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As the men handled the bigger items—the beds, couches, tables and chairs—Katie kept filling boxes from the few cupboards that she hadn’t already cleared out.
“I can’t believe how much junk you’ve got,” Trevor observed on one trip to the truck. “Can’t you get rid of half of it?”
“Didn’t have time for a garage sale.” She carried a kitchen chair to the loading area at the rear of the big truck. “Besides, I don’t like living as spartan as you.”
“Easier that way.”
Nathan laughed. He handed an end table to Jarrod who was standing inside the truck. “Yeah. Trevor thinks that a person can get by with a bedroll, a mess kit and a television.”
“Don’t need much more,” Trevor said, his hawkish features identical to his brother’s. The difference in the twins was in their temperament. Nathan was steadier and levelheaded while Trevor was the hothead, always ready for a fight.
They finished loading, and the house was nearly empty. Jarrod, Nathan and Josh rode over to the new place in the truck while Katie, with Trevor in the passenger seat and Blue in the back, followed in the Jeep.
“This is gonna be weird,” Josh said, once they’d parked and everyone began unloading the furniture. Josh commandeered Stephen
’s old room while Katie set up her home office in Christina’s bedroom.
Josh was right; it felt strange to see her bed and bureau in Tiffany’s old room and stranger still to look out the window at the carriage house where Luke Gates lived. As she instructed her brothers on the placement of chairs, tables and lamps in the parlor, she noticed the ashes in the grate, testament to her afternoon of lovemaking with Luke. Their two empty wineglasses stood next to the once-full bottle of Merlot on the hearth.
Images of making love with Luke, of his corded muscles gleaming in the firelight, shot through her mind.
“Looks like someone had themselves a private party,” Trevor observed as he and Nathan carried in a bookcase.
“That it does.” Quickly Katie reached down, picked up the goblets and bottle, and hoped the back of her neck didn’t look as warm as it felt.
Trevor didn’t let up. “I wonder who—”
“Hey, pay attention!” Nathan, who was holding one end of the bookcase, wasn’t in the mood for conjecture.
“Just put it there, to the side of the window,” Katie said, and silently counted her lucky stars that the conversation was dropped. She carried the evidence of her evening with Luke into the kitchen and hoped Trevor’s curiosity was sated. She didn’t want to think about Luke and what had happened between them. Not now. Nor did she want to explain it to anyone. Especially her half brothers.
She had too much to do.
An installer from the phone company came and hooked up the telephone and fax line while she was organizing the kitchen. In the midst of the pure chaos of wadded newspapers on the counters and floors, dishes in every available space and cupboards half filled, the easygoing man worked on the outlets, kept up a steady stream of conversation about his grandchildren and managed to install three phones.
Once they were installed, she found her courage along with Ralph Sorenson’s phone number, and she dialed. One ring, two, three and so on. No answer. No answering machine. She hung up disappointed, but told herself she’d try again.
A few minutes later Tiffany and J.D. came over, and they, along with Katie’s half brothers, finished putting things in order. Christina was confused but contented herself in chasing a nervous Blue through the house, and Stephen and Josh holed up in Josh’s new room. Though Stephen was three years older and in high school, he didn’t seem to mind hanging out with his younger half cousin when they weren’t in school.
“It looks different,” Tiffany said as she eyed the parlor and foyer. “And yet the same.”
“It’ll take some getting used to.”
“For all of us.” Tiffany showed Katie a file she’d left in the front-hall closet. Inside was information on the house, rental agreements, application forms and extra sets of keys. “I’ll get you started and show you how this works,” she said, “but it’s not all that tough once you get the hang of it, and you can always call me.
“Hey, now that the phones are hooked up, how about ordering pizza?” Trevor called down from the second floor.
Katie grinned. “You think you deserve to be fed?”
“At least. It wouldn’t hurt if you stocked the refrigerator with some beer, too.”
“Okay, okay. You guys are in charge of the kids. Come on, Tiffany, let’s run down to Papa Luigi’s and figure out what we need for this crowd.”
“Pepperoni!” Josh yelled.
“With double cheese,” Jarrod added.
“Naw, get the all-meat special.” Trevor was reaching for his wallet. “An extra large and—”
