Hard to Resist

chapter ELEVEN



LATER THAT DAY, after Kat got home from work, Ethan walked across the yard to her apartment, where he found the door open. Inside, Kat was busily opening every window in the place. It was stifling! She definitely couldn’t stay here for the week or two it would take to complete the wiring.

She noticed him standing there, and a worried expression crossed her face. “I guess the problem isn’t fixed yet, huh?”

“No, it’s not.” And he delivered the bad news. “I know how to fix it, but it’s gonna to take some time. A week, maybe two. I could hire an electrician—”

“Oh, no, that would cost a fortune. You can just do it when you have time. A little heat won’t kill us, and it’s just for a couple of weeks.”

“Kat, you’ll die of heat stroke if you stay here. But you don’t have to roast. You can stay with me.” He threw the suggestion out casually. “Sam can sleep in the room upstairs, and you can use the third bedroom—”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” she said, holding out her hand like a traffic cop stopping cars. “I don’t think this is such a good idea.”

“Why not?”

“It wouldn’t be proper. I mean, it wouldn’t be a good example to set for Samantha.”

“You mean because we’re not, like, married?”

She nodded. “I know it’s old-fashioned. And I’m not totally against couples living together, but we’re not exactly…” She struggled for a word.

“Committed?”

“Well, yeah, I guess. We’ve been seeing each other a very short time.”

“We would be living under the same roof,” he reasoned. “But we wouldn’t be living together.”

Kat was already shaking her head before he finished his sentence. “Really, not a good idea,” she said with steely determination.

“Kat, don’t rule it out before you’ve thought about it. Do you really want Sam to be away for two weeks while you’re without A/C?”

“No, I don’t. But I can’t move into my boyfriend’s house,” she said with troubling finality. “That’s sending the wrong message to Samantha about how to deal with challenges. And what would I tell the StrongGirls? The most important thing I can do for them is to teach them by example.”

“So you’d rather roast in this oven than compromise a little?”

“I can’t compromise my values. If I lose those, I lose everything. Anyway, there’s another issue.” She glanced out the window, chewing on her fingernail, then turned back again. “Sam is getting way too attached to you.”

“That’s not a bad thing,” Ethan said, confused. “It certainly beats having her scream when I walk into the room.”

“But if something happens, you know, with you and me. Not that I think it will—”

“I’m not going anywhere,” he said flatly.

“We don’t know what the future holds. We’ve only known each other a little while. It’s too much, too soon. And frankly, once Sam and I live a couple of weeks in your beautiful house, with that big kitchen and those roomy closets, it’s not going to be easy to move back here.”

He must not have looked convinced, because she added one more ingredient to her argument.

“When I was about Sam’s age, my mother moved us in with one of her boyfriends. I mean, she did it more than once, but that particular time, the guy was nice. I remember him very clearly—his name was Hal. He was a mechanic and he smelled like motor oil—and he had a cute little house. He gave me butterscotch candies and called me Kitten. But after a few months something went wrong and we had to move away, and I never saw Hal again. I was heartbroken. And I know it’s because we lived with him and he felt like a daddy to me.”

“You think Samantha sees me like a daddy?” The idea filled him with wonder and pride.

“I think if we lived in the same house, she would start to get that idea, yes.”

“So you’re just going to stay here and roast.”

“I’ll be working during the heat of the day. And it’s not so bad at night. I mean, people lived for thousands of years without air-conditioning. I hardly ever had it when I was growing up.”

Nothing he was going to say would dissuade her, and he had no choice but to give up. He would simply get the job finished as quickly as he could.

“Then, I better get to work while I still have some daylight. The sooner I can finish this thing, the sooner you’ll be cool again.”

As Kat watched him go, she felt an unreasonable urge to cry. He really did have her best interests in mind. He wanted to take care of her and Sam, and that was a noble thing. The guy’s heart was as big as a beach ball.

And it was tempting—far more tempting than she’d let him know—to move into that wonderful old house, with its polished hardwood floors and high ceilings, and the funny spiral staircase that led up to the attic conversion where Samantha liked to play.

Hadn’t she fantasized about it just two nights ago? If she and Ethan were further along in their relationship, if they were in love and committed to making a future together, things might be different.

But to move into her new boyfriend’s place for convenience’s sake just didn’t seem right. It wouldn’t matter if they had separate rooms. It wasn’t right.

She had already let herself become too dependent on Ethan. They were sharing meals, working on the yard and doing their grocery shopping together. Ethan often looked after Samantha while Kat was at work.

She’d moved into this tiny apartment as a last-resort emergency solution, and she’d allowed herself to get way too comfortable here. She’d told herself it was the best situation she could find, a rationalization that had worked for a while. But now a White Cliffs town house was available.

She’d erased the message from Sandy Taylor, but she still had the woman’s business card somewhere. She dug through her purse, found the card and dialed the number before she could change her mind.

Unfortunately, Kat could only reach Sandy’s voice mail, but she left a message saying that she definitely would take the apartment. Samantha wouldn’t be pleased about moving away from Ethan or Winnie or Jasmine next door. But she would come around once she realized she would have her own room again, as well as a swimming pool, a playground and lots of other kids to play with.

This was the only sensible move she could make. Kat was grateful for the wiring crisis, because it had pushed her into doing what she ought to have done in the first place.

Sometimes she regretted being a StrongGirl.

When it grew dark and the power tools in the garage went silent, Kat sought Ethan out. If she put off telling him of her plan any longer, it would be that much harder. She brought him a glass of cold lemonade.

“I have some good news,” she said. Because, well, it was good news. A few weeks earlier she would have been ecstatic to snag one of these town houses. “A woman called from the White Cliffs town houses. It’s that new complex they built over in Bishop Arts—remember, I pointed them out to you a couple of weeks ago?”

Ethan, who’d been packing away his tools, went still. He looked at her intently and made a small nod.

“They’ve got a corner unit available. And they’ve got a fantastic deal running—first month free, discounted rent for a year. It’s ideal, much nicer than my old place.”

“You’re moving.” He looked so crestfallen, Kat wanted to take back what she’d just said. But she had to do the sensible, practical thing.

“Living in your garage apartment was only meant to be temporary,” she reminded him. “If you hadn’t offered it to us, I don’t know what I would have done. And we’ve really enjoyed living here. But the place is much too small for two people and a cat.”

“I know it is. And actually, the problem is worse than I thought. Some of these walls have asbestos in them.”

“Oh. Then I guess the sooner we move, the better. But it’s not far—only about a mile away.”

“Yeah. Yeah, you’re right.” He took a long sip of his lemonade. “Now I can postpone this project, which is getting huger by the minute. I’ve got a test to study for this week. But you’ll want me to help you move, right?”

“Yes, Ethan, I would love your help.” Virginia would be proud of her.

Kat was relieved he wasn’t trying to talk her out of moving. But the note of resignation in his voice bothered her.

* * *

“GOOD SHOT, PRISSY!” Otis patted Priscilla on the back as she walked up to the dartboard at Brady’s to retrieve her darts. “You been practicing. You still can’t mop a floor worth beans, but the dart game is definitely improving.”

Ethan was glad to see Otis and Priscilla getting along better. In fact, all three of them were starting to be accepted. It was a slow process, and there were a few holdouts who continued to offer snide comments or ignore the rookies altogether. But at least they weren’t pariahs at Brady’s anymore.

“Basque, you playin’?” Otis asked. “Loser buys the winner a burger.”

“Hmm? Oh, yeah, sure.”

Ethan took his turn and made some of the worst shots of his life, to several hoots and rude comments. “Guess it’s not my night,” he said, and he headed for the counter to buy Otis his burger.

Priscilla followed him. “You seem a little preoccupied tonight.”

He shrugged.

“Everything going okay with Kat?” Priscilla asked, watching Ethan with keen interest.

It was hard to get anything past Priscilla, and he figured she would keep badgering him until he told her, so he did.

“I asked her to move into my house. I have three bedrooms, so there’s plenty of room.”

Priscilla smiled. “Cool. Unless… She didn’t turn you down, did she? Her little place is cute now, but it must be cramped.”

“She turned me down flat. She offered me an array of excuses, ranging from wanting to maintain her independence to not wanting Samantha to get the wrong idea, and I don’t know what to do about it.”

“Be patient, for starters. Who knows how bad she’s been burned in the past? She’s entitled to be cautious.”

“I haven’t told you the worst of it. She’s found another apartment, some place bigger, with a pool, and she’s moving away.”

“Oh, Ethan. I’m sorry. I know you liked having Kat and Sam right there. But it’s not the end of the world. I mean, you’re not breaking up or anything, are you?”

“No.” But he was afraid that was coming next.

She nudged him. “Then stop borrowing trouble. Hey, the shuffleboard table is free. Want to challenge…” She trailed off mid-sentence as her gaze focused on something behind Ethan. He turned to see a group of guys enter, shirtsleeves rolled up, ties askew or missing altogether.

One of the guys was Roark Epperson. He’d been in the news a lot lately as the pressure increased to catch the serial arsonist.

No wonder Priscilla was staring. At the fire academy she’d been enthralled by the subject of arson and eager to learn everything she could about how to spot suspicious fires, how the evidence was gathered. He wouldn’t be surprised if someday she became an arson investigator herself.

Ethan grabbed Otis’s burger and left a fiver on the counter. “Let’s go get the shuffleboard table before those guys grab it.”

“Uh, I think I better get home,” Priscilla said suddenly. “It’s late.”

Ethan looked at his watch. “It’s just eight-thirty.” They’d spent half the afternoon studying together, and they both felt confident they’d pass tomorrow’s test, so he didn’t think it was that.

“I have to do laundry. And you know how long that takes me.” She cleared out without another word.

That was strange.

Ethan decided to do the networking thing, which was better than sitting alone drowning his sorrows. He walked up to Roark Epperson, held out his hand and introduced himself. “I was in the last class at the fire academy,” he said.

“Oh, yeah, I remember you. You used to do construction. That’s a helpful skill in arson investigation. Where’d your friend go?”

“My friend?”

“The woman who lit out of here like the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse were chasing her. Priscilla.”

“You know her?”

“There was only one woman in your class. Hard not to notice her.”

“Anybody would notice her,” one of Roark’s friends said, elbowing a buddy. “If you know what I mean.”

Roark gave his friend a shriveling look that shut him up. All of which made Ethan wonder if there was something he didn’t know. Did the arson specialist and Priscilla know each other?

“I was just about to see if I could get a shuffleboard game up,” Ethan said. “Any of you guys interested?”

A couple of them were, so they formed teams and went to it.

Ethan lined up to make his next play. “Any progress on catching the arsonist?” he asked Epperson, then pulled off a particularly good shot that had his opponents groaning.

“Precious little. That abandoned gas station that burned over on Ledbetter a couple of weeks ago? That was him. He’d planted a homemade bomb inside, but luckily it didn’t go off.”

Ethan hadn’t heard about the bomb. “He’s trying to kill firefighters.” What a grim realization.

“Looks that way.”

“Could he be a former firefighter? Someone who was fired from the department, disgruntled?” It was an unfortunate fact of life that many arsonists were, in fact, also firefighters. Sometimes they were just bored and wanted to create some action. But sometimes their motives were darker.

“That’s exactly the direction I’ve been looking, but so far nothing’s panned out.” Epperson looked deeply troubled, and Ethan felt bad for bringing up the subject. The investigator had probably come to Brady’s so he could forget work for a few hours.

“Your shot,” Ethan said. “We can cinch it with this one.”

They won, and as a team they played and beat all comers, including Tony, who’d spent most of the evening flirting with one woman after another.

“You da man,” Tony said, acknowledging his defeat. “Hey, I’m going home. You gonna hang out here a while?”

“Home?” Ethan looked at his watch and was surprised to find it was after midnight. Where had the evening gone?

“Hey, how come you’re not out with Kat?” Tony asked. “Is it mother-daughter bonding night?”

“Something like that.” Although not much like that. The truth was, Ethan hadn’t called her. He needed some time to process the fact that not only did she not want to move into his house, she wanted to move farther away—despite the obvious logic of the arrangement.

Everything was out of balance. He was acting like Tony did whenever he fell for a girl, preoccupied to the point of obsession with Kat, her daughter, her life. While Kat was thinking about other things.

He knew Kat felt something for him. It wasn’t completely one-sided on his part. But he had to ask himself whether he wanted to continue putting all his energy into the relationship when Kat sometimes seemed so ambivalent.

He settled up with Brady Keller, the original owner’s grandson and a fixture behind the bar since before Ethan was born, and he and Tony walked the two blocks back to their homes.

On the way, Ethan asked Tony something he’d been wondering about. “Once you’ve fallen for a woman, is there any way to pull back, to not quite care so much? It’d be really nice if I could be happy with seeing Kat once or twice a week. Is there any way to get a woman out of your head once she’s there?”

Tony laughed. “I bet you’re feeling real sorry right now for all those times you razzed me when I had it bad.”

“Actually, I do. I thought you were being melodramatic. I never knew how good—and how bad—it felt.”

“Well, my friend, the only way I know of to get a woman out of your head is to meet another one.”

“I don’t want to meet another one. She’s it. She’s the one I’m going to… Oh, no, I sound just like you.”

“You’ll survive. I always do. She didn’t dump you, did she?”

“No. Nothing’s really changed.” But it had. Something had definitely changed.

* * *

KAT LAY ON HER FUTON later that night, sweating like a racehorse. Temperatures had climbed to the mid-nineties during the day. And tomorrow the forecast was for even warmer weather.

She wondered how quickly she would be able to arrange the move to White Cliffs. Except that Sandy Taylor hadn’t called back despite Kat having left several messages, and Kat was getting a bit worried that the town house wasn’t nailed down after all.

When she went to work the next day she was listless from the heat and lack of sleep. She would be checking up on one of the new StrongGirls groups today, observing how her new counselor was conducting herself. She also had a meeting with her own Kimball High group and a couple of one-on-one counseling sessions.

So she drank three cups of coffee while returning phone calls and tried to pull herself together.

Virginia stopped in for some brochures and stuck her head into Kat’s closet-sized office. “Got a minute?” Then her forehead creased with concern. “Oh, hon, you look so tired. You’re not coming down with something, are you?”

“I didn’t sleep well last night,” Kat said, trying for a smile. “But I’m good.”

“Kat?” Deb called out from the outer office. “There’s a woman named Sandy Taylor on the phone. Something about an apartment? Should I tell her you’re not looking—”

Kat grabbed the phone and punched a button. “Hello, Sandy? I’m so glad you called back.”

“Yeah, well, I’m really so sorry, but I rented the apartment to someone else.”

“You…what?”

“You didn’t call back for a couple of days, and I figured you’d already found a place.”

“And you don’t have anything else?”

“No, I’m sorry. Maybe later in the summer.”

“Okay,” Kat said in small voice. “Thanks.” When she hung up, Virginia was looking at her, practically vibrating with concern, and Deb had swiveled her chair around to look, as well.

“Is there a problem?”

Oh, boy. What a mess. She felt as if she were back to square one—desperately needing a place to live and not a lot of options.

But there was an option, she reminded herself. Ethan would be thrilled to have her and Samantha move in. He wasn’t going to like her conditions, though.