Page 38 of Shadow's Surrender
Kiara smiled. “This is exciting. Can I go with you to look at places? You should go for it. It’s scary, but you should do it.” She covered her mouth with her hand. “What are your parents going to say?”
“I know my mom won’t be happy. In some weird way she gets comfort from me being there, even though we’re not close and we neverreallytalk. Oh … she tells me what I should be doing or how I’m screwing up my life, but that’s about it. Strangely, I think my dad will be cool with it.” She pushed the half-eaten quiche away from her. “I could be wrong. With my family, you never know.”
“We could have parties at your place instead of Daisy’s, where her mom is always trying to pretend she’s one of the girls. I feel so sorry for Daisy when her mom does that.”
Scarlett nodded. “Especially when she does it with her boyfriends. Once, when Warren and I were at a party at Daisy’s house, Mrs. Miller hit on Warren so bad.” She giggled. “He overreacted and talked about it for like a month. I felt so sorry for Daisy as she watched her mom make a fool out of herself.”
Kiara placed her knife and fork across her empty plate and leaned back. “I agree. I can’t imagine how hard that must be for her. I’d die if my mom acted like that. When we start partying at your apartment, I bet Daisy won’t be so uptight.”
“I’m positive you’d win that one. You know, I’m going to do this. I’ll call Trudy at my dad’s office and have her line up some places for us to see this week. I’ll swear her to secrecy. I really want to do this.” Excitement streaked thought Scarlett.
“Let me know. This will be so much fun.” Kiara pulled out a credit card. “I have to get back to work.”
“I have to go too. I’m meeting with the chef at the Palace.” Scarlett put a twenty-dollar bill on the bill tray.
After paying their tab, the two women walked out of the eatery and into the heat of the day. Scarlett waved to her friend as she opened the door to her Mercedes sports car and headed over to the hotel.
When Scarlett returned home it was nearly five o’clock, and her heart sank when she didn’t hear any construction noises coming from the north side of the house. She rushed into the house and walked into the den, which happened to face in that direction, and relief washed over her when she saw the workers still milling about. Shadow came into her view and her breath hitched just like it did most times when she saw him. She dashed up the stairs to her room, kicked off her heels, and quickly changed into a simple sundress.
When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she heard her mother rustling about in the sun room, and Scarlett crossed the foyer and went into the kitchen.
“Would you like something, Miss Scarlett?” Clara asked as she looked up from the ball of dough she was kneading.
“Do we have any sweet tea?” she asked, opening the refrigerator.
“We have a pitcher of it and another one of unsweetened tea.”
“Perfect.” Scarlett grabbed the two pitchers. “Can you grab me that stack of plastic cups,” she said, jerking her head toward the butler’s pantry.
Clara wiped her hands on her apron and scurried away to fetch them.
“Do you want me to help you?” she asked.
“I’ve got it, thanks.” Scarlett stood in front of the back door and chuckled. “I guess I need you to open the door for me, Clara.”
“Be careful, Miss Scarlett. The pavement is real hot and you don’t have your shoes on.”
She looked over her shoulder and smiled. “No worries. Thanks again.”
Scarlett hurried off the pathway and made her way toward the construction area, enjoying the late afternoon sun on her shoulders and the soft grass under her bare feet. One of her favorite things to do as a young girl had been to stroll barefoot in the grass in the early morning dew. The cool softness had felt wonderful beneath Scarlett’s feet, and she wondered why she’d stopped doing that just because she was older.
“Hey,” Smokey yelled out to her.
“Hiya,” she answered as she put the two pitchers on a small patio table and took the stack of cups from under the crook of her arm. Scarlett untwisted the tie and took out about ten of them. “I thought you guys would like something cold to drink. I brought sweetened and unsweetened iced tea.”
“That’s real good of you,” Smokey said, winking at her. “I’ll let my crew know.” He turned around and whistled, then yelled out, “Iced tea if you want it.”
Scarlett scanned the crowd of men, looking for the only face she wanted to see, but Shadow wasn’t among them.
As she poured the tea, she kept hoping that he would come out from the partially-built structure, but he didn’t.
“Thank you for the drinks,” Smokey said as he put his empty cup down and wiped his mouth.
“You’re welcome. How’s the construction going?” she asked.
“Good, considering that it’s been hotter than hell the whole time we’ve been working.”
“When do you think it’ll be finished?” She held her breath as she waited for his answer.
