling this. Not at all. She had a choice in how she spent her Friday night, so why was she sitting here halfway engaged in boring conversation with a guy she was becoming less and less interested in by the minute? They would never be more than friends.

“Is everything all right?”

Renee’s head popped up at Rashad’s inquiry. Should she be honest? That usually wasn’t even a question, except when it came to hurting someone’s feelings.

“I’m fine,” she lied.
Coward
.

“Is the cheesecake okay?”

“It is.” She nodded. “I guess I’m still a little full from dinner earlier.”

“What are you doing tomorrow?” Rashad asked.

“It’s the Florida versus Tennessee game,” she answered.

Rashad rolled his eyes. “Sorry, I forgot. Can’t you miss just one?” he asked. “There’s an exhibit at this gallery on Julia Street I’ve been wanting to check out.”

“I said it’s Florida versus Tennessee,” she said, figuring that should be enough. “Two of the top teams in the Southeastern Conference going head to head,” she continued, when he still didn’t seem to get it.

Rashad shook his head and sighed. “Fine, what about after the game?”

“Another SEC matchup: LSU versus Alabama.”

“But you didn’t go to either of those schools.”

“The game still has major implications for the rest of the conference,” she argued.

“I don’t understand how you can sit in front of the TV for hours and watch game after game,” Rashad said.

The same way he could stare at painting after painting for
hours on end. At least the people on the TV moved. It was just her luck to pick a guy friend who wasn’t into sports, while she was the poster child for the outdoors. “Rashad, I’m really tired. Can we call it a night?”

“You sure? You’ve hardly touched your cheesecake.”

“I’m going to get it to go. It’ll be my breakfast tomorrow.” She might be athletic, but she wasn’t a complete health nut.

Rashad pushed from the table and came around to pull out her chair. One thing he had going for him was the gentleman quality.

“Do you want to get another slice of cheesecake to take home for your aunt?”

And thoughtfulness, too.

But that didn’t make up for having nothing in common. It was time to end this. “No, thanks,” Renee answered.

Even keeping up the small talk on the short drive from the restaurant had become increasingly difficult, which solidified Renee’s decision to make this her last official “date” with Rashad. She would break it off with him on Monday.

She hated to think how this would affect things at work, but she could not continue with this pretense. Tonight would have been better spent doing her laundry than watching a movie she didn’t want to watch and engaging in conversation she couldn’t remember.

When Rashad pulled his Mustang into her aunt’s driveway, Renee didn’t give him a chance to get out of the car. She gave him a slight peck on the cheek, thanked him for dinner, and quickly made her way out of the car and into the trailer. Aunt Lorna was sitting on the sofa with the remote in her hand.

“You’re home earlier than I thought you would be,” Aunt Lorna said. “I’m disappointed.”

“Good to see you, too,” Renee laughed, bending over to give her aunt a kiss on the cheek.

Aunt Lorna was her mother’s only sibling. Never married,
she’d been the rebel of the family, moving out at the tender age of seventeen and making her way to New York City, where she spent years performing off Broadway. Even though her preacher father had not agreed with her career choice, he’d still supported her. It was Aunt Lorna’s decision to pose for
Playboy
that had been the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back.

Although it completely alienated her from her parents, Aunt Lorna maintained that the day the magazine hit newsstands was one of her proudest moments. Renee had seen a copy of the photo layout. She had the right to be proud. Her aunt had possessed a body to die for, and it had been shown to full advantage on the glossy pages of the magazine.

Despite the riff her unconventional lifestyle had caused between Aunt Lorna and her parents, there had never been a break in the relationship between her and her sister, Doreen, Renee’s mother.

When Renee finally broke free from the abuse of her childhood, she had turned to her aunt, who welcomed her with open arms. That’s why when Katrina hit, it had not been a question where Lorna would evacuate. Renee even gave up the bed in her one room apartment, sleeping on the sofa so Aunt Lorna would be as comfortable as possible during the weeks she remained with her in Tampa after the storm. When Lorna was scammed by that contractor, Renee hadn’t thought twice about leaving her job and moving to New Orleans to aid her aunt in whatever way she could.

“Do you want a slice of cheesecake?” Renee offered.

“I have a figure to maintain, thank you very much. It’s not as easy to keep those pounds off once you pass fifty. You’d better enjoy those sweets while you can.”

“Thanks for the warning,” Renee laughed.

“What happened with the construction worker from the school?” Aunt Lorna asked. “Did he show up to check out the house?”

“Yeah,” Renee answered. He’d had the chance to check
out a lot more than the house. Heat rushed through her just at the thought of the look on Alex Holmes’s face when he’d accidentally walked in on her stark naked.

“What did he say?”

“That you were ripped off.” Renee opened the miniscule refrigerator and retrieved a carton of milk.

“Did he say anything I don’t know already?”

Renee rested her hip against the kitchen counter while she poured milk into a glass. “He thinks we can save most of the wood from the frame.”

“Oh, thank God. I’d hate to throw that cedar away. It was one of the reasons I bought this house. What about the copper piping?” Aunt Lorna asked.

“He’s sending a crew tomorrow morning to look everything over and start taking down the walls and ceiling.”

“How much will it all cost?”

“That’s one thing he didn’t say.”

Lorna sighed. “I guess it doesn’t really matter. It has to get done, no matter the cost.”

“And it’s not as if you have to worry about taking care of it by yourself.”

“I told you I’m not taking money from you, little girl.” Aunt Lorna’s stern warning drew another laugh from Renee.

“And I told you that you don’t have a choice.”

Renee still remembered waiting in line at Western Unions along the East Coast as her mother received emergency wire transfers from her big sister. Aunt Lorna’s financial support had kept them afloat those times her mother had tried to leave her father. It was throwing good money after wasted intentions, of course. After a few weeks, her mother would always find her way back to her abusive husband.

“Will you be here tomorrow when the work crew arrives?” Lorna asked.

“I can be,” Renee answered. “I was going over to Penelope’s to watch football, but I can do that here.”

“I agreed to teach an acting class at the Boys and Girls Club, so I’ll be gone early tomorrow. I should be back before noon.” Aunt Lorna rose from the sofa and extended her arms in a generous stretch, her hands reaching the low ceiling of the trailer. “Well, since I don’t have to worry about waiting up for you, I’m going to bed.”

“As if you had to wait up,” Renee said, giving her aunt another kiss on the cheek.

“I promised myself I would take care of you,” Lorna reminded her.

“I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself, but I appreciate it anyway. Have a good night’s sleep.”

“I will, baby. I’ll try not to wake you when I get up in the morning.”

Renee flopped down on the sofa, picking up the remote and muting the volume as she flipped through the channels, settling on ESPN to catch the eleven o’clock
Sports Center
.

She thought about the past few hours she’d spent with Rashad, and wondered if she was being too hard on him. Rashad had been a good friend these past few months. Sure, he’d tried to take things a little faster than she had been willing to allow, but as she’d just told Aunt Lorna, she was a big girl. She could definitely take care of herself. The first time Rashad’s hand had traveled where it shouldn’t have, he’d found his arm bent up behind his back, and her knee primed to turn him into a soprano. Renee hadn’t had much of a problem dealing with him after that. It was only in the last couple of weeks that he’d started coming on strong again, but all it would take is another lesson in manners to nip that behavior in the bud.