A Time To Give. Kathryn Shay

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СКАЧАТЬ always said.

      Not me. I’m a brunette connoisseur.

      And he had been. Mallory had worn her black hair short, styled in a careless bob. She’d been rail thin, too, and most of the time she’d looked like she’d just walked out of Vogue. Hell, when had he begun to prefer strawberry-blondes with generous curves and freckles?

      He slipped into the building along with another couple and made his way to Trey’s unit. Punching the doorbell, he forced Emily out of his mind.

      Trey answered before he could ring again. “I don’t believe it. You haven’t been here in two years.”

      Ben jammed his hands into the pockets of his best jeans. “Hello to you, too.”

      “Hey, Ben.”

      “So, are you going to invite me in or not?”

      Trey moved aside.

      Ben stepped into the living room with its floor-to-ceiling windows and designer furniture. He remembered his own condo and how he’d worked with a decorator—at Mallory’s urging—to furnish it. “I forgot how nice this place was.”

      “Like yours was, buddy.” When Ben didn’t comment, Trey said, “Sit. Can I get you a beer—” He cut himself off. “Sorry.”

      “It’s okay.” Ben hadn’t touched a drop of alcohol in over eleven months. “I’ll take a soda.”

      Trey glanced to his own drink on the table in front of a large-screen TV.

      “Don’t even think about it.”

      “All right.”

      Trey got Ben his soda and took a chair facing him. “It’s a crime you’ve never visited me here just because you hit on hard times.”

      Ben took a swig of the soda. “It was a little more than hard times.”

      “It didn’t have to be. Your life as you knew it didn’t have to be over.”

      “Mallory didn’t agree with you.”

      “What did you expect from a snob like her?”

      “She had her good points.” And she had. Loyalty just wasn’t one of them. Of course, he hadn’t given her much choice when he’d drunk himself into the gutter and stayed there for months.

      Trey sipped his scotch. “So what brings you here?”

      “I delivered pups last night. Five of them.” He shook his head. “It reminded me of Harriet. I got thinking about my old life, I guess.”

      “No kidding? Where was this?”

      “At Cassidy Place.”

      “You still work there?”

      “Not exactly. Long story.” He glanced around the apartment. “So, how’s everything going?”

      “Great.” Trey’s expression intensified. “Since you seem more open tonight, I’m going to ask again if I can help get you out of this funk and back to your real world.”

      “My real world has no appeal to me anymore.” Except for the fact that, if he wasn’t a bum, he might be able to go after Emily.

      “Come on, Ben. I can help you get a job. A good job. You can start over in the corporate world.”

      He felt himself weakening. “Nobody’s going to hire me after my two-year disappearance.”

      “You don’t know that.”

      Ben didn’t say anything.

      Trey studied him. “It’s a woman, isn’t it?”

      He glared at his friend. “What are you talking about?”

      “Why you’re here.”

      “I came here to see you.” He scanned the living room. “Like I said, I miss sitting around and shooting the breeze with you.”

      “I think you miss your old life. And I think maybe some female’s got you thinking that way.”

      Ben frowned at the validity of what Trey said.

      “I recognize the signs, buddy. I’ve known you for a long time.”

      “There’s no woman, Trey.” He picked threads on a pillow. “But I have been thinking about what you said about investigating Mackenzie.” Ben wondered if, down deep, that’s why he’d come here tonight.

      “I haven’t done anything more on it, like you said. But I could put out some additional feelers, if you’re interested?”

      “I guess I am. What harm could there be for you to at least look into it?”

      “None that I can see.”

      He looked at this friend. “And it might help out the employees.”

      “Just the employees?”

      He shook his head. “I’d rather live like I do, than go back to where I went the year after Mackenzie screwed me.”

      “Is playing it safe worth the price?”

      It had been. Until Emily. But he wouldn’t tell Trey that, at least not yet. “Yeah, it is.”

      Trey just waited.

      Finally, Ben said, “So, okay, do it. Poke around some. Don’t go all out or anything. But see if you can get some dirt on Mackenzie.”

      CHAPTER FOUR

      EMILY PULLED INTO CASSIDY Place’s parking lot at five o’clock. The air was still warm and filled with the smell of budding flowers. Since it was Wednesday, she wouldn’t see Ben, but she wanted to get her mind off her own issues.

      The first thing Emily saw when she entered the building was Alice standing by the stove with Jimmy and the three volunteers who’d come in to cook at four o’clock. The older woman’s expression was a mixture of anger and disgust.

      “Oh, my God, what happened?” Emily asked, looking past them.

      The tables and floor were covered with milk and flour, creating a gooey mass. Ripped apart bread bags, fresh vegetables and frozen meat had been tossed into the mess.

      Alice shook her head. “Vandals. They ransacked the kitchen, then left their signature on the walls of the dining hall.”

      “I don’t understand. Why would someone do this?”

      Two police officers entered just as she asked the question.

      Alice nodded to them. “Maybe they can answer that.”

      The older cop, stout and stern-looking, crossed to СКАЧАТЬ