Read Online Entangled by Barbara Ellen Brink - Free Book Online Page B

failed miserably.
    “Is Kent your significant other?” he asked,
taking a seat at the table without being invited. It seemed to be
his way.
    “No.” I turned back to the sink and took my
time filling the carafe. My hands shook slightly and I took a deep
steadying breath. “He’s not significant or mine. Just another man I
have no time for.”
    He tapped his fingers lightly on the table
and cleared his throat. “Look — I’m sorry about the conversation
in the car, busting into your house, everything. Can we start
over?” he asked.
    I finished my coffee preparations before
turning to face him, crossed my arms and leaned against the
counter. “Start over? Start over the morning or start over from the
moment I laid eyes on you?”
    “Whatever works best.”
    I shook my head, trying to keep a straight
face, but a smile broke through. “You’re a piece of work, aren’t
you? I think I’d have to go back to the moment I first laid eyes on
you. Nothing less will do.”
    “Okay, but its going to be hard to squeeze
myself back into that tire swing.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    He stood up, and turned slowly in a full
circle until he faced me again, as though modeling his khakis and
red polo shirt on a runway in Paris. “Don’t you recognize me? We
met the first time you visited Fredrickson Vineyard, twenty years
ago. You called me Handy.” He held his arm out at chest level. “I
was about this tall, skinny as a grape vine, and in love the moment
I laid eyes on you.”
    I bit my lip, ignoring that last bit because
I didn’t know how to process it. He’d told Mother and I that he
worked here back then, but for some reason I hadn’t put two and two
together until now. I stared at him hard enough to see through the
man he’d become to the boy I knew so long ago. I caught a glimpse
of shaggy blonde hair, a pair of cutoff overalls and bare feet, and
gasped. I nodded. “I do remember you. I called you Handy because
you were always fetching things.”
    “That’s right.” Handel moved toward me,
stopping within arms length, and smiled. “I’m also handy in other
areas. All you have to do is ask.”
    I straightened up from the counter. “Such
as?”
    His mouth curved up on the left side.
“Finding locks for keys to open.”
    “That’s what I thought.” I moved around him
to the coffee pot and poured myself a cup, automatically filling
one for him too. “Here,” I said, thrusting it toward him, and took
mine to the table.
    “Gee, thanks.” He followed and sat across
from me, cradling his cup between his palms.
    I dug through my purse until I found the
little tin of aspirin at the bottom. Took three and swallowed them
with a sip of coffee. I didn’t know if aspirin worked well with
caffeine, but I figured if one thing didn’t do the trick maybe the
other would. He didn’t comment, just watched me patiently, one
finger following the rim of his cup around and around.
    “Are you saying you know what my key unlocks
or are you just grasping at straws, hoping to be included in the
treasure hunt?” I finally asked.
    He sipped his coffee, watching me closely
over the rim of his cup. His hands were tan and lean, like the rest
of him, showing two sides of his personality. The thin white scar
across the top of his thumb pointed to the dare devil boy he once
was, but the professional manicure spoke of how far he’d come since
those days. A criminal lawyer has to think a bit like a criminal to
get his clients off the hook. Handy knew where the dead bodies were
buried and Handel would have them dug up.
    He shrugged and tilted so far back on the
rickety chair legs I half expected him to go down. “I always liked
a mystery. Besides, now that you’ve decided to stay, I thought
maybe we could renew our friendship.”
    I laughed, finally able to see past the
veneer of uptight lawyer to the holy terror I vaguely remembered.
“You know, my memory of those weeks is truly obscure. In fact,
you’re only a shadow