Chance of a Lifetime (21 page)

“I was just leaving,” Emily said as she hurried toward her coat. She didn’t want to go to the bakery. The sisters would have far too many questions about Tannon buying her desserts on Wednesday. So, instead, she climbed in her car and drove over to Tannon’s office. His big pickup was still in the first parking slot, telling Emily that he hadn’t left town yet.

On impulse, she pulled into the visitor’s parking space beside him and grabbed the book she’d been reading from her bag. If he didn’t have time to talk to her, he’d have to tell her to her face; otherwise, she planned to at least check on his mother’s condition.

The same sharply dressed receptionist was at the long front desk. This time she didn’t stand when Emily walked in, she just stared.

“May I help you?” Her voice was professional, but not friendly.

Emily suddenly felt out of place. “I thought…I thought…”

She took a deep breath while the receptionist looked bored. “I’d like to see Tannon for a moment, if it’s not a problem.”

The receptionist folded her thin arms over the flat chest. “I’m sorry, but Mr. Parker is very busy just now.”

“Oh.” Emily hadn’t thought she’d have to fight to see Tannon. She’d only meant to wish him well with his mother.

The phone on the long desk buzzed.

“Yes, Mr. Parker.” The receptionist turned away, ignoring Emily. “Yes, Mr. Parker. I’ll have the file loaded.” She listened for several seconds before adding, “I’ll see that it’s taken care of.” As she turned to reach for her pen, she noticed Emily. “Oh, there is a woman here who wanted to speak to you. I told her you were busy, but I’ll set up a tentative time with her for the first of next week.”

The receptionist raised her gaze as she covered the receiver. “Your name, miss?”

“Emily,” she whispered, wondering if she shouldn’t have given an alias. This situation was probably only embarrassing Tannon.

The receptionist repeated the name, then stared for a moment before lowering the phone. “He’ll be right down, miss. He asked me to tell you to meet him at the elevator.” She looked like a woman repeating government secrets.

With one long manicured finger, the model pointed at the steel door in the small lobby just beyond the office’s glass wall.

Emily made it three steps before the door opened and Tannon stepped out. With his long legs, he was at her side before she thought to move. He took her arm gently and tugged her toward the elevator, but his stare and words were for the receptionist. “Don’t ever keep Miss Tomlinson waiting again.”

Emily was surprised at the hard edge to his tone. She’d never seen this side of Tannon.

He must have sensed it too, because he added, “She’s an old friend. If she comes to see me, send her straight through to wherever I am.”

“Yes, Mr. Parker,” the receptionist answered.

Without a word they stepped on the elevator. When Emily turned, the entire office staff was staring at her as the doors closed.

“I came to—” she started just as Tannon said, “I’m glad you—”

They both laughed shattering the tension.

“You first,” she said.

“I heard from the hospital. Mom has an infection. She’s back in ICU. I’m glad you came. You can help me pack. It looks like I’m going to have to stay a few days.” He nodded once. “Now you.”

“I thought I’d bring her a book. I knew you’d be on your way soon.” She held the book up as if for proof. “But I guess now she won’t be needing it today.”

The elevator opened into his living room. “Oh my,” she said staring into the big room with glass walls and a high ceiling. “This is where you live?”

“You like it?” He tugged her into the mass of leather furniture and stainless steel. Everywhere there was color, he’d used earthy browns and deep greens just as she had in her apartment.

“It’s beautiful.” She smiled guessing that her opinion mattered. “It’s like something I’ve seen pictures of in magazines.” To the right, a six-foot-high glass flower arrangement adorned with tiny white lights sat in the center of a table big enough to seat ten, and to the left a kitchen, which looked like it should belong in a restaurant, framed one corner of the big room.

Tannon smiled. “That’s how I planned it. I saw this picture and told the builder to make it look like the picture. I can see in every direction, but the glass is tinted so no one can see in. I don’t like the feeling of being closed in.”

“Everyone must love coming up here.” Emily turned in a circle. “So much space.”

“No one, including my mom, has ever been up here before now.”

She stopped. “Really?”

“Really.” He lowered his head. “I must sound pretty pathetic, but I’ve never invited anyone here. The cleaning staff comes in once a week to change the sheets and dust. That’s it.”

Emily wasn’t sure she wanted to think too much about why he’d asked her up. “And I’m here,” she announced, “to help you pack.”

“Right,” he agreed, and pointed her toward the bedroom. “I don’t know how long I’ll be there this time. I may be sleeping in the waiting room if she gets any worse. I know it won’t help but I need to be near.”

She walked into a bedroom that exactly matched the color scheme of the rest of the apartment. In an odd way, the room felt welcoming to her, almost as if she’d helped to design it.

Clothes were tossed across the bed where he’d pitched them toward the open suitcase in a hurry.

As if she were working a puzzle, she walked around the bed, looking at his clothes. So far the only things in his bag were white socks and white underwear. The clothes hanging in his open closet looked exactly like the ones on the bed. Pressed long-sleeved shirts with his initials on the cuff, creased boot-cut jeans and tan dress slacks, western-cut sports jackets and leather coats.

“I see the problem,” she said as he watched her. “What you need is something casual and you don’t have anything casual. Nothing for sitting around the hospital.”

“I’m not wearing the Hawaiian shirt.”

She spotted it in the very back of the closet.

“What about short sleeves?”

“I don’t wear short sleeves. If it gets hot, I just roll the sleeves up.”

“What do you wear on your day off or at night relaxing? Old jeans, jogging pants, a jersey?”

“I don’t take days off and most nights I work until time to go to bed. The little time I spend watching the news is hardly worth a wardrobe change.”

“What do you sleep in?”

“Nothing,” he answered with a slow smile. “What do you sleep in, Emily?”

She couldn’t believe she blushed as if they were seventeen again, learning that special kind of teasing that pushes the line.

“While you help me, how about a drink?” His smile said he loved teasing her, but his words let her off the hook.

“No, thanks, unless you have diet root beer?”

He disappeared and came back with a cold bottle. “I just happened to have one,” he said as he handed it to her.

She’d picked out a few things and after one sip, went back to folding clothes. “I figured out you could take off your shirts if you have to sleep at the hospital and just sleep in a T-shirt.”

He stuffed a shaving kit into his suitcase as she asked, “Don’t you ever wear any color of underwear besides white?”

He opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, she added, “Never mind. Forget I asked.”

They were both laughing a few minutes later when they stepped out of the elevator. He carried his suitcase and coat. She held her root beer.

The receptionist didn’t say a word as she handed him his briefcase, but her nod to Emily was polite and questioning.

Tannon looped his coat over Emily’s arm and took the case. “Walk with me to my car, would you, Emily?”

“Of course.” She had no doubt the entire office staff watched her leave the building.

After Tannon dropped his bags in his truck, he turned around and opened her car door. “Thanks for the help. I’ll call when I can, but you’ve got a busy day what with the town council meeting this afternoon and the writers’ group tonight.”

She’d almost forgotten about both. “I’ll tell you all about them after you let me know how your mother is.” She moved around to step into her car, but his hand covered hers atop the car door.

When she looked up, he met her stare. “I wish I could be here with you tonight. We could go over to the diner and talk after your meeting. I’m needed here in case your volunteer escapes.”

“And I wish I could go with you,” she answered honestly. “If your mom’s not better tomorrow, I’ll drive up after work and sit with her a while.”

He nodded but didn’t let go of her hand. “I wish this were one of those times I could kiss you good-bye,” he
whispered, glancing at the busy street behind them and the wall of glass in front of them.

She understood. He must be feeling very much alone. He might be a powerful man, but inside he was still an only son whose mother might be dying. “I’ll be there tomorrow,” she whispered. She made a mental note to find someone to cover her hours.

“I’ll be waiting,” he answered, and stepped away.

Emily almost laughed aloud when she was safe inside her car. They sounded like a knight and his lady saying good-bye before battle, not two people standing in a busy parking lot. Tannon and she were barely friends. She was obviously reading far too much into what he said.

As she drove back to the library, she decided that had been her problem. She lived her own life in her head as if it were fiction finding plots and quests. All her days were ordinary days with little of matter ever happening, yet she thought of them as adventures. Tonight, in her moment journal, she might write more than a few words. She might try a scene, a love scene with passionate kisses and touches that set fire to her thoughts as well as her skin.

By the time she made it back to her office, she’d pushed her wild thoughts aside so she could concentrate on the writers’ meeting at seven. Martha Q Patterson was out of town, so there wouldn’t be as many in attendance tonight, and Tannon wouldn’t be waiting downstairs for her when it was over.

Arranging the chairs in the alcove, she walked back to her office depressed. The writers’ group wouldn’t be nearly so much fun knowing she’d have no one to share the stories with later. She wanted to be with Tannon, not just writing about him in her journal. For the first time, she wanted a real moment and not just one in her thoughts.

The phone rang.

“Hello, Harmony County Library.” She tried to push her cloud aside.

“Emily.” Tannon’s low voice drew her. “I forgot to ask if I could call you at nine thirty tonight. That’ll give you time
to get home and put on that sexy fuzzy pink robe and set out your supper. I want to hear all about the writers’ meeting. We’ll talk while you eat. It won’t be as good as chili fries at the diner, but it’ll do.”

“It’s a date.” She smiled, wondering if he was thinking the same thing she’d been thinking.

“And, honey, don’t worry about the town council. They can’t eat you.”

“Thanks for pointing out the bright side.” She laughed, realizing she’d forgotten about that.

He took a long breath and added, “Got to go. Talk to you tonight.”

He was gone before she had a chance to say good-bye.

For a few minutes, she just stared at the phone. She and Tannon Parker might just be becoming real friends again. He’d even called her honey, like they were close. In an odd way, it felt good to have him for a friend again after all these years. Anger has a way of fading and forgiveness felt right. They’d never talked about it. He’d never explained where he’d been, but Emily knew deep down that if he’d been there, he would have helped.

It felt right to have him in her life.

Maybe she was just letting her imagination run away again. After all, he probably called every woman he knew “friend.” No, she decided. He wasn’t the type. He was probably just kidding her; after all he’d called her fuzzy robe “sexy.”

She shrugged. She was no more his honey than her robe was sexy, but it did feel good to have someone kid her.

T
RACE ADAMS PACED BACK AND FORTH IN FRONT OF THE
long windows overlooking the courthouse. Rick Matheson’s office was far too small, but the long wall of windows almost made the little space bearable. “This place is nothing but a fishbowl. How do you stand it here?”

“You know,” Rick said, looking up from his desk for the tenth time, “it’s hard to concentrate with you always moving and mumbling. Not that I’m complaining about the way you move. It’s just hard to think of anything else, that’s all. You’ve got the kind of body I spent my adolescence dreaming about.”

“Why are we here again?” She didn’t bother to look his direction. Watching the town square reminded her of watching an ant bed. It really wasn’t all that interesting, but she couldn’t look away. “Anyone can walk by and see you from here. I can think of a dozen places where a sniper could take you out and vanish before the bullet hit the window.”

“I told you that I’ve got a couple, Minnie and Eldon Peters, coming in to ask questions about getting a divorce.
It’s easy money I can’t afford to turn down. So stop suggesting future ways to kill me and let me do my job.”