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“I can help,” he told her, stunning the hell out of her.
“You cook?” she questioned, coming to an abrupt halt on her way from the family room to the kitchen.
He rolled his eyes. “A man has to eat, doesn’t he?”
“I thought you’d have fancy pants cooks and housekeepers.”
“Oh, I do. But it doesn’t mean I can’t cook.”
When she looked at him, her suspicion obviously bleeding through, he grumbled, “My nanny insisted on it.”
Ah, that made sense.
She didn’t know his mother well, had only seen Elizabeth when Josh’s and Jamie’s families had gotten together. She’d quickly seen that Janice and Elizabeth were of the same ilk; distant mothers who preferred dumping their children in the care of nannies and paid staff to actually having a relationship with them.
The thought fired her up.
She refused to let Erin have that kind of upbringing.
When they made it into the kitchen, Josh whistled. “How did I not know you’d moved?”
She pulled a face. “Why would you care?”
He scowled. “Of course I care. Erin is Jamie’s kid. I’ll always keep an eye out on him. How do you think I know about the puppy?”
Deciding not to question that considering the man had agreed to her proposition, and was willing to go to extreme lengths to keep Erin with her, she murmured, “We moved in three weeks ago.” Though, how he did know about the puppy was weird.
“Why? Jamie said you loved the penthouse.”
At her snort, his scowl darkened. He looked back at the doorway that led to the family room, and, lowering his voice, whispered, “Another lie?”
“Another lie,” she repeated bluntly. “Jamie liked to keep tabs on me. One entrance and exit. Complete with a camera trained on it, twenty-four hours a day. Perfect for a possessive bully.”
It shouldn’t have pleased her, but his white face, blank with astonishment, had a twisted kind of satisfaction flowing through her. She’d told no one about the kind of brutality she’d endured at Jamie’s hands. And though purposely shocking him might have been cruel of her, seeing the astonishment bewildering a man whose reputation was renowned for cool collectedness… Well, it felt like retribution.
He licked his lips, slowly processing her words. She ignored him though. Deciding that, after her vindictive verbal maneuvering, the man needed a break.
Moving about her new kitchen with a contentedness that had been long in the making, she started to make dinner. She’d loathed the apartment where Jamie had insisted they live. Sure, it had been trendy. The heart of Tribeca could be considered nothing else, though she was from a small town, and though the city lights had made her happy at one point, after Erin’s birth she’d changed. Mostly because that was when Jamie had changed the most. He’d always been aggressive, and that had grown worse when she had the baby to look after.
The kitchen was the antithesis of the old one. There, glass and chrome and stainless steel had merged together into one minimalist nightmare. Here, it was more cozy than anything else.
She guessed it needed new cabinets and the like; it certainly needed new white goods. But it reminded her of home, the home she’d had when she was a little girl, the home she’d left after meeting Jamie.
Everything centered around the kitchen table. A large oak beast that seated six in matching chairs with spindly dowels at the back. An old-fashioned fanlight swirled desultory overhead. It might have seemed like an old fitting for a kitchen, but she was glad for it. She intended for the kitchen to be the center of this home. Envisaged a future where Erin did his homework in that spot.
The thought pleased her, and sporting a smile, she headed for the fridge and took out the fixings for the burgers she’d promised her son.
Because Josh had been quiet for so long, she decided to break the ice. “What is it about kids and McDonald’s?” she asked cheerfully. “Erin has never been, and he’s obsessed with them.” She held up the ground turkey patties and the sweet potatoes she had in her hand. “My compromise,” she told him, maintaining that cheerful tone.
He blinked at her, and with a gentle headshake, murmured, “He’s happy.”
That statement had her frowning. “Shouldn’t he be?”
“He lost his father recently, has moved from the only house he’s ever known…” He lifted a hand, rubbed his forehead. “I expected him to be–”
Understanding filled her. “Janice and Frank aren’t happy about it either. They noticed too,” she added when he stared at her blankly. “I kept it from him as best as I could. By the end, though, Erin was frightened. And I’m not sure what I could have done to change that. Jamie glowered. Used to shout a lot, even when he wasn’t railing at me. It used to unsettle Erin.” She shrugged. “There was nothing I could do.”
When he didn’t reply, she shrugged again and got on with dinner.
