Some Like It Perfect (A Temporary Engagement) (13 page)

“I was out of the office all day.”

Not that it would have mattered anyway. He was permanently busy for Diane Evans.

He continued, “And I told you I would think about it. I told you not to encourage her.”

“She would make you an excellent wife, Jack. She’s from a good family, has good connections.”

“Is that what makes a good wife? Family and connections?”

“Is that
not
what makes a good wife? I’d like to hear what it is you’re looking for.”

What was he looking for? Loyalty, certainly. To him, to his family. Perhaps not selflessness, but a care for others. He would like to be able to trust his wife. Trust that she wouldn’t always be looking to enrich herself at the expense of others. He could give his wife money and power, and he hoped that he could pick a woman who wouldn’t abuse either.

He hoped there was at least one woman in this world like that.

“I don’t know what I’m looking for, Mother. But let me look for a while before you pick one for me.” He smiled at her. “Let me enjoy my bachelorhood for at least a little while. Augusta has finally flown the nest and I would like just a moment to myself before you marry me off.”

She nodded regally at him. “Take your moment, Jack. Just remember that some women will not wait for you.”

“There is always another waiting in the wings.”

She looked away from him, sad, and he was sorry for being flippant. She said, “I’m sorry you feel that way.”

“Maybe I feel that way because I just haven’t met the right one yet.”

She waved her hand, shooing that away. “A million women could be right; it’s not a matter of finding the right one. It’s a matter of picking one and then becoming something together. It’s not a matter of finding a woman you fit with; it’s a matter of looking at a woman and seeing
how
you could fit together.”

“And, presumably, liking how we would fit together?”

“Of course. But it will be different, Jack. You have to accept that it will be different.”

“It will be different anyway, Mother. I might not like the thought of it being different, and neither do you, but it will be. Augusta has moved out. I came home to help with her and now she’s grown. Neither one of us was prepared for that to happen but it did.”

She didn’t look at him when she said softly, “She won’t be coming back, will she?”

And Jack knew it was hurting her as much as it hurt him. An empty nest, and he hadn’t realized how bad that would hurt. He knew his mother wanted him to marry, to start a family, to fill that nest back up. She didn’t realize that he couldn’t stay. He didn’t want to hurt her, but he couldn’t stay.

Jack shook his head. “She can’t come back.”

His mother said, “How is she doing with the painter? I still can’t believe you thought that was a good idea.”

“It was better than with the boyfriend. She’s doing fine. Delia will be a good influence on her.”

“I seriously doubt that.”

He laughed, thinking of Gus looking horrified and telling him he did not want to know what Delia could come up with.

“She will be, if only because now Gus isn’t the most shocking thing around.”

Catherine sniffed. “Wonderful.”

He stood, taking her hand in his. She looked up at him, questioning, and he said, “I bought a car today. And a condo downtown.”

Her hand jerked in his. “A condo?”

He nodded and she said, “But. . . Now you’re going to leave me, too?”

“You can always count on me for Sunday dinners, you know that. And perhaps Gus will be more inclined to show up now as well.”

“And I’ll be here alone the other six days of the week?”

“Yes.”

Jack wondered how long it would take her to find husband number three. Her ten years of mourning wasn’t quite up but he couldn’t imagine her lasting long by herself. His mother didn’t like to be alone.

He put her hand gently in her lap and walked out of the room.

Catherine Lowell Cabot Bradlee looked around the empty room with her mouth open and her eyes wide and she realized that for the first time ever in her life, she was alone. Completely and utterly alone.

The next day at the office, Delia greeted him as if nothing had happened between them, as if he hadn’t offered her a little fling and she’d turned him down flat.

He’d never been turned down flat before. Never. And while he hadn’t thought of himself as a prideful man, he realized it stung a bit.

Excuse me, Ms. Woodson, would you care for some hot sex with a man you look at like he’s God’s greatest creation?

No thanks, Jack.

Excuse me, Ms. Woodson, would you care for some butter?

No thanks, Jack.

She’d said it just like that. As if he was offering nothing more than a pat of butter to flavor her toast with.

She made some comment about his car and he grunted his reply.

She said, “Paying for yesterday, huh? Those emails must have piled up.”

They had. It was not helping with his mood any.

She pulled on her booties and climbed the ladder, and Jack pretended she wasn’t there.

A few minutes later, Gus came crashing through the door. “You bought a condo?”

Jack raised an eyebrow at her and she said, “Mother called. She wants all this nonsense to end and for both of us to move back home where we belong.”

Delia looked down and said, “She said that?”

“She doesn’t need to say it.” Gus threw herself into the chair in front of his desk. “We’ll help you move into your new condo.”

Delia said, “You’ve got to be kidding me. How many times am I going to have to help you guys move?”

Jack said, “Don’t worry, Delia. It’s being taken care of.”

Gus and Delia exchanged a look at his tone of voice. Gus said, “Mother probably gave him the guilt trip to end all guilt trips.”

“Mm-hm. That’s probably it.”

Jack glanced up at Delia and the look on her face said she didn’t think that was it at all.

Gus said, “I want to see your new apartment, Jack. And Delia wants to help even if she won’t say so. She likes to be horrified at all our excess. It makes her feel good about herself.”

Delia spit out a laugh. “That is mean but true. It does make me feel better about myself to see all the stuff you guys have to have to be happy. I’m happy with a door on my bedroom.”

Jack said, “I appreciate the offer but I don’t need any help. I’m not doing any of the moving. I feel like Delia; I’ve moved enough stuff this month.”

Gus pouted. “I still want to see it.”

“You’re welcome anytime. I’ll give you a tour when I’m settled.”

“Let’s go at lunch today.”

He nodded. Gus wouldn’t be happy until she saw his new condo.

After Gus left, Delia climbed down her ladder and sat in the chair. She sat and waited. She watched him.

He ignored her.

She smiled, a small upturn to her lips that said he was acting like a baby and she would love to point it out to him.

He answered an email.

Another email.

He finally looked up at her. “I apologize.”

“For what, exactly?”

“For being rude.”

“Has anyone ever said no to you before?”

When he didn’t answer, she said, “It’s got to happen at least once in your life, Jack. So you can know how mortal men fare. Try not to take it personally.”

Jack said, “It’s not me, it’s you?”

She smiled, laughing at him. “It may be a cliché but it’s still true. I’m an adult now, Jack. I’ve learned to walk around mistakes instead of going straight through them.”

He whispered, “Would I be a mistake, Delia?”

She nodded sadly, as if she wished with everything she had that he wouldn’t be but that she knew differently.

“Why would I be a mistake? I don’t make mistakes.”

“I’m sure it wouldn’t be a mistake for you. It’s not the gods who suffer when they play with mortal men. Or women.”

“I’m not a god, Delia. Just a man.”

Just a man, learning to listen to what he wanted. He’d bought his car, had seen Delia sitting in it and he’d wanted her.

He’d bought a condo with large open windows and he’d wanted Delia to see it. Had wanted Delia to poke at how much he’d paid for it, to complain that it had no history.

Because he’d paid too much and he hadn’t cared. Because he didn’t want history, he was steeped in history. And he wanted someone to remind him that what he had too much of was wonderful, that it wasn’t slowly choking the life out of him.

She leaned forward. “If I tell you the horrible truth, will you drop this?”

“It’s possible.”

She studied him a long minute before saying, “You’re fire, Jack.”

He looked at her hair. “
I’m
fire?”

She nodded. “You’re fire. I’ve played with fire before and I know it when I see it. It’s fun, while it lasts. It’s
everything
while it lasts. And when it dies down, you poke your head up and realize there is nothing left because it’s burned everything up.”

He tried to imagine passion like that.

He said, “Was that supposed to have dissuaded me?”

“It didn’t?”

“I’ve never had fire before, Delia. And I’m finding it difficult to believe that you wouldn’t just do what the moment brought you.”

She tilted her head in agreement. “Normally, I would. I’m turning over a new leaf.”

“With me? How am I not supposed to take that personally?”

“You caught me at a bad time, Jack. I have a plan now. You’re not part of it, and if I let you be part of it you’ll take over the whole thing. I know it.”

Jack leaned back, looking at her. “So, what’s your plan?”

Delia pursed her lips and he said, “Maybe I can help with your plan. Maybe I won’t ruin it but instead can make it happen.”

“In exchange for. . .”

He smiled, his mood lightening unexpectedly. “Not in exchange for anything. As a thank you for helping with my sister. As a way to possibly get your plan out of
my
way.”

She sighed, looking behind him and out the window.

He said, “No strings attached, Delia. Ever.”

“Step one was to not get fired, so don’t fire me for not sleeping with you.”

He kept smiling. “I wouldn’t.”

“Step two was to make more money, to finally have enough. Enough to live on. Maybe have a retirement account. Maybe a mortgage. I don’t know if I really want a mortgage.” She pointed a finger at him. “And don’t tell me that having a little thing with you wouldn’t distract me from figuring out how to earn more. Wouldn’t take up time I should be spending on doing something more productive.”

He didn’t disagree with her. If they were going to have a “little thing”, if they were to be burned up by the fire, he’d expect it to take up all their time, all their energy.

He waited for the rest of her plan and she said, “That’s it.”

“That’s your plan?”

“It’s my first one. You can’t expect me to be great at it right out of the gate.”

“Okay, well, to make more money you could charge more.”

She gave him a look. “Could I? For painting a ceiling?”

“Second, you could believe that you are doing a real service that is worth a lot of money. Something that people cannot do for themselves.”

“Like make paper?”

He laughed. “No. Exactly the opposite of paper. Paper is abundant and needed in great quantities so I can make a tiny bit on every piece I sell and still come out ahead. What you do is rare and needed one-off and you need to make a hefty profit on each one to come out ahead.”

Delia said, “If what I do is rare and has a hefty price tag, I either have to be a master, which unfortunately I am not, or I need to be able to butt-kiss, which unfortunately I cannot.”

“Or you need to be at the right place, at the right time, and take advantage of it. And all you have to be is an
artiste
. They are notoriously hard to work with, which unfortunately you already are. How much did you charge to paint this ceiling?”

She told him and he shook his head. “It’s worth five times that.”

“I don’t know anyone who would pay that much to have their ceiling painted.”

“You know one. My mother.” He looked up at the ceiling. “I’d like to see it up close.”

“You don’t. It’s meant to be seen from down here. ‘It’s a full-on Monet. Up close it’s a big ol’ mess.’” At his blank look, she said, “That’s from a movie. Clueless.”

“I’ve never heard of it,” he said and she shook her head at his cluelessness.

Jack said, “My mother knows a lot of people with ceilings who would like this sort of thing.”

She sunk into the chair. “Oh, God. Are ceilings going to be my bread and butter now?”

“What would you like to be your bread and butter?”

“My paintings. I can do them standing up on the floor instead of lying on my back ten feet up. As God intended.”

“Do you have any already painted?”

“Of course.”

“How come I didn’t see them when we were moving Gus in?”

“I don’t move them around with me. They’re in a storage facility.”

He shook his head. “Third, you don’t hide your assets in a storage facility. You make them available for people to buy. I’d like to see them.”

Delia took a deep breath. “Are you going to buy one of them?”