Freddie's Find

CHAPTER EIGHT

When Freddie got off the plane in New York, she was carrying all her worldly possessions in her two suitcases. She felt like she was coming home, and she hoped that she was coming home to stay. King and Alexander had told her that they would meet her at King's motel, so she wasn't expecting anyone to be at the airport waiting for her. When she heard someone calling her name, she was quiet surprised. She turned around to find the person and was thrilled to see a very pregnant Jessica headed toward her, waving.

Freddie rushed over to Jessica and hugged her. Ryan was with her and he leaned down and kissed Freddie on the cheek. Jessica said, "I'm so glad you're back! I can't tell you how much we have all been praying that you would come home!" Freddie was surprised by Jessica's words, but they made her feel wonderful. It was nice to think she had been missed, especially by someone that she cared for too.

Ryan grabbed Freddie's bags and led the two women out to his sport utility vehicle. Once Jessica was comfortable in the front, he checked on Freddie in the back, then headed around to the driver's door. Freddie asked, "What are the two of you doing here? I could have found my way to the motel. It's wonderful to see you, but you didn't have to go to so much trouble."

Ryan and Jessica shared a look, then Jessica said, "Freddie, we have all been so anxious about you coming back to the motel, we weren't taking any chances on you not getting there."

Freddie shook her head, and said, "Why wouldn't I have gotten there? I told King and Alexander that I would come."

Jessica turned in the seat so she could look Freddie in the eye. She said, "Freddie, you left once before. I don't think King could stand to lose you again."

Freddie's brow wrinkled in confusion. Finally, she asked, "King missed me?"

Jessica gave Freddie a look that suggested that she didn't think Freddie was all that smart. Ryan was the one who answered Freddie this time. He said, "Let's just say that none of us want to deal with King if you leave him again."

Freddie's heart was beating double time. Could they possibly be telling her that King had cared for her? Could he still care for her, even after two years?

It didn't take long for them to arrive at King's motel. King himself came out the door as soon as Ryan's vehicle stopped. Through the tinted windows, Freddie caught the look of expectation on KIng's face. It made her breath catch in her throat. However, as soon as Ryan stepped out and announced that he had Freddie, King's face became expressionless. But Freddie knew what she had seen. And what she had seen gave her hope for the future.

King took Freddie's bags and led her into the motel. "You'll be living here," King announced. Freddie started to protest, but he stopped her by saying, "We have been over this before. You WILL live here." Freddie just rolled her eyes and followed King onto the elevator. When he handed her a set of keys, she wasn't surprised to see that they were the ones for the tenth floor set of rooms.

Freddie and King were alone in the elevator, so Freddie took the chance to make sure King still wanted her there. "King?" Freddie asked in a quiet voice, "Are you sure?"

King just looked at her with an unreadable expression and finally said, "Yeah, I'm sure." She had hoped he would say more, but it was obvious that he wasn't going to fulfill that wish.

When they got to the tenth floor, King carried her suitcases over to her door. Freddie laughed and said, "Seems like we've done this before." She saw the shadow flicker in King's eyes and she realized that the last time they had stood before this door, they had been headed to her bed. She felt the blush on her cheeks and dropped her eyes. King opened her door and took in her cases.

Freddie followed. She was shocked to see that the room hadn't changed any. In fact, several of the small knick knacks that she had left were still in their places. She looked over at King and said, "King? Has no one used this room since I left?"

In a voice that Freddie thought sounded rather dejected, King answered her with a simple, "No."

King walked back toward Freddie's door and said, "Please be downstairs in thirty minutes and we will go to the restaurant. You might want to wear some comfortable clothes." Freddie sighed as he walked out and shut the door behind him.

Freddie managed to get ready early and went back downstairs to see if she recognized anyone. She was pleased to see Joanna still working the front desk. After hugging her, Freddie dropped into the restaurant. It was mid afternoon, but several of the wait staff were already preparing for the evening meal. Jake was the first to recognize her as she stood in the door way. He gave her a huge hug and pulled her over to see the others. Freddie was thrilled to see so many people from her past - especially from a piece of her past that had meant so much to her. It made her feel good to think that she was going to be in the company of so many friends.

Freddie was surprised to see Ryan, Alexander and King all three waiting for her in the lobby when she made her way back out of the restaurant.

Ryan said, "Jessica went home, but I wanted to go with you and help King show you around."

Alexander added, "I'm afraid that I won't be able to join you this afternoon, my dear. But, rest assured, these two scoundrels can show you the place better than I can anyway. After all, it is all their own." Before he turned to leave, Alexander bent and kissed Freddie on the cheek. She wondered if she was ever going to get used to this family being so comfortable with her. And would King ever be that comfortable with her again?

When the three of them went outside, Ryan headed toward his sport utility vehicle, but King stopped him. King said, "I think we should take the truck." Ryan gave him a strange look and Freddie grimaced. She knew what King was up to and that, once again, he was taking pleasure in torturing her.

King drove his pick up which meant that Freddie was in the middle, sandwiched between the two men. Although she was touching both of them from hip to knee, only the side where King was sitting was giving her any problems. That side seemed to be on fire, tingling from the contact with King. His arm kept brushing over her breast as he shifted gears and his hand kept resting on the gear shift just inside her thighs. Even though she was certain that King was enjoying her discomfort, she didn't know what she could do to stop it. She was a nervous wreck by the time they arrived at what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse.

"King, why are we stopping here?" she asked. King and Ryan exchanged an amused look over the top of Freddie's head. Neither one of them answered, though, as they headed for a padlocked door. After he unlocked it, King motioned for her to follow him inside. Ryan brought up the rear and threw a switch that lit up the room. Freddie gasped when she saw the empty, dusty space in front of her. With wide eyes, she spun around to face King and said, "Are you serious?"

King and Ryan both burst into laughter. Finally King said, "Yeah, we're serious. This is the restaurant. It needs a little more work-"

"A little more work!" Freddie shouted, echoing in the emptiness, "Have you lost your mind? This place barely has sheetrock on the walls."

Ryan rubbed the back of his neck and said, "Yeah, well, I've been working on that. I only have a few more sheets to put up, then it'll all be covered."

Freddie's mouth was hanging open as she stared at the brothers. She said, "Where's the kitchen? Where is the whole blooming steak house, for pete's sake?"

King answered this time, "Freddie, we wanted to bring in a chef who would help us put the whole thing together. Someone who wouldn't just be a cook, but would also have a stake in the place - you know, from the ground up."

Freddie was still fuming, "King, why didn't you tell me this in D.C.? You led me to believe that this place was ready to have its grand opening!"

Again, Ryan and King laughed. "Well," Ryan said, "If we have a grand opening anytime soon, maybe we could get the customers to help us put up the wallpaper!" King joined his brother in laughter.

But Freddie still wasn't amused. She said, "King, what am I supposed to do in the meantime? Where am I going to work?"

Suddenly, King's face got serious. "According to my dad," he said, "you don't need to work. But, for your information, what I want is for you to work here. I hired you for the job. What's the matter? Don't think you can handle getting your hands dirty?"

Freddie's face flushed in anger. "How dare you?" she asked. "How dare you assume that you can manipulate me like this. You tricked me into coming here. You said that I would be a chef - not some flunky helping you scrub floors. You must really hate me to do something this underhanded. Was it so bad that I left without working a notice? What did I do that deserved this? I hope you have had your little laugh, King. I'll just get my bags from the motel and head back to Atlanta. Maybe one of the other restaurants will still interview me for the job of chef."

King's face was a mask of anger as he turned his back toward her. Ryan looked from one of them to the other, waiting for one of them to speak. When it became apparent that neither one was going to, Ryan burst out, "No! Freddie is not going to leave again! Look, Freddie, King didn't tell you the whole story because he was afraid you wouldn't take on a project this big as your first job out of school. But he knew that you could do it, that's why he offered you the job. We want you to work alongside us as we put this place together, Freddie We want you to help us design the place. We want it to be the perfect Texas steak house when we are finished. But we need you. We need your help. We're serious about this place. King and I bought it together, but we both know that you are an integral ingredient in its success. You belong here, Freddie. You can't go. We really need you."

Freddie looked from Ryan's earnest face to King's rigid back. She said, "King, is that true?" King didn't answer her. She continued, "King, if it is true, if this wasn't some cruel trick, you need to tell me yourself."

With his back still toward her, King said, "I've already told you. You just didn't seem to believe me."

Freddie sighed in frustration. She said, "King, you were way less than honest with me about this. Your logic escapes me right now. But if you really want my help with this, I am listening."

King finally turned to look at her. His face was a fierce mask. He said, "You have already left once because you didn't take the time to listen to me. If you are going to leave or even threaten to leave every time it strikes your fancy, we are better off if you go ahead and leave right now."

Ryan's eyes widened as he stared at his brother. Before he could say anything, though, Freddie stomped her foot and angrily said, "King, we might as well get this out in the open now. You seem to have a pretty clear idea about why I left New York. But you haven't asked me. Do you want to know why I left? I left because your fiancee told me that you found me to be an embarrassment. She said that you were too nice of a guy to tell me yourself. She even knew that we had slept together. Why did you tell her that? Didn't it matter to you? Didn't I matter to you? Not at all?"

King's voice was also filled with anger as he said, "Do you think I am so low that I would send you flowers at the same time that I was telling Leona that we slept together? Of course I didn't tell her. She made a lucky guess. I imagine that she could see how happy I was and then she saw the flowers and put two and two together. Couldn't you have asked me how I felt about you? Couldn't you have waited until I got home that afternoon?"

Freddie bit her bottom lip to keep from snapping back at him. She took a moment to consider his words. Maybe he was telling the truth. Why wouldn't he? Finally, she quietly said, "King, you've got to believe that I didn't think I had that option. I should have asked you. But when she told me that she was marrying you, and she knew we had slept together, I'm afraid that I gave her more credit than you seem to think she deserved. I thought you were going to tell me that the two of you were engaged. I thought that was the important thing that you wanted to tell me that afternoon. I'm sorry that I didn't give you the chance to explain. But I was afraid that I would die of embarrassment if what she said was true. And I had no reason to doubt her."

Ryan had stood by, watching the exchange between Freddie and King. He hadn't said a word. Now, King looked over at his brother and sighed loudly. Then King said, "Well, Ryan, I guess you know more than you ever wanted to know about Freddie and me."

Ryan gave a brief laugh and said, "Yeah, that thought was going through my mind. So are you two going to be able to work together?"

King turned back to look at Freddie. This time his face was softer and his eyes were kinder. He said, "Freddie? Can you work with me? I didn't know what Leona had told you. But I do know that we can make this restaurant work. Ryan and I went out on a limb when we bought this place and we really do need you. Will you help us? I know I haven't been on my best behavior since I saw you again in D.C., but if you'll stay, I promise to do better. "

Freddie couldn't have said no to King if her life had depended on it. He was the love of her life and he had just asked for her help. She would do whatever it took to make this restaurant work for him. If he needed her, she would be his for as long as he wanted her.

Freddie nodded her head and said, "Yeah, I'll help." Then, shaking her head and looking around at the barren room, she said, "What do you have in mind?"

CHAPTER NINE

The next few weeks were filled with picking out tables and chairs with a western flair, learning painting techniques to make the walls look like worn leather, and choosing wagon wheel fixtures for the overhead lights. Ryan and King had wanted the floor to look rustic, so they had suggested leaving it concrete. But Freddie insisted on hardwoods, saying, "You want it to look rustic, not cheap!" Ryan, King and Freddie worked along side each other, doing everything from hanging wallpaper in the bathrooms to sanding down the antique bar stools that Freddie had found at one of the local auctions. As the weeks passed, what was once an empty warehouse began to take on the look of a classic Texas steak house.

Even with all of the required interactions between King and Freddie, King was true to his word about being on his best behavior. He asked her opinion and discussed their options, but he didn't flirt with her. He was also careful about not touching her. When the three of them had to go places for supplies, King never took the pick up. He always insisted on the Sport Ute, which meant that Freddie didn't have to be squeezed in between him and Ryan. Freddie wished he wasn't so strict about it all, but she appreciated that he was trying to make their working relationship comfortable for her.

Ryan and Jessica invited Freddie and King over to their house for dinner every night. Since Jessica was in her last trimester, Ryan refused to let her do anything except help Freddie shop for various things that they needed for the restaurant. But Jessica didn't let that stop her from doing all that she could. She declared that her contribution would be to have supper ready for them each evening at 6:00. Jessica told the three of them that they were welcomed to work all day long, but the evenings were her time for family, and she expected them all to be there for her!

After supper each night, Ryan and King did the dishes together, letting Freddie and Jessica spend time comparing thoughts about various aspects of the restaurant. The arrangement was just one more way that King took pains to separate himself from Freddie. It hurt Freddie's feelings to know the lengths that King would go to in order to remind her that he only wanted a professional relationship with her. Freddie tried to take comfort in the fact that she was still able to spend time with him, even if it wasn't exactly how she pictured it in her fantasies.

It was late each evening when Freddie and King made their way up to their rooms. King never attempted to come into Freddie's apartment. Freddie wished that she had the energy to invite him in, but she was putting all that she had into getting the restaurant ready. And she realized that King was doing the same. Freddie knew that there was a strong possibility that maybe they were both working to the point of exhaustion just to keep from having to deal with their feelings toward one another. But there was nothing she was going to do to change that.

Freddie wondered if it would have been different if she hadn't left. Jessica told Freddie that King had shut everybody out of his life after she had left. He had even been talking about selling his motel and moving away. Ryan had managed to get him interested in the Texas steak house idea, but both Ryan and Jessica had been afraid King would leave after they got the restaurant opened. That was why Ryan had chosen the warehouse. It needed so much work that it would require King to stay while they tried to think of another reason for him not to leave. Jessica assured Freddie that her return had been the answer to many family prayers. Freddie just didn't think that any of those prayers had come from King, himself.

Freddie found that King didn't take days off from work. Freddie decided that she wasn't going to do that, though. King spent most of his time at the warehouse, but at least one day each week, he had to deal with business from the motel. On those days, Freddie didn't go to the warehouse, either. She took the opportunity to go swimming, shopping and generally to rest. It was on one of those evenings, when she went down to the restaurant bar to eat dinner, that she ran into Leona.

Leona was sitting at the bar, laughing and joking with the bartender. When Freddie saw her, she almost turned and left. In fact, if Leona hadn't called out to her, she probably would have left. But Leona's voice carried across the room as she cried, "Freddie! Freddie Sommers! I can't believe you came back!" Freddie wasn't interested in making a scene, but Leona jumped up and ran toward her. Freddie was bracing herself for Leona's attack, verbal or physical, when Leona threw her arms around Freddie's neck and started hugging her.

Leona gushed, "I'm so glad you didn't let my stupid remarks keep you from coming back. I'm so sorry that I was such a pain. I just got so caught up in the idea of becoming King's wife that I let go of my common sense. I'm truly glad you're here!" With that, Leona drug Freddie over to the bar and sat down beside her.

Leona announced that she had so much to tell Freddie. Of course, the most important thing, according to Leona, was that she had managed to find the right man for herself, after all. As she went on and on about her new husband, Freddie subtly looked around the room. She wondered where Leona's husband was, and why he was so comfortable with his wife sitting at a bar.

Finally, when Leona stopped talking long enough for Freddie to get a word in, Freddie congratulated her on her happiness. Just as she was about to ask who the lucky guy was, Jake walked over and dropped his arm around Leona's shoulders. Leona beamed as she looked up into Jake's face and he dropped a quick kiss on her mouth. Freddie was certain that her mouth was hanging open - Leona was married to Jake? Who would have believed it?!?

Leona turned back to Freddie and said, "Jake helped me get back on King's good side. After Jake told me just what he thought of me and the way I had been acting, I came to my senses and apologized to King. I just wish it hadn't been too late to stop you from leaving."