Instant Family (9 page)

"Really? How long will that be?"

"Ages. Katy's eleven."

"What if she falls in love with someone?"

"Who'd take on all of us?" asked Sebastian with startling insight.
He stood up. "I'd better go, in case she has a fit again. Gran has to
call her if I'm not home by eleven-forty-five."

"Okay, mate. You can do the place on the other side of Jeannie's
tomorrow."

"Fine. Thanks for the drink. See ya."

Alex smiled as he collected the pitcher and the glasses and took
them indoors. Nice boy. Smart as a whip and very caring of his sister.
Fully aware of her devotion.

But did she really need to sacrifice her own life for the children's
upbringing? Alex emptied the dregs of the iced water into a potted
fern. Did she have any real choice? Although ... surely a man who
truly fell in love with her would be happy to act as big brother and
guide to the young ones. It wouldn't be forever, just a few years until the littlest one reached eighteen. What was that? Seven years at
most?

Big ask, though. Wow. He'd have to be some big-hearted guy.
Like the stepfather. Or love Chloe to distraction. He couldn't do it.
Take on three kids when-let's face it-he could barely fit his own
daughter into his schedule.

Alex went to his office and attempted to concentrate on kitchen plans. When had Chloe had time to go on a date with Burrows? Not
at night. Must have been lunch.

On the following Monday just before twelve, Alex walked into The
Music Room. Chloe, stacking new releases into a display stand, saw
him enter. The sight of the man-tall, confident, relaxed in blue jeans
and white shirt-sent a familiar shiver through her body. Not fear,
not apprehension now, because she knew he wasn't angry anymoresomething else, unsettling and uncomfortable. Her breath tightened in
her chest. The CD she was holding slipped from her hand and clunked
into the rack. He spotted her immediately and came straight toward
her, smiling.

"Hello, Chloe."

"Hello." She clutched the armful of CDs to her chest and stared up
at him. He had a lovely smile. His teeth were even and white, and the
little lines creasing the sides of his mouth did odd things to her
knees. "Is something wrong? Did Seb turn up?"

"He's fine." Honey-smooth voice, cheerful, friendly.

"Is there something else?" she asked tentatively. Alex's gaze remained disconcertingly fixed on hers. Too intimate again. She looked
away, back to the CDs, and resumed placing them on the rack.

"I want to buy a CD," he said. "What have you got there?"

His hand reached across in front of her and took the next case
from between her clammy fingers. His wrist brushed her forearm,
and his fingers closed on hers briefly. Chloe's heart stopped. Thudded. Restarted.

"Beethoven," she blurted. "A new recording of the piano sonatas by
a young German woman, Bettina Hauptmann. Nineteen. Brilliant, apparently. I haven't heard it, but the reviews have been excellent." She
stopped, breathing heavily. Swallowed.

He stood close beside her, reading the cover notes. A crisp, clean
fragrance intermingled with another male aroma danced in her nostrils. His own individual smell. Chloe breathed more deeply. Her
mind stopped for a second, then cranked back into action. Sluggish
and scattered. She stuck another CD into the rack. Alex replaced the
Beethoven.

"I'm after Vivaldi," he said. "Violin concertos."

"Any one in particular?" He was still very close, peering over her
shoulder at the titles as she arranged them. Her whole body vibrated
like a guitar string while her brain fired into overdrive.

"No. I just like that Baroque stuff while I'm working. It's very
soothing."

"We have the complete violin works. He wrote hundreds of pieces."

"I know. Very prolific." He still hadn't moved. Chloe had run out of
CDs. If she turned, she'd be face-to-face with him. She sidled along
the row toward VIOLIN CONCERTOS. He followed.

"Violin concertos." She indicated the section with a jerky movement of her hand. "Do you have The Four Seasons?"

"Yes. Thanks."

"I'll leave you to it." She escaped to the counter.

"What's up?" asked Tran.

"Nothing"

"Your face is all red," he said.

"It's hot in here." Chloe grabbed a flyer for a jazz festival and
fanned herself ostentatiously. Trust Tran to blurt out the obvious. He
had all the tact of a carrot.

"No, it's not."

"Shut up," she muttered, and she punched his arm gently.

"Someone special?" He grinned and raised his eyebrows in the
direction of Alex, who stood with his back to them on the far side of
the shop. Chloe pretended she didn't see his inquiring, teasing look.

Alex couldn't have heard that exchange, not with John Coltrane
wailing on the sax through the sound system. Would he have noticed
her heated exterior? How embarrassing if he had.

The phone rang, and she snatched it up before Tran could lay a
hand on it. Alex turned as the caller began asking about an obscure
early jazz release. He had two CDs in his hand.

"I think my colleague can help you better," she said into the phone.
"Tran, take this. He's after Emmett Miller."

Tran's expression switched from annoyance-when he assumed
she was fobbing off one of their regular, chronic bores-to extreme
interest. Alex reached the counter and laid the two CDs side by side.

"Did you find what you wanted?" He's another customer, just another customer. Don't look into his eyes.

"I can't decide. Which would you recommend?"

Chloe assessed the two titles. "Zukerman playing Bach and Vivaldi," she said without hesitation. "He's wonderful."

"Done."

Chloe found the disc and inserted it into the cover while Alex
pulled cash from his wallet. She rang up the sale.

"Thank you." He took the bag. His fingers slipped briefly over hers.
Burning. "Any chance of having lunch with me?"

Chloe's mouth dropped open. "Lunch?" she echoed faintly.

Alex nodded. "Won't you be free soon? I can wait."

"I can't," blurted Chloe. "I'm sorry. I have an appointment."

"No problem. See you later." And he was gone, swinging the small
bag casually as he sauntered from the shop.

Chloe bit her lip, frowning in dismay and unexpected disappointment. Taking Katy to the orthodontist-that was the appointment.
Alex couldn't have been very interested in her company; he hadn't
waited for an explanation. He wouldn't care anyway. He was just being friendly, now that they had a kind of bond through Seb. Filling
in time. And there was a wife. What would she think of her husband
idly inviting a woman out for lunch?

"Alex is a finalist for some award," announced Seb at dinner on
Friday.

"What award?" asked Chloe. He must be very talented. No wonder he was so focused on his work.

Seb said dismissively, "Some architecture thing. He wants me to
help him build a frame for an awning over his back terrace this
weekend. He's only got an umbrella at the moment. There are other
projects he wants me to help him with too."

"You'll do your time in no time," observed Julian. He wound
spaghetti onto his fork in a large untidy bundle.

"You've done twenty-three hours," said Katy. "I've kept count."

"Do you want to spend your weekend there?" asked Chloe. "It's
your last one before school starts"

A chorus of groans greeted that remark.

"Alex is cool." Seb put down his fork and pushed his empty plate
away.

"Can I come?" asked Julian.

"This is supposed to be punishment for Seb, not fun," protested
Chloe.

"I guess," said Seb, ignoring her and speaking directly to his
brother. "I'll ask him."

"Sweet." Julian chewed another large mouthful, trailing pasta
strands from his mouth. Red sauce dripped down his chin.

Chloe tried again. "He won't want a whole tribe of you invading."

What was happening over there each day? Seb stayed longer and
longer and came home as cheerful as could be. Not the punishment
she'd envisioned.

"Alex won't mind," said Seb with supreme teenage confidence.

"His wife might," Chloe replied tartly.

"He hasn't got a wife."

"But he has a daughter. Stephanie. I've met her, and she was there
when you tried to break in!" Chloe cried.

"I didn't try to break in." Seb rolled his eyes. "His wife is married
to someone else," he explained as though Chloe were a complete
idiot. "I haven't seen any little kid."

Katy giggled. "That's silly."

"What?" Seb glared at her.

"You said Alex's wife is married to someone else. She can't be
his wife if she's married to someone else."

"They're divorced, dopey," put in Julian.

"Then she's still not his wife, is she?" insisted Katy.

"No," interrupted Chloe before the row escalated and food was
thrown. "She's his ex-wife. How do you know, Seb?"

"He told me."

"Do you two talk a lot?" Chloe fingered her water glass casually.

"Course we do. He doesn't treat me like a criminal. He likes me."

"What do you talk about?"

He shrugged. "Stuff. Cricket. He said he'd come to watch one of
my games when we play at the local oval. "

Chloe frowned. What did the man think he was doing by befriending Seb? Making rash promises. Playing at being a big brother?
How long would that last before Seb became a nuisance? It wouldn't
cost him anything at the moment, this emotional largesse, but when
Seb had worked off his debt, what would happen?

"Don't get too attached to him," she murmured.

"What does that mean? `Attached to him'?" demanded Seb. Two
red spots fired in his cheeks. His Bolognese-stained mouth took on
an angry tightness.

"He might not want to be your friend after you've finished your
time." The explanation sounded far crueler spoken out loud than muddling around in her head.

Seb flung his chair away from the table and leaped to his feet,
knocking over Katy's glass of water as he did. "You always say things
like that, Chloe. You're such a cow sometimes." He crashed from the
room.

"Look what he did!" Katy shrieked.

Julian began clearing the dirty plates. "Get over it, Katy."

Chloe righted the glass. "Get a sponge and mop it up." Just what
she needed-two outraged, screaming children.

"Seb should. It's his fault."

"Just do it."

Katy slid off her chair and flounced to the kitchen. Chloe exhaled
heavily. She leaned her elbows on the table and covered her face
with her hands. This was too much, too complicated. She did her best.
She tried to protect them and nurture them, and what happened? Seb
accused her of being a cow, when the whole situation was his fault in
the first place.

But she had to prepare him for the fact that Alex's friendship
might be short-lived. He was a busy man, and he certainly wouldn't
want a teenage boy hanging around all the time. Seb would feel
discarded and unwanted, and what would he do then? Alex felt
sorry for them, that was all. He was doing his charitable deed for the
year-helping Seb, inviting her for lunch. Plenty of people helped
them in all sorts of little ways. All their neighbors were very supportive, but they didn't offer charity, and the Gardiner family didn't
need it anymore. Do-gooders had been rife immediately after the
tragedy, but now only the genuine, caring friends remained. As it
should be.

Alex Bergman wasn't one of those. Seb mustn't think he could
rely on him. None of them should. The only people they could rely
on were one another. The only adult they had to rely on was her. She
wouldn't let them down. Never, ever.

A pair of arms slid awkwardly around her shoulders. "Are you
crying, Chloe?" asked Katy softly.

Chloe smiled and shook her head. She wiped her eyes quickly
with the backs of her hands, discovering that a few tears had escaped unnoticed. "No." She slipped her arm around the slim body
and squeezed. Katy climbed into her lap for a cuddle, and Chloe
rested her head against the smooth cap of hair.

"Do you think Simba will ever come home?" Katy asked.

"She might. Cats sometimes get into the storm drains and lose
their way." Chloe pressed a gentle kiss onto Katy's head.

"She might find another family."

"I think she'd want to come back to us. She's never lived anywhere else."

The boys were convinced she'd been run over. Katy was adamant
she was alive. Chloe was unsure but secretly and reluctantly assumed the boys were right. Thinking about the missing Simba didn't
relieve the teariness one bit. She sniffed.

"Alex wants to speak to you." Seb's voice startled her. He stood
beside her, holding out the phone.

"Chloe can't talk now. She's crying," said Katy with fierce protectiveness.

"No, I'm not" Chloe grabbed the receiver, covering the mouthpiece with one hand. "What does he want?" she hissed over Katy's
shoulder to Seb.

Seb shrugged with sullen disdain. He turned away. Chloe eased
Katy gently off her lap and stood up.

"Hello."

"Are you all right? Why are you crying?" She sat down again immediately because her legs totally gave way. No strength, no bones,
as feeble as the spaghetti they'd eaten for dinner. His voice poured
into her ear like melted chocolate. Sweet, rich-toned, full of care.
No wife.

"I'm not crying." But the way the words jerked from her mouth
and the spontaneous gasp of air negated the statement.

Katy said, "You were."

Chloe strode from the room, heading for her bedroom and privacy
while Alex said into her ear, "Must be tough at times being a mum."

"It's impossible at times. Especially when people interfere. They
think they're helping, but they're not." She stopped abruptly, drawing in ragged breaths, her heart pounding.

"Anything or anyone in particular?" Now his voice was cool,
bland.

Chloe hesitated. She couldn't attack him over something that hadn't
happened yet. At the moment Seb was fulfilling his part of the deal,
and so was Alex. Leave it. But monitor it. Keep a wide, businesslike distance between them.