Behind the Pine Curtain (24 page)

“You look nice tonight.”

“Rose, I’m in jeans,” Kay said dryly. “How many tomatoes should I slice?”

“All four. And I just mean, they look nice on you. I wish you’d have some kids so you could spread out like me.”

“I doubt the sole reason is having kids, Rosie.”

“And what do you mean by that?”

“You work at the café and eat Mama’s cooking. You come home and cook. And I know you’ve not forgotten that I can’t cook to save my life.”

Rose pointed the knife at her. “Never too old to learn. And trust me, I will not let Lee Ann fall into the same trap as you did. She’s already got that little tomboy attitude, thinking she needs to be outside playing ball or something.”

“Same trap as me? I was not a tomboy, Rose.”

Rose laughed. “Of course you were. You spent more time on your bike chasing after Jackie than you ever spent in the house, not to mention climbing that old oak tree.”

“That doesn’t make me a tomboy. Jackie, she was the tomboy.”

“Yeah, talk about stereotype.”

“
Rose!
”

“Well, it’s the truth. And don’t get me wrong, I love Jackie to death.

But think back, Kay. She was playing sports with the boys, beating
up
the boys, and she
never
wore dresses.”

“And what’s your point, Rose.”

“I’m just saying, we should have known.”

Kay spread her hands. “And if we’d known, what would we have done?

Stayed away from her? Forbid her to come to our house?”

Rose lowered her voice. “Does it bother you? I mean, you guys used to sleep together all the time. Even when you were in high school.”

Kay stared. “Rose, what’s up? Are you
worried
about me?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Jackie would never hurt you.”

“Then drop it.” Kay rinsed the head of lettuce, surprised at Rose.

Apparently, her sister was worried that Jackie might . . . try something.

Geez
.

“By the way, I have a little surprise for you.”

“Oh, yeah?” Then Kay whipped around. “God, you’re not pregnant, are you?”

“Good Lord, no. I’d shoot myself.” Rose looked over her shoulder into the empty living room before speaking. “Eric invited a friend.”

Kay went back to her lettuce. “That’s nice.”

“A guy friend. A guy he works with.”

Kay slowly turned around. “And?”

“And, he’s single. And Eric says he’s cute.”

“And?”

“Kay! Give me a break here. At least act a little excited.”

“Excited? You’re trying to set me up with a guy who works offshore with Eric? Now that would make for an interesting relationship.”

“Well, Eric says he’s a really nice guy. He’s going to stay here the whole month.”

“
What?
”

“He’s from Mississippi. Doesn’t have a whole lot going on there, so Eric invited him to stay here with him for the month.”

“Eric invited? With no encouragement from you?”

“Well, he’s been mentioning this guy for months now.” Rose shrugged.

“I may have dropped a hint or two.”

“Sure you did. Well, you can forget it.”

“Kay, what would it hurt to go out with him?”

“And when would I do that?”

“This weekend, or next week, or make plans for next weekend.”

Kay shook her head. “I have company.”

“Oh, please. Jackie wouldn’t mind being scarce if you had a guy over.”

“No, but I mind. She won’t be here much longer, and I don’t intend to sacrifice any of that time.”

“Wait before you pass judgment. This guy might knock your socks off.”

“How did everything go?” Jacqueline asked. Greg smiled. “Better than I thought, really. Having Peterson gone helped. Jackie, I never thought he’d do that.”

“No. And I assume he never thought I’d take him up on his resignation.”

“You were right. David has been doing his job for the last several years.

It’s no secret.”

“Any other situations like that?”

“Fiberboard. Carl Hybeck has been pushing more and more on Gene.”

“And you took care of it?”

“I talked to him about it today, yes.”

Jacqueline smiled. “Good.”

“I didn’t have to threaten much, not after what happened with Peterson.”

“I was a bitch, I know.”

“You were great.”

Jacqueline grinned. “Rose got flowers.”

“Yeah, well, I got a raise.” Greg lowered his voice. “And it’s too much, Jackie. I don’t know what to do with that kind of money.”

“We can’t have the president making less than the managers, now can we?”

Their eyes met. “I won’t let you down.”

“I’m not worried about that, Greg.”

“I talked to Jesus Hernandez today.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Moved him to days. I’ve never seen a man more excited.”

“And his raise?”

Greg laughed. “He almost shit his pants!”

“Are there others like him? I didn’t have time to check them all.”

“I’ve got Ms. Scott going over everything. I spent most of the afternoon building her a database so she could dump all the records in there and we could sort through them.”

“I know this has all happened so fast, but we’ve got to find someone to replace you, don’t we?”

“Replace me? On the network?” He shook his head. “No, no, no.”

“Ah, I forgot. Computer geek. The network is your baby.”

“Well, I could probably use an assistant, but I wouldn’t want to give up control of the network. I mean, there are way too many things you can do when you control the network.”

“So we’re looking for someone trustworthy? Like you?”

“Thank you.”

“Hire who you need, Greg. Did John Lawrence hang around after I left?”

“For awhile. We went over everything. Your father was never one to share information with everyone. He told them what he thought they needed to know. I think that’s why none of the plants mixed. I think if we are more of a team, and we all know what each other is doing and how much profit each plant is bringing in, we could be more competitive. But before I went too far, I wanted to check with you.”

Jacqueline laughed. “Greg, you do it how you want to do it. I told you, I don’t have a clue about this business.”

“Mr. Lawrence seemed to think I was overstepping.”

“How so?”

“He said there was a fine line between enough information and too much.”

“Greg, do you have any idea how much Keys Industries is worth?”

He shook his head. “But I can imagine.”

“And it’s not a corporation. It’s a privately owned business. So if you have all these employees making x number of dollars and they are suddenly privy to the enormous wealth of the business, aren’t they going to want a salary increase?”

“But they’re all making good salaries now. For around here, they’re making exceptional salaries.”

“But if you found out the business was bringing in
millions
each year, aren’t you going to want to be compensated more?”

“So, Peterson’s salary wasn’t exactly breaking the company.”

“It was a drop in the bucket. Peterson, however, was like a tick, feeding off the company but giving nothing back. If you take a look at the contracts for particleboard for the last two years, David Jimenez negotiated most of them. And I think David is a good example of promoting hard work. Make it clear to the others if they do the job, they’ll be compensated.”

“I thought you had no management skills.”

Jacqueline grinned. “As I told Kay, I’m making this up as I go.”

“Your father would be proud, you know.”

Jacqueline shrugged. “I think he’d just be thankful I haven’t sold out to my mother.”

Greg lowered his voice. “Speaking of that, Mr. Lawrence got a call late this afternoon from one of the Gentry twins. From what I gathered, I think your mother is trying to get a judge to block your ownership of Keys Industries. He didn’t seem overly worried about it though.”

“What do you mean, from what you gathered? He didn’t tell you?”

“No. I was in his office when he took the call. I only overheard his side of the conversation.”

“Greg, I know this is difficult for you, but technically, you’re Mr.

Lawrence’s boss. He works for Keys Industries.”

“Yeah, but this had to do with you.”

“If it had to do with me, then why hasn’t he called me?”

Kay spied Jackie and Greg deep in conversation, and she hung back, quietly watching. Rose had her occupied for nearly the last hour, but she should have known not to worry that Jackie would be alone. And judging by the looks on their faces, they were talking business. So, she took the opportunity to watch without being seen. Jackie had been here over a week and Kay still couldn’t believe she was back. Couldn’t believe that they’d picked up right where they left off. Jackie had changed in so many ways, yet she hadn’t changed a bit. And Kay was as drawn to her today as she had been all those years ago.

Without notice, Jacqueline turned, her eyes finding Kay immediately. It startled her, but then Kay didn’t know why she should be surprised.

They’d always been aware of each other’s presence. It was eerie, almost.

But Jackie smiled and motioned her over, so Kay complied.

“You lurking in the bushes?” Jacqueline teased.

Kay nearly blushed. “I didn’t want to interrupt. I knew you were talking business.”

Jacqueline shrugged. “Nothing that’s a secret, Kay.”

Kay looked at Greg. “So, how did it go?”

“I survived, and they didn’t all quit on us, so I guess we’ll be okay.”

“Good. Rose said you hardly slept last night.”

It was Greg’s turn to blush. “Yes, I was nervous as hell. But you should have seen Jackie. She came in and took over.”

Jacqueline laughed, meeting Kay’s eyes. “I was a bitch.”

“And your Peterson guy?”

Jacqueline grinned. “He resigned. Imagine that.”

“Did you push him?”

“Maybe a little.”

Greg stepped away. “I see Rose waving frantically for me. I better go see what’s up.”

When they were alone, Kay affectionately squeezed Jackie’s hand.

“Greg did okay?”

“Yes. Greg will be fine. I’m not worried about him. I’m more worried about John Lawrence not trusting him. Greg said he overheard a conversation with one of the Gentry twins and John. Apparently, Madeline is trying to get a court order to block my ownership of Keys Industries. John didn’t bother sharing this with Greg, nor did he call me.”

“Can she do that? I mean, block it?”

Jacqueline shrugged. “I don’t know. John doesn’t seem to think so.

Maybe that’s why he’s not mentioned it to me.”

“Are you worried?”

Jacqueline shook her head. “It’s not like it would break my heart if I lost it. I mean, it’s going to have to go along on its own, anyway.”

“What do you mean?”

“My father worked sixty hours a week, sometimes more.” Jacqueline met Kay’s eyes. “I’ve got another career, one that takes up a lot of my time. I can’t devote a whole lot of time and energy to this if I want to keep writing.”

Kay lowered her head. “I keep forgetting sometimes that you’re only here temporarily.”

This time it was Jacqueline who reached out, Jacqueline whose fingers entwined with Kay’s. “No matter what, Kay, we’ll always be close. I promise, I won’t disappear again.”

Before Kay could speak, Rose was leading a handsome young man toward them. “Oh, God,” she murmured.

“What?”

Their eyes met. “Rose is trying to fix me up.”

Jacqueline looked at the man approaching, and yes, he was attractive, rugged looking. She felt the tightening in her chest immediately.

“I’ll get out of your way then,” she murmured, intending to escape. Kay wouldn’t let go of her hand. Their eyes met again.

“Stay.”

“Should have known you two would be holed up somewhere,” Rose said as she walked up. “I want you to meet Josh, a friend of Eric’s who is visiting Pine Springs. Josh, this is Jackie, an old family friend. And this beautiful gal is my sister, Kay.”

Kay and Jackie exchanged amused glances, and Kay just barely kept herself from groaning out loud at Rose’s introduction.
Beautiful gal?

But she found her manners, politely offering her hand.

“Nice to meet you.”

“Good to finally meet you, Kay. Eric and Rose have told me so much about you.”

Kay smiled. “Oh? Eric and
Rose
?” She turned to her sister, her eyes sparking. “Unfortunately, today was the first I’ve heard of you.”

He winked at her. “They wanted to surprise you.”

Kay plastered a smile on her face. “Well, they did that.”

“Jackie, why don’t you help me with the burgers,” Rose said, linking arms with Jackie and pulling her away.

“I thought Kay helped you.”

“Just preliminary, not with the meat.”

Jacqueline looked back at Kay and their eyes met for a second before Kay turned back to Josh.

“Well, what do you think?” Rose asked quietly.

“About what?”

“Josh! What else?”

Jacqueline shrugged. “He’s okay.”

“
Okay?
He’s cute as can be!”

Jacqueline shrugged again. “I suppose. If you like that sort of thing.”

Rose laughed out loud. “I sometimes forget, Jackie, that you
don’t
like that sort of thing! But Kay does. And it’s been forever since she’s been out on a date.”

“Well, maybe they’ll hit it off.”

“I hope so. I hate seeing her alone.”

“Wouldn’t she still be alone? This guy works with Eric.”

“You know what I mean. I just wish she
had
someone. She’s so attractive, lots of men have asked her out, but she refuses.”

“She had a very bad experience, Rose. You can’t blame her for hesitating.”

Rose pulled Jackie into the kitchen, motioning at the sink. “Wash your hands. We’ve got about thirty patties to make.” Rose took the bowl of ground meat from the fridge that she had seasoned earlier. “And I know what an asshole Billy Ray was to her, but that doesn’t mean all men are like that. Look at Greg, for instance. He’s the gentlest man I’ve ever met in my life. He never raises his voice, he’s great with the kids. I just want her to find someone like that.”