After swimming ten laps, he paused in the middle of the pool, letting the water lap up to his chest. He saw Valerie sitting in the chair and drinking from the water he’d left out. She had a towel draped over her shoulders. When she saw him looking at her, she lifted her face to the sun and smiled. “I can’t wait for summer,” she exclaimed. “When it’s hot all the time and not alternating with cold.”
He floated to the edge of the pool and crossed his arms on the edge, letting his body float. “It’s the most wonderful time of the year.”
She screwed the cap into place and set the bottle on the table. “What are your plans this summer?”
“Ken and I close on a townhouse complex next month. It has thirty-nine units plus an office. I think that will tie us up quite well.”
Valerie raised a perfectly manicured eyebrow. “Your mom told me you do that regularly. But, don’t you guys usually do that in the fall? Hole away all winter with it?”
He thought about the buildings. “Usually. But this one is going to take a lot of exterior renovation. They look like they were built with a low budget in 1975. Seriously. I don’t know why Ken doesn’t just plan to bulldoze them to the ground and start fresh. I think he must be bored with simple interior renovations.”
Her laughter filled the room. “I’d be curious to see what your definition of 1975 low budget means.”
He couldn’t help but grin in reply. “I’ll be sure to show you as soon as we close.”
“Do they have people living there?”
Bracing his hands on the side of the pool, he pushed himself out of the water. As he reached for a towel, he said, “No. They’ve been vacant for a couple of months. We got a really good deal on them. If we can renovate without bulldozing, we should make a good profit.” Wrapping the towel around his waist, he reached for a water bottle and sat across from her. “We’ll know more when we dig into them next week. Ought to be interesting.”
“You got your dad’s mind for things like that, that’s for sure.” Valerie stood and the towel slipped off her shoulders. Brad liked the hot pink swimsuit. The color flattered her skin tone. He didn’t know where else his mind would have gone because as she turned around, he saw the scars along her exposed back and shoulders. As she took a step, he saw the scar on the side of her thigh running up to her hip.
Intellectually, he’d known what happened to Valerie. He’d seen her with a cane and noticed her limp. When Tyrone threw her off a balcony and she crashed onto a glass table, the desire to physically hurt the man had overwhelmed him. If he’d gone to Savannah with his mother and had come across him, Brad might be the one in prison right now instead of Tyrone. He didn’t visit her, didn’t seek to experience sitting next to her while she lay bruised and broken in a hospital bed because he didn’t think he had the self-control to keep from reacting.
But, honestly, four years had passed. How could he possibly still harbor so much venom for a man who had spent the last four years in prison?
Because, witnessing these scars, seeing the remnants of the pain another man had inflicted on someone he had loved since childhood, suddenly his hands fisted, and he found himself clenching his jaw so tightly it started to ache. He could find no rational thought as a roaring started in his ears and fury took hold of his mind. The edges of his vision started to turn red and he gradually stood.
The slamming of the pool house door pulled him out of his rage. It startled him and he looked up, seeing Jon come strolling in. Slowly, the roaring faded, the red haze retreated, and his hands gradually relaxed from fists.
As he came aware, he caught the end of Valerie’s sentence. “…and this estate is like an architectural marvel because he had so many amazing influences and talented colleagues. Don’t you think?”
Brad took a deep breath, but the warm, humid air did not do anything to help him. Instead, he grabbed his shirt and slipped his feet into his slides. “Got to go take care of some things. See you at work tomorrow.”
He almost reached the door when he heard Jon ask, “What happened? He looked furious.”
Valerie’s voice reached him as he put a hand on the door. “I don’t think anything happened. Maybe something at work—”
The door shut on her words. Instead of going to the big house, Brad slipped the shirt on and walked along the path until he reached the end of the garden. He crossed the moat, passed by the gazebo, and kept walking. A dozen yards later, he entered his dad’s fruit tree grove and passed by the little cottage where Buddy and Valerie had lived. He stopped beyond the cottage, at the black iron fence that backed up to the woods. There, he gripped the fence with both hands and shook it, pulled it, tried to rip it open, until his arms ached and his fingers hurt. His throat burned with the need to scream out loud and sweat mixed with tears ran down his face.
Finally in control, he pulled the towel from around his waist and used it to wipe his face, then put it around his neck. Slower, exhausted, feeling slightly weak, he walked back to the big house. When he glanced into the pool house, he saw Valerie and his mom sitting at a table with a deck of cards between them and Jon diving off the diving board. Not wanting to talk to anyone, he moved quickly past and went into the house.
Valerie walked into Sami’s officeand said, “Good morning.”
Sami’s fingers hit the save button on her computer as she looked up. “Hi there. How has your morning gone?”
“Quiet for a Monday,” she said, then gestured at the closed door behind Sami. “Is Brad free?”
“Sure. Go on in.”
Valerie tilted her head and looked at her. “Just go on in? You don’t need to let him know or anything?”
“Not for you.” Her phone started to ring, so she put a hand on it and said, “You, his mom, his dad, his brothers, y’all are on the, ‘If I’m not in a meeting, send them in,’ list.” She held up a finger and lifted the receiver. “Brad Dixon’s office, please hold.” After hitting the hold button, she shrugged. “So, go on in. He’s available for you.”
Leaving Sami engaged in her phone call, she put her hand on the handle of the door and paused just for a moment before walking in. As the door opened, Brad looked up from his computer. His face immediately relaxed into a smile that made her heart skip a beat. “Good morning,” he said, standing and walking around the desk. “What a surprise.”
“Good morning.” He gestured at his sitting area, so she perched on the edge of the couch as he took the chair across from her. “I just wanted to make sure I didn’t offend you in some way yesterday. You were relaxed and chatty, and suddenly angry and gone.”
He stared at her for several seconds before replying. “Something occurred to me. I had to go sort it out.”
