“I’m glad I always followed my mama’s orders never to leave the house without my good underwear on in case I was in an accident. From now on I’m only making good choices like that one,” Shelby sighed.
Athena tucked the blanket around her neck. “Sleep now. I promise you’ll feel better when you wake up.”
We’ve all been the same way. Acting out our inner secret desires.
She contained the dress in plastic, all the while feeling Drew watching her through the open ambulance door. Had he felt anything when they touched for the first time when totally not under the influence? It had been so long.
She’d been seventeen and truly believed the Fates sent her out to the Clayworth patio to comfort him because only she could help him.
The love of my life, and I was the only one who could protect and love him the way he deserved.
She closed her eyes, saw herself kneel before Drew, look up into his face, felt his arms sweep her up in an embrace that had taken her breath away.
She sucked in a deep gulp of air and opened her eyes.
Here they were, thrown together again by another embarrassing moment, and she couldn’t stop thinking about what might have been. She should be thinking about her sisters, and about her father at the small family compound in Palm Beach. She should be trying to understand what happened between the Clayworths and her father. She should be consumed by their search for the last two dresses.
She was consumed by her need to fix the past so she could move forward and honor her mother’s memory with the scholarship fund.
Clutching the dress to her chest, she allowed both Steve and Drew to help her out of the ambulance.
Steve jumped inside to be with Shelby, and, sirens wailing, the ambulance roared off to the emergency room at Northwestern Hospital.
For a second she thought Drew would follow and something terribly important would be out of her reach. Then he turned.
He sighed and flexed his shoulders. “Later today when Shelby is feeling better, Connor will talk to her about the dress actually being Clayworth property. We’re getting closer. I promise we’ll find the last two stolen gowns.”
No more mistakes. She knew what she needed to do. “When we do, will you keep your promise about allowing the museum to display them in our Founding Families Exhibit?”
His intent expression, searching her face, shook her resolve. Was he thinking about the promise she hadn’t kept? “If I can,” he finally uttered.
“Be at the museum at closing time tomorrow and I’ll show you why you should.”
She saw him stiffen as he studied her out of narrowed eyes. “Why?”
“I’m giving you a private tour of the existing exhibit. I want you to see why I need the dresses to expand it to what it should be.”
He hesitated for two thuds of her heart against her ribs before he nodded.
“Great! See you tomorrow.” She waved and swung away before he changed his mind.
At the museum, where she felt the most confident, she’d clear the air at last. Find some kind of closure with their past so she could stop thinking about what might have been and concentrate on what had to be done to keep her job and keep her promise to Makayla and her own family.
CHAPTER
Drew slowly climbed the curved staircase to the second floor of the Fashion Institute of Chicago.
He’d promised Connor he was immune to Athena. Impervious to old memories, old hurts. He’d meant it then. Now he wasn’t so sure.
He’d come tonight to see Athena. See if she looked happier, like she had when they went sailing. Like she had yesterday when they found the second dress and stored it safely away. He’d come to make sense of their past.
On the steps of the ambulance, had she felt his rush of desire when, her breasts crushed to his chest, he’d held her too tight and too long? If she hadn’t been wearing those damn glasses, he’d be able to see if it had affected her at all.
I won’t let her break my heart again.
He stopped, wondering why in the hell he’d think such nonsense. Hearts didn’t break. He knew about grief from personal experience. Knew losing a partner, parent, or child constituted the greatest stress the human psyche could ever suffer. He’d learned that, with time and help, people mended. Like he’d mended. Or he would finally mend, once he raced in the Fastnet for his parents.
At last the time had come. England. The Fastnet. His gut clenched with raw excitement. Only a few more details to work out. Decide among the different types of sea anchors to stop the boat’s bow dead into the waves and the proper equipment to slow the boat when running before the wind. He’d been scheduled to look at some new technology tonight.
Instead he’d come here, because Athena asked and the promise he’d made himself had changed.
He stopped, realizing that again Athena had kept him from doing what needed to be done.
He shook off the feeling at the top of the staircase and turned left toward her office. Before he could knock, the door swung open.
Athena, still wearing those damn glasses, stood smiling up at him. “Welcome, Drew. I’m delighted to have this opportunity to show you what your generous support will do for the museum.”
Her voice sounded different tonight. Determined. Curious, he peered past her, noticing picture frames scattered over a desk. The urge to get reacquainted, learn who she had become, got the best of him. “Let’s start with your office.” He strolled in, and she stepped back as if startled.
“Are you all right, Drew?” She shook her head, her light golden hair swinging against her neck. “No headache? No effects after being so close to Bertha’s gown yesterday at Shelby’s?”
He shrugged. “I’m good.” He paced around, trying to rid himself of a sudden rush of adrenaline. The pictures on her desk were of her sisters, parents, and two cats. Obviously, Drusilla and Junior. He strolled past another neat desk and a small, well-organized table of files in the corner. He knew Athena would love the charm of the marble fireplace and had probably chosen the large red sofa in front of it. The room looked like her. Carried her light floral scent with a hint of spice. “Nice, big light room. As a trustee, I’m happy to see the museum provides a healthy work environment.”
“Seen enough?” she asked, clearly confused.
Christ, I’m confused, too!
He needed more time. He looked around for an excuse to prolong this. “Hey, what’s this?” He strolled over and opened a heavy carved door with a brass doorknob. The closet held nothing but one long black dress and a sachet of her perfume, more intense and exotic in the smaller space. “Roomy closet. Pretty dress. Yours?”
She stepped in front of him and closed the door. “I’ve seen your closet. It’s much bigger than mine. Yes, thank you, it is my very special dress. My first vintage piece, which started my passion for all things old.”
Does she have a passion for old relationships? I sure as hell do.
The idea smacked him in the face. Knocked all the other nonsense out of his head. He knew he’d come here tonight for this. To close the door on the past.
Or did I come to open a new one?
The need grew stronger watching Athena move with an unconscious grace across the room. He felt reckless, and the desire to see where this might lead drove him to smile and take her arm when she purposefully walked out into the hall. He felt her tense, but she didn’t ask him to stop touching her. He didn’t want to stop. They weren’t teenagers any longer. He wasn’t her hero, fallen off his pedestal, and she wasn’t the perfect goddess he’d expected her to be.