A Trusting Heart (8 page)

“All right, Cora. I have a deal for you. It’s the only deal you’ll get from me, so take it or leave it. I will go out on a date with this fabulous young man of yours if you agree to do the same. With a man of my choosing. We’ll double date. What do you say?”

While she was waiting for Cora to speak, Megan looked down at her plate and realized she had eaten everything in sight. She was ready for seconds. But when Cora said nothing, Megan looked at her curiously.

“Cora?”

The older woman was speechless. She had been beaten at her own game, and she couldn’t do a thing about it. Her? Go on a date? The last man she had dated had been her husband, and he had died more than twenty-eight years ago. She had been so busy working and raising her son that she had never had the time or the desire to date. Sure, she could have dated after Trevor had moved out, but by then, who cared? She was forty-seven-years old. Who would want to go out with her? Just the thought had her face turning red. She couldn’t do that to Jack! Her Jack was probably in heaven right now, looking down at her shaking his head. She was sealed to Jack for eternity. No way could she go out on a date with some stranger. But what would Trevor say if she told him she had failed? Her grandchildren! They were waiting for her! What should she do?

Megan tilted her head, waiting for a response from Cora.

For such a verbal person, two minutes without saying a word seemed an eternity.

“Cora? Did I say something to offend you? We can drop this dating stuff if you’d like. There are many more interesting things to talk about. Like a zillion.”

Cora rubbed her hands over her face and tried to smile up at Megan, who stood up by their table with her plate in her hand.

“Don’t worry about me, honey. You just go fill up your plate again. I’m still working on mine.”

Megan walked towards the dessert table wondering what in the world had floored Cora. A little of her own medicine had evidently gone a long way.

Nine

CORA DROVE UP TO her house and, by the lights on, knew immediately that Trevor was inside waiting for her. Waiting to hear good news. And all she could do was disappoint him. She sighed as she expertly pulled into her garage and took much longer than needed to find the front door. What could she say? She knew what she wanted to say. She wanted to tell him that everything was set, all he needed to do was show up and the girl of his dreams was his. Or there was the truth. Cora put her hand on the doorknob and took an extra breath of courage. Before she could exhale, Trevor was swinging the door wide open for her.

“Mom! I’ve been waiting forever. How’d it go?”

Cora closed her eyes, knowing what she was going to say and knowing that he wasn’t going to like it. Cora laid her purse and keys down on the hallway table and walked wearily towards her rocking chair.

“I’m sorry, Trevor, but I don’t think I can set you up. You’re a big boy now. I’m sure if you try really hard you can do this all by yourself. All it takes is a little effort.”

Trevor stood over his mom, who was now sitting down. She looked . . . intimidated?

“What happened tonight, Mom? Why the sudden change? You were all gung ho about setting me up this afternoon. Tell me, did Megan do something to upset you?”

Cora looked up at her son and burst into tears. Forget the lot, the house, the grandkids, everything. She just couldn’t go on a date. She’d never be able to look at Jack’s picture hanging on her bedroom wall again.

“She won’t go on a blind date unless I go on a blind date, too. She wants to double date.”

Trevor hadn’t seen his mother cry since he graduated from college. What was this? Trevor knelt down by his mom’s side and put his arm around her. As he patted his mom’s knee and told her it was all right, it came to him. His dad. That was what this was all about. Trevor shook his head and frowned. He wasn’t sure he wanted his mom to go on a blind date with some strange guy either, but if it meant seeing Megan again . . . .

“What about going on a date scares you, Mom? I’ve been around a lot of men, so I can fill you in. There’s no reason to be scared. Occasionally they’re smelly, but I know this from personal experience: they usually shower and brush their teeth before picking up dates. Let’s see—oh, and the conversation thing isn’t that scary. It’s actually kind of fun. Sometimes it even beats old reruns of Bonanza. Every now and then anyway. And they usually pay for dinner and the movie, or whatever. But, if you’re scared of that part, then I’ll make sure you have an extra twenty in your purse in case he thinks you’re going dutch.”

Cora raised her red, bleary eyes up to meet her sons and reached for his hand, not even cracking a smile at his joking.

“What if he tries to kiss me, Trevor? The last man I kissed was your father, and I’ve always wanted to keep it that way. That’s the scary part.”

Trevor leaned over and kissed his mom on the forehead, very gently.

“Mom, you don’t have to go on a date, ever, if that’s the way you want it. I don’t want you to be scared or sad. I’ll find some other way to work this out. Why don’t you go on to bed? You look tired. Do you want me to fix you some hot chocolate?”

Cora shook her head sadly. She wouldn’t be dreaming of dark-haired grandchildren that night. The only thing she could think of was how she had failed her son. He had needed her and she had let him down.

“I really messed things up, didn’t I, Trev?”

Trevor reached into his pocket and felt the box holding the diamond engagement ring. He couldn’t seem to put it down.

“Mom, just so you know, my last three dates didn’t feel the need to kiss me good night. I didn’t even get a hand shake from the last two. You know, Megan did say she wanted to double date. You would never even have to be alone with the man. I can be the one who takes you home. But it’s up to you. Like I said, I don’t want you to be scared about this in any way.”

“Poor Megan, the last man who kissed her was a complete moron. What are my chances?”

Cora got up from her rocking chair and walked into the kitchen, thinking about what Trevor had said. It might work if she was with a group of people. She could pretend she wasn’t even on a date at all. Maybe.

Trevor watched his mother walk into the kitchen, and felt a slight tremor of foreboding. Megan couldn’t have meant him. Surely.

Ten

MEGAN FLOATED THROUGHOUT THE next day. There was nothing that could get her down. She had a client! A crazy, wonderful client. Her luck was definitely changing. Okay, so the phone hadn’t rung once in the past two hours, but she had hope! Her floor time was from one to six and she was ready for anything. Megan was so energized (or was it bored?) that she found an old bottle of Windex and went to work on the windows. She was only halfway through when the phone finally rang. Megan sprinted across the office and picked up the phone on the second ring.

“Western Realty, this is Megan Garrett, can I help you?”

“Megan, this is your mother. Your father is having some people from a magazine over tonight for dinner. We need you to be here. They’re doing a story on him for Business World. This is very important to him. We need to show them a united front. Can you be here by five-thirty for pictures? Dinner will be served at six. Oh, and wear something nice. All right, dear?”

Megan glanced at the clock. It was five and her floor time wasn’t up till six. She expelled all the air in her lungs, not looking forward to the tug-o-war that was about to take place.

“Sorry, Mom, if you had told me even yesterday, I might have been able to swing something, but I can’t leave the office till six. I can probably make it for dessert if you’d like.”

Trish Garrett didn’t like the word
no
. She never had. “That’s just not acceptable, dear. After all we’ve done for you, don’t you think you could do this one thing for your father? After the fiasco of your wedding, don’t you think you’ve embarrassed him enough for one lifetime? I really think showing up tonight would be in your best interest. After all, it would be a start in making things up to your father.”

Megan opened the top drawer of her desk and reached to the far back for her bottle of Tylenol. Her mother had a bad habit of causing her pain.

“If it was so important to him that I be there, why am I just now finding out about it?”

Megan tried to keep her tone of voice even and courteous, but she felt a sudden burst of anger at the attempt to humiliate her into submission. She knew anger never helped any situation, so she concentrated on a memory she had of her mom when she was a little girl. She had been lost at the mall and her mom had found her, crying and upset. And she had made it all better. It was the best memory she had of her mom and it came in handy at times like this.

“Oh, I’m sure I sent you an invitation, Megan. You probably just misplaced it. You can’t blame me for your poor organization.”

Her mother was lying. She had a really bad habit of doing that.

“Is Linette going to be there?”

There was a pause from her mother. Obviously she had hit the nail on the head.

“As a matter of fact, Linette just informed me that she won’t be able to be here till eight.”

So that was the real reason behind the sudden invitation. She had to come up with a daughter quick, and she had been desperate.

“Tell the magazine that pictures will be after dinner. Goodbye, Mom.”

Megan hung up the phone and wondered why she was going. She wasn’t even really a part of the family anymore. But there was always hope and she couldn’t let that die. Not yet, anyway.

Eleven

MEGAN DROVE UP TO her family’s home in the Riverbottoms and sat in the car as the cramps in her stomach grew worse and worse. This was not going to be fun. It never was. She forced herself to get out of the car and glanced down at the pantsuit she had been wearing at work all day. Dean had been late, so she hadn’t been able to go home and change. It wasn’t that bad really, if you didn’t mind a mile of wrinkles.

“Megan!”

Megan jumped out of her skin. She turned to see who was calling to her out of the trees, and saw her sister motioning for her. Megan looked up at the house quickly and then ran over to her sister.

“Linette, why aren’t you inside? Mom’s going to kill you.” Linette was in the shadows, but Megan could still see the pouty expression on her face. Her mom and her little sister could have been twins. They looked the same and they had very similar personalities, which of course meant they didn’t get along at all.

“Meg, I wouldn’t go in there if I were you. I’m not. Let’s take off! We can go see a movie or something. Or . . . we could go get something to eat.”

Megan smiled and put her arm around her sister. After moving out, she hadn’t been able to spend as much time with Linette as she would have liked. Mostly because of her parents. To them, Megan was just a reminder to them of how they had failed. But she should have made more of an effort.

“How about I go in, just for pictures, and then I’ll sneak out, and we can go rent a video and pig out on popcorn. Oh, but you probably have classes tomorrow. Maybe Friday?”

Linette grabbed onto Megan’s arms, with surprising strength, considering how skinny and frail she looked.

“Give me your house key and I’ll just wait for you at your house, okay?”

Megan looked up at the house, knowing what waited inside for her, and shrugged. It might help to have something to look forward to. And it looked like her sister needed someone to talk to.

“Fine. There might be a bag of popcorn in the pantry. You’re welcome to anything you find. I’m just sorry there isn’t more. I didn’t go shopping this week.”

Or last week.

Linette grabbed the house key Megan held out to her and ran for her car, a sporty little Mazda. Megan frowned as she looked closely at her sister’s departing figure. She wasn’t just thin. She was emaciated. Megan watched with worry on her face as Linette drove away. Then she turned and walked quickly towards the door to her parent’s home. The sooner she got this over with, the sooner she could get to her sister and ask her why in world she was starving herself.

Her mother was at the door to greet her.

“I knew you would do this. I tell you someone’s going to take your picture and you automatically pick the ugliest thing in your closet. You used to have such good taste, Megan, I don’t know what has happened to you. Hurry upstairs before anyone sees you and I’ll give you something of mine to wear. I can’t believe this.”

It was so much easier to have good taste when you had plenty of money to back it up with. Megan followed her mother up the stairs meekly without saying a word. That’s the way her mother preferred her targets. Silent.

“Here, try this on. You’re taller than me, but thank goodness you didn’t get all soft and plump like your Aunt Audrey. Oh forget it, the color clashes with your eyes. I still don’t know where you got those green eyes. I guess it will have to be the silk. Oh well, I haven’t worn it in months. It never suited me anyway. Hurry, Megan. We’ll be waiting for you on the deck.”

Megan watched the door shut firmly on her, leaving her alone in her mother’s bedroom. It had been a long time since she had been in this room. Her mom had redecorated since then. It was now an Amazon jungle. Whatever the style was, Trish Garrett was the first one in line. Megan glanced at the outfit her mother had flung at her and fell helplessly in love. Megan had always loved clothes. At one time it had practically been an obsession, fed by the demands of her parents. Now, clothes were just a dream to her, completely out of reach. Except this dream felt amazingly real. It was a pale mossy green silk sheath that matched her eyes. Completely simple and utterly perfect. Megan shed her wrinkled suit and shimmied into the silk with a sigh of delight. Well, at least the dress offered something good about the night.

Megan followed orders and reported to the back deck in less than five minutes. Her father and mother were in a corner discussing the details of the article with someone who was obviously in charge. The photographers were setting up their equipment. If she was lucky, she could be out of here in half an hour.