The Man Who Has No Heart - Victoria Quinn Page 0,41
and figure it out later.” I grabbed a twig and set it next to an ant before I snapped the shot.
“Why did you do that?” Derek asked, looking at the twig.
“So, you have perspective.” I rose to my feet and put the phone back into my pocket.
He grabbed the branch and started to poke it into the sand of the hill.
“How would you feel if someone did that to your home?” I asked. “Shoved a metal pole through your bedroom window?”
Derek put down the branch, looking guilty.
Cleo glanced up at me, her eyes soft.
Derek sat there, squatting on the ground, and just watched the ants.
I stepped into the shade, and Cleo joined me. I pulled out some water for us to drink.
She popped the cap and took a drink. “Now I know where he gets it from.”
I finished my drink and stared at her.
“Why he’s so thoughtful of other people…because you taught him to be.”
When we returned to the house, we had lunch, showered, and then Derek took a nap. He had more energy than I did, but when there was too much excitement during the day, he couldn’t keep his eyes open.
I grabbed two beers and walked onto the patio, seeing Cleo in one of the chairs, wearing jeans and a top. She didn’t notice me right away, taking in the sight of the quiet lake, the way the sun hit the surface of the water, her lips and eyes relaxed.
I moved to the chair beside her and held up the bottle.
She took it.
“This is all I have. Is that okay?”
“I like beer.” She took a drink and relaxed again, her hair down around her shoulders.
I parted my knees and rested my arms on the sides of the chair, the beer dangling from my fingers. I watched the lake for a while, listened to the pure silence, watched the leaves move in the slight breeze. The world was so quiet, so slow. Manhattan was constantly raging with activity, people practically running down the sidewalk to get to their next appointment. But here…the only way to watch the time pass was by the movement of the sun as the world rotated.
I turned to her. “How was your dinner last night?”
“Fine.” She rested her head against the wooden back of the chair, her face turned toward me. “My client hosted a charity gala for the Red Cross, so I helped set everything up and made sure the night ran smoothly.”
“Did you have fun?”
She shrugged. “I was working.”
Did she feel like she was working when she was with me? “Do you like your client?”
“I like all my clients.”
“Do you actually mean that, or are you supposed to say that?”
She smiled at my blunt question. “Not all my clients are the same. Some are more difficult than others. And there are some I like more than others. But for the most part, yes, I do like them all…except one or two.”
I bet Jake Patterson was one of those two. I saw him in the elevator one time, and he stared at me like we had a blood feud going on between us. But I wasn’t intimidated by a man who spoke to women that way. I didn’t like him. I disliked him so much that I would punch him in the face the second he gave me a reason to. “I’m not one of those two, right?”
She smiled with her eyes. “We both know the answer to that.”
I continued to grip my beer as I stared at her, the one person I could drop my guard with, sit still with. Most of my conversations were task-oriented, so we always had something to discuss. But there were times when I had absolutely nothing to say to Cleo—but I talked anyway.
“I booked a flight for Monday morning.”
I didn’t want to think about sending Derek home.
She must have noticed the sadness in my eyes because she said, “I’ll figure it out with Valerie. I’ll get her to relocate here.”
I would normally tell her it was impossible, that the woman was too stubborn and spiteful, but if anyone could do it, it was Cleo. “I hope so.” I took a drink of my beer. “No parent should have to go through this…to drop off his son and not see him for a month.”
“I know,” she whispered. “When I dropped him off with Valerie last time, I felt terrible the entire journey back…like I’d left a piece of my heart behind.”