Homecoming (17 page)
“Too bad.” Lilly peered into her steel cup and scraped up the last of the dark chocolate.
“You want any more, Lilly? Might as well make hay while the sun shines.” Dora, the pleasant, thirty-something proprietor materialized beside them.
“I’ll have a half-portion of Sloth, thanks Dora. I’m going on a diet as soon as Junior’s born. In the meantime,” she patted her tummy, “it’s well camouflaged.” Lilly and Federica watched Dora as she filled the order. “You know, a representative from a big ice cream chain offered her an executive position a few years ago. She thought about it for a while because the offer was very lucrative.”
“But she didn’t take it,” Federica said.
“No,” Lilly said, surprised, “in the end she didn’t. She thought—”
“—it was better to be her own boss, and live here, rather than earn more money.”
“You got it!” Lilly was delighted. “Smart lady. We’ll make a Carson’s Bluffer out of you yet, Federica!”
Don’t I wish
, Federica thought.
There was a sudden silence, as both of them remembered at the exact same time why Federica was there.
Federica took a deep breath. In for a penny, in for a pound. “Tell me about Jack’s wife.”
“
Ex
-wife. Thank God.”
“Okay. Ex-wife.”
Lilly was silent as Dora slid some Sloth onto the wooden table. She contemplated the double-cream vanilla and maraschino cherries for a long moment. “Jack didn’t always live here in Carson’s Bluff. For fifteen years he was in the Army.”
“The Army?” Federica couldn’t quite square her laid-back Jack with the regimentation of military life. “That doesn’t sound much like Jack.”
“Well, he was.” Lilly put her spoon down and leaned earnestly toward Federica. “Jack is deeper than he looks. He’s always had a strong sense of duty. It’s what makes him such a good sheriff. And it’s why he’ll probably be re-elected mayor until the day he dies.”
Federica just looked at her. She didn’t need Lilly to tell her how wonderful Jack was. The fact that he was so wonderful was one of the major problems in her life right now.
“His wife. Okay.” Lilly blew out a breath. “Jack—Jack did one of those behind-the scenes jobs that are really necessary but not glamorous, if you know what I mean. He was a supplies inspector, and he traveled from post to post, and from company warehouse to manufacturing site, making sure everything was up to spec. He traveled a lot with his secretary, Samantha. And he ended up marrying her.” Lilly’s face screwed up in disgust. “I don’t know what he saw in her. Nobody does.”
Federica tried making a swan origami out of her napkin. It looked so easy when the Japanese did it. She didn’t look up. “I take it Samantha wasn’t from around here?”
“You take it right. Not that we’d be prejudiced against outsiders,” Lilly added hastily. “It’s just that there was something about her…I don’t know…we just couldn’t get close to her, you know?”
Federica tugged at a paper corner and pulled out an awkward swan, one wing up and one wing down. She hated Samantha already. “So what happened?”
Lilly sighed. “Well, Jack’s job took him around the world, on on-site inspections. And he and Samantha would get taken out a lot, by the supply companies. Jack made it clear that his opinion wasn’t for sale. But I guess Samantha started getting used to the good life. She liked going to fancy restaurants and nagged Jack into buying her lots of clothes. Anyway, to cut a long story short, a routine audit of the books of one of the supply companies showed that the company had paid almost one-hundred-thousand into Jack’s account. He was court-martialed.”
“Jack
!” Federica had started on another napkin origami, a flower this time, but her hands jerked and the paper tore. “I don’t believe it! Jack couldn’t do anything like that!”
“No, Jack couldn’t,” Lilly said, her voice grim. “But Samantha sure could. And did. Turned out that she’d been receiving gifts from the president of the company and promised to get Jack to overlook a few irregularities. Which was crazy when you thought about it, because Jack wouldn’t do it, and anyway they were barely speaking to each other at that point. I don’t know what she was thinking. But the point is that Jack wasn’t checking their joint account and didn’t notice the money piling up or the expensive presents she was getting. Just like a man. He didn’t even notice that she had a diamond bracelet. But the Army lawyers didn’t believe him at first. It took all of his savings and then some to convince the court of that. That he was innocent. His name was finally cleared and he quit, but he was financially wiped out. He came back home, divorced and broke.” Lilly watched Federica carefully. “About the only thing Jack has to his name now is his house, which belonged to our grandmother, and his salary as sheriff, which is forty thou a year.”
Federica was turning over in her mind what Lilly had told her.
“Forty thousand doesn’t go very far,” Lilly said slowly. “Not nowadays.”
Forty thousand dollars was less than Federica’s expense account, but Federica wasn’t thinking of that. She was thinking that Jack’s marriage was really over. She felt a sudden rush of gratitude for this Samantha person’s greed. “Crazy woman,” Federica said suddenly.
“Who?”
“Samantha.”
“You think so?”
“Absolutely. She must be utterly and totally insane. Imagine choosing a few restaurant meals and a bracelet over…over
Jack
. I mean, what sane woman would do that?”
Lilly smiled. “You really mean that?”
“Well, of course I mean it. That woman must have been out of her mind.” Federica shook her head in wonder. “Nuts.”
“Yeah, nuts.” Lilly grinned. She gestured with her spoon at Federica’s half-finished ice cream. “Say, are you going to finish that? If not, I’ll eat it. I seem to have this enormous appetite lately.”
EMAIL FROM: [email protected]
Dear Paul,
Thanks for the spreadsheets. I will give them careful consideration. All the more so because we are basing our plans for growth until 2010 on expanding into Eastern Europe. It’s going to be trickier than I thought. Even here in Prague, things are not going as well as I had hoped. Nonetheless, this is definitely going to be the fastest-growing part of our business in the future. The question is when? I suppose we can hold off on acquisition of the Carson’s Bluff property if it creates a cash-flow problem. Advise Federica to postpone negotiations. We can think about starting to close down the Engineering Department and eliminating Russell White. Stay in touch.
Frederick
Federica finished the chapter with a pleased sigh. Fifty pages into the book and the heroine was still a baby. The book was pleasantly heavy, at least three days’ worth of reading. Three days was as far ahead as her mind could stretch, then a little hum would set in, closing off all further thought.
She was sitting on the porch of the Folly, bare feet up on the railing, exactly as she’d imagined it at the bookshop.
The sun was just starting to go down. The Folly was enveloped in a deep, pine-scented peace, the color of the sky an outrageously beautiful turquoise. She had a half-empty bottle of Pigswill on the floor within reach when she wanted a swig. She couldn’t remember the last time she felt this happy. If ever. She wriggled her toes and sighed.
Not even the distant rumble of worry in her head could distract her from this immense feeling of peace. Then the rumble grew louder, and she placed the book facedown on her lap and waited contentedly for the van to pull into view.
She didn’t stir as Jack braked to a stop and got out. She watched him pull his tall, lanky frame out of the driver’s seat, and then something happened. All of a sudden her heart caught in her throat and her stomach clenched as the world seemed to shimmer and stop.
Everything seemed to be suspended in time. Her breathing slowed, the gentle evening breeze died down and Jack seemed to be moving in slow-motion as he walked slowly up the drive with his gunslinger’s walk, the gravel crunching beneath his boots, his eyes never leaving hers.
Something swelled painfully in Federica’s chest as she watched him watching her, and after a brief stutter her heart kicked into motion and began to beat rapidly. She would have thought that she was having a heart attack if she didn’t know that something infinitely more serious, more dangerous to her well-being, was happening.
She was falling in love.
Chapter Ten
“Hi, honey,” Jack said softly. “I’m home.”
Federica watched him walking up the drive toward her. He felt alive in every single cell of his body. Just seeing here there, short blonde hair ruffled by the evening breeze, bare feet up on the railing, made his chest ache. He felt a tug toward her so strong, it was a wonder the air between them didn’t quiver.
Federica suddenly erupted in an explosion of movement, not caring that the book went thudding to the floor, or that the chair tipped over backwards, or that she spilled the beer, or even that the few steps over gravel before she threw herself into his arms must have hurt her bare feet.
He caught her and lifted her up and away from the sharp gravel.
Jack tasted desperation in her kiss and didn’t know if it was his or hers. All he knew was that this wonderful creature in his arms, bare feet dangling a few inches off the ground, had been somehow sent to him at a time when his life had started to feel…empty. Full of family and friends, but still empty. And now, here she was. Someone made to measure just for him. The enemy, and she would be gone in a few days.
He tried to remember what he’d been telling himself for the past few days.
Don’t get involved. Have a little fling, sure. That’s normal, that’s natural. Your hormones needed a little stirring. Wyatt tells you that all the time. Just don’t get involved.
Then Federica wriggled in his arms and he forgot the part about not getting involved and lowered his head again. This time the kiss was tender as their tongues tangled slowly and he stroked the silky soft skin of her neck. He retreated in slow, nibbling little bites and pressed her head into his shoulder.
“Did you have a nice day with Lilly?” Jack brushed his cheek over her hair. He inhaled the sweet, lemony smell of her shampoo. She nodded. “Good.”
He set her down slowly, so her bare feet rested on his boots.
“Okay, little one. This is the plan.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “You go put your shoes on and come help me unload.”
She smiled up at him. “And afterwards?”
“Mmm. And afterwards…” His voice dropped and he looped his arms loosely around her waist. He bent down and whispered in her ear. “Afterwards I thought we could…play.”
He nipped her earlobe then kissed his way back to her mouth.
“Play,” she sighed. “Okay.”
“Cards,” he said against her mouth.
Her eyes opened. “Cards?”
“Mmm.” He loved watching her face. Everything she felt was right there. A second before she had been drifting dreamily. Now she was watching him, head tilted to one side. “An old Carson’s Bluff tradition. Saturday night poker.”
She blinked, puzzled.
“Strip,” he said.
It was perfect. In an instant, the puzzlement turned to surprise and then to delight and before he realized what she was doing, she pulled his head down and gave him a kiss that had his ears ringing.
“Oh, I’m a firm believer in respecting traditions,” she said soberly, then stepped off his boots. “Get that deck out.”
She walked gingerly back across the gravel and reached for her sneakers. She laced them up and joined Jack at the back of the van. He was unloading bags and boxes. She tilted her head.
“What are you—hey, is that what I think it is?”
“Yup.” Jack set down the microwave oven and grabbed her elbow when she moved forward. “No, don’t pick that up, it’s too heavy. There are some grocery bags farther back. You can haul those in.”
Curious, Federica started sorting through the back of the van. “A microwave, a hotplate, dishes, cutlery…”
Jack nudged a box with his foot and smiled at the ping of glass. “And don’t forget the case of wine. Dad’s best year. Got some bottles of Pigswill, too.”
“You planning on opening a store here?”
“Nope.” His eyes met hers. “I’m planning on camping out.”
“Camping out?” Federica looked around. “Where?”
“Right here. At the Folly.” He ran his hands up her arms, then back down again, grasping her hands in his. “All this frenetic traveling you’ve been doing these past few days.” He smiled down at her and brought her hand to his mouth and kissed it gently. “All this to-ing and fro-ing down to Carson’s Bluff and back. Why, you must be clocking up a couple of miles a day, easy. Way too stressful. So I thought I’d camp up here with you so you wouldn’t have to go out.”
“And your job? Jobs?”
“They’ll keep. I can take care of business in a couple of hours a day for a few days if I want to. And the van has a car phone for emergencies. I’m all caught up. I can afford to goof off a little for…”
For?
Federica didn’t dare ask the question. But her eyes did.
For how long?
