Kara Lennox - Reluctant Partners

“I’ve still got mine.” The thing was in tatters, he’d used it so much. Not that he could see all that much from the roof of the apartment building where he’d grown up in Manhattan. The stars were a lot more visible here in Port Clara, away from air and light pollution.

“You like stargazing?” she asked cautiously.

“I did when I was younger,” he answered just as cautiously. “I majored in astronomy my first semester in college, but my father convinced me it wasn’t that practical so I switched to prelaw.”

“That’s sad.”

“It is?”

“If astronomy was your passion, you should have been encouraged to pursue it. Like me and fishing,” she added pointedly.

He shrugged. “I had lots of passions-don’t most kids? I don’t regret going into law. It was a good, solid career and it provided a comfortable income for a lot of years.”

“That sounds like your father talking to me.”

Cooper hated that she was right.

“Do you know enough about the night sky to be our resident expert?” she asked. “If you’ve been advertising a stargazer cruise, people are going to want a knowledgeable guide.”

“With a little bit of study, sure.”

A yelp caused them both to turn toward the doorway, where Sara stood looking horrified. “I just vacuumed that carpet an hour ago, and guests are due to arrive any minute.”

“We’ll clean it up,” Allie said hastily as she dropped to her knees and scooped up the debris, stuffing it into the now-empty box.

Cooper knelt down beside her to help. “Sorry, Sara.”

Their hands brushed as they both reached for the same pile of peanuts, and they both pulled back self-consciously.

“Hey, Cooper,” Allie said.

“Yes?”

“Can we try the telescope out tonight? Miss Greer’s patio has a pretty good view of the sky.”

Cooper’s chest ached looking at her face, flushed and excited, reminding him of the way she’d looked when they’d made love.

“Sure. We can make a party of it, and I can try out my tour-guide-to-the-galaxy skills.” He wasn’t sure why Allie was acting more friendly, but he wanted to encourage it. Not that he dared take it any further than friends; they’d already proved that romance and business formed a volatile mixture. But he didn’t want her as an enemy.

His cell phone rang, breaking the spell that had briefly descended over them. He broke eye contact with Allie and went to answer it.

At almost the same moment, Allie’s phone, lying next to his, sang out that she had a call. With a mutual shrug, they picked up at the same time.

“Cooper Remington.”

“Remington Charters, Allie Bateman.”

“This is Agnes Simms,” a woman’s voice spoke into Cooper’s ear, “Clerk of District Court 3. You requested that we schedule your hearing as soon as possible, and we’ve had an unexpected opening in Judge Isaacs’s schedule on Friday at two p.m. Will that work?”

Cooper’s heart lurched. In New York it took weeks, sometimes months, to get anything scheduled in court. He’d had no idea matters could move so swiftly. Still, he saw no real reason to delay.

“Yes,” he said, his voice only slightly ragged. “That works for me.”

As he disconnected, Allie concluded her call and looked up at him. The look in her eyes startled him-part fear, part resignation, and a little bit of sadness.

“You agreed to Friday?” she asked.

He nodded. “But if you need more time-”

“No. It’s a simple enough case. Let’s just get it over with. The uncertainty is killing me.”

AFTER HER DUTIES WERE FINISHED for the day, Allie walked down to the marina for an early dinner of fish and chips. She sat on a bench on the short boardwalk and stared out at the ocean. Usually the sight of the waves, ceaselessly chasing each other and washing up on the beach with a roar, soothed her and allowed her to gather her thoughts.

But today, nothing was going to soothe her.

Part of Allie wished she’d dragged her legal problem out another couple of weeks, just to see where this thing with Cooper could go. When they’d been unpacking the telescope, she’d almost forgotten the rift between them as she’d envisioned those stargazing cruises.

In her mind’s eye the tableau had unfolded: their guests reclining on deck chairs, maybe bundled up in sweaters if it was a cool evening, kids busily studying their star charts and peering into the sky, Cooper showing them how to use the telescope and finding planets and nebulas for them to look at, excited exclamations as they recognized constellations and planets or looked at the moon’s craters for the first time.

But with the judge’s decision coming on Friday, she and Cooper wouldn’t be doing the cruises together. If Cooper lost, he would take his telescopes with him. She could probably get Sara to help her do the evening charter, but it wouldn’t be the same.

And if she lost…Oh, God, she didn’t want to think about it. She hadn’t even let herself consider the possibility of actually losing everything she’d built up over the past ten years.

A battered old seagull landed on a post, eyeing her lunch with interest. Normally she didn’t feed the gulls: if you did, they just became worse pests than they already were. But something about this scarred veteran, who’d obviously survived many a storm and maybe a predator or two, tugged at her heart, and she tossed him her last two French fries.

“Maybe that’s a farewell gift,” she said before he flew away, instinctively knowing she had nothing else to offer.

LATER THAT NIGHT, COOPER set up his new telescope on the patio and everyone wanted to check it out. Even Miss Greer, who’d been spending a lot of time in her private sitting room due to an arthritic hip bothering her, came out to see what all the chatter was about.

Cooper had invited all of the B and B’s guests to join in, which included his cousins, Sara, and a fifty-something pharmaceutical saleswoman from San Antonio named Martie. Sara made up a batch of sangria, which transformed their gathering into a true party.

Not that Allie was in much of a partying mood. She sat off to the side, sipping the potent punch and watching as Cooper reacquainted himself with the night sky, consulting some books he’d checked out of the library.

He was a bit subdued as well, she noticed. But she could tell he really did enjoy astronomy and knew more about it than the average joe. In fact, he had a lot of interests she wouldn’t expect a lawyer to have. Once when she’d gone for a walk on the beach at dawn, she’d seen him there, too, not running to get his morning exercise but strolling at a leisurely pace, pausing often to look out at the sea, and picking up the occasional seashell or bit of ocean glass.

She had to admit he was really nothing like what her first impressions had led her to believe.

Allie let herself envision, for one brief, dangerous moment, how different things would be if she’d accepted Cooper’s partnership offer, if she hadn’t been so suspicious and paranoid.

Sara came and sat next to her. “Hey, you okay? You’re awfully quiet. Is Cooper giving you trouble?”

Allie shook her head. “Actually, he’s been pretty decent given how I acted yesterday. But the hearing’s been set. Friday.”

“So soon?”

“It’s better to get it over with.”

“Yeah, but I was hoping if you two spent more time together, you’d realize you were meant for each other.”

Allie smiled. “Sara, you are such a dreamer.”

“But it’s true. Cooper’s been making cow eyes at you all night. I think he’s fallen in love with you, and who could blame him? Why don’t you just tell him you made a mistake?”

She’d considered it. “If I change my position so drastically, he’ll assume it’s because I’m about to lose my business.”