Instant Family (7 page)

"But six hundred?" groaned Seb.

"Don't argue," said Chloe firmly. She turned to Alex. "When
would you like him to start? He has two more weeks of holidays, but
he can come after school for an hour when term starts and maybe on
weekends."

"Tomorrow at eight-thirty. Before it gets too hot."

"Eight-thirty?" Sebastian groaned again, but Chloe jabbed him in
the ribs with her elbow. "You don't get a say in this."

"All right."

"You can ride your bike over." Deal done, Chloe nudged her
brother toward the entry foyer.

Alex held the door open for them. "See you tomorrow, Sebastian."

"See ya," the boy called. He jumped down the two steps and sauntered toward the dark red sedan parked in the street, big T-shirt hanging
loosely from his thin frame.

"Thank you, Mr. Bergman." Chloe stood uncertainly on the porch
while he held the screen door. He stepped outside and let it close behind him.

"Please call me Alex." He smiled. "You make me sound ancient."
Maybe she thought he was ancient. A grumpy old man. He couldn't
be more than seven or eight years older than she.

She looked up at him. Still no smile but no fear now. That, at least,
was progress. "Seb will work hard for you, I know. He's a good boy.
Really he is."

"I can see that, or I wouldn't have suggested he come to my
house"

"I'll make sure he does what you want"

"Stop worrying, Chloe." He smiled again, trying for reassurance
without being patronizing.

"I'm not worrying. Not really. I just-this whole thing is
so..." She stopped. The pink tip of her tongue ran across her lower lip. He
watched, fascinated. She swallowed, raised her face. A shaft of the setting sun caught her hair in a glow of gold.

"It's not your fault," he said gently. The green eyes gazed into his,
hypnotizing him. The possibility of unshed tears was there. Unmistakable, the moistness at the corners of her eyes. She was fragile,
this girl. Strung taut, near to breaking. "I'm really sorry about what
I said to you at the police station. I hope you've forgiven me."

"Yes." She swallowed. "Yes, I know. We were all-it was all
wrong. And you were worried about your family. It's natural to be
angry under those circumstances."

"Maybe," he said slowly. "But it's not a good enough excuse to attack you." He couldn't stop staring into her eyes.

"Well." Chloe suddenly averted her gaze. She shifted her purse to
her other hand and jingled her car keys. "I'd better go. Your wife will be wanting you to have dinner. Thanks again. I'll make sure Seb
comes right on time. Eight-thirty on the dot. Thank you."

Before he could say a word, she was down the steps and heading
for the car. I live alone, he wanted to tell her, but he couldn't yell that
down the driveway with Jeannie next door watering her petunias and
casting curious glances their way.

"Good-bye," he called.

Chloe turned and waved briefly. The skirt of the sundress swished
about her bare legs. Chloe Gardiner was a peach. Sweet and utterly
tempting. But too young, too complicated, too inexperienced. And
the last thing Alex wanted was an entanglement with another woman
after the mess of the divorce and the complication of Steffie's visits.
More children would mean more responsibility. He was too busy for
extras. He'd help these kids, especially the boy, because they'd had a
tough life, but when Seb's hours were up, he was on his own. Alex's
civic duty would be done.

Chloe drove home in a daze of unidentifiable emotions. Relief was
in there somewhere. Surprise too. She'd been totally wrong about
the man. He was nothing like the monster she'd met that night. He
was kind, and he seemed to understand about Seb. They'd shared a
masculine comprehension of ... something, an innate bond of
which she was only dimly aware but sensed. And it left her apart in
her femaleness.

Yes, Alex Bergman had been polite and friendly. He hadn't made
it any harder for Seb than it already was. He'd kept it between them,
which was good, not dragging in his wife and child to complicate
matters with an audience. And he really seemed to feel bad about his
attack on her, kept apologizing. Needn't have worried at all.

Unless he had a hidden, violent temper such as he'd displayed
that night. A temper that could resurface at any moment. If Seb annoyed him inadvertently. What if he let fly with a fist occasionally?
What if he drank? Or worse? Would Seb be safe there with him?
Should she have checked with Constable Burrows if this was a good
plan?

"Will you be all right, Seb? If he does anything the slightest bit
off, get out of there." She could call the constable and ask. Tonight.

Seb stared at her with his face screwed into an expression of complete disbelief. "What are you going on about? Do you think the
guy's a child molester?"

Chloe changed gears as they approached a yield sign.

"No!" She'd scoffed at Simone's notion that Alex was a wife
beater, and instinct told her he indulged in none of those other evils,
but a child was involved, and she couldn't figure out if he was still
angry or if he'd really forgiven Seb. His face and his manner could
be so stern.

But then there was the completely different expression he'd worn
when he made his apology just now. As if he was truly concerned
that she understood how sorry he was. His eyes had pierced her.
Just the memory of that look generated heat in her cheeks.

"If he tries anything, I'll kick him where he'll feel it most." Seb
snorted with laughter, and she smiled reluctantly. Seb was rightshe was paranoid.

"Make sure you stay outside."

"What if I want to use the toilet?"

"You can wait till you get home."

"Chloeeee." Seb sighed ostentatiously. He tapped his fingers on
his thigh.

"We don't know him at all," she retorted.

"Exactly. Doesn't mean he's some kind of pervert. Why do you
always think the worst of people?"

"He has a bad temper, so watch out." It was a last resort. The attraction that hovered in the background didn't bear any form of scrutiny
whatsoever. She wouldn't give it brain space.

"I think it's a very good idea," said Constable Brent Burrows that
night. "It'll make him realize the consequences of what he's done and
look good in court. Shows remorse and a desire to make recompense."

"I just realized we don't know anything about Alex Bergman. And
Seb's very young."

"His name would have popped up if he had a record of anything
along the lines you're thinking, Chloe." He laughed that nice, friendly,
reassuring laugh. "Don't worry."

"I'm sorry I bothered you."

"Don't be. That's what we're here for."

"Well, thanks again." Chloe waited for him to say good night before she hung up, but instead he said, "I was going to call you."

"Were you?" Her hand froze on the receiver. "Is something else
wrong? Another complaint?"

He laughed. "No. This is purely personal. I wondered if you'd
like to go out. Dinner, something, anything?"

"Oooohhh." The sound rushed out in a whoosh of relief. A date. He
wanted to go out on a date. Nice Constable Brent. Why not? Simone
would be pleased. So would Katy. What would a date with Alex
Bergman-shut up, he's married. "That would be lovely. Thank you.
When?"

"I finish at six in the morning. We could do breakfast." His voice
was light, joking.

Chloe laughed. "That'd be a first, but I couldn't leave the kids at
that hour."

"I'm not always on night duty, but I have another three weeks of
it." His disappointment was clearly evident. "What about lunch? I
don't sleep well in this heat anyway."

"I can take an hour at twelve-thirty. Is that all right?"

"Fine. Great. What about tomorrow?"

So soon? "All right. Can you come to the shop?"

"I'll be there," he promised. "Good night, Chloe. I'm glad you
called."

Chloe replaced the receiver carefully on its cradle. This would be
her first proper date for-how long? She frowned. Five years? No! Impossible. Was it? Since the Lachlan disaster. They'd been together exclusively for nearly eight months. After that experience she wasn't in a
hurry to hook up with anyone.

She'd gone out with friends over the years but always in groups,
and she never lingered the way the others did, because the babysitter
was always waiting at home. Then her contemporaries in the music
course had graduated and moved out into the world while she stayed
on. Teaching music privately was a solitary occupation.

It was hard to meet anyone interesting, and now that she thought
about it, she hadn't been invited out, one on one, for a long, long time.
The other problem, of course, was that at her age, when an interesting
man did cross her path-in the shop or as a prospective student-he
was already taken.

Alex Bergman, for example. Objectively speaking, purely as an
example, he was interesting. Handsome and smart but, typically,
married. And even if he wasn't, if he was divorced or separated as
many were at his age, he had at least one small child in tow, and
the last thing Chloe needed or wanted was to take on more children. Especially a spoiled, grumpy little one even younger than
Katy.

When the front doorbell shrilled, Alex was sitting on the rear terrace under the shade umbrella, lingering over the word puzzles in
the paper and his second cup of tea. Sebastian was prompt. A good
start.

He sent the boy to the back garden via the side gate rather than let
him walk through the house. When he regained the terrace, Sebastian
had propped his bike against a birch tree and stood waiting, stretching first one arm, then the other, across his chest.

His expression displayed neither resentment nor anger at having
to work off his crime. He watched with an alert intelligence, and his
blue eyes took in the garden and the pertinent details as Alex explained his chores to him.

"You can start by raking up all the leaf litter and fallen twigs and
stuff. The rake's leaning against the shed, and there's a wheelbarrow
if you need it."

"Fine." Sebastian sauntered over to collect the rake and began
scraping at the grass with practiced ease. Of course those kids would
have to maintain their own house. No parents to do the gardening and
take the garbage out, prepare meals and clean the house. They'd all
have to chip in.

Alex returned to the paper and the puzzles, watching his worker surreptitiously while trying to come up with a nine-letter word from the
letters NPDOLUSEU. This Focus puzzle was a challenge. One nineletter word and varying quantities of four-letter words and above, all
including a designated letter. Today he'd reached the Very Good level,
but that nine-letter word eluded him.

He glanced at his watch after a time. Eight-fifty. He'd have to afford the kid a measure of trust; he couldn't sit here like a guard dog
all morning. Time to get to work. The phone rang inside. Should be the plasterer. He'd better have a good reason for not turning up at
the site yesterday, and for having his phone turned off.

"I'll be in my office," he called to Sebastian. "Bang on the door if
you need anything."

Half an hour later the wheelbarrow began trundling between the
front and back gardens, and the gate clicked and banged occasionally. From his office window Alex caught glimpses. The boy worked
steadily, not fast but consistently. Must be heating up out there.

At ten-fifteen Alex took a jug of iced water and a glass out to the
table where he'd had breakfast. Sebastian was emptying the wheelbarrow. He glanced up but didn't stop what he was doing.

"Like a drink?" called Alex.

"Thanks." Sebastian threw the last armful of debris into a bag.
"It's hot now."

"Don't want your sister to think I'm treating you like a slave"

Sebastian plopped down on a chair in the shade of the umbrella.
He drained the glass in one long gulp and refilled it, emptying that
almost as quickly.

"Forgot to bring my water bottle." He wiped his mouth with the
back of one hand.

Alex surveyed the garden. Not a stray leaf or twig to be seen.
"You've done a good job."

"Front's almost done." Sebastian looked at the paper, picked up
the pencil Alex had left on the table, and wrote PENDULOUS.

"Drat it." Alex stared at the word that was so glaringly obvious
now.

Sebastian dropped the pencil and stood up quickly. His eyes
opened wide in alarm. "Sorry, I thought you'd finished."

"Hey, relax, mate. Sit down." The boy looked ready to run. Did he
terrify the whole Gardiner clan? "I sat there for ages trying to get that
rotten word and couldn't for the life of me. It was driving me nuts."
He laughed. "Took you half a second."

"Usually does." Sebastian sat down again with a cautious smile.

"Do you do those puzzles every day?" Alex pulled up a chair,
although he'd only meant to bring the water and leave it on the
table.

"Yeah. We all do them over breakfast. I get the Focus word first, but Chloe's best at the crosswords. Especially the cryptic ones. I'm
not so good at those yet. Katy's the math genius. And Julian's pretty
smart"

"Good heavens." Alex tried to assimilate this picture of an orderly hive of intellectual activity with the image he'd had in his head
of their house-chaotic and frantic at best. "How many of you are
there?"

"Chloe. Me and Julian, we're twins. And Katy. She's eleven."

"Identical twin?"

"Yep"

"But Julian didn't get involved with those same kids you did?"

"No" Sebastian frowned. "He likes computers, and he plays the
flute"

"What do you like?"

"Sports."

"I swim a couple of mornings a week and play basketball on
Thursdays. Season starts again soon. What do you do?"

"Cricket. I do volleyball in winter at school."

Alex nodded. "I played cricket at school and university. Wicket
keeper."