Betrayal - Fern Michaels [106]
Maybe she would tell Coleman after all. He was her friend, and that was what a friend was for. A shoulder to lean on.
Exactly twenty minutes later she parked in Coleman’s drive. She was barely out of the car before he came running outside. He still wore the same clothes from last night.
“Coleman, you look like hell!”
“Well, I’d like to say the same, but it would be a lie. Come in. I’ve got some hot tea that’s going to blow your mind.”
“That strong, huh?”
“Nope, it’s that good.” He took her hand in his as they entered the house.
“I’m sorry the way I bolted out of here. I . . . there’s something I’d like to talk about. I want to wait until I have a cup of that tea, though. And something to eat. You know, I don’t think I had anything to eat yesterday. No wonder my stomach feels as hollow as a cheap chocolate bunny.”
“A cheap chocolate bunny?”
“When I was a little girl my mother always gave me a chocolate bunny for Easter. It was solid, she would say, not one of those ‘hollow cheap chocolate bunnies.’”
“I see.”
He led her back to the kitchen. She would have loved to cut loose cooking there, and told him so.
“Then you’ll have to come over sometime and make dinner. I would love to watch a pro at work.”
Kate laughed. “Yeah, me too. I’m not a pro, I just enjoy cooking. I do love to bake.”
“I’ll make dinner sometime, and you can whip up some scrumptious dessert. How does that sound?”
“I would like that very much.”
“Here, taste this.” He poured her a cup of tea. Kate blew into the cup, then took a sip. And another. “This is very good. Now, you’ll have to tell me the secret.”
“I will. Someday. Right now I want you to talk to me. I want to know where you’ve been all these years.” He paused, then took her hand again. “I’ve missed you, Kate.”
She had missed him, too. She just hadn’t realized it. “I missed you, too. It’s funny. We’ve been apart all these years, and I feel like you’ve been around forever. Kinda like an old shoe.”
He laughed. “Kate, you amaze me. An old shoe, huh?”
“Oh, Coleman, you know I didn’t mean it that way. Just comfortable, I guess. Even though most of our time together has been stressful, Alex’s case and all, I always felt better about things after we would talk. Is that silly?”
“Not at all. I used to think . . . never mind. It doesn’t matter. Let’s focus on the future. Now, there was something you wanted to tell me.”
“You have to feed me first. Remember the bunny.”
“I just happened to have a decent chilled crab salad waiting in the fridge. With homemade croissants just waiting to be slathered with butter.”
“And I thought you didn’t bake,” Kate quipped.
“I don’t, but the Publix bakery makes a decent croissant. Of course, anytime you want to make your own and use me as a taste tester, I’m all yours.”
Kate smiled, recalling all the times she’d used Alex for the same thing. “I’ll consider that.”
They both ate seated at the center island in the kitchen. The crab salad was excellent. “Maybe sometime we could share recipes,” Kate teased.
Coleman jumped out of his chair, opened a kitchen drawer, and pulled out a stack of spiral notebooks. “I’ve been writing them down for years. Take them if you like. When I retire, I’m going to put all of my recipes on my computer. Then I can e-mail them across the world.”
Kate thumbed through the notebooks. “Wow, I am impressed. You’re actually organized, too.”
“It’s the only way I could ever find anything, though I have to admit, Suzanne suggested the system.”
“Smart woman,” Kate said. She took another croissant and bit into it. “Decent.” She finished her salad, another croissant, and tea. Coleman waited patiently.
“So, what is it you want to tell me?”
Kate pulled away from the island. She stood up and stretched. “Let’s go sit beside the pool, do you mind?”
“Best place in the house. Come on, I’ll bring the teapot.”
After they settled