No River Too Wide (17 page)

“So glad you’re comfortable there. I’ll be home soon,” she said cheerfully when Maddie finished her list. “Make yourself a snack.” She listened. “Yes, you can watch television.”

“Trouble?” Adam asked after she put the phone back in her pocket.

“My ride’s late, and my daughter’s home alone. She’s eleven, but...” She stopped. She didn’t know why she was telling him this.

“But maybe not mature enough for an emergency?” he guessed.

“She has epilepsy. She had surgery almost a year ago, and she’s been seizure free ever since, but I still—” She shook her head. “I still don’t think she should be alone. Because surgery isn’t foolproof, and not enough time’s gone by to—”

“Her dad can’t pick you up?”

“Her dad lives in Tennessee.”

“Let me take you home, then.”

“I couldn’t.”

“I know. I’m a stranger. A little while ago I knocked you over and pinned you to the floor—although in all fairness, I did offer to help you up. But I’m big and you’re not. You have no way of knowing where that ride home will end up, which is good thinking.”

She didn’t reply.

He reached in his pocket and pulled out keys. “So here’s an idea. You can drive. In fact, you can drive by yourself, and tell me where I can pick up my car once you’re home. I’ll figure out a way to get myself over there with a minimum of fuss, but you should get to your daughter as soon as you can.”

She debated silently.

“I can’t say another word to persuade you,” he said. “Not if I’m going to teach self-defense here. Because we both know you shouldn’t take a ride from a stranger.”

She decided to take him at his word. She held out her hand, and he deposited the keys in her palm. “The white Cherokee with the Arizona license plate.”

“You’re from Arizona?”

“The car is. It’s a rental. My plans are too temporary to buy one.”

“You’d really let me do this?”

“I insist. As thanks for not kneeing me in the groin after I tackled you.”

She closed her fingers around the keys and started for the door. “I’ll need a lesson on how to do that. I’ll give you my address.”

“Just a tip here. You would be safer to meet me at a gas station, not your home.”

“I definitely need to take that class.”

“Do the guys upstairs have a key?”

She nodded.

“And you’ll change the locks as the very last renovation detail, right, because lots of workmen probably have copies?”

“Darn, you’re good.”

“Anything here I can steal?”

“Not yet, and even after we open, not much.”

“Then I’ll hang around awhile. I’ll go up and talk one of those guys into taking me to get my car once they’ve finished. They said they were about to wrap up for the day.”

At the door she took a card out of the case that held her phone and handed it to him. “Call my cell once you’re ready, and I’ll give you the address.
My
address, because I’m listed everywhere and you could find me anyway, if you wanted to. I’m not even fifteen minutes away.”

“I’ll see you then.”

“Oh, if a woman shows up looking for me, will you tell her to meet me at home?”

“What’s her name?”

“Jan. Jan...Seaton.”

“Will do.”

“Thank you. This really is very generous.”

“I was an Eagle Scout. Read my résumé.”

“I guess I’ll need a copy.”

He opened the notebook and handed one to her. She left him at the top of the steps and walked down to the road, where she saw his car. She unlocked the door, then nodded. He was still standing there when she drove away.

Chapter 14

Adam arrived at Taylor’s doorstep just minutes after she called to tell him where to pick up his car. In the interim she had satisfied herself that Maddie was not only fine but basking in the joys of being home alone for a full half hour. She had also combed her hair and shed her clunky sneakers for sandals, telling herself as she did that she would have done both even if Adam Pryor wasn’t on his way.

Okay, sandals, maybe, hair, most likely not. But she could pretend.

When he knocked she called for him to come in. She was putting the finishing touches on iced tea when he opened the door.

He filled the doorway but didn’t enter. “How did you know that was me? For that matter, how do you really know that ‘me’ is a safe person to let inside?”

“I read your résumé. Even if I didn’t think you were safe, you could batter down my door in a matter of moments.”

“If that’s true we need to work on your locks.”

“As it turns out, you don’t need to worry. I already have a security guy coming to turn my house into a fortress.”

He didn’t even take a breath. “And a résumé is just a piece of paper until you’ve checked to be sure it’s legit.”

“Duly noted. A glass of tea is just a waste of ice and tea bags until it’s been drunk. Will you join me?” Taylor held up the two glasses. “A thank-you for helping.”

“Sure. I’ll pillage and vandalize later.”

“I like a man with priorities.” Taylor inclined her head toward the sofa and carried the tea in that direction to place it on the coffee table. “I have cookies, too, or I can rustle up something else if you’re hungry.”

“Thanks. I ate before I came over to the studio.”

Taylor thought a guy Adam’s size probably ate more than three meals a day, but how would she know? She was seriously uneducated about men and their nutritional needs.

All their needs, actually.

Adam took more than his share of the sofa, and she took the rest. She handed him his glass and a napkin. “Sweet tea’s a fixture here, but I make it with honey. Then I tell myself the lemon I add makes it healthy.”

“I’m getting used to it. But I’ll never get used to eating shrimp on grits. Never get used to grits, as a matter of fact.”

“As long as you get used to tofu and tempeh, you’ll still feel at home anywhere in Asheville. Oh, and kale. Lots and lots of kale.”

He settled back against the batiked cushions adorning the sofa. “How long have you lived here?”

“All my life. That must seem odd since you grew up all over the place.”

“A little, yeah.”

“My dad’s here, my friends, and now my studio. I don’t see myself leaving any time soon. Probably never.”

Maddie took that moment to wander in from her bedroom. Her gaze flicked over Adam as she spoke. “I’ve got this stupid math homework. I’m supposed to reflect drawings, you know, like draw a figure, then flip it over or something, on the other half of the square, and I need somebody to check to make sure I did it right. If we get all our math homework pretty much perfect this week, we get to watch a video on Monday.”

Taylor did a perfunctory introduction of Adam. He nodded after it was complete. “What kind of video, Maddie?”

“I don’t know, something about fractals. Mrs. Peck says it’s really beautiful, but she’s probably trying to sneak in stuff we need to know and make us think we’ve earned some kind of reward while she does.”

“This sounds like something your grandfather should check,” Taylor said. “Architects are better with shapes than yoga teachers.”

“But we’re going out to dinner, and he might not even stop by this afternoon.”

“I can check it,” Adam said. “I’m not too bad at shapes. I like jigsaw puzzles.”

“Me, too,” Maddie said. “Do you like the big ones with a thousand pieces?”

“The bigger the better. Do you like the 3-D ones?”

“Those are my favorites! I got the Eiffel Tower for Christmas.”

“That’s one I haven’t seen.”

“It took a while.”

“I bet.”

Taylor wasn’t sure exactly why, but Adam seemed much less intimidating now that he was talking to her daughter. He was relaxed and smiling, and Maddie was clearly charmed.

Which made perfect sense to Taylor. “You go finish everything else,” she said. “Then when you’re done, and if Adam really doesn’t mind, we’ll let him go over your math homework.”

“I just have a page of reading. I’ll be back.” Maddie headed out the way she’d come.

“She doesn’t seem any worse for wear for having stayed alone for a while this afternoon,” he said. “Seems like a great kid. Levelheaded?”

“It’s just been the two of us most of the time since she was born. It’s possible I’m overprotective.”

“You’re talking to the wrong guy if you think I’m going to agree with that.”

“Her father says he’s polishing his shotgun to scare away the boys.”

“It’ll be needed soon enough.” Adam shifted his weight to see her better. “You and her father haven’t been together in a long time?”

She had brought the subject up, so it didn’t feel intrusive. “We were in high school together. I thought my mother was too strict, so I rebelled. For his part Jeremy was just doing what boys his age like to do best. As a reward for trying to see how far he could get, we both got Maddie. By the time I figured out I was pregnant, he already had another girlfriend, and I didn’t care.”

“If he’s polishing his shotgun...”

“He’s a good dad. We’re more or less friends these days. It makes being Maddie’s parents a lot easier.”

“Not the usual happy ending.”

“Jeremy calls it a good-enough ending. Considering everything, we’re lucky to have it.” She realized she wanted to ask Adam about his marital status, yet wouldn’t that be too obvious? Not a job interview, but something much more personal?

As if he had read her mind he filled in the blanks. “You’re lucky to have her. I always wanted kids, but I never found the right woman or the right time. And after everything I’ve seen—” He stopped abruptly. Then he shrugged.

“I can understand that.”

He took another swallow of his tea before he set down the glass. “Are you going to offer classes for kids or teens?”

“I might after a while. Thinking about self-defense for the younger set?”

“The martial arts are great for confidence, dexterity and strength when they’re taught correctly. Not to mention self-control. Self-defense is more about getting away and getting help, which isn’t a bad skill to have at that age.”

“You don’t want to open your own martial arts studio?”

“First I would have to settle down for good. A studio is a long-term commitment.”

“And self-defense is a shorter prospect.” It wasn’t a question.

“You can teach enough techniques in a brief period to make a difference.”

Taylor thought about Jan and wondered how much self-defense might have helped her. She spoke out loud before she thought better of it. “Could a class like the one you want to offer help a woman dealing with domestic violence?”

Adam didn’t answer right away. When he did she could tell the question had bothered him.

“That should be easy to answer, but I’ve learned through the years that it’s not. A victim has to believe that she—or he—deserves to get away. Depending on how long the abuse has gone on, that might not be the case. I work on that, too, or I have in other classes I’ve taught. I figured out that I had to. But it’s harder. Destroying confidence is the first thing a chronic abuser does. And usually pretty thoroughly.”

“How do you teach self-worth?”

“First you have to be sure victims have information and support on other levels. A team approach is optimal, so every helper is reinforcing the good work of the others. Victims have to know that getting away and staying away isn’t just good, it’s right.”

“You’re a big strong guy. Let’s say a woman is or has been abused by a man. Won’t she be scared to death of you?”

“She might be. But once she gets over that initial reaction and sees that a strong man never uses his strength to intimidate or injure a woman, then she can begin to compare what’s happening at home, or what happened at home, with what’s happening in class and draw her own conclusions. Having a man as her advocate and mentor, a man who tells her she can protect herself and deserves to, has an added benefit.”

“You mean she thinks, my husband says I deserve to be hit and hits me, but Adam says he’s wrong, that a good husband never raises his hand to a woman. And everybody in the class trusts Adam.”

“Something like that, yeah.”

“Does it work?”

“Sometimes. It works better if the violence isn’t long-standing.”

Jan had been married to Harmony’s father for more than two decades. Her struggle to get away and restart her life seemed even more admirable, even if submitting to his abuse for so long still seemed inconceivable to Taylor.

“You seem to have a really good grasp of this,” she said. “I’ll make a few phone calls, but I think we need to find a spot for you on our schedule. Will you be ready to start next week when we open? I can get the class on the website immediately if you write it up for me. We’ll figure out what to charge together. And I can add it to our next round of ads in the local papers.”

The front door opened and Jan walked in. She looked like the last leaf clinging to a maple tree in the midst of an autumn squall. One more gust of wind, and all would be over.

“Jan.” Taylor got up and crossed the room to her. “You look awful. Are you okay? Did something happen? What can I do?”

“I’m so...so sorry.” Tears filled her eyes. “I just...” She turned her hands palms up, as if words had completely deserted her.

“Come in and sit down. I’m getting you some tea. No ifs, ands or buts, okay? Pull yourself together, then tell me what happened.”

Jan didn’t move. Her gaze had flicked to Adam.

“This is Adam Pryor,” Taylor said, understanding her hesitation. After all, this was a strange man and a physically intimidating one. “He’s going to be teaching a class for me. He loaned me his car so I could get home to be with Maddie when you were late. He’s here to pick it up. Adam, this is Jan.”

Jan gave the most perfunctory of nods. “Is Maddie...okay?”

“Happy as a clam that she got to spend a little time alone. But you don’t look okay. Come in and sit down.”

Jan’s gaze flicked back to Adam; then she frowned. “I’ve seen you.”

Adam was standing now. He moved closer, but not close, as if he knew there were boundaries. “I think we met at the park the other day.”

Jan stared at him.

“You’ve met?” Taylor asked. “That’s a coincidence.”