Zach hit the punching bag hard. As it rebounded into him, he jabbed it with his other hand. Sweat poured into his eyes, blurring his vision. His shoulder muscles ached and his forearms were beginning to throb. Wiping his forehead with the hem of his half-soaked T-shirt, he took a deep breath and slammed his fist into the bag again.
“Pretending that’s Jonathan Gumby?” a voice asked from behind him.
At the last minute, Zach pulled his next punch and pivoted. Martin Mann stood watching him, dressed in trendy workout clothes—navy blue nylon gym shorts and a matching metallic-looking tank top. A terry-cloth band circled his thinning hair.
“Going for a run?” Zach asked.
Though many businessmen belonged to Midtown Health Club, Zach was pretty sure his bumping into Mann at such an odd hour—eight o’clock at night— was no coincidence. Especially since the investigation was reaching a critical point. Officials were expecting the results on the test pits any day.
Mann bent over to stretch his hamstrings. “Yeah, I’ve been building up my stamina. I can do five miles. Got to keep up with Muffin.”
“Who’s Muffin?” Zach asked without much interest. He turned to the bag and gave it a few light punches.
Mann drawled, “She’s sleek and sexy and twenty- six.” Zach bet if he looked, the builder’s chest would be puffed up.
Tenderness washed over Zach as he thought of Annie’s rounded belly. She was a full six months pregnant now and, though the baby weighed only about a pound and a half, Annie needed maternity clothes. They’d had a fight when Zach had wanted to pay for the outfits.
He attacked the bag again hoping Mann would go away. Thoughts of Annie reminded Zach that he was here to work out the problems between them. She still refused to marry him; he was so frustrated by her stubbornness, he’d wanted to punch something. Wisely, he’d come to the gym. He was also trying to sort out their newest conflict—how involved should Zach get in Les Corrigan’s life.
Taking the hint, Mann hit the track. Fifteen minutes later, Zach removed his sparring gear and sank onto the bench against the wall. Every single muscle in his body ached and he was still no closer to solving his dilemma. Damn, he wished Annie could let go of things. He wished new issues didn’t keep cropping up. He wished that she could accept him for who he was, instead of wanting him to behave as she would.
She’s trying, he told himself.
Yes, she was—by making love when there were problems between them. She’d glided willingly into his arms several times over the last few weeks, despite their disagreements. Once, after a particularly intimate session that robbed him of breath just thinking about it, she’d sleepily admitted that he’d been right all along—making love brought them closer.
“What’s the grin for?” Mann hovered above him.
Glancing at the clock on the gym wall, Zach asked, “Done already?”
“Yeah.”
Zach grunted and stood.
“Buy you a beer?” Mann offered.
“No, thanks. I’ve got plans.”
“I want to talk to you, Zach.”
Surprise, surprise. “All right. Let’s get some water out in the lounge before I shower.”
When they’d gotten drinks and seated themselves on a nearby bench, Zach said bluntly, “What is it, Martin?”
“I’m not sure exactly how to say this.”
“Try plain and simple.” And honest.
Mann wiped his forehead with a towel. “I, um, know Corrigan’s your friend.”
“Yes, he is. Is this about him?”
“Uh-huh.” Mann took a sip of water. He appeared truly torn. “I’m afraid he may be drinking again.”
“Why do you say that?”
“I’ve seen him in the morning a couple of times. He looks hungover.”
“You could be jumping to conclusions.”
“I hope so.” The builder hesitated. “But he’s also behaving suspiciously.”
“How?”
“He seems anxious—worried,”
“We’re all worried. I’m anxious most of the time.”
Mann caught Zach’s gaze and held it steadily. “Corrigan’s concern is...I don’t know...excessive. Especially about the test pits.”
“What about them?”
“He supervised the drilling.”
“That’s part of his job.”
“Yeah, but I was supposed to be there too and I wasn’t. Les was on his own for a couple of days when I had to have my wisdom teeth removed.”
Zach remembered something about Mann having dental surgery during the digging. He couldn’t remember the specifics, as his own life had been out of control at that time.
“Look, Zach, you weren’t available a lot when the foundation was laid, with all that was going on with your divorce.”
“There’s nothing wrong with Les having sole responsibility. He’s a good, conscientious worker.”
“I hope so. After what’s happened, I’m not so sure.”
Shaken, Zach eyed the builder carefully. “Did you report any of your concerns to OSHA?”
“No, of course not. I wanted to talk to you first.”
“Why?”
Mann seemed surprised. “I like Les. And because he’s your friend.”
“So?”
“I thought I’d bounce my concerns off you. I’d like to avoid false accusations.”
“Any more of them could hurt us all.”
“I know that. I’m worried about our reputations.”
“What do you want me to do with these suspicions?”
“Nothing, really. I just needed someone to talk to about them, I guess.” He lowered his head and linked his hands between his knees.
For a minute, Zach wondered if he’d misjudged Martin Mann. This vulnerability was a side of him Zach had never seen.
“Maybe we should talk to Corrigan, see what he has to say,” Mann suggested.
Zach stood abruptly. “I’ll think about it. I’ve got to go, Martin. I’m late already.”
Trudging to the locker room, Zach shook his head at the irony. If only Annie knew that she and Martin Mann wanted the same thing from him.
o0o
“Stay with me tonight,” Annie whispered.
Zach eased away from her, bracing himself on his arms, his body still inside hers. He brushed damp hair off her forehead and held her gaze. “Well, some crumbs, at least.”
Shadows crossed her face. “Let’s not fight, Zach.”
“I should be here every night.”
“Please.”
Sighing, he shifted to his side, bringing her with him. She lay silently in his arms, the tension of her refusal to marry him resurfacing between them like a wall. To scale it, he concentrated on the baby they were going to have in a little more than two short months. Suddenly, he felt a push against his middle. Then a strong, forceful kick.
“Man, that is so cool.”
She smiled into his chest. “I know.”
“It was so strong.”
“She’s getting bigger.”
Though they could have found out the sex of the baby through the sonograms Annie had, they decided to wait until she was born. Zach prayed she was really a girl, as Annie hoped.
“But the books said she’s still as tiny as my fist.”
“Maybe twice that size by now. Her ears are functioning and she can open and close her eyes.”
He chuckled into Annie’s hair. Each new stage of the baby’s development turned him to mush. It also smoothed a lot of rough edges. Aw, hell. So what if Annie wouldn’t marry him yet? He pulled the covers around them both. It was the middle of October and the nights were cold.
Their argument banished by a tiny gesture, they lay in contented silence. Annie broke it. “Zach, I need to talk to you.”
He kept himself from stiffening. “About what?”
“I’ve been thinking about my lunch with Marion Corrigan last week.”
“You haven’t mentioned it.”
“I know. I haven’t wanted to resurrect all this about Les again.”
“Don’t resurrect it now, Annie.”
“I have to. I like Marion and I want to help her.” Then Annie added, “That’s what friends are for.”
Zach tried hard to ignore the dig, but he wasn’t ever quite able to dodge its prickles of pain. “How is she?”
“Did you know she and Les split up a year after their baby was born?”
“At least they were married when they had their kid,” he said. He immediately regretted his remark when he felt her body go taut. When she didn’t say anything, he went on, “Yes, I heard about their breakup.”
Annie raised onto her elbow. He could see her clearly from the sliver of moon creeping through the partially opened blinds. Heavy-lidded, her eyes held a satisfied expression. Her hair cloaked her like a blanket, tumbling onto his shoulders. “She told me about how they helped you after I left.”
Zach sighed and closed his eyes. “I wish she hadn’t done that.”
Threading her hand through his chest hair, Annie whispered against his skin, “I’m sorry it was so tough for you.”
“I thought I’d die.”
He felt the light brush of her lips on his breastbone but she said nothing. “It’s why I want us to get married again.” He just couldn’t seem to leave the notion alone, kept returning to it like a tongue to a sore tooth.
“Zach, this will either work out between us, or it won’t. Being married won’t change things.”
“I think it will.”
“It didn’t matter after Gina.” She moved to pull away but he held her close to him.
“What else did Marion say?” he asked, trying to change the subject. “How’s the boutique doing?”
Waiting a moment, Annie finally settled back against him. “Very well.” After another pause, Annie added, “She told me she and Les were having a lot of problems when we split up.”
Zach tensed. Corrigan and his wife were having problems during the digging stage of the building. Mann’s words came back to him, Les seems anxious...excessively so...about the test pits.
“Zach, what is it? You frowned.”
“Nothing. I feel bad for Les and Marion. I hope they make it. How are things now?”
“Don’t you and Les discuss this?”
“No. I don’t talk about my personal life and I don’t expect others to.”
Annie remembered Marion Corrigan’s words. What he did was retreat more and more into himself and shut the rest of us out.
“Annie? I asked how they’re doing now.”
“Things were fine until the collapse.”
“Jackson Gage said there were rumors that Les was drinking again.”
“Marion’s afraid of that, too.” Annie hesitated. “She also said she’s afraid of Martin Mann.”
“Afraid? How?”
“I’m not sure. Marion wasn’t sure. She’s always thought he was a bad influence on Les, but it’s more than that now.”
When Zach didn’t respond, Annie said, “Have you seen Mann lately?”
Another pause. “Yeah, at the gym a couple of nights ago.”
“Did he say anything unusual?”
“Look, Annie, I don’t want to talk about Mann. It’s getting late and this discussion will lead us to another argument.”
Annie could just make out his features in the half light. The familiar line of annoyance on his forehead irked her as it always had. “How can you expect me to let a statement like that go?”
“Because I asked you to.” Zach’s words were clipped.
“You’re obviously keeping something from me. It concerns Les...what we talked about, doesn’t it?”
“Hell, Annie. Give it up.”
“No.”
He started to push her aside. Tenaciously she grasped his shoulders. “Zach—”
“Annie, let go of me.”
She rolled her eyes in disgust. “A few minutes ago, you were furious about my not marrying you. Now you want me to let you go.”
“One has nothing to do with the other.”
“Of course it does. If you want to work things out, if you want us to get married again, we have to talk about our differences.”
His eyes flamed. “No, Annie. We have to accept our differences without trying to change each other.”
“Is that what you think I’m doing?”
“Yes.” His jaw set, he said, “Like always.”
“I just want you to help out your friend.”
“You want me to behave as you would.”
“As any decent person would.”
He shoved her aside, albeit gently. Springing off the bed, he grabbed his pants and stuffed his legs into them. Throwing on his shirt, he rounded on her. “You know, this is so familiar. We’ve had this conversation a thousand times and it always ends up the same.”
“And how is that?”
“I always end up feeling like a louse because my value system isn’t as good as yours.”
As she watched him dress, she thought back to a similar accusation he’d made the first year they were married...
They’d had a fight about an ethical problem at work. Zach suspected one of the junior architects was cutting some corners but felt it wasn’t his place to intervene. Annie had told him he had a moral obligation to confront the man. They’d argued vehemently about their values. Later, she found Zach staring into space in their darkened den. When she switched on the light, she saw the sparkle of tears in his eyes. Dumbfounded—she’d never seen him cry— she said, “Zach, what is it?”
He flicked her a glance. “Go to bed, Annie.”
Panicky, she’d crossed and knelt at his feet. “What’s wrong?”
He shook his head, disgust and pain vying for equal prominence.
“Zach, talk to me.”
“No, Annie. No more. I’m not talking anymore to you.”
“Why?”
“Because of what you do with everything I say.”
“What do you mean?”
“I tell you everything. What I want, my hopes, my dreams. And you know what you do?”
“What?”
“You let me know how shallow they are. How different they are from your lofty ambitions to save the world. When I want a nicer car, or success in my career, you throw in my face what a superficial person I am. When I have values that are different from yours, you make me feel dishonest. Or selfish.”
“No, Zach, I don’t feel that way about you. We’re just different. I love you.”
“I know you love me, Annie. You just don’t like me.” He looked at her with bleak eyes. “Do you know what that does to me inside? I’ve let you in here.” He thumped on his heart. “I’ve never let anyone else in here but you. Do you know how it feels when you reject me the way you do?”
Annie had cried, too, for the pain she’d caused him. She’d apologized, rationalized, crawled onto his lap and told him he was wrong about her not liking him. She’d made him believe it, for that night at least. But she’d never forgotten the sheen of tears in his eyes and the deep wrenching hurt she’d caused him...
Annie shivered at the memory. Wrapping the sheet around her, she came to her knees. “Is that what I do to you? Denigrate your values?”
Shoving his feet into his sneakers, he said, “Yes.”
“Then I’m sorry. It’s not what I mean to do.”
“You know, you have to change, too. In order for this to work.”
Her chin came up. “I know I do. I am changing.”
“It doesn’t sound like that to me.” With one last, meaningful look, he strode through the bedroom door and stomped down the stairs. Daisy barked when he hit the living room. Annie heard soft murmurings, could picture Zach bending down to cuddle the dog.
Swearing, she got out of bed, too. As quickly as she could, she went down the steps and reached Zach just as he grasped the front door handle. Insinuating herself between him and the door, she flattened her palms against his chest. “I’m sorry I’ve hurt you with my comments. I didn’t realize what I was doing. I’ll lay off the stuff with the Corrigans.”
He stood still, staring at her. The moonlight peeked in and reflected off his hair. His eyes were as dark as the sky outside. He was trying to resist her, she could tell. After what seemed like forever, his hands went to her waist.
Her naked waist. She hadn’t realized she’d come down the steps nude. His fingers flexed on her, then slid down her hips and pulled her to him.
“Please, don’t leave,” she whispered achingly in his ear. “Stay with me. I love you. You’ll make the right decision about Les. I know you will.”
His whole body caved in to hers, pinning her against the cold wood of the door. She shivered.
He drew back at once. Bending, he swept her up and started toward the stairs.
She cuddled into him.
Vowed to stop challenging him.
Willed herself to believe in him.
o0o
The next morning at seven o’clock, Annie and Zach awoke simultaneously, clasped together like spoons. “What is it?” he muttered into her hair.
“The doorbell.”
“Ignore it.”
Settling back into him, she snuggled closer. The ringing continued.
“I’ve got to see who’s there.”
He mumbled something sleepily.
Easing out of bed, Annie donned her robe.
Zach turned over and buried his head in the pillow. They hadn’t slept much after his aborted departure, trying with their bodies to bridge the gap their harsh words had caused.
Tired, Annie trudged down the stairs to the living room. Daisy nipped at her heels and barked. “Shh, girl, Zach went back to sleep. Let’s not wake him.” Quickly, she let Daisy out into the backyard.
At the front door, through the keyhole, she saw her mother pacing restlessly on the porch.
“Mom?” she asked when she faced Sonya—who looked flustered.
“Annie, oh good.” Brushing past her, Sonya entered the living room.
“Mother, what is it? Are you all right?”
Sonya headed straight for the television and flicked it on.
“You have to hear this for yourself,” she said, switching to a news channel.
A somber-faced man was being interviewed by a local newscaster. Behind him, Annie could see the OSHA insignia on the wall. Immediately, she tensed.
“When was this discovered, Mr. Watson?”
“The subsoil condition was determined two days ago. Late last night, he confessed.”
Annie drew in a deep breath.
The screen flashed a picture and a voice-over said, “Late last night, Lester E. Corrigan told OSHA officials that he takes full responsibility for the collapse of the Pierce Museum’s staircase seven and a half months ago. Details are sketchy, and none will be released until a full investigation is completed.”
“Oh my God,” Annie said, covering her mouth with her hand.
“Annie?” Zach’s sleep-husky voice came from behind her.
She turned to see him perched on the last step, barefoot, in jeans and no shirt.
“What’s going on?”