Ties That Bind Page 4

“Excuse me?” She stopped dead in her tracks and turned to face him.

  “Oh come on, it’s pretty obvious you want to please Daddy. I get it with the last names – don’t want to show nepotism and all that.” He strolled towards the door.

  “What makes you think Jack Cooper is my father?” She moved to catch up with him. “Please tell me you haven’t told anyone that.”

  “Sorry,” he seemed taken aback by her distress. “The mannerisms, the eyes…. I just assumed it was common knowledge everyone pretended they didn’t have.”

  Kate sank onto a nearby bench, leaning forward and sucking in great big gulps of air. So this is what a panic attack felt like. Did Jack know? Jessica? Liz? Were they all playing her stupid little game out of kindness? Tara? Tara couldn’t know.

  Gavin stood in front of her, unsure how best to proceed. He finally settled on sitting quietly next to her and rubbing her back gently. The light touch was enough to reignite the electric currents in her veins. Maybe not his intended response, but it diverted her mind from its crazy ramblings nonetheless.

  Calmer, she reassessed the situation. Surely Jack would have confronted her had he known. What about Liz and Jessica? Was her confession of an almost one-night stand enough to engender that kind of loyalty? Someone would have said something. But this did present a new dilemma – if Gavin noticed, someone else was bound to. Could she really keep the secret until after the wedding? Should she just slink away and hope they all forgot her?

  The thought of leaving her new home was even more revolting than the thought of being discovered. She took a deep breath and whispered, “He doesn’t know.”

  “Oh,” Gavin blinked, not sure what to make of that. “Well that explains a lot.”

  “At least I think he doesn’t,” Kate amended.

  “Oh. How did you….”

  “So are we going to kayak or what?” She jumped up abruptly, effectively closing the conversation. He obliged by following her quietly. By the time they’d reached the vendor, he’d regained his train of thought enough to procure them a boat.

  “No kayaks left,” he told her apologetically. “But I know how much you wanted to go out, so I got us a canoe.”

  “Wow. That’s a relief,” she told him dryly.

  “Don’t worry, we’ll stay in the family fun zone – it’s perfectly safe.”

  “I’m not scared,” her chin jutted out just a bit. Okay, maybe she was just a little. Were there sharks in the bay?

  “I even got you a plastic bag for your purse,” he proudly produced an airtight container, dropping his wallet in it before handing it to Kate. “Just in case.”

  “I can’t believe you’re making me do this,” Kate muttered, immensely proud when she got into the boat and away from the pier without tipping. She couldn’t help eyeing his camera nervously. How much would it cost to replace that thing if it did end up in the bay?

  He still blessed her with silence, although it was somewhat unnerving because she got the impression he was sizing her up or maybe just processing it all still. But even that couldn’t keep her from appreciating the sheer beauty of the bay. There was something magical about being out here, a part of it all, instead of just watching from a distance. She was startled by the click of his camera.

  “I wish you wouldn’t do that,” she frowned.

  “As pretty as you are when you pout, it’s ruining my shot. Try not to scowl at me so much.”

  “I’m not pouting,” she protested, her mind vaguely registering the fact that his accent could make an insult sound seductive. He could tell her that her family was comprised of three-headed pigs and she would think it sounded sexy if he said it in that accent. “Okay, maybe I am just a little bit. But you really shouldn’t ruin this beautiful moment taking pictures of me.”

  “It’ll be kind of hard to do a photo shoot of you experiencing San Francisco if I can’t take pictures of you. Besides, there was a youthful innocence in your face just then that was quite captivating.”

  “Youthful? Ha,” she practically snorted. Sore subject these days – being surrounded by beautiful twenty-somethings was making her feel really old.

  “Yes, youthful. Why, how old are you?”

  “You’re not supposed to ask a lady her age.”

  “Ladies aren’t supposed to snort.”

  “Fine, I’m thirty-two,” Kate shuddered a little when she uttered the words aloud. When had she become a salad-eating, burger-dreaming woman who feared growing old? Her self-perspective was changing so fast she could hardly keep up these days.

  “How have you managed to stay out of the home this long?” he tried to be serious but couldn’t help laughing.

  “Oh shut up,” she snarled then straightened. “Wait a second, how old are you?”

  “Twenty-five,” he stretched his legs out in front of him, not a care in the world. Kate stared at him in horror. Was cradle-robbing genetic? She was this worked up over a guy who was barely out of college?

  “What?” he eyed her warily when the shock didn’t quickly dissipate.

  “I didn’t realize. I’m sorry. I didn’t realize…” she stammered.

  “What?”

  “I… You’re so young.”

  “Well you’re not exactly ancient,” he reminded her.

  “What does the name Rick Springfield mean to you?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Sorry, wrong answer – Jesse’s Girl.”

  “Have you completely lost your mind?”

  “Quick, name the first Aerosmith song you can think of.”

  “Pink.”

  “Really? Pink? That’s the first one?”

  “You pressured me!”

  “It’s not only a wrong answer; it’s a bad wrong answer.”

  “You’ve totally lost me.”

  “We are from two different generations. I’m X, you’re Y.”

  “There’s a joke in there about chromosomes, but I think I’ll just hold onto it for now.”

  “Do,” she leveled her gaze on him, confident that this new knowledge would strengthen her resolve to stay away from this particular bad boy. Then he cocked his head to the side and gave her that crooked little grin and her heart went on another rampage while her stomach completely erupted with butterflies.

  “So Grandma,” he began slowly, waiting to see if she’d take the bait and continuing only when he was sure she wasn’t. “Why haven’t you told Jack he’s your father? How long have you known?”

  “That again? Can’t we talk about this later?”

  “You evade a lot.”

  “True,” she pondered that, acknowledging the truth in his statement. “I suspected it when I came here. I didn’t know for sure until I met him on Monday... the eyes and all. It’s uncanny.”

  “So why don’t you tell him?”

  “What would that do to his relationship with Tara? What if he didn’t want me around after that?”

  “Do you think he won’t want you?”

  “I don’t know,” she admitted in a small voice. “Maybe he didn’t want me before. Maybe that’s why my mom left.”

  Gavin sensed the pain her words caused so he let the subject drop, for the moment. “I don’t know Grandma; you’re pretty cute… for a grandma that is….”

  “That’s it.” Kate pulled her oar in and lunged for him. She wasn’t sure what she’d do with him when she got there, but visions of her hands and his neck danced through her head.

  “Kate, the boat,” he warned.

  “Should have thought of that,” she retorted even as she felt the boat tip. A split-second later she felt the jolting cold of the bay surround her. She came up sputtering. Gavin was soaked through but somehow managed to hold his camera above water. Together they righted the boat. She noted with a certain amount of relief that the bag with their things was still securely tied in place.

  He set the camera on the seat and hopped in – how he did so without tipping again was a wonder to Kate. Following suit was a more dauntin
g task than it seemed. He grabbed her hand and leaned back, preparing to balance the boat as she clambered aboard. Once there, she sat down and contented herself to glare at him for a full minute before she realized she was only wearing one purple heel.

  “My shoe!”

  “Excuse me?” That infernal lip-twitch nearly drove her to violence.

  “My brand new shoe… it’s gone,” Kate stared in disbelief at her bare foot.

  “Hey, you lunged.”

  “You called me grandma.”

  “Because I wanted you to see how ridiculous you were being.”

  “You said Pink.”

  “You’re crazy. Fortunately for you, I have a thing for crazy women. Especially old ones.”

  She debated pouncing on him again but he held his hands up in surrender.

  “Sorry, I couldn’t pass that up. It wasn’t fair,” he admitted.

  “Or nice,” she added. “Do you have any idea how much of my grocery budget I spent on that shoe? Go get it.”

  “You go get it,” Gavin tossed back, and then quickly amended. “Kate you’re not going to find it. It’s at the bottom of the bay by now.”

  “Maybe it’ll float back to the surface,” she was getting desperate.

  “Yeah, I’m not waiting around for that one.”

  “That’s two-hundred dollars worth of shoe!”

  “Why did you spend four hundred dollars on a pair of shoes?”

  “Because I was being frivolous. Why do you care how much I spent on my shoes? You and your stupid ideas. Canoeing. Really. Who does that?”

  “Only the insane, obviously.”

  “Obviously,” Kate leveled her fiercest gaze on him. He ducked his head too late to hide a smile.

  “Should we go back so we can get some dry clothes?” He suggested.

  “Probably. You look pretty bad,” Kate surprised herself with a giggle.

  “You’re kind of bedraggled yourself,” he chuckled. Their eyes met for a moment then they both laughed out loud – and kept laughing the entire way back to the pier. By the time she clambered out of the boat, her sides ached from the giggling and the cold.

  She did pout a little when she had to take off her lone shoe to walk evenly.

  “Sorry about your shoe,” Gavin tried to look sincere.

  “No you’re not,” Kate rolled her eyes. “But it was a really good shoe.”

  “Come on, my place is right around the corner and you’re barefoot.”

  Chapter Five

  Kate was curled up on Gavin’s couch, sipping a cup of hot tea and waiting for him to reappear. He’d allowed her the first hot shower. Now she sat in his sweatpants and tee-shirt while he did the same. She had been happy to note that she swam in his clothes and had to admit she’d be a little sad when hers were dry.

  His building looked a little like hers, but definitely had a heftier price tag. His loft was easily three levels and the entire back wall was windows. The ceiling seemed to soar above her. It was bright, clean and sleek where hers was darker with exposed brick and wood. Artwork and photographs hung on the walls. It was obvious this immaculate room didn’t get much use. The kitchen and bedroom seemed to tell a different story. Kate could see the clutter from her vantage point. She couldn’t begin to imagine functioning in that kind of mess. Even dwelling on it now made her a little claustrophobic.

  And then Gavin reappeared to lean casually in the doorframe of his room. He seemed to be contemplating something. The possibilities made Kate’s stomach do a flip-flop.

  “Where are we going for lunch?”

  Ah, so it was his stomach on his mind. Just as well.

  “Now that you mention it, I’m starving,” Kate sat down her cup and stretched lazily. “Nothing like a good swim to work up an appetite.”

  Her temporary absence of a scowl earned her a bright smile from Gavin. “Well we can’t let you starve. How about I make us some omelets?”

  “Have you perfected your breakfast skills for the ladies?” She smirked.

  “It’s not a revolving door you know,” he rolled his eyes.

  “You seemed pretty accomplished the other night,” she wanted to wince at the memory of what she’d almost done.

  “Do you often follow guys up to their studio?” he asked pointedly.

  “Certainly not,” she gasped. “I never do that kind of thing. Why do you think I came to my senses and high-tailed it out of there?”

  “That wasn’t very nice of you to sneak out like you’d just lifted the family silver, by the way,” he scolded gently. “But if it was a first for you, why do you assume it wasn’t for me?”

  “I saw the crowd around you,” she reminded him.

  “Ah, them,” he actually blushed. “They didn’t want me. They wanted the version of me created by their imaginations. It’s a little lonely, actually.”

  “Oh,” she pursed her lips in thought. “Do I believe that?”

  “I can’t tell you that. But it is what it is,” he ducked his head in his fridge and reemerged with some eggs and bacon. “I promise you those women could care less that I’m the youngest of four boys, I’m crazy about my nieces and nephews, and I still shudder with fear when my mother says my middle name because I know it means I’m in trouble.”

  Kate realized that she hadn’t even thought about his family once in the past few days. Was she as bad as the crowd of admirers? Now that he’d mentioned it, she knew that she did care – very much so. She padded barefoot over to the island in his kitchen and found a perch on a stool.

  “Tell me more.”

  The corner of his lip pulled into a smile and he nodded once.

  “Want some coffee?”

  “Please.”

  “Gabriel is the oldest. He has three girls – the youngest is the little girl in that black and white with the daisy.”

  Kate nodded, well aware of the picture he spoke of. “I love that one. What’s her name?”

  “Emma.”

  “Very pretty.”

  “Gabriel and his wife have been married for almost ten years now and they’re obnoxiously happy. Devon is second. He and his wife have two sons. Their relationship is a bit more… tumultuous but I think they like it that way.”

  “Tumultuous can be entertaining,” Kate acknowledged, her eyes tracing the contours of his back through the tee shirt he’d thrown on after his shower. It still clung to him from the moisture. Her fingers itched to follow the path of her eyes.

  “At times,” he turned to meet her gaze. “But comfortable like a favorite pair of jeans is good, too.”

  “So who is number three?” Kate smiled dreamily; his stare was like a drug.

  “Darrin,” he impulsively reached out and touched her cheek lightly. “He’s the family daredevil. He and his wife are too busy climbing mountains and going on safaris to have kids. It’s driving my mum crazy. With Jill’s fiery red hair, Mum was really hoping for a redheaded grandbaby.”

  “Then what does she say about you being single? Sounds like your brothers were all paired off by your age.”

  “She wants me to be happy,” he smiled ruefully. “And to find someone already.”

  “Does she realize twenty-five is still young by today’s standards?” Kate returned his smile.

  “Do you realize thirty-two is?” he countered. “She does, really. And your lunch is ready.”

  “About time,” she teased, gratefully accepting the plate he handed her. “This smells amazing.”

  “You smell amazing,” he dipped his head to graze her ear with his lips. Her heart rate spiked again. She wondered if it would ever stop doing that. She hoped not.

  “You’re incorrigible,” she accused lightly, dipping her head to concentrate on her food. Maybe she should go back to being angry at him before things got out of hand. After lunch though; she was enjoying this too much to give it up just yet. “So I almost hate to ask, but what’s next on today’s agenda?”

  “I’m still thinking about it. I have a few ideas. I
t might be a good idea to retrace the steps you’ve already taken to get some photos to go with the story Jessica is writing.”

  “She’s not writing about me, is she?” Kate’s eyes widened.

  “Well, she’s writing about you experiencing San Francisco for the first time. You should read it, it’s very good.”

  “Everything Jessica writes is very good. She’s amazing.”

  “You guys have quite the mutual admiration society going on there, don’t you?” Gavin observed.

  “Yeah, we kind of do. I’ve never liked people so thoroughly and so instantly as Jessica and Liz. I think that’s part of why I don’t want to tell Jack… my suspicions. What if he sends me away? I don’t know where I’d go, to be honest.”

  “So your mom…”

  “Died,” Kate choked on the word. “She had cancer.”

  “And she never told you who your father was?”

  “No. Or why he wasn’t around. She muttered Jack’s name one night, when the morphine was really kicking. I started trying to figure out who he was and long story short, here I am.”

  “Any other family?”

  “Not worth mentioning. A self-absorbed aunt and uncle. No brothers or sisters. Just little ole’ me,” she tried to shrug off the crack in her voice.

  “Friends?”

  “This is just embarrassing now,” she shook her head, unwilling to answer.

  “So you keep everyone outside the wall, not just me?”

  “It’s not like that. I had friends. They just sort of drifted away the longer my mom’s illness wore on. I didn’t do much but work and take care of her.”

  “Then they weren’t friends.”

  “Maybe I was just in the wrong spot. It feels different here.”

  “And precariously balanced on Jack’s mood,” he frowned. “I think we should look into that. Let’s see if we can find out why they split up. Maybe he’ll be really happy to find you.”

  “I’m four years younger than his bride-to-be,” she reminded him. “Somehow I doubt he’ll be thrilled about that.”

  “And he might not care,” he argued. “And for the record, we aren’t them.”

  Kate bit her lip. There was no denying the thought had crossed her mind – her father’s young bride made her feel that much guiltier about the age difference between her and Gavin.