Читать книгу Balancing Act - Laura Browning - Страница 5

Chapter 2

Tessa pushed thoughts of Seth from her mind as soon as she arrived at her neighbor’s apartment to pick up Zach. His freckled face split into a huge grin when he saw her and he leaped up from the video game he played. She laughed and hugged him. He was the joy in her life and had been ever since his birth. Their parents’ deaths had served to draw them even closer.

“Tessa! I got to the third level of Space Zombies.”

“That’s great, Zach.” Tessa grinned back at him.

Reading might be a problem, but he was a real whiz when it came to math or anything resembling computers. They had bought this latest video game just yesterday. If she allowed it, he would play all the time, but Tessa tried to make sure they spent time doing other things when they were together.

She read to him and took him out in the country as much as possible.

“Why are you home so early? Was your boss as bad as everyone told you and you quit?”

“No. He told me I could leave. You know what that means?”

Zach’s eyes widened. “We’re going to the beach today?” At her nod, he tossed down his game remote and danced around the room. “Yes! It’s almost like getting a whole ‘nother day.”

Zach talked almost non-stop as they packed their camping gear, fishing poles and plenty of snacks. Tessa knew he got bored over the summer. As much as he disliked school, it still offered a change of scenery from the neighbor’s apartment.

“Do you think we can catch any sharks?”

“Sharks!” Tessa laughed. “Who’s going to take them off the hooks?”

“I can,” Zach reassured her with an air of importance. “Remember, I did last year.”

Tessa smiled. They had caught some baby sharks that Zach insisted on taking off the hooks. Tessa had let him. It made him feel like the man of the family to have his hands on a shark, even one a foot and a half long. They’d marveled at the sandpapery feel of the little sharks’ skins. Tessa much preferred it to handling a slippery fish. She wasn’t keen on fishing, but Zach enjoyed it, so she indulged him as much as she could.

As they neared the campground at the shore late in the afternoon, Zach drifted off to sleep. Tessa glanced at him and smiled. His hair was as red as hers, but his eyes were dark blue, and he’d gotten the freckles that somehow missed her creamy skin. She knew he took ribbing about his looks. What redhead hadn’t? Add in the freckles and it just made it worse. He’d also inherited a double dose of intelligence, and a severe reading disability that made life at school miserable. Her mother and stepfather had worked with him and had him tested. Things had been getting better until last year when the call came about their parents.

Tessa had broken the news to Zach. He had been quiet to start, but then the problems began at school. Tessa worked with the counselors and a psychologist. She took the first job she could find in her field to be near him. The job was part-time and kept her away many evenings. That was when the trouble with Aunt Kathleen and Uncle Edwin had first started. They claimed she shuffled Zach from one sitter to another and was too young and irresponsible to have custody. Tessa feared their grumbling would soon evolve into more than idle threats.

It wasn’t her brother they wanted, just the trust fund that came with him, so she couldn’t afford to give them any fuel. They would crush Zach. He didn’t need more humiliation. He needed to have the talents he possessed nurtured. They would never understand the way his mind worked. Tessa could because hers worked much the same way, so she understood how important it was to get him away from everything now and then.

Zach fished all evening from the pier. Tessa helped bait hooks in between watching other people and, she had to admit, thinking about her new boss.

She had seen many of Seth’s moods during this first week, most of them unpleasant, but today something had rattled him. Whatever was in that envelope she had given him wasn’t good. She checked off what she knew. One of his sisters lived in North Carolina–she’d seen the address in the computer file. Preston. No. Anna was what it had said. Dr. Anna Barlow, without the Barrett attached. Something in that envelope must have involved her. It had shaken Seth. While he often growled orders and paced around like a caged animal, she’d never seen that look of angry frustration.

Tessa didn’t like unsolved puzzles. Her mind went back to the package. The size, the weight. A plain manila envelope with Seth’s name typed on the outside. A CD or DVD? And if so, of what? Something involving Anna. What else did she know from the computer contact information? There was a child, she remembered. A baby.

“Tessa!” Zach interrupted her thoughts. “I’ve caught something. Come help.”

She jumped up and coached him through landing the fish he had on the line–a bluefish that put up a good fight. Not huge as fish went, but he worked the line enough it turned Zach into one happy ten-year-old. That was enough for Tessa.

By the time they headed home Sunday afternoon, they were both tired. Zach pulled out his Gameboy and played it, more out of habit than actual interest.

They were about halfway home when he looked up, game forgotten for the moment.

“Will I have to go live with Aunt Kathleen and Uncle Edwin?”

Tessa was used to the questions that often seemed to come out of nowhere. She glanced over at him, then turned back to the road. What on earth had started him worrying about that? Sometimes she wondered at the depths at which his brain was always working. It bothered her that a ten-year-old should even have to consider where he might be forced to live.

“No,” she said with more confidence than she felt. “You’ll stay with me. That’s what you want, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. Aunt Kathleen smells like that porta-potty perfume, and Uncle Edwin smokes cigars. Yuck.”

Tessa laughed. Zach had a way of making her look at things on the most basic level. She reached over and ruffled his hair, and he grinned back at her. They were covered in salt spray, flushed from the sun, and Tessa was happier than she’d been in a long time.

Those feelings of peace and contentment lingered as she ran up the stairs Monday morning. She slipped her heels back on before she left the stairwell and smoothed the skirt and jacket of her business suit. In a matter of minutes, she carried a steaming mug of coffee to Seth.

He sat at his desk, an ever-growing pile of snapped-in-half pencils lying in front of him. When she set the cup down, he grunted. As she started to remove the pile of broken pencils, he snapped, “Leave them. Leave me. I don’t want to be disturbed.”

Tessa, unruffled, turned on her heel to go.

“Will there be anything else this morning, sir?” From the relative safety of the doorway, she figured he wouldn’t dare throw anything at her–not that he had, but she’d heard rumors of such things happening to some of her predecessors.

Seth glanced at her from under thick blond brows drawn together in a forbidding frown. “No. As I said, I don’t want to be disturbed.”

Whatever had so upset him Friday afternoon must still be an issue, even after the visit to North Carolina. Tessa went to work on several reports in the works. There was another trip to arrange for Seth later that week. Since his brother, Brandon, wasn’t expected back until the end of the week, she would have to book a commercial flight. She scribbled the number for his travel account down on the back of an envelope as she began to work on the trip, but was prevented from doing anything else when the elevator doors opened and an athletically built man with wheaten hair and gray eyes stepped off. He was dressed in a navy sport coat and tie, not in the formal, conservative suits Seth preferred.

“I’d like to see Barrett,” the man said. “Please tell him it’s Chris Stevenson. He’ll want to see me. It’s about his sister Anna.”

Tessa invited him to take a seat as she stalled for time. Then she punched the intercom button.

“Mr. Barrett?”

“What?” he snapped back. “I thought I told you I was not to be disturbed this morning.”

Tessa grimaced. A gut-feeling told her this visit was tied to that package. She pushed open the door and stepped into Seth’s office.

“What the hell is it, Teresa?”

“Tessa,” she corrected him, knowing he was provoking her on purpose. “It’s Tessa, sir.”

“Whatever.”

“I think you will wish to see this visitor,” she added.

“Someone gave you permission to think?” Seth goaded her. She knew it, but she wasn’t rising to the bait. One temperamental person on this floor was enough. Instead, she glared right back at him.

“His name is Chris Stevenson. He said he wished to see you about Anna.”

Seth stood up. He towered over her, but she didn’t give ground.

“Why the hell didn’t you say so?”

“Because you didn’t give me a chance?” she suggested.

Seth frowned. She frowned back.

“Show him in.”

She smiled as sweetly as she could. “Right away, Mr. Barrett. Shall I bring you both coffee?”

“No, but you might want the first aid kit handy.”

Tessa did pause then, casting a questioning look at him. He was serious. Okay, maybe his temper was as bad as rumor had it.

She glanced back at Chris Stevenson and said, “Mr. Barrett will see you now.”

With a silent blessing on the man’s continued good health, she held the door for him and then shut it as he walked into the office. Even from outside, she heard Seth. His words left her in no doubt both what it was about and that finding the first aid kit was a necessity. She also located an ice pack to be on the safe side. God knew, she had gained experience dealing with fights while she worked with juveniles. And this seemed to be a very similar occasion.

She had gathered all the supplies when Seth’s voice came over the intercom.

“Tessa?” He added emphasis on her name. “Please bring two cups of coffee and a bag of ice. Oh, you better bring the first aid kit too.”

“Yes, sir.”

Tessa refused to show any surprise at all upon seeing the bloody handkerchief Stevenson held to his nose. She handed him an ice pack, keeping her expression the same as if she had been giving him a letter to sign.

Seth almost smiled. “Thanks, Tessa. That will be all.”

“Yes, sir, Mr. Barrett.”

Tessa returned to her desk and shoved her personal mail back into her oversize purse before she returned to what she was working on. Arrangements for the trip for Seth. She looked up the account number again and soon had everything booked. He would take the corporate jet later that week instead of a commercial flight, so all she needed to manage were rental cars and the hotel suite.

Chris Stevenson left a short while later, the ice pack still on his nose. Tessa watched him with curiosity until he disappeared in the elevator.

“Tessa!” Seth barked over the intercom. She started. “Get in here. Bring the laptop.”

Seth worked like a demon until lunch. Whatever had distracted him was now forgotten.

“Check my calendar.”

Tessa replied without needing to think. “You have a one o’clock appointment with Barrett senior and a supplier is coming in to make a pitch at three.”

He stared at her, narrow-eyed, but Tessa just returned his look with a bland expression.

“I don’t even want to know how you do that. It’s a little scary.” He stared out the window for a moment. “Cancel the supplier. Damn. I don’t suppose there’s any way you can make that one o’clock with my father disappear.”

She tilted her head and gave him a steady look. “I can, if you’re serious.” At his nod, she asked, “May I use your computer, sir?”

Seth stood up and moved from behind the desk. “Help yourself.”

Tessa sat down and logged into the company system. She moved through several different screens, alternating between typing and clicking the mouse until his father’s calendar popped up. A minute later Tessa sat back.

“There. The one o’clock is rescheduled for Wednesday and it will look like his secretary entered it that way last week. Is that okay?”

Seth arched an eyebrow at her. “Something you learned at Smith?”

“High school.”

“Hmm. I suppose you were a straight-A student.”

Tessa slanted a sideways glance at him as she stood up and started to move past him. “Yes. Legitimate A’s.”

Seth locked up his desk and closed his briefcase. “I’ll be gone the rest of the afternoon. If you’d like to take the day off, you may.”

Tessa smiled. “Thank you, Mr. Barrett, but I believe I’ll get those reports finished for you before your trip.”

“Yes, right.”

Seth was in a better frame of mind the rest of the week. He left Thursday morning for Chicago and Minneapolis and wasn’t scheduled to be back in the office until Monday morning. So Tessa at last had a chance to become acquainted with her workspace. She learned her way around the filing system and reorganized it. The revolving door of secretaries had left things in a shambles.

She was tidying up her desk before going out to lunch when Brandon came out of his office down the hall. Instead of heading straight for the elevators, he strode toward her. Tessa glanced at him, finding him a less vibrant version of his brother. Though they were almost the same size, his eyes were hazel rather than the gold of Seth’s, and his hair was darker, as if his blond was attributable to the sun rather than heredity.

“I was going out to grab some lunch. Want to come with me?” His voice was pleasant, not the bark of his elder brother.

Tessa smiled. “I don’t think that would be a good idea, Mr. Barrett.”

His brows lifted. “Afraid of what others will think? Or afraid Mr. Cantankerous will bite your head off?”

Tessa arched a brow in return. “Neither. I just see no need to wave the red cape in front of any of the bulls in this building.”

Brandon grinned, then broke into a full-fledged laugh. “You are so exactly what my brother needs. Please don’t leave. Now, all kidding aside, I’m running down to the deli on the corner. Can I get you anything?”

“A chef salad would be great.” She started to reach for her purse.

“My treat. Call it a reward for putting up with Seth.” With a wave of his hand, he turned for the elevator. “Be right back.”

* * * *

By Friday, she was feeling much more secure in her office space. She had finished setting up workable systems and getting things organized when her personal line rang late in the day.

“Good afternoon. Tessa Edwards here.”

“Tessa. I’m glad I caught you.” It was her attorney. “The judge moved the custody hearing up. I at least got them to give me a time Monday afternoon. Can you make that?”

Tessa’s hand trembled. She had to catch her breath before she responded, “Yes. I’ll be there. What time?”

“One PM.”

Seth had rescheduled his supplier for that time and she knew he would want her in on the meeting, but this was more important. She would just have to convince Seth of that. After all, she didn’t have much choice, and she was not going to be the one making waves about the timing of the court date.

She arrived extra early Monday morning. Even so, he was already in the office. Sometimes Tessa wondered if he lived there. She knew he kept extra dress shirts and ties in his coat closet. She’d seen that one day over lunch when the dry cleaner showed up with laundered shirts to put there. She brought him a cup of coffee, but instead of leaving after setting it down like she did other mornings, Tessa stood in front of his desk.

Seth was working at his computer. He had a habit of hyper-concentrating like Zach. A bomb could go off around her brother when he was absorbed in something. Seth appeared to be no different. He grabbed the coffee, his mind still elsewhere, and that’s when he noticed her.

“What?” he barked. She’d already begun to realize some of his tone was sheer reaction to having his concentration broken.

Tessa kept tight control over her nervousness. She had yet to ask him for anything.

“I need to leave at lunchtime today.”

Seth regarded her out of hooded eyes. “You’re free to do as you please with your lunch hour.”

Tessa shifted. “I’m sorry. I expressed myself badly. I mean I will need to leave for the day.”

“You know I’ve got that one o’clock that I canceled last week, and I need you to take notes. It will have to wait.” A note of impatience threaded through his voice.

Tessa felt like a child being raked over the coals, but outside she was as cool and composed as ever.

“It’s a personal matter, sir. It came up without much warning. I have to go to court. It’s a custody hearing for my little brother.”

Seth leaned back in his chair and crossed one long, elegant leg over the other as he regarded her. “You currently have custody?”

“Yes.”

“Who wants him?”

Tessa raised one eyebrow at him, but somehow she knew she shouldn’t be surprised he asked such a personal question. If he wanted information, he wouldn’t let the fact he might be prying get in the way.

“Aunt Kathleen and Uncle Edwin,” she said. “Kathleen is my mother’s older sister.”

“What happened to your parents?”

Tessa avoided his gaze and looked out the window. “They were killed in a car accident a little over a year ago. I have custody, but no access until I’m twenty-five to the trust fund my stepfather left for Zach. You see, they didn’t expect it to be a problem.”

“But it is one.” His voice lost its inquisitorial tone and revealed only concern. The sudden change took her off-guard.

She nodded.

“Sit down, Tessa.”

She sat. Seth being nice threatened to dissolve her composure with far greater ease than his usual taciturn manner ever could have.

“Is it money?” he asked “Do you not have enough?”

Tessa shook her head. “I make more than enough to support Zach and me. I even make enough now I can send Zach to a school where he can get help with his learning disability.”

“Then what’s the issue?”

Tessa hesitated. She was still reluctant to air the family laundry. She started to tell him it was none of his business, but Seth being understanding was a lot harder to withstand. In fact, he was impossible to withstand.

“It’s Aunt Kathleen and Uncle Edwin. They don’t want Zach. They want access to his trust fund, which they would have if they had custody right now. I can only access it when I reach the age of twenty-five–or by getting married. Since my getting married isn’t a factor, they’ve been working to prove I can’t take care of Zach, trying to split us up before I come of age.”

Her voice broke at the end of the last sentence, the stress getting the best of her. She bit her bottom lip to stop it from trembling. As Seth continued to regard her, Tessa curled her fingers into fists.

“May I go?”

“To the hearing or away from me?” His voice was gravelly.

Tessa darted a glance at him, catching a soft expression on his face that was unexpected. Her nervousness left as fast as it had come. She smiled. “Both.”

Seth studied her. “Reschedule the supplier again. I’ll go with you.”

“There’s no need,” she began, but he ignored her.

“What time do we leave?”

Tessa sighed in resignation. “Noon.”

When Seth emerged from his office with his suit jacket on right before noon, Tessa was waiting on him. She followed him without thinking right to the elevator. As the doors opened and he entered, she darted a glance at the stairwell door.

“Well?” he prompted. “Let’s go.”

Tessa stepped in and over to the far side, away from Seth’s looming form. As the doors slid shut, her breathing tightened. This was a mistake. All she could do was stare at the doors as they hissed together. Although she knew it wasn’t logical, her heart beat faster in fear the doors wouldn’t open again. The elevator lurched into its descent, and Tessa fought back the roaring in her ears.

“Tessa? Are you all right?”

She clutched the polished wooden wall rail and nodded without looking at him. No way was she going to admit to this man she was petrified of any tight spaces. Mercifully the elevator was an express that went straight from Seth’s floor to the lobby below.

Seth took her elbow without a word and led her out to his black SUV. He helped her into the passenger seat before going around to the driver’s side. Tessa’s breathing eased and her heart quit racing.

* * * *

“Why did you get on the damn elevator if you’re claustrophobic?” Seth snapped as he keyed the ignition. Did he really intimidate everyone to the point they would fail to mention a fear on the level of a phobia? “All you had to do was say something. We could have taken the stairs.”

“I’m sorry,” Tessa said. “I didn’t think. It won’t happen again, Mr. Barrett.”

Seth raked one hand through his hair and pressed his lips together, biting back the need to tell her to stop being so damn polite. He’d seen her eyes flash a couple of times when he’d baited her, so he knew there was a temper tamped down in there somewhere beneath her ice queen exterior. He scowled at her. “Where are we going?”

“Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court in Alexandria.”

“I know it. What about your brother? Do we need to pick him up from somewhere?”

“My attorney’s bringing him,” she replied, already distracted, it would seem, by what lay ahead.

When they arrived at the courthouse, Seth steered Tessa away from the elevators and up the stairs. She had looked ready to pass out, and she didn’t need to go through that again right before going into court. He glanced at her as she climbed the steps. His office was on the ninth floor of a ten-story building. Did she tackle nine flights every day? It would account for her shapely legs and derriere, some of the first things he’d noticed about her aside from that hair. It burned with highlights so fiery he wondered sometimes if he would singe his fingers if he touched a lock.

When they reached the top of the stairs, a slender redheaded boy stared in their direction. Seth would have known the little boy was Tessa’s brother even if he hadn’t come sprinting down the hall toward her.

“Tessa!”

While the lawyer stood near the elevator doors, her brother knew her well enough–his eyes had been on the stairwell. The boy slowed down as he reached Tessa and threw his arms around her. She bent her head and pecked him on the cheek. Both had the same amazing red hair, but where Tessa’s skin was a creamy light tan, the boy had hundreds of freckles.

“Hey, Zach! Have you been good for Mr. Stanley?”

“Yes.”

Seth was taken aback again when Tessa smiled at her little brother. It lighted her expression with such beauty it was startling. Gone was the seriousness he was accustomed to. In its place her face softened and her eyes shone with warmth and love. She could make a man melt if she looked at one that way, he thought, an odd tightness in his chest.

The attorney motioned to them from the other end of the hall.

“Tessa,” Seth prompted. “I think your case is being called.”

As she looked down the hall, the cool mask she so often wore slipped back into place. Even though she appeared calm, he felt the tension in her as he cupped her elbow so they could hurry toward the courtroom.

One glance at the couple who must be Aunt Kathleen and Uncle Edwin showed Seth all he needed to know. He’d seen plenty of their kind over the years. They peppered the clubs and restaurants he’d frequented since he was a child. Kathleen and Edwin Price dripped designer clothes and expensive jewelry. If his suspicions were correct, they regarded Zach as a way to finance their lifestyle.

His gaze shifted to Tessa. Her long hair was slicked back into a French twist. The dark navy suit she wore was stylish but conservative. He knew from looking at her when she’d stood before his desk that morning, the only jewelry she wore were pearl studs and a thin gold chain.

Seth listened, along with the judge, to both sides. So far the attorneys had done all the talking. At last the judge turned to Tessa.

“This petition was brought while you were employed as a counselor and social worker for a juvenile services facility. I understand from documents filed by your attorney you have new employment. Would you please describe your job for the court?”

Tessa nodded and stood up. “I am executive assistant to Mr. Seth Barlow-Barrett, COO of Barrett Newspapers.”

The judge looked up, spotted Seth and gave an imperceptible nod. Seth’s face was impassive. They had attended the same military school years before and met a few times since then at one social event or another.

“How long have you held that position?”

Tessa’s chin rose. “Two weeks, your honor.”

“Not a very long employment history,” her aunt and uncle’s attorney interjected.

Tessa turned and looked the man up and down. “It is if you work for Seth Barrett. His last three assistants left within the first week.”

The judge coughed to cover his laughter and put a hand over his mouth. “Mr. Barrett,” he said at last, “is what Ms. Edwards says true?”

Seth arched one thick blond brow at Tessa’s back and drawled, “Yes, your honor. What Ms. Edwards says is indeed true, both about her employment and the length of employment of my previous assistants. I might also add she has proven herself to be a very valuable employee. She shows remarkable responsibility and maturity for her age.”

The judge nodded and turned his attention to Zach. He rose from his seat and said, “Why don’t you join me in chambers for a few minutes so we can talk man-to-man?”

Zach stepped forward and followed the judge into his office off the courtroom. Tessa turned to look at Seth where he lounged in the row right behind her. While her facial features remained serene, her eyes were a little wider than normal. It was enough to betray her anxiety.

“You’ll be fine,” Seth reassured her. “Trust me on this one.”

In a couple minutes, Zach and the judge returned to the courtroom. The boy had a sucker stuck in his cheek and a smile that seemed to go from ear to ear.

“I see no reason to separate this young man from his sister,” the judge said, staring at Tessa before turning his attention to her aunt and uncle. “She’s shown over the past year she’s putting the needs of her brother first and providing a nurturing home environment. Petition to grant custody to Kathleen and Edwin Price is denied.”

Tessa laughed and hugged her brother to her. As she closed her eyes next to the boy’s thick red hair, Seth saw one small tear trickle from the corner of her left eye. He swallowed. He understood how close the bond between brother and sister could be. He had often filled the role of protector for Anna. The sad part, he thought, was it was very often against their parents.

He caught Kathleen and Edwin Price glaring at Tessa and him. Seth arched a brow and stared at them. In a few seconds, they hurried from the courtroom.

“Why don’t I take you both out to a late lunch to celebrate?”

Zach nodded with enthusiasm, but Tessa shook her head. “You don’t need to do that, Mr. Barrett.”

“One thing you need to realize about me, Tessa, is I do nothing I don’t want to do.” A startled blue gaze flicked his way. He had shaken her composure. He smiled.