With each word, Mr. Paget’s eyes widened. “Is it...? Does it...?”
“Could you get my suitcase?” Olivia said to Kit as she went to the front door. Once she was outside, she wanted to kick herself. What was it about that boy that brought out the worst in her? When he was around, she seemed to go through every emotion. Anger, laughter, lust, a feeling that she had to win, all of it so strong that they nearly killed her. And she had to admit, sometimes jealousy. The kids, Uncle Freddy, Mr. Gates, and now her own father seemed to adore him. He could do no wrong. They seemed to think he was brilliant, entertaining, a hard worker, and now it looked like he was a world traveler. A house in Cairo! Not Cairo—pronounced K-row—Illinois, but the real one. Pyramids. Sphinx shot up by the Turks. Really! Was there no end to the boy’s good qualities?
He came out with her suitcase in his hand and put it in the back of the truck. He started to go around to her side to open the door but she did it by herself.
Kit started the truck and headed toward town. But then, he pulled over beside Mr. Ellis’s cow pasture, turned off the engine, got out, and opened her door. “We need to talk.”
Olivia looked straight ahead and didn’t move.
“If I have to pick you up, I will.”
She got out of the truck, but her expression let him know that she didn’t like his attitude.
There was a gate nearby and he motioned to it. They walked together for a while until they came to a pretty rock formation. Olivia had been to it many times when she was a child.
Stepping back, Kit held out his hand. He was motioning for her to sit down.
For a while, they sat a yard apart, silently watching the cows grazing in the field.
“I grew up all over the world,” he began. “My father is in the diplomatic service. He worked his way up from being a kid who carried the briefcase of some major to being a traveling advisor. If there was a problem in the Middle East, he was often called in to fix it. My mother followed him everywhere—and she dragged her three kids with her. I’m the youngest so I’ve been to more countries, been exposed to more cultures and languages than they have.”
For a while, Olivia didn’t say anything. It seemed that he was saying something very serious. Should they give free rein to the strong emotions between them or pull back? Stop it before it started? “I have a career ahead of me. I’ve worked for it since I was a child.”
“And I have something waiting for me too,” he said.
She gave him time to tell her what he was going to do, but he didn’t explain. She knew he wasn’t going to say any more. “We’ll be friends,” she said, and he nodded in reply. So be it, she thought. Or as he had said, “As you wish.” They had set boundaries. They hadn’t openly acknowledged their...their attraction to each other. But in a way they had—and they were in agreement about it. Now was not the right time for either of them. They had lives ahead of them and they didn’t want them interrupted. Friendship was their destiny.
“What’s the big secret about Ace?” Kit asked. “And what’s the kid’s real name?”
She turned to him. “No one told you?”
Kit shook his head. “I’ve been working rather a lot so I’ve not had time for chats.”
“Me too,” she said. “But coq au vin can’t compete with single-handedly raising old tombstones.”
“They told me you were doing a better job.”
Looking at each other, they laughed. It seemed that the old men had been playing them against each other. Their shared amusement cleared the air.
Olivia took a breath. “Ace’s name is Kyle Chapman and his mother is dying of ovarian cancer. His father is the town’s only doctor, and between patients and his wife, he can’t care for the child. And besides, Ace needs Letty.”
“That poor boy. He’s so young.”
“You’re not going to look at him with pity, are you?”
“No,” Kit said. “I’m going to—” He turned his head away.
When she heard his breath catch in his throat, Olivia reached out and took his hand. “I think we need to act as normal as possible.”
“Maybe tie the two of them up in a tree with purple yarn?” He looked back at her and when he held her hand tighter, she pulled it away. They were too alone in a beautiful setting to risk touching.
“I vote that we give the children the best summer they ever had,” she said.
“Lavish them with gifts? Christmas every day? That sort of thing?” he asked.
“Absolutely not! First of all, we need to get them back for tying us up and I think the attic is haunted and Old Thomas is from a planet called Zenos.”
With each word, Kit’s smile widened. “I like how you think. I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. Didn’t I see a tea shop in town? Let’s drink a gallon and eat pounds while we come up with some scary things to do to those brats. And I want to order some bikes.”
“Can you afford them?” Olivia put her hand up. “Let me guess. You’re rich.”
He stood up and held out his hand out to her. “That’s just one of many bad things about me. Did you bring your script? Can I play Wickham and run off with the girl?”
“Lydia is an idiot.” Taking his hand, she stood up.
He leaped off the rock, then put his hands on her waist, and swung her down to the ground. “Remind me to call my dad to tell him he’ll have a couple of visitors in January.”
“Would they really do that? You can’t imagine what it would mean to my father. Do you have to take a Jeep to get to the pyramids?”
“Ha! They’re across the road from Mena House Hotel. There’s a highway that runs right past the pyramids.”
“He’ll be disappointed.”
“Don’t worry. There are lots of places that will fascinate him. Egypt is magic.” He opened the truck door for her and she got in.
Kit walked around the back of the truck so she wouldn’t see his smile. Friends, he thought. That’s what she wanted them to be. And if that’s what she needed right now, he’d give it to her.
As for him, he’d found the woman he loved and would always love—and he was going to do whatever it took to get her. He’d just take his time, go as slowly as she needed him to.
And when the time was right... He smiled. She wouldn’t know what hit her.
Chapter Seventeen
“That’s what he told you?” Kathy asked. “That he planned to get you no matter what he had to do?”
“He didn’t tell me then what he was thinking, but he did on our honeymoon.”
“You mean recently.”
“Yes,” Olivia said. “Very recently.”
Elise and Kathy were silent as they thought about what they were hearing. All that Olivia was telling them happened long ago. Even if they hadn’t been told of their love now, it was easy to see where the young couple was headed. Yet they had spent their lives apart.
“When did you turn from friendship to passion?” Elise asked. “Some moonlit night? You saw naked Kit under a tree and you were so overcome with lust that you couldn’t contain yourself?”
Olivia and Kathy were staring at her.
“Honey,” Kathy said, “you need a man.” Olivia nodded in agreement.
“I’m ready, but the only one I’ve seen is Ray and I wouldn’t have him if—” She looked at Kathy in horror. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to disparage your husband. He’s quite nice. Lovely to look at. Olivia and I made him sit around shirtless for hours and he—” Again, she broke off. “I think I’ll shut up now. Is there any iced tea? I’ve had more than enough wine.”
Kathy looked at Elise for a moment longer, then back at Olivia, who was filling a glass for Elise. “How long did your sweet, innocent friendship last?”
“Wait a minute,” Elise said. “I want to know about the children. You told us that Ace grew up to be a doctor, but what happened to Letty? Please tell me those kids grew up to marry each other.”
“No, they didn’t,” Olivia said. “When the kids were about ten, Bill got a job in California and they quit spending summers at Tattwell. Letty married a man she met in college. You know the actor Tate Landers?”
“Sure. Who doesn’t?” Kathy said.