Build Me Up (17 page)

“I’m going to go find Hallie,” Annabelle said to Ford and jumped off the stool, disappearing into the crowd before he could object.

“What did you say to her?” he questioned Kristen, who had turned back to her drink.

“Just girl talk,” she shrugged.

“Since when do you and my daughter do ‘girl talk’?”

“Since she needed someone to talk to that would understand what it’s like to be a teenage girl in California. It’s not
that
long ago since I was one myself, you know?”

Ford gritted his teeth. “You didn’t lie about your age, did you?”

“Relax,” she rolled her eyes. “I’m on the wrong side of 30. Or the right side, depending on whom you’re asking. Nowhere near jailbait,” she added in a stage whisper making Ford wonder how many drinks she’d had.

Ford sat down on the vacated chair with a sigh, taking a swig of the beer Tom had produced. “How’ve you been?” he asked Kristen, who was tapping her foot along with the music, her shapely denim-encased legs crossed at the knees.

“Fine. You?”

“Good. Busy.”

“How soon do you think the crew will be ready to start up construction again?”

“In a few days.”

“Good.”

“Do you want to dance?”

“No.”

Ford sighed, polished off the rest of his beer and rose. “Come on,” he said, grabbing Kristen’s free hand, which up until now had been tapping a beat on her knee. She looked about to protest, then seemed to notice Tom was watching them curiously and either didn’t want to make a big fuss about a friendly dance or wanted to make him jealous. Ford seriously hoped it was the former.

Just as they hit the part of the restaurant that had been cleared of tables to create a dance floor, the music changed into a slow song and he could practically feel Kristen’s sigh as it passed through her body. He didn’t let her reluctance stop him, though, and pulled her close. She fitted into his arms as easily as she had over the past months they’d been sharing a bed, and he felt the rightness of it like a force field colliding with his body and mind. She belonged there.

“I’ve missed you.”

“Ford, don’t.”

“I’m not allowed to miss you when you’re not around, or I’m not allowed to tell you about it?”

“Both. There’s just no point to it. We’re better off just working together.”

“Because you’re going back to L.A.?”

“Yes.”

“What if you weren’t?”

“Don’t. That’s not… I’m not giving up my life for… for what? I don’t even know what we could have in common in the long run. We’re two very different people, Ford. We may connect physically, but once that gets old, then what? I’m not the long-lasting relationship type. And even if I was… I would go crazy out here. I can’t do small town life. I’m just not built that way.”

“I’m not asking you to give up your life, Kristen. I’m asking you to give a new way of life a chance. You’re already travelling all the time, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“And I work on different sites, on different projects. Why couldn’t we give the long-distance thing a go?”

“That’s what you want?”

“No. I want to be with you as much as possible, but I’m willing to negotiate. Just having a small piece of you is better than nothing.”

“I don’t know, Ford… I just… don’t know.”

“Then don’t give me an answer yet. Think about it. We have eight months left before the lighthouse project is supposed to be finished. There’s time to decide.”

“And in the meantime?”

“In the meantime… I’d like you to move back in.”

“As a boarder?”

“As my girlfriend. I want you in my bed every night of the week.”

“What about on the weekends?”

“Then, too. Unless we find a nice hotel somewhere,” he grinned.

“Can I have some time to think about it?”

“Absolutely.”

“Are we going to tell Annabelle?”

“I think we might need to say something, yeah.”

“Do you mind if I do it? I mean, I know she’s your daughter and all, but I feel like she should hear it from me first. There’s a chance she might start to hate me.”

“Why would she hate you?”

“If I made a friend who turned out to be my father’s girlfriend, I’d feel duped. I don’t want her to feel that way. And I don’t want her to feel ganged up on with both of us there.”

“You know, for a non-parent, you have pretty good instincts,” Ford mused. As Kristen rested her cheek against his chest, he looked around the restaurant. No sign of Annabelle anywhere. “Hey, did she tell you where she was going?”

“To the party? Yeah, with Hallie, right?” Kristen said, looking up at him.

“Right. Do you see either of them?”

Kristen turned around to scope out the restaurant. “No. Maybe they left already.”

“She was supposed to have Hallie talk to me first,” Ford said, reaching for his cell phone. Kristen stopped him.

“Hey. Don’t call her. She won’t pick up and you’ll only get more worried.”

“Then what am I supposed to do, huh?”

“Text her. Say you don’t see her at the Sea Shack and you assume she’s gone with Hallie to the party. Tell her to confirm, and to call you if she needs you to pick her up.”

“And she will?”

“No. If she’s calling anyone tonight, it’s me,” Kristen said, holding up her own phone.

“How’d you do that?”

“I put my number in her phone and told her to call if she needed anything, and that I wouldn’t tell on her. Which I won’t. If she does need me to pick her up, you can’t come, and I won’t be your mole. Got it?”

“She’s
my
daughter, Kristen.”

“Yes, she is. And you want what’s best for her. So do I.”

“And you think what’s best for her is keeping things from me? Maybe I was wrong about your instincts.”

“Newsflash, Ford – teenagers keep secrets from their parents all the time. Not all are bad or big ones. If you start demanding to know every single thing, you’re going to push her so far away she’ll never come to you if there’s something truly bad happening that she needs your help with.”

“Is that what happened with your parents?”

“Mine? No, they didn’t really show an interest. They never said that they’d be there if I needed them, so I just counted them out.”

“So you’re not speaking from experience, then.”

“I’ve had plenty of friends with nosy parents. They often stayed at my house.”

“So...”

“Just relax. Wait to see if she texts you back, and try to enjoy your night,” Kristen said and walked back over to the bar.

“So… you and Ford, huh?” Tom the bartender slash owner said as Kristen resumed her seat at the bar.

“What?”

“You’re seeing each other?”

“Oh. Uh…”

“I mean, from the way you two were dancing, it looked like…”

“Yeah. Well, I don’t know. Maybe.”

“He’s a good guy.”

“I know.”

“It broke his heart when Suzy left with the kid,” Tom said, pouring her a drink. Non-alcoholic, just in case Annabelle
did
call.

“I can imagine…”

“You know, he’s been talking about moving out to California to be close to her for years now, but… well, construction doesn’t pay too well, does it?”

“But if he had the opportunity, he would?” Kristen frowned, anxious to glean information from the talkative bartender.

“I mean, you’d have to ask
him
about that, but I reckon he would. Now that the old lighthouse property is gone… well, there’s not much keeping him here, is there?”

“Except for his friends.”

“His very chatty friends,” Ford’s voice broke in and Kristen felt him right behind her.

“Sorry, man,” Tom cringed a little.

“You can make it up to me by calling your sister and asking her if she’s keeping an eye on Annabelle.”

“Hallie? She’s in the back. There’s no way she’s ducking out on me tonight, we’re swamped.”

“What?”

“Hang on…” Tom said, opening a door behind the bar, “Hallie! Ford wants you.”

Hallie came out with a big smile on her face and Kristen felt a surge of jealousy tug at her, but tamped it down. Ford had made it perfectly clear that Hallie was too young for him. That didn’t seem to stop the 23-year old from getting her hopes up, though…

“I’m here, what is it that you wanted?” she asked, wiping her hands on her tiny apron.

“Did you talk to Annabelle tonight?” Ford asked urgently.

“No,” she frowned. “Why?”

“Never mind. Thanks,” he dismissed her and Hallie returned to the back, her shoulders hanging in defeat. “She lied to me,” he turned to Kristen. “She flat out lied.”

“Calm down, Ford. I’m sure she’s fine.”

“Where’s the party?”

“I don’t know. She didn’t tell me.”

“I have to go look for her.”

“Ford, stop,” Kristen put her hand on his arm. “You’ll only make it worse. This is
Greenport
, not downtown L.A.”

Ford looked like he wanted to say something, but he clamped his jaw shut and simply got a hard look in his eyes before turning away from her and heading for the door. With a deep sigh, Kristen sank back down on her stool.

It wasn’t long before her phone buzzed and the display flashed a number she didn’t recognize. She grabbed her purse off the bar and headed for the exit as she clicked to accept.

“Hello?”

“Kristen? It’s me.” Me, meaning Annabelle. Kristen felt her heart twinge. The girl sounded scared, or guilty, or maybe both.

“Where are you?”

“At the lighthouse. I didn’t know…”

“Okay, I’m on my way,” Kristen said, pulling on her jacket and pushing through the door. “Where are you exactly?”

“In the old cottage. Donny and his friends picked the lock.”

“They’ve been drinking?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay. Whatever you do, don’t get in a car with anyone, got it? I don’t care what they tell you, if they’ve had so much as a drop of alcohol, you’re staying put until I get there.”

“Don’t tell Dad,” Annabelle whimpered and Kristen took a deep breath.

“I won’t. I’ll be right there.”

Kristen got in her rental and drove as fast as she dared in the sleet. It was windy and cold, and it would be freezing up at the lighthouse. If any of the kids got it into their heads to try walking on the rocks and tripped… she didn’t even want to think about it.

FIFTEEN

After what seemed like an eternity, she pulled up at the building site. The foundation for the main house was covered in snow, but there were lights on in the old lighthouse keeper cottage. To her knowledge, electricity hadn’t been installed properly there, so odds were the kids had lit candles – meaning they risked torching the place just from being careless.

Kristen put the car in park and got out her cell phone to call the sheriff’s office. Those kids were going to have a lot of explaining to do once the sheriff got here. After telling the operator that she’d driven past the old lighthouse and noticed something was going on there, she hung up and called Annabelle back. There was no reply.

Letting out a string of curse words, Kristen got out of her car and jogged over to the house, pounding at the door. The racket inside quickly subsided, like cockroaches skittering across the floor when the lights came on, and she pushed the door open.

“Elle!” she called out, earning a lot of strange looks from the teenagers in the cottage. “Don’t mind me, I’m just here to pick up my friend. Elle? Come on, we’re going to be late!”

Kristen maintained her cool long enough for Annabelle to appear from what she guessed was the bathroom. “Hey, you,” she smiled, cocking her hip and waving Annabelle over. “Dylan and Brandon are waiting for us at the airport. We have to hurry if we wanna catch that flight. Come on, grab your stuff and let’s go.”

Annabelle looked dumbstruck, then seemed to catch on, and grabbed a jacket thrown across a nearby chair.

“Sorry, I completely spaced,” Annabelle said, hurrying over. “See you, Donny,” she called out without looking back and Kristen gave the group of kids a little wave and closed the door behind them.

“Thank you so much!” Annabelle exclaimed.

“Don’t thank me yet,” Kristen said as they hurried over to her car. “We still have to make it out of here before the cops show up.”

“You called the cops?”

“You think I was gonna let those kids sabotage my construction site?” Kristen raised an eyebrow at Annabelle as they buckled in. “Think again.”

“You didn’t call Dad, though, did you?”

“No. I didn’t. But he’s worried about you. You should probably text him and let him know you’re okay.”

“Okay.”

“So… you want me to drive you home or back to the Sea Shack?” Kristen asked as they pulled out onto the road.

“The airport.”

“Nice try,” Kristen chuckled.

“I guess home, then. It’d be kinda lame if anyone came back to the Sea Shack and saw me there instead of with some hot guys jetting off to Paris or whatnot.”

“Yeah, probably,” Kristen agreed, amused.

“Where the hell have you been?” Ford barked as soon as Kristen opened the door for Annabelle. “I’ve been looking everywhere.”

“I texted you,” Annabelle said and pulled her jacket off.

“Too little, too late.”

“Ford…” Kristen started.

“Stay out of this, Kristen,” he snapped at her. “This is between me and my daughter.”

“Dad! No fair! It’s not Kristen’s fault!”

“You. Go to your room and stay there.”

“You suck!” Annabelle cried and ran up the stairs so fast, it sounded like thunder in Kristen’s ears.

“Well, that went great,” Kristen muttered under her breath.

“Where was she?”

“I told you. I’m not your mole.”

“Damn it, Kristen,” he said and slammed his hand against the wall beside him, “I need you to be on
my
side here.”

“You can handle yourself just fine,” Kristen retorted. “You bark and you yell and where does that get you? Nowhere. I’m not scared of you, and neither is your daughter. You’re not earning any respect here. All you’re doing is digging yourself a deeper hole than you’ll ever be able to crawl out of. See you at work,” Kristen finished and ripped the door open, then slammed it shut behind her.

Ford rested his forehead against the closed door. How did they go from almost giving a real relationship a go to arguing and slamming doors in the span of mere hours? After a fruitless search of what he thought might be the ‘usual haunts’ for the teenagers of Greenport – not many – and a call from the sheriff’s office saying there was a disturbance at the construction site involving underage drinking, Ford had been beside himself with worry about Annabelle. And then Kristen brought her home, safe and sound, and all he could do was let all that frustration out. He well and truly sucked.

Ford sighed deeply, then pushed himself off the door and walked into the kitchen. Some hot chocolate might go a long way in peacemaking, he decided, and set about making just that.

He tapped lightly at Annabelle’s door, holding two cups of hot chocolate with marshmallows.

“Go away.”

Standard response, and one he wasn’t going to take at face value. With his elbow, Ford pushed down the handle and shouldered the door open.

“I made hot chocolate.”

“I don’t want any.” Her voice was muffled by her pillow.

“Okay. I guess I’ll have two, then,” he said lightly and placed both down on the bedside table before sitting down on the edge of the bed.

“What do you want?”

“I wanted to apologize. For yelling at you. I only did it because I was worried.”

“You yelled at Kristen, too.”

“Also because I was worried. And because she wouldn’t betray your trust and tell me where you were.”

“Really?” Annabelle looked up from her pillow.

“Yeah. But you know what? I want us to be able to be honest with each other. So I’m going to start. I have feelings for Kristen. I was angry with her tonight because she chose loyalty to you over me, and I was wrong. I don’t know enough to be a good sounding board for you – not about the things you go through. It’s good that you feel like you can talk to Kristen. I just hope that one day, you’ll want to talk to
me
about things, too.”

“So… wait,” Annabelle said, sitting up and leaning forward, “you and Kristen?”

“I’m pretty sure it’s over, but for the record, she wanted to be the one to tell you herself. She didn’t want you to think that she’d been nice to you because of me. I actually think she might like you better. No, scratch that, as of tonight, she definitely likes you better.”

Ford watched as Annabelle’s mouth opened and closed, yet no words were coming out. He decided to give her some space and took one of the mugs for himself and left the room.

“If you want to talk – about anything – I’m right across the hall,” he said before closing the door on his daughter.

Ford drove straight from the airport to the construction site. He didn’t want to go home to an empty house now that Annabelle was on a plane back to California. The few days into the new year that they had spent together had been better than the last days of the previous year, and Ford had hope he could rebuild his relationship with his daughter, even from the opposite coast.

Not that he wasn’t looking into other options, of course. If the opportunity presented itself, he wasn’t about to turn down a business opportunity that took him away from Greenport. Especially if it brought him closer to Annabelle.

Kristen had made him realize that the reason his relationship with Annabelle was strained wasn’t because of the physical distance between them, but the emotional one. Trying to act the responsible parent and steering Annabelle away from the frivolous lifestyle her mother advocated had turned him into a grumpy and bossy father. No wonder Annabelle preferred sunny California when Ford’s mood could darken even the clearest Massachusetts sky.

Kristen. He hadn’t spoken to her since the night she slammed the door in his face, but he knew he couldn’t put it off forever. He needed to apologize, but he didn’t know how to go from here. The problem remained – they lived very different lives. Even if Annabelle accepted Kristen as a part of their family unit – and he was pretty sure she would – Kristen was still his polar opposite. She went out and enjoyed life wherever she could while he shut himself away, hiding out in familiar surroundings.

Despite all that, though, he couldn’t deny that his feelings for her weren’t going anywhere. He’d fallen in love with her. If he hadn’t figured it out before, it became pretty evident when they spent the weekend together in New York. He’d seen her bond with Annabelle; effortlessly fit herself into both of their lives. Not because she’d tried to, but because she simply couldn’t help herself.

The construction site came into view and Ford steeled himself for his first meeting with Kristen since their confrontation.

Kristen looked up from her papers when she heard a truck pull up outside the trailer. Realizing it was Ford, she quickly tucked the document she’d been reading back into its envelope and slipped it in between her other papers.

The door opened and his frame filled the doorway.

“Hey.”

His voice was raspy and calm, but the cold coming in through the open door made Kristen shiver. She instinctively rubbed her arms.

“Good morning.”

“I just dropped Annabelle off at the airport,” he said and stepped inside, pulling the door to the trailer shut behind him.

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

“I’m the one who should be sorry, Kristen,” Ford said and walked over to the table, pulling up a chair. “I’m sorry I blew up at you.”

“You were worried about Annabelle. Don’t worry, I get it.” Kristen straightened her pile of papers in an attempt to distract herself. “I may not have any experience whatsoever when it comes to parenting, but I understand that, at least.”

“Kristen,” Ford said and took her hands in his, “you have better instincts than you think. You were right – about a lot of things.”

Kristen felt her whole body heat up – Ford’s warmth seeping into her skin from where they touched – and forced herself to meet his eyes. They were sincere as they looked back at her.

“I have something else to apologize for, too,” he said calmly and Kristen felt the warmth drain as quickly as it had arrived. “I told Annabelle about us. Well, about me – how I feel about you.”

Kristen swallowed, a million thoughts running through her head at once. Which question to ask first? ‘How did she react’ or ‘how
do
you feel about me’? Clearly, her indecision showed, because Ford went right ahead and answered her unspoken question.

“I’m in love with you, Kristen.”

Kristen blinked. Then she blinked again. Then her mouth did an impression of a gold fish and she blinked some more.

“You can’t be serious,” she blurted. In all the movies she’d seen and all the books she’d read… in no way were those the words that came out of the heroine’s mouth when the hero proclaimed his affections. Well, maybe she’d been watching the wrong kind of movies – the ones where all the obstacles miraculously disappeared as soon as the ‘three little words’ were spoken. In real life, it didn’t work that way. At least not in hers.

“No, of course I’m joking,” Ford said drily, “I just forgot to put the laugh track on. Why on earth would I possibly fall in love with a woman so far out of my league that we’re playing different sports?”

“We’ve known each other for – what, four months? People just don’t fall in love in four months,” Kristen argued.

“I’d be willing to wager people fall in love all the time – and in a much shorter time span, at that.”

“So is this the part where I’m supposed to say I feel the same way?”

“No. I know you have doubts – not just about us, but about relationships in general. All I’m asking for is a chance to prove you wrong. Come stay with me until this project is done. You were willing to move back in just a few days ago…”

“That was then.”

“And this is now. Clean slate. What do you say?”

“How did Annabelle react?”

“She was a little shocked, I think. Mostly at the thought a cool California girl such as yourself could ever settle for a surly old man like myself.”

“You’re not old,” Kristen rolled her eyes. She wasn’t going to comment on the surly.

“She likes you, Kristen. If for no other reason than making me a ‘funner’ dad.”

“That’s not a word.”

“See? Beautiful
and
smart. What’s not to love?” he teased and Kristen couldn’t hold back a smile.

“What happened to you?” Kristen said, amused. “Where’s the surly Ford Hamm I’ve gotten to know and respect?”

“I really don’t know… will you let me know if you see him around? I’d like to tell him to cheer up a bit.”

“I’ll make sure to tell him,” Kristen smiled. “So. Are you here to work or to wax poetic?”

Ford held up his hardhat in response. “I’ll see you later.”

Kristen remained at the table, staring at the door as it closed behind him. What on earth had just happened? Had she driven off the cliff on her way to work and ended up in the Twilight Zone without realizing it? Had Ford really just stepped into the trailer and announced that he was in love with her?