“It'll be ready in a second. This pot's almost finished brewing.”
While he watched the woman bustle around, he wished he could help and felt badly that all the activity was just about him.
“Hey, Libby, maybe I'll scratch that big order,” he said. “A little cereal would be great. I don't want you going to—”
“Alex Moorehouse, you shut your mouth. And I don't want it open again until you're putting a fork in it.”
He had to smile. There weren't a lot of people who put him in his place on or off the water. Wouldn't his crew get a kick out of the fact that one of the short-listers was a white-haired grandmother.
Libby brought the coffee over first, and Alex closed his eyes as he took the first sip. The stuff was steaming hot and strong enough to wake the dead.
In a word, divine.
When he started to sweat, he realized he was sitting in a shaft of sunlight. He peeled off the fleece and went back to work on the mug.
As he sipped and stroked Ernest's ear, the moment sank into him with the pleasurable flush of an unexpected kind word. The dog's head was a warm weight on his good leg. Libby's friendly chatter about Saranac Lake's characters was like the crackle of a cheery fire. The rhythmic hiss of a wire whisk cutting through batter reminded him of happy mornings from his childhood.
He settled back against the chair and closed his eyes again. His leg was throbbing, but it was a dull pump, not the kind of pain that made his skin ache. He took a deep breath and felt his shoulders loosen on the exhale.
“More coffee?” Libby asked gently.
He opened his lids and smiled. “Please.”
She brought over the coffeepot, refilled his mug to the brim and then hurried back to the griddle to flip over the pancakes. When the bacon slices hit the pan, he shut his eyes once more.
Hunger cut through him and he welcomed it.
Minutes later Libby set a heavy plate in front of himalong with a stick of butter and a gravy boat full of syrup. He put a slice of bacon in his mouth while he lathered up the pancakes and doused them in maple heaven. Then he tore through the food.
When he put his fork down, he and Libby were both a little surprised at the clean plate. Ernest looked disappointed. “You want more?” Libby asked.
Alex rubbed his belly. “Ah, yeah. Thanks.”
As a cold November wind gusted up from the lake, Cassandra put her hands on her h*ps and surveyed the ruins of the White Caps Bed and Breakfast. When she stepped toward the house, she heard the five people behind her move along like a small herd. Frankie and Nate, Joy, Gray and Sean had all come for the tour.
Wow, what a house this is, she thought, measuring the structure's superb, Federal lines. Sitting regally on a bluff that jutted out into the lake, the place was a real charmer, all white clapboards and shiny black shutters. The fire damage in the back was jarring, like a bruise on the face of a beautiful woman.
“Thomas Crane was the architect, right?” she asked as she walked over to the kitchen where the destruction was the most severe.
“It was one of Crane's last commissions,” Frankie replied. “Do you have the original plans?”
“Fortunately, yes. The set has always been kept out in my father's workshop so it survived the fire.”
Cassandra lifted a sheet of thick plastic and stepped through what had been the kitchen door. Even though the fire had been a month ago, the pungent stench of smoke and ash hung in the air.
“This part of the house wasn't added on later, was it?”
“No, it's in the plans,” Frankie said. “When our father converted the mansion into a B and B in the seventies, all he did was bring up the kitchen to restaurant code. He didn't make any changes to the structure.”
Cass looked around, assessing the load-bearing walls. They seemed mostly solid, though someone had buttressed one with a couple of two-by-fours to make sure it didn't sag. She glanced upward. The ceiling was burnt through in places so she could see past the joists to the second floor.
She pointed over to the scorched back staircase. “I'd like to go upstairs, but not using those.”
“The ones in front are safe,” Nate replied.
A half hour later, the group was out on the lawn again. “So what do you think?” Frankie asked as they piled into Sean's massive Mercedes-Benz.
Cass gathered her thoughts before answering. “I'd have to see the plans and reflect a little before I could give you even the roughest estimate of time and cost.”
“But you don't think we need to tear the wing down and rebuild it from scratch, right?”
“God, no! Although you will have to go slowly because you should save as much as you can. Given the historic nature of the house, a contractor who has respect for its pedigree will be the best choice for you” Her voice drifted. “I tell you, the workmanship on the moldings in those front rooms is remarkable. The hours of labor... Thank heavens that balustrade going up the main stairs wasn't ruined. You just don't see that kind of curvilinear detail very often. Amazing what the human hand can do with a tool, isn't it?”
She closed her eyes, savoring the images she'd stored up.What a house.
When they pulled up to Gray's, the group unpacked themselves and went through the back door into the kitchen. From around the corner, Ernest came barreling at them, stopping to greet each of the arrivals like he was the official ambassador of the household.
“So will you do it?” Frankie asked.
“Do what?” Cass replied while taking off her coat and stepping into the kitchen.
“Be our architect and general contractor.”
Cass stopped, but not only because of the question. Alex was across the room, sitting at the table.
With a flush, she saw his body arching up under her hand. She looked down quickly.
Which was actually a good thing. Because she'd just dropped her coat on the dog.
“Well?” Frankie prompted. “We can pay you. The insurance company is going after the manufacturer of the gas stove that started the faire. Money's not going to be a problem.”
“I, uh—”
Actually, I'd like to go lie down now. Because being in the same room with your brother this morning is making me dizzy and incoherent.
Sean stepped forward. “Cass, are your bags packed? We gotta hit the road, woman”
She cleared her throat. “Yes. They're in my room.” “I'll get them.” As Sean strode through the kitchen, he nodded at Alex. “Moorehouse.”
“O'Banyon,” Alex shot back.
The sound of the rough, low voice took Cass right back to the man's bedside. Where she'd touched his body. Where she'd watched him move. Where he'd
Get a grip.
Well, she'd sure had one last night....
Cass shut her eyes, wondering if anyone else in the room had noticed the floor was weaving underfoot.
“Cassandra, I saw the way you looked at our house,” Frankie said. “You're perfect for this project.”
Cass shook herself to attention and sensed Alex's eyes narrowing on her. She had a feeling he wouldn't appreciate her working on his family's home.
“Why don't the three of you talk it over,” she hedged. “I'll go back to my office, check in with my partners, see what the schedule looks like. I know you're going to want this project to move fast if you hope to open for the season in—when was it?”
“June,” Frankie said. “If you started around the first of December, you'd have seven months.”
Sean came back, Vuitton duffel bags and suitcases hanging off him like he was a bellboy.
“I still can't believe how much stuff you pack,” he said as he headed to the back door. “Gray, you sure you know what you're in for, signing on for one of these fashion types?”
“I'm buying a trolley,” the man said as he tucked his new wife under his arm.
“Good idea. It's either that or a back brace.” Sean shot Cass a wink as he went on by. “Now let's do it, beautiful.”
The assembled masses filed outside with Ernest leading the way. Libby went with them, no doubt to catch the dog before he tore off.
Cass stayed behind, swallowing through a dry throat. She couldn't leave without one last look at Alex. Lifting her eyes, she met his own. They were what she expected. Cool. Remote.
“I hope everything goes well for you tomorrow at the doctor's,” she said.
He nodded once. “Thanks.”
It's you, Miracle. It's truly you.
Please. Touch me. Just once more.
I love you....
Who is your woman, she thought as she stared at him. And where is she when you're going through this hell? Why are you alone now?
She cleared her throat. “Look, I don't want you to feel awkward about saying no. You know, about me working on your family's house. I wanted to give you an out, which was why I suggested—”
“I'm a big boy. If I don't like something, I'm perfectly capable of letting people know it.”
“Oh, of course.” As if she needed a reminder that he didn't like women who mothered him.
“Something else on your mind, Cassandra?” he said softly. The back door opened. Sean put his head inside.
"Yo, Cass. I've got a meeting at Rhodes Lewis this afternoon. We've got to move."
“On a Sunday?” she blurted.
“You know me, twenty-four seven. Come on, woman.” The door banged shut.
When she looked back at Alex, she was glad she was leaving. His eyes had turned dangerous.
“Better run along,” he drawled. “Your friend's obviously the impatient type.”
The word friend was pronounced more like lover, she thought. And his disapproval would have freeze-dried an open flame.
He obviously thought she was seeing Sean, and that it was way too soon after Reese's death for her to be with another man, but she wasn't going to waste time correcting the misconception. Given his tight face, she wasn't going to change his mind without working him over with a chisel and a hammer.
“Goodbye, Alex,” she whispered.
He said nothing.
As she left the house, she was quite convinced she was never going to see him again.
Somehow the pain of the loss was stunning.
Chapter Five
A month later Alex stared out of the workshop's picture window and measured the milky sky. Snow was coming over the weekend and it wasn't going to be the picturesque, flurry variety. This was going to be a shut-in special, the kind of load that would bring out the county plows that were as big as houses and sounded like thunder when they went by.
God, he loved the north. There was real weather up here.
He shifted his eyes. The lake down below was the color of a dove, mostly gray with paler blushes on the tips of restless waves. The mountains were likewise subdued, their rock faces revealed now that the leaves were off the trees. December wasn't so much dour at Saranac Lake as muted, and he liked the rugged isolation of the place. No tourists, no seasonal fruitcakes. Just the hard-core natives and Mother Nature. Bliss.
He frowned, wondering whether Cassandra would like all the quiet. Probably not. She lived a fast, flashy life in Manhattan, and was always showing up in the New York Times style section and Vanity Fair, or at least that was what Reese had said. A woman like her wouldn't want to be stuck in a house with a blazing fire and nothing to do but make love and watch the snow fall.
Alex drove his cane into the floor and limped over to the bathroom. On the way, he picked up a PowerBar, his third of the day. As he got up on his scale, he ripped back the wrapper and took a hunk out of the thing.
202 pounds. Up from an all-time low in the hospital of 186. Good. This was good.
He grabbed for his cane, not having to reach far for it. The shop's bathroom was about the size of a closet.