Intimate Relations: Awakened Part 19

"Scary in a good way, I hope. Because that's how I feel with Marc. We had sort of the same thing here. There've been some big changes in my life. I haven't told you that the reason I've been working for Marc is that I got fired at the coffee shop. He hadn't hired anyone to do your job while you were gone, so I volunteered. It's worked out really well."

"You what? You got fired? I mean, I'm glad you were available to help Marc out, and me too, since I know now I'm not going back to a mess, and I really appreciate you're covering for me tomorrow, but what the h.e.l.l happened at the shop?"

"The day you left, my boss came in and handed me my final paycheck, said that was the end of it. No notice, no severance, nothing. I wasn't expecting it at all, had actually thought she'd make me the manager and ask me to run this one while she ran the new one in Union Square. Clearly, that didn't happen."

"That sucks." Lola looked like she was ready to chase the woman down and have a few words with her. And knowing Lola, she'd do it if Mandy asked.

"Well," she said, "yes and no. As it turned out, Marc needed me for more than my bookkeeping abilities. We didn't go into all the details at dinner because we wanted to hear what you guys have been doing..."

"And if it's a contest, Kaz and Jake win that one hands down. Modeling and photographing said model in the Coliseum in Rome has to beat giving a deposition in a courtroom in Washington, DC, any day."

"No argument from me." Mandy ran her fingertip through a drop of coffee on the table. Their brand new, st.u.r.dy, water- and other liquid-proof table. "The trouble with Marc's dad is serious. We really didn't want to ruin anyone's homecoming-figure we've got plenty of time to do that-but like Marc said, his dad's the one who shot him, though he was probably aiming at me. The prints came back a couple of days ago, and there was a good clear one that belonged to his father on the side of the stolen car that the shooter was driving. As long as he's in jail, he's not a threat, but Ted and the deputy in Dry Creek Valley think that all of us are at risk if he gets out."

"Then let's just hope he stays locked up."

"The extradition should be complete in a couple of weeks, and hopefully, with his history of going after Marc, they'll keep him locked up here as well. Ted got prints after the break-in here, but that was a dead end, literally. They found the man's body and he'd been dead at least a week, so a lot of it hinges on finding Marc's mother's remains. Ted has a guy flying in on August 8 who has a cadaver dog, one that can find really old human remains. They're going to go up to that property on Rockpile Road and see if they can find anything."

"That's got to be tough for Marc."

"You have no idea." Mandy wiped her eyes. She really hated Marc's father-even more now that she'd gone through everything that had happened, from Marc's visits with the hypnotherapist to their finding the rock with the tree out on Rockpile Road. "But it was tough," she added, "when Marc walked to the place where he thought she might have been buried and discovered the entire hillside had slipped away. Hopefully the cadaver dog will find something."

"Wow." Lola sat there staring at Mandy, shaking her head. "I really didn't have any idea what you guys have been dealing with."

Mandy just sighed. "It's awful. Think of it-Marc has lived with that fear for years, the mistaken knowledge that he'd killed a woman. He had no idea it was his father and his mother he was remembering. The dreams, coupled with the blackouts he had a few times in college had him convinced he was a murderer."

"Blackouts? What caused that?"

"Stress. The hypnotherapist said we all react to stress differently. Marc was having serious financial issues in college and knew he was going to lose his scholarship. He was overworked and struggling with no support system. He had what he calls a blackout when he awoke miles from campus with no idea how he'd gotten there. It happened more than once. Then he started having the dreams where he saw himself killing a strange woman, except it was his father killing his mother that he was remembering. Once the nightmares started, the blackouts stopped.

"The fact he'd blacked out and then essentially awakened miles from home made him think he could have killed someone while he was mentally out of touch. Dr. Chung said it's extreme, but the blackouts could have been his reaction to stress. An escape mechanism of sorts, tied to his problems in college and repressed memories. As far as the dreams? Who can say what triggered them? He hadn't had them for years, but he's been afraid of what he might do ever since. Now, at least, he knows he's not a killer. Unfortunately, we also know his father is."

Lola grabbed Mandy's hands and squeezed. "I am so sorry, for both of you. What you're having to deal with. But I'm really glad you're there for Marc. He seems so much happier now. More settled, but to go through all of that..."

"Yeah, but I wouldn't trade these past couple of weeks for anything. There's so much more good than bad. We'll get through this, his father will end up in prison, and Marc and I will go on with our lives. I love him, Lola. I never imagined what it would be like to have a man you could trust and count on, a guy who's funny and smart and so amazing. And not only that, he was my fantasy for how long?"

"At least the past six or seven years, ever since you started work at the coffee shop. So what about the one you and Marc were talking about? Are you going to do it?"

"We are. It's going to be part of the memorial Jake and Ben want to do-Marc's already set up a foundation to provide funding for the shop once we get it built. We'll call it Bett's Place. Bett was his mom's nickname. We'll have a small daycare facility and hire women from the shelter. I think it's going to be great."

Lola took a swallow of her coffee. "This will teach me to leave for more than a long weekend."

Mandy laughed. Then she stood as Marc wandered into the kitchen still half asleep. "I'm really proud of us. It's amazing how much trouble we were able to cause in a very short time."

Marc leaned close and kissed her. Then he patted Lola on top of her head. "You have the day off tomorrow, Lola, but only if you promise me you won't listen to your sister when she moans about feeling like an indentured servant."

Lola held up two fingers in a modified salute. "I promise."

"Lola! You're such a traitor."

"I know who signs my paycheck. I hope you negotiated excellent terms before slipping into my desk."

Mandy smiled sweetly at Marc. "I have no terms. None at all." Then she stood and wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss. When she came up for air, both of them were breathing just a bit harder. She turned to Lola with a cheesy grin. "I do, however, have the boss in my bed, and I'm keeping him. I can't think of anything better than that."

CHAPTER 14.

Monday morning arrived long before Mandy was ready. They'd been busy all day long on Sunday, but she and Lola had caught up on laundry and grocery shopping while the guys took care of the yard and cleaned house. They'd all been busy throughout the day, managed to throw together easy meals to keep everyone fed, and still had time to sit out in the backyard with a gla.s.s of wine and snacks in the afternoon and take a break.

Marc had wandered out after his shower and brought an extra couple of chairs to put beneath the dogwood tree. Lola and Mandy had grabbed the bench-the one Ben claimed as his since it had been the scene of his infamous meltdown the first night he'd met Lola. Carrying around a huge load of guilt for twenty years had to end at some point, but it had been Lola and Ben's beginning, and the end of a long estrangement between Ben and his younger brother, Jake.

Marc set the chairs across from the bench, put a couple of cold beers on the little round table Lola had dragged out a few weeks earlier, and sat. "I need to go back to the office," he said.

Mandy frowned. "Why? It's Sunday?"

He picked up his beer and took a long swallow. "When you and your sister get together, Ms. Mandy, you are slave drivers."

"C'mon, Marc." Lola leaned over and patted his knee. "You vacuumed, did a little pruning, a couple of dishes, scrubbed a toilet. It can't have been that hard."

Mandy sighed dramatically. "I told him scrubbing toilets was really s.e.xy. You'd think he'd want to work that angle."

"It was work," he said. "Hardest work." Marc glanced over his shoulder as Ben came down the stairs and followed the neatly pruned path to the chairs. "Wasn't it, Ben?"

"Wasn't it what?" Ben took the other chair and the beer Marc handed to him.

"Hardest work. Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest."

"Have you mentioned that to the women?"

"They don't listen."

"Yeah." He sighed dramatically. "But they're real cute. Cute goes a long way, ya know?"

Marc leveled a long stare at Ben. "Lola, you've pulled him over to the dark side."

And then Mandy got the giggles. Sundays would never be the same. Sitting out here in the backyard, laughing over silly stuff with her sister, her future brother-in-law, and her future husband. And one day there'd be kids, and when the fence finally came out between the two units after Marc took ownership, they'd have one big yard with Kaz and Jake thrown into the mix. She wanted to hug herself. It was all better than she ever could have dreamed.

But then Monday morning arrived and she and Marc crawled out of bed and left even earlier than usual. Marc had a number of appointments and Mandy wanted everything caught up when Lola got back to her desk, so it was going to be a hectic day. The drive in was sort of bittersweet-she'd enjoyed going to work with Marc, had loved her time in the office and feeling a part of the excitement of all of Marc's various interests, but Lola would be back at her desk tomorrow, and Mandy wasn't sure where she'd end up.

Someplace where she could work on the plans for the coffee shop, since Marc had told her it was all her baby. She liked that. Mostly, she loved the idea that Marc had enough faith in her to give her free rein on the project.

Marc went straight into his office and closed the door once they got to his building on Battery Street. Mandy went through all the phone messages for Marc that were waiting for her, jotted down the names and numbers along with a brief description of the messages, collated the notes and organized them by order of importance. Then she knocked on his door. He opened it immediately-she'd noticed that when he was on a business call, he tended to pace around his office, or around whatever room he was in at home, and she'd caught him in mid-pace.

He was not the type to sit still when he could stand, or stand still when he could walk. She almost groaned, thinking of raising little boys like Marc, except she could hardly wait for that day to come.

She set the notes on his desk and turned to leave, but he touched her shoulder and motioned for her to stay. She walked over and gazed out the window at Yerba Buena Island, and Treasure Island right next to it, while Marc continued his call.

But her mind was on the man pacing around the office behind her, and it wasn't long before she'd switched her attention from the million-dollar view to the man who had so easily stolen her heart. He was dressed in his usual work uniform of black jeans and a long-sleeved white dress shirt. He'd already rolled his sleeves up, and his hair was mussed because he couldn't talk on the phone without raking his fingers through it. He had a pair of low-top leather athletic trainers on, comfortable shoes she liked to tease him about.

With all the phone calls he took every day, he must walk miles.

Probably why he was in such good shape. Other than running on occasion and disappearing into the man cave in the bas.e.m.e.nt where he and Ben had set up weights and a couple of exercise machines, he didn't obsess about his physique or make a big deal of working out. But whatever he did appeared to do what it was supposed to, at least as far as Mandy was concerned. He had an absolutely perfect body, and when he was focused-the way he was now, with the phone to his ear and his brows wrinkled in a slight frown-he looked absolutely dynamic and so very much in control. There was such a sense of life seething in and around Marc, or as Lola had said shortly after she'd met him, "there's just so much there, there."

Whatever it was, it worked.

Marc ended the call, stuck his phone in his pocket, and walked over to stand beside her. "That was Deputy Russo's superior officer-he said Jerry's off on vacation for a couple of weeks, but that he'd keep me in the loop on whatever was happening with my father's extradition. Right now he's in jail and they're holding him there for illegally entering the country using a fake pa.s.sport, but that won't work forever. He said they're considering deportation rather than extradition. There's a ruling in the treaty between the U.S. and Mexico that can limit what he goes to trial for to the charges that are used to support the extradition. Since they don't have enough grounds to charge him with my mother's murder, deportation would leave them open to add those charges at a later date."

Sometimes the legal twists and turns drove her absolutely nuts. "They have enough to hold him on attempted murder, don't they?"

"They do, but he hasn't been charged yet. The chief of police in Marin has a detective working on a couple of leads that might strengthen the case against him there, and Sonoma County is going to run ballistics tests on the slug. They sent a team back out and found it buried in the trunk of a grape vine."

"That seems apropos."

"Yeah, doesn't it? It appears they got a little more excited about him when Jerry shared the copy of our information with his boss, and he, in turn, had a talk with the chief of police in Marin. It's suddenly taken on a lot more depth now that they're looking at a potential murder and the attempted theft of many, many millions of dollars. The team also went over the Ford Bronco a bit more closely and found a rifle hidden under the spare tire, but I don't know if they got prints off of it or not. All we have now is that one palm print on the door of the car. Neither of us saw him, so we don't have any witnesses to the actual shooting, though the slug could prove to be evidence if it matches the gun, and if the gun has his prints."

"An awful lot of ifs..." She wrapped her arms around him and pressed her cheek to his chest, just over his heart. "It's all going to work out. I just wish it wasn't taking so d.a.m.ned long."

His arms tightened around her. "You and me both, babe." He exhaled in a huff. "Anyway, I just wanted to let you know."

"Thank you. I appreciate it. Now I need to get back to my desk." Regretfully, she slipped out of his embrace, but work called. "I really don't want Lola coming back to a mess."

"That reminds me." He took her hand. She smiled. It appeared that Marc wasn't ready to let go, either. "You're going to be busy working on the plans for the coffee shop. I was thinking ... we've got a small office here that I can have Theo set up for you. Would you be okay with that? Once we get what you need the way you like it, it would mean that when you go home in the evening, or whenever, you wouldn't be tempted to keep working, but when you're here, we can collaborate as needed on whatever you want to do. Think about it, would you? Especially while things with my father are so up in the air. I'd feel safer with you here. It's hard to concentrate when I'm worried about you."

She hadn't even thought of that, of actually having an office here with Marc. Close to Lola and Ben, even Ted and Theo. "I would love it." She wrapped her hands around his neck and hugged him. Hard. "And I love that you're thinking of me. Thank you."

He laughed softly, and rubbed his chin against the top of her head. "I don't think I'm ever not thinking of you, Mandy. You're like an obsession for me. A very good obsession."

"That works." She turned in his arms and kissed him. "I must admit, I love the perks of working in the same building with you. Make sure my office has a comfortable couch and a lock on the door, okay?" Before he had a chance to reply, she ran her fingers across his cheek in a soft caress, turned away, and went back to her desk.

August 7 Marc shook hands with Ben and Jake while Mandy got hugs from both Kaz and Lola. Why he'd thought he could actually stay at home this weekend and then go into his office and work once JD Stirling arrived with his HRD dog was beyond Marc, but it had taken Mandy to convince him that he really needed to be on scene, at least for the first few days.

Ted was already in Healdsburg. He'd found a guest house on a neighboring property for rent so that JD and Bones would be able to stay close to everything. Ted had spent last night in the apartment over the tasting room. He'd wanted to be on-site in order to make sure everything was signed and cleared with Jeb Barton and their use of the dog on his property, and a portable restroom brought on-site for the dog's handler and the potential recovery team. Sheriff's deputy Jerry Russo was due back from vacation today. Marc expected to see him at some point once they started work tomorrow afternoon. JD's plane was due in before noon. He'd told Ted he'd like to go out to the site and let Bones sniff around, that the dog would need a chance to burn off excess energy after being kenneled while on the flight.

There was definitely a lot of interest in Marc's search, though nothing had officially been made public. He was overwhelmingly grateful that Ted was up there handling the details, though Theo had been noticeably grumpy when Marc called him this morning. He wasn't very happy that his roommate was gone.

Marc had told him to feel free to close up shop at the office, bring his laptop, and come to the wine country, that he could stay in the tasting room apartment with Ted if they'd reached a point in their relationship where sharing a bed was okay. If not, and if that's what Ted preferred, Marc would arrange for rooms in town for one or both of them.

He had a feeling Theo might actually beat him there, and as long as he had his laptop, he could deal with any problems that might arise. Besides, Ben was staying in San Francisco to keep an eye on things, and he and Lola could handle almost anything that might need handling.

So that was Ted, Theo, Ben, and Lola, all accounted for. His mind was spinning. There was so much going on, and he didn't want to forget anything. Which reminded him ... "Jake, you and Kaz are going to keep tabs on the contractor, make sure they get your place the way you want it, right?"

"We're on it," Jake said. "The entire inside is free of striped wallpaper and that hideous pink paint. A huge improvement already. They're working right now-the cabinets are done and they're finishing up the kitchen floor today, putting in the new kitchen appliances tomorrow as soon as they're delivered. It's all supposed to be finished by Friday, so with any luck we'll be heading north and staying at the hotel in Healdsburg so we can make certain everything is good to go for the wedding, which, in case you've forgotten, is exactly two weeks away."

"Smarta.s.s." Marc flipped him off. "Like you'd let anyone forget?"

"We're not going anywhere until we shop for furniture." Kaz squeezed Jake's arm and Marc caught himself so he wouldn't laugh. She looked like a little kid in a candy shop. "This will be the first time I've ever gotten to buy furniture for my own place. It's so exciting. We've already picked out a bedroom set."

"Priorities, ya know." Jake's smile was all for Kaz.

"Mandy and I saved the kitchen table and chairs if you want those."

"Yes! I love that set. Like the new one, too, but that one has memories. Don't need to take anything else, though. I'm looking forward to shopping."

"That's good. Means I get to keep the bed here, right?" Ben slipped an arm around Lola.

Kaz rolled her eyes. "I think you've probably marked that one as Benjamin Lowell territory by now, so yes, it's all yours."

They were all laughing when Marc kissed Kaz on the cheek, hugged Lola, and grabbed Mandy. "We're outta here. We'll pick up something for dinner once we get there, but at least the traffic should mostly be headed in the opposite direction."

Their bags were already in the car, so Marc grabbed Mandy's arm and tugged her toward the door.

Ben stopped Marc with a hand on his shoulder. There was no sign of laughter at all in his dark gray eyes. "You call us, okay? Let us know the minute something turns up."

"I will."

Ben hugged him. Ben usually wasn't a hugger. Then Jake grabbed him in a tight hug. "We're all holding the good thought for you, man. Hang tight."

Marc nodded. He'd actually been holding on really well, putting the reason for this trip out of his mind. If he thought of all the s.h.i.t he had to do, it was a lot easier to deal with exactly why they were headed to Dry Creek Valley. "Thanks. All of you. Thank you."

Mandy took his hand and hurried him down the stairs. "Do you want me to drive?"

He thought about it for at least a second before handing over the key fob. "Thanks."

He waited until they were well away from the house before pulling out a handkerchief and wiping his eyes. "I was doing okay until those two hugged me."

Mandy reached across the console and stroked his thigh. "I thought that's what did it. They both love you very much. I think this is hurting Jake and Ben more than either of them expected. They have such a c.r.a.ppy relationship with their own mother, and you actually had a mom who loved you, but she was taken away from you. It's got to cause all sorts of convoluted feelings in those two."

"I hadn't thought of it from that angle, but you could be right." He leaned his head against the seat rest. "The really weird thing is, I have such mixed feelings about finding her. I realized that today. If we find her remains, I have to accept that she's really dead, that she's not going to come back. The thing is, over the years, as much as I hated her, I used to have fantasies of her showing up one day, telling me it was all a horrible mistake, that she loved me and wanted to spend time with me. Wanted to make up for all the years we'd lost."

He thought about those years-most of his life, in fact-when he'd believed she'd abandoned him, that money had meant more to her than the child who loved her. It hurt now, to know that was all a lie-one he'd believed without question. On the other hand, finding out what had really happened had allowed him to reclaim her love. Rationally, he'd accepted all along that she wasn't coming back, but he'd never expected to have this feeling, this overwhelming sense of his mother's love. Not ever.

"Sometimes I'd imagine telling her to get lost," he said. "I'd think of all the horrible things I could say when she came back, that I hated her and didn't need her." He'd never really meant it, but d.a.m.n, remembering that now made him feel like such a jerk. She'd been dead, buried on that lonely hillside, and he'd been thinking of her out living the high life, forgetting him entirely.

And hating her for it.

He turned and gazed at Mandy, the one true constant in his life. He'd never doubted her love, not since that night when they'd made love for the first time. "The thing is," he said, wishing things could be different, knowing they never would, "I never really hated her. I just missed her so d.a.m.ned much. I think I always will."

He was asleep before they got through San Rafael. Mandy wasn't the least bit surprised. He'd been restless almost every night over the past week, wandering from her room into his where she'd find him at his computer, working on a new program. She thought it was most likely busywork to keep his mind off the chaos that defined his life right now.

They'd had regular updates on his father, the fact he was still in that jail in Tijuana, though on the last update they'd learned that the Mexican government was moving forward with deportation proceedings against Steven Reed. Sonoma County was sending a deputy to the border to pick him up when he crossed-an official from Tijuana would hand him over. He'd walk across the bridge where he'd be met by a sheriff's deputy who would handcuff him and put him in the van that would bring him north. As far as Marc knew, it could happen at any time.