CHAPTER 4

"No work tonight!" Hannah smiled at Connie as she came into the kitchen.

It was rare to see Hannah without a camera hanging around her neck but Brian had suggested that the cookout just be 'get acquainted' time. Work could wait until tomorrow. Connie liked that idea and sided up to Leigh who stood at the island chopping vegetables for a tray.

"Can I help?" Connie asked her as she washed her hands in the sink under the window.

She spotted Nick and Brian shooting baskets on a clay court that had been built across the yard. AJ was in the pool while Kevin and Howie talked together nearby. Kevin glanced towards the window and Connie felt herself stepping back out of sight. When she turned, Leighanne was giving her the once-over.

"Yeah, I guess you can help.." Connie noted the lack of enthusiasm in her expression. "There's beer in the fridge. You can take it outside and put it in the cooler."

Connie nodded, puzzled at Leighanne's coolness and walked over to the refrigerator. As she bent down, gathering bottles of beer in her arms, Kevin came inside searching for lighter fluid so he could start the grill. He stopped and took a long look at the denim-covered backside that blocked the refrigerator door. Long legs, nice ass… He unconsciously licked his bottom lip.

"Kevin?"

It took a second or two for him to realize that Leighanne was talking to him. Connie was still picking up bottles of beer and setting them on the kitchen counter. She never even turned in his direction.

"Uh….yeah….lighter fluid…." Kevin stammered, still stealing glances at Connie. She's ignoring me….

"I think there's some in the cabinet over the fridge…” Leighanne pointed her knife over her shoulder.

Kevin looked back at Connie who was standing at the counter now, trying to place as many bottles in her arms as she could carry. Kevin noticed that she'd pulled her hair up into a ponytail but the soft curls still cascaded past her shoulders. He wondered what they felt like. She was totally engrossed in what she was doing. Hannah watched the pair from the doorway, pretending to flip through the latest issue of TV Guide. There was a definite energy here. Hannah hoped that it wasn't negative.

"Excuse me.." Kevin said politely as he moved to Connie's side.

He was trying to get into the cabinet, but she was in the way, standing just below it.

"I said 'excuse me'!" Kevin repeated pointedly. This time he tapped Connie on the shoulder as he spoke.

"OH….!"

Connie jerked around with a load of beer bottles in her arms, startled. Three bottles crashed to the floor and shattered, spilling some of their contents all over Kevin's feet. It was amazing how much surface thirty-six ounces of liquid could cover. Leighanne yelped and Kevin looked stunned. Connie immediately dropped to the floor and began grabbing up shards of glass.

"Wait!" Kevin shouted as he leaned over her back. "You'll cut yourself. Let me get a broom…"

Connie kept picking up glass. She looked a little frantic.

"Connie!" Kevin yelled again.

When he grabbed her arm to pull her up from the floor, she spun around again. This time a large piece of glass she had picked up from the floor made direct contact with Kevin's forearm.

"Jesus!" He jumped back as blood began to ooze from the fresh gash on his arm.

"Oh, God!" Leighanne began to pull paper towels from the roller to hold against Kevin's wound.

Connie backed up and stared stupefied at the two of them standing there in beer and broken glass. Kevin looked a little dazed. She turned anxiously to Hannah who, once she got over her initial shock at what had happened, walked over to Kevin and took his arm from Leighanne. She lifted the paper towels and examined the damage.

"Not so bad…” she smiled at Kevin and then reassuringly at Connie who seemed frozen to the spot. "Do you have any of those large Band-Aids? The kind you use for scrapes?" she asked Leighanne.

"I..I think so.." Leighanne went to a utility closet and after fumbling around for a few seconds, returned with the bandage.

Kevin let Hannah rinse and dry his arm and apply the large Band-Aid while Leighanne grabbed a broom and began to sweep up the mess.

"Please, let me do that.." Connie pleaded, trying to make amends.

Leighanne looked at Connie and smirked. Connie recognized the look of sarcasm.

"Oh, I think you've done quite enough…"

Connie swallowed and began to blink. She successfully fought back tears and looked at Kevin who seemed to be watching her carefully. His brows furrowed in concern over her distress at what was obviously an accident but she mistook his seriousness as anger.

"I'm sorry.." she whispered before turning quickly to leave the room.

She never heard him call for her to come back or tell her that he was all right. He looked for her to come downstairs later but she never did. Kevin asked Hannah about her repeatedly, but Hannah just shrugged and was non-committal in her responses. It was all she could do not to defend Connie and explain her 'special' circumstances but she knew that Connie would resent her interference and so she said nothing.

Connie stepped into the tiled enclosure and stood directly beneath the showerhead. She had adjusted the flow to ‘pulse’ hoping that a steady rhythm of water beating against her back would help relax her. She wasn’t sure exactly what went wrong. She’s been in Clearwater for only four hours and had managed to alienate two people - Leighanne and Kevin. She suspected that Leighanne’s response to her was based on some vague desire to protect her territory. Connie was, after all, an outsider to this close knit family. Kevin was another story. Connie had done nothing to Leigh, but she had done plenty to Kevin. Her reputation for getting along with people and putting them at ease had come to an abrupt stop when it came to him. She knew he must either hate her or think she was crazy - maybe both. It would be hard to expect cooperation and openness from a person when you had banged up their truck, drowned them in beer and cut open their arm in a single afternoon. He would be avoiding her like the plague.

When she was finished in the shower, Connie slipped on a tank top and panties - her usual sleeping attire - and walked over to her door to unfasten the latch and crack it open a bit. This had become a habit with her for two reasons. For one, her deafness would prevent her from hearing a knock on the door. Not only did she want to be available if someone wanted or needed to talk to her but there was also a safety factor to consider. When she was in college, fire drills were a mandatory requirement in both dormitories and other campus facilities. Late one night, when she was studying alone deep in the library stacks, a fire alarm had sounded - an alarm that she never heard. After that incident, she always kept her door cracked whenever she was alone in case there was some sort of emergency. The second reason was based on Connie’s overwhelming fear of the dark. She couldn’t sleep with the lights on so she had come to rely on a small amount of light from an outside source. At this grove house, she had a bathroom light that she could turn on but until a few years ago; she had not had that luxury. Since hall lights normally remained on at night, she had fallen into the habit of relying on that light source and leaving her door cracked in order to obtain it.

She had not always been afraid of the dark but she learned early on that deafness brought enough sensory deprivation on its own without adding blindness to the mix. She relied on her sight for protection as well as communication and if she couldn’t see, she was completely vulnerable. Her ex-boyfriend, Trevor had discovered that fact early in their relationship and never failed to use it when he thought it was ‘necessary’.

Hannah knew about this fear only because Connie had been forced to tell her about it after an episode at Hannah’s studio one day. She had come to Hannah’s workplace in order to look at some portrait shots of one of Connie’s clients that Hannah was going to submit for a book jacket. Hannah had waved her into her dark room which, at the time, was lit. She was telling Connie about some negatives she had to pull and as soon as they entered the room, Hannah had stepped behind her, closed the door and turned off the overhead lights. The result was instantaneous. Connie dropped to her knees, unable to see or hear. He heart was pounding and she couldn’t breathe. In a matter of seconds, even before Hannah could switch on the safety light, Connie was in the throws of an anxiety attack. It had actually been a fairly minor one when compared to some of Connie’s other ‘episodes’. When Hannah had finally calmed her, Connie had felt compelled to tell her about her fear - a fear that had mutated into genuine terror during the months she had spent living with Trevor Abbott. Only Hannah knew about Trevor and what had happened between them. Connie was very good at keeping secrets.

CHAPTER 5

Kevin stood by the pool talking to their manager about the new album. Really, it was more accurate to say that Kevin stood by the pool half-listening to their manager talk about the new album. He could hardly look Jeffrey in the face without raising his eyes to Connie's window. Her light was on but it didn't look like she'd be joining them. He caught sight of her twice - once when she walked past the window and once when she stood at the window for a few moments adjusting the blinds. The rectangle of light that had shown from the upper floor turned into a series of lines with a twist of Connie's hand. Kevin sighed and forced his attention back to Jeffrey who had, apparently, just told a joke and was waiting for Kevin to laugh at the punchline. He was still waiting when a distracted Kevin asked him about the book in general and went directly from there to asking about Constance O'Rourke in particular.

Kevin's curiosity about Connie hit a nerve with Leighanne who was standing nearby when Kevin asked Jeffrey about her. She moved closer to them, pretending to check on the beer and food supply that was set on a nearby table.

"Don't know all that much about her.." Jeffrey said as he uncapped his third beer. "Just met her at the strategy meeting." Jeffrey paused and looked past Kevin, smiling. "Damn, man. She looked good! All professional looking in this black suit, hair piled up on her head, high heels...and that mouth...Jesus!"

Kevin frowned a little at Jeffrey's exuberance and decided to cast his line again.

"How come she got this job, Jeff? I thought she was an editor or something."

"Yeah, well... Sullivan said that she'd be the most objective - whatever the hell that means." Jeffrey paused to belch and then went on. "Said she got along well with people. Guess he was wrong on that score, huh?" Jeffrey laughed and pointed to the bandage on Kevin's arm.

"That was an accident..." Kevin mumbled and glanced again towards the window. The rectangle was dark now. She had turned out the lights.

"Whatever. Anyway, I don't think she really wanted to do this. Sullivan said that she was comfortable in New York but that she was the easiest to free up and she could write."

"Free up?" Kevin asked.

"She has no ties that would keep her from coming down here for an extended amount of time. You know, no kids or husband or anything.."

"No boyfriend?" Kevin asked casually.

Leighanne decided that now would be a good time to join in the conversation.

"Boyfriend? God! If she has a boyfriend, I feel sorry for him! He's probably laid up in a body cast somewhere!" she laughed. "Besides, Kev, what do you care? You have Brandi, right?" Leighanne smiled innocently and patted Kevin's shoulder.

Yeah.... Brandi..." He stole one more glimpse of Connie's window before heading into the house.

As Kevin approached Connie's door, he could see that it was open a little. Her lights were out, but maybe she wasn't asleep yet.

"Connie?" he whispered through the door. "There's plenty of food outside. Don't you want something to eat?"

No answer. He tapped lightly on the door, but still got no response. Looking over his shoulder, Kevin did something that he would normally never do. He pushed the door open a little farther and leaned into her room. Connie lay on her side in the big bed, fast asleep. Kevin stared for a moment, feeling a bit guilty but unable to look away. The light from the hallway spilled across her body and he watched her shoulders rise and fall slightly with her breathing. Her lips were slightly parted and her knees were bent up towards her body. His eyes rested for a moment on her slightly exposed belly and then moved upward to her breasts which were pressed together as a result of her sleeping position. They were practically spilling from the low cut tank top she wore - soft and translucent in the dim light. Kevin found himself wondering if her nipples were pale or dark and felt a familiar tingling sensation in his groin. Fuck... He was about to back out of the door when he heard Connie moan softly and then turn over onto her back. Her breasts seem to spread themselves across her chest and he could see that her nipples had hardened under the white top. Her belly was now totally unhidden and the shadows accentuated the deep dimple of her navel. Kevin closed his eyes and once again attempted to step back from the door. His struggle was made easier when he suddenly heard a voice behind him.

"Is she okay?"

Kevin turned quickly and found Hannah standing behind him at the top of the stairs.

"Uh..she's asleep. Her door was open and I thought she might be hungry."

Hannah nodded as a small smile tickled the corners of her mouth. "Guess the trip and excitement of the day wore her out." She walked past Kevin and then turned. His hand was still on the doorknob. "Leave the door open, Kevin. She likes it that way.."

*****************

Kevin awoke the next morning to the sound of AJ banging on his door.

"Rise and shine Sleeping Beauty!" he hollered through the door. "Come on, Kev! It's late! Let's get these harmonies over with.

Kevin mumbled a curse and rolled over in the bed to check the clock. Shit…11:40… He forced his legs to the side of the bed and sat for a moment, rubbing the film out of his eyes and trying to wake up. Then he stood and stepped over to the dresser to grab his shaving kit. It was then that he noticed the fifty-dollar bills that Connie had left in his room the evening before. Something about seeing that money lying there kind of ticked him off. Dammit! I told her that the insurance company would take care of the truck! What is she - deaf or something? He scowled as he slipped on some boxers, picked the money up from the dresser and then walked to his door. He peeked out. Good. Nobody here.. He saw that Connie's door was closed now and so he padded across the hall, knelt down on the floor and shoved the bills under her portal. There.. He nodded with some degree of satisfaction and returned to his room. He had never taken money from a woman, even in the early days when he was broke. He'd be damned if he were going to take any now.

Kevin was starving when he returned to the house from the studio. No one was in the kitchen when he got there and he proceeded to build himself the king of all sandwiches. He didn't bother with a plate and just leaned over the sink, poised and ready for a big mouthful. That's when he heard the laughing and yelling outside. His eyes darted through the open window over to the pool and he could see big-assed Hannah in her industrial style bathing suit, standing on the diving board grinning. Leigh was sunning herself in a nearby chair. He could still hear the laughter and teasing but couldn't tell at first where it was coming from. Then she moved from behind the board and Kevin forgot he was hungry. He spotted a shock of red curls. She was laughing. Her smile was so bright and utterly joyful that Kevin was momentarily dazed. It was as if the sunlight was bouncing from her teeth.

He didn't notice that Hannah had jumped off the board until the water she displaced splashed up onto Connie. Still, her smile never wavered. Kevin's eyes never left her face until she bent over the edge of the pool and waved her fist good naturedly at the rude diver. His next coherent thought was 'sun block'. Please, baby, don't let those puppies get burned...

Kevin closed his eyes and shook his head trying to thwart the wood that he felt slowly filling his pants. Shit... He left his sandwich on the counter and went back up the stairs to his room where he found that the six fifty-dollar bills had been jammed back under his door.

CHAPTER 6

Kevin stomped back down the stairs with $300.00 balled up in his fist. He was not happy. He marched to the kitchen window and looked over to the pool where he had seen her last. She wasn't there. Glancing down at the counter, he immediately noticed that his sandwich wasn't there, either. God damn…. He heard AJ's raspy laugh coming from the front of the house and headed in that direction, passing by the media room where Brian and Leigh were snuggled up on the sofa watching a movie. He stopped and stuck his head in the door.

"Where is she?" he asked through clenched teeth.

"She, who?" Brian sat up and looked at Kevin, puzzled. He recognized the tension that seemed to be radiating off of his cousin.

"Constance."

"Constance?…Oh, Connie!" Brian smiled. "I think she's out front with the guys."

Kevin said nothing as he whirled around and went towards the front door. Leigh wriggled out from under Brian's arm. She smelled trouble.

"Come on, Brian!" she said, pulling on his arm. "Let's go see what's going on!"

Brian groaned but followed Leigh out to the front porch. Connie seemed to be holding court with AJ, Nick, Howie and Hannah. Her back was to Kevin and she was telling a story about a famous author and his drunken adventures at a New York society event. They were all laughing and in high spirits - until the shadow of Kevin Richardson fell over the small party.

Connie was still laughing and had begun to wipe her eyes, not realizing that the rest of the group had grown silent.

"Connie." Kevin said firmly. "I need to speak to you."

Connie didn't seem to respond and Kevin grew agitated at her rudeness. He had wanted to speak to her privately but if she was going to be this flip, then he wasn't about to worry about any potential embarrassment.

"Connie!" he shouted as he grabbed the back of her chair.

Connie's eyes flew open and she spun around in her seat. Her laughter had stopped abruptly and she faced Kevin with a mixture of apprehension and willfulness.

"I want you to take this money and keep it. I don't want to see it again. Do you understand me?" His eyes were hard and his words patronizing. Connie could feel herself shrinking under his gaze.

"It's for your truck." She stated flatly.

"I know what it's for." Kevin answered. "And I told you, insurance will take care of the truck." He grabbed Connie's wrist and pried open her fingers and then pressed the money into her palm before closing her fingers back over the bills. "Don't come to my door again."

Connie said nothing as their eyes locked. It occurred to her that today had been no better than yesterday. She would e-mail Stephen tonight and see if he could find someone else to do this. This little battle over the currency had become an issue between them - an issue that had grown out of pride - not justice. It had absolutely nothing to do with money.

"I won't." Connie said quietly, still staring into his eyes.

Kevin was taken aback by her quiet intensity and felt a little confused. He decided to change the subject in an effort to dilute the unease that seemed to now hover over the group. Connie still stared at him.

"Anybody see the sandwich I left on the counter?"

Heads shook and shoulders shrugged. Kevin nodded and turned.

"I threw it away."

Kevin stopped moving. "What?"

When Connie didn't reply, Kevin felt himself bristle again. He looked over his shoulder and rephrased his inquiry - more loudly this time.

"Did you just say that you threw my lunch away?"

"I didn't know it was yours. There were flies crawling all over it and you know what flies do when they land. They're nasty."

Kevin thought he detected a note of defiance in Connie's voice and responded with sarcasm.

"You do take such good care of me, don't you Connie?"

Once again, their eyes held and then Connie broke away and left the porch. Later that afternoon a truck arrived with a delivery for K. Richardson. The driver unloaded five dozen sandwiches and handed Kevin a receipt for $302.68. The bill had been paid in full by C. O'Rourke.

**************************

"Did you talk to Brandi today?" Leighanne asked sweetly.

"No." Kevin shook his head, never looking up from the article he was reading in Rolling Stone.

"Gee, Kev. How long has it been?"

"I talked to her when we got here." He answered without interest. His eyes had not risen from the page.

"That was five days ago!"

Kevin made no comment. He really hadn't thought much about it. His attitude infuriated Leighanne. She had known Brandi for several years. They were friends and had met in LA at an audition for a local commercial. Neither of them had gotten the part. A year later, Leigh had been cast in a Backstreet video where she met Brian and they had been together ever since. She had introduced her friend to Kevin and eventually, after much plotting and coercion, Kevin and Brandi had started going out. Their relationship has seemed comfortable but a little too casual in Leigh's mind. She knew that Brandi was ready for some security and Kevin was ready for a family. Brandi had begun to talk marriage and Kevin hadn't bailed and so Brandi and Leigh both assumed that a wedding was in their future. The fact that Kevin never spoke of love didn't seem to be a problem. Kevin was never one to speak much about personal feelings and besides, as the song goes - 'What's love got to do with it?'. Kevin Richardson was rich, steady, rich, handsome, rich, strong and available. Brandi was statuesque, easy, blond, stacked and accommodating. They made a perfect couple.

Now, there seemed to be some sort of shift in the air. Leighanne couldn't exactly put her finger on it but she knew it had something to do with Constance O'Rourke. Leigh had kept her eyes open but things seemed fairly quiet. Kevin wrote music, played some basketball, met with friends - all normal, everyday things. Connie hung out, banged on her computer and spent a lot of time talking to most of the guys. She seemed to avoid Kevin. They rarely even spoke but Leigh noticed that whenever Connie was close by, his eyes were on her. He tried to be subtle but she had seen him staring. She knew that that dyke, Hannah, had seen it, too. There had been no more incidents since the momentous sandwich delivery. Leighanne hadn't been able to believe Connie's audacity. She had felt certain that Kevin would blow-up, particularly since the delivery had been made while everyone but Connie was present. He had stared at the boxes and then at the receipt while everyone else had held a collective breath. Then he had nodded, smiled and reached into one of the boxes. 'Looks like we got some serious eatin' to do…' he had said. That was it. No curses - no anger. In fact, Kevin had seemed……..amused.

Nope. Leighanne didn't like this.

***************

Hannah had felt it, too. Tension was thick whenever those two shared the same airspace as if they were both waiting for the other shoe to drop. They were both very guarded around each other. Yet Hannah wasn't so sure that the tension she felt was entirely hostile. She thought she had seen Kevin watching Connie from the corner of his eye. She had looked at some of the film taken by MTV. Yep, she was right. He had been keeping his eye on her even though they remained distant. What Hannah hadn't noticed before seeing the footage was that this subtle surveillance was two sided. Connie had been stealing her share of glances, as well. Hannah rubbed her forehead. Connie had gotten so good at hiding her deafness. She thinks he's an arrogant prick and he thinks she's a rude klutz. If this assignment were just going to last for a few days, it would be different, but they would be living together for a few weeks - maybe longer. Hannah understood Connie's reservations about announcing her disability. It often did affect people's reactions. But Connie's relationships wouldn't be honest if she kept this from people, either. Not everyone is like Trevor, Connie. You've got to tell him…