Max gave her a nod, then looked at his pinwheel as a breeze made it twirl around.
Taking another deep breath, Amy walked up the stairs, Max beside her. At first it was too dark in the room to see anything, but as her eyes adjusted, she saw that the workmen were nearly finished. They were removing scaffolding and leaving behind clean white plaster walls ready for her murals. She could see that she was to paint across the front of the checkout desk, then up the side of the wall, over and down again. There was a great blank wall in the reading area, and she assumed that this was where the main mural was to go.
As she was looking at the walls, thinking how what she’d planned to paint would fit, out of the back came a man, a pretty blonde woman following him. As soon as she realized it was Jason, Amy stepped back into the shadows and stayed quiet. He was looking at a set of plans, the woman seeming to be content to stand beside him silently.
Now Amy stood where he couldn’t see her and watched him. He looked a bit older; the creases that ran down the side of his mouth seemed to be deeper. Or maybe it was just a trick of the light. His hair was the same though: a great thick gray mane of it that grazed the back of his collar.
Damn! He was more handsome than she remembered. Damn, damn, and double damn!
When the curvy blonde leaned over him, Amy wanted to snatch the woman bald. “But I have no right,” she whispered to herself, causing Max to look up at her in question. Smoothing back her son’s hair, she smiled down at him, and he turned away to stare at the man standing a few yards in front of them.
Amy tried to give herself a pep talk. She was here to do a job and nothing more. A job that she needed very much. A job that . . .
Okay, she told herself. Get over it. Get over Jason. Remind yourself of what a trick he played on you. Remember every photo you’ve ever seen of him with a gorgeous woman draped across his arm.
She took a deep breath, tightened her grip on Max’s hand, and stepped forward. Before he turned to see her, she said, “Jason, what a pleasure to see you again.”
As he turned around, she held out her hand to shake. “You haven’t changed at all,” she said, nodding toward Doreen, who stood close beside him. “Still the ladies’ man, I see.” She gave a wink at Doreen as though they were bosom buddies in on some secret.
Amy was afraid to stop talking for fear that she might collapse. Jason’s eyes on hers were almost more than she could bear. She wanted to throw her arms around him, and—
“Where have you been?” he demanded, sounding as though she’d gone to the grocery and hadn’t come back for five hours.
“Oh, here and there. And where have you been? As if I needed to ask.” She knew she was making a fool of herself, but the blonde was everything she wasn’t and it bothered her. Of course it couldn’t be jealousy. But Amy did wish she had a boyfriend whose name she could drop.
“It looks as though you’ve done all right,” he said, nodding toward her cashmere coat with the paisley scarf about the neck. Under it she wore a cashmere sweater, trousers of fine wool, and boots of the softest kid leather. Gold glowed warmly from her ears, neck, wrists, and belt buckle.
“Oh, quite well. But as . . .” Frantically, she looked about, then saw a bag of Arnold potato chips. “As Arnie says, I take well to nice things.”
Jason was scowling and, inside, Amy was smiling. Her heart was racing at her lie, but then she looked at Doreen and couldn’t seem to prevent herself from continuing. “Max, come here and say hello to an old friend of mine. And yours.”
She picked up Max, who was staring at Jason with intense eyes as though he was trying to place him. Jason wanted to take the boy in his arms, but instead his pride took over. What had he expected? That Amy would someday come back into his life, sobbing, telling him that she needed him, that the world was a cold, cruel place and that she must have his arms to protect her? Is that what he’d hoped for? Instead, it was just as everyone had said; she’d gone on with her life while Jason had stood still and waited.
So now was he to tell her that she meant everything to him? That while she was having a mad affair with some guy named “Arnie,” he had thought of her every minute of every day? Like hell he would!
Suddenly, just as he was formulating an appropriate response to Amy’s introduction, Doreen flung her arm around his waist and grabbed him in a shockingly intimate way.
“Oh, honey, isn’t Max just the cutest little thing?” Doreen gushed, ignoring Jason’s murderously bewildered glare. “I just can’t wait until we have one of our very own.”
“Honey?” Amy said, and Jason was amazed to see that she looked a tiny bit shocked.
Again, the overly helpful Doreen jumped in. “Oh, that. Well, Jason doesn’t like it when I call him ‘honey’ in public, but I keep telling him that it’s okay—engaged people call each other silly names all the time.”
“Engaged?” Amy barely whispered the word.
Jason started to remove Doreen’s arm from his waist, but she caught his fingers in hers, then leaned against him as though they were Siamese twins joined at the hip.
“Oh, yes,” Doreen purred. “We’re to be married in just six weeks’ time, and we have sooooo many things yet to buy for the house. In fact, we haven’t even bought the house yet.”
Jason had to stop himself from staring at Doreen in flabbergasted awe. He supposed Doreen thought she was helping his cause by concocting this story, but this time she’d truly gone too far. How in heaven was he going to explain his way out of this? And would Amy even believe him?
“I’m sure that Jason can afford any house you want,” Amy said softly.
“Oh, yes, and I know just the house I want, but he won’t agree. Don’t you think that’s mean of him?” She poked Jason in the arm and ignored his furious gaze.
“Dreadfully,” Amy said, her voice low.
“But then I guess your Arnie would buy you the best house in town,” Doreen said.
Amy straightened her spine. “Of course he would.” She flipped the wool challis scarf about her coat collar. “The biggest and best. All I’d have to do is hint and it would be mine. And I’m sure Jason will do the same for you.”
“Well, when I do get him to agree, you must help me pick out all the furniture.”
“Me?” Amy asked dumbly.
“You are the artist, aren’t you?”
For a moment both Jason and Amy stared at her.
“I am, actually, but how did you know?” Amy asked.
“You look like an artist. Everything on you matches. Now me, I have trouble matching black and white. Isn’t that so, sweetheart? But Jasey loves me just the way I am, don’t you, honey bunch?”
Jason tried again to move out of Doreen’s grip, but she was holding on tighter than a set of lug nuts to a wheel rim. It did occur to him to hit her over the head with a lunch box that was sitting nearby, but he decided it would be best to explain to Amy once they were alone.
“You, ah, you’re to paint the murals?” Jason asked while his hand slipped behind his back so he could try to peel Doreen away from his side.
“Yes,” Amy said solemnly, no longer effervescent. “Mildred said there was a mix-up about dates and what was to be painted, so she asked me if I could help out. I brought some sketches that maybe you’d—” She broke off because Jason had given a muffled grunt as though something had hurt him. “Are you all right?”
“Sure,” he said, his free hand rubbing his side as though he were in pain. “I’d like to see your sketches. Maybe we could get together tonight and—”
“Now, honey, you promised me that tonight we’d pick out china and silver. We’re getting Noritake and real silver,” she said to Amy. “Jason, darling, is so very generous, aren’t you, my dearest? At least about everything except a house, that is.”
“Perhaps there are limits to every man’s generosity,” he said pointedly, glaring down at Doreen with murder in his eyes.
“Gee, I bet Arnie is generous, isn’t he? I mean, look at that coat you’re we
aring. He is generous, isn’t he?”
“Yes, of course,” Amy answered, looking into Jason’s eyes for a moment and wishing that she’d never made up this man Arnie, wishing she’d told him the truth. Wishing . . .
“When would you like to see the sketches?” Amy asked. “I think you should approve them before I start painting. And I’m going to need some assistants, people who can do fill work.”
“Sure, anything you need,” Jason said as he at last managed to get Doreen’s hands and arms off his body.
But the moment he was free, Doreen stepped between the two of them. “That’s just what he says to me all the time. Anything you need, Doreen. Anything at any time. So it’s odd that he won’t buy me a house, don’t you think? Maybe you could persuade him.”
“Maybe,” Amy said, then looked at her watch. “Oh, my, but I have to go. My mother-in-law will—”
“Oh, then you’re married,” Doreen said.
“Widowed.”
“That’s too bad. I am sorry. When did Arnie die?”
“He didn’t. He . . . I really must go. Jason, it was good to see you again. I’ll be staying at Mildred’s, so if you need to talk to me about . . . about work, you know the number.” With that she grabbed Max’s hand and practically ran from the building.
Outside the car and driver that Mildred had sent to meet her at the airport were waiting for her.
“I hope you don’t mind, miss,” the driver said as she and Max got in, “but Mrs. Thompkins sent me back to get you and the boy to take you home to her.”
“No, no,” Amy said hurriedly. “I don’t mind. Just go fast!”
Before I start crying, she could have added.
But she managed to hold back her tears until she got to Mildred’s, where she found that her mother-in-law had engaged a professional nanny to help with Max. Within minutes Max had decided he liked the woman, and they went into the kitchen to have cocoa.
“Everything,” Mildred said. “I want to know everything that’s wrong with you.”
“I’ve ruined my life, that’s all,” Amy said, sobbing into the pile of tissues Mildred handed her.
“It won’t be the first time.”
“What?” Amy looked up with red eyes.
“Amy, dear, you married a man who was an alcoholic and on drugs, which, may God rest his soul and even if he was my only child, was a disastrous thing to do. Then a rich, handsome man fell madly in love with you and you ran off with just the clothes on your back. And a baby to support. So I’d say that you’d already ruined your life several times.”
Amy started to cry harder.
“So what have you done this time?”
“I told Jason I was in love with another man because she was so pretty and they were standing so close and it was like I left yesterday and I think I’m still in love with him, but nothing has changed. He’s still the same man I ran away from. He still buys and sells whole towns, and all those women of his are so beautiful and—”
“Wait a minute. Slow down. You act as though I know anything about why you left and where you’ve been with my grandson for these last two years. And if that makes you feel guilty, it was meant to. Now, slow down and tell me why you agreed to return if you didn’t think you were still in love with Jason.”
“My editor wants me to get this job so we can use a quote from the president on my next book.”
“How did you get started in the book business?”
Amy dried her eyes a bit. “I got a job in New York illustrating children’s books. I’ve done quite well actually and there have been some really successful illustrators who—”
Mildred waved her hand. “You can tell me all that later. So what happened with Jason this morning?”
“He’s engaged to be married.”
“He’s what?”
“He’s going to get married. But what did I expect? That he’d been pining away for me all these years? In all these two years I’ve had only two dates, and I only went on those because they were for lunch, so I could take Max. But Max didn’t like either man. In fact, with one of the men, Max—well, it was really very funny, although the man didn’t think so. Max and I met him in Central Park and—” She stopped because Mildred was giving her a look. “Okay, I’ll try to stick to the point.”
“Yes, and right now the point is Jason. Just who is he engaged to?”
“Her name is Doreen and you even tried to warn me about her.”
Mildred’s jaw dropped so far down her chin almost hit her knees.
Amy didn’t seem to notice. “She’s beautiful: tall, blonde, curvy. I can see why he’s fallen for her. Why are you laughing? Is my misery funny to you?”
“I’m sorry. But, Doreen! You have to tell me everything. Every word that was spoken, every gesture, everything.”
“I don’t think I want to if you’re going to laugh at me. In fact, I think maybe Max and I should stay somewhere else.”
“Jason is not engaged to Doreen. She is his secretary and she’s the sweetest thing but, unfortunately, the worst secretary in the world.”
“You don’t have to be efficient for someone to love you. I’ve always been—”
“Jason told Doreen to order duck à l’orange for a dinner for backers for the new municipal pool. Doreen thought he wanted orange ducks, so she had the pool filled with two hundred pounds of orange Jell-O, then had a farmer unload four hundred chickens in the building because she couldn’t find a duck farm.”
Amy stared at Mildred. “You made that up.”
“When Jason was furious, she thought it was because she’d ordered chickens instead of ducks.”
Mildred paused a moment to let that sink in. “Doreen files everything by what color the paper feels like. Not what color anything is, just what color it feels like. The problem comes when she tries to retrieve anything because she only knows what it feels like when she’s touching it.”
“I see,” Amy said, her tears drying. “And if she can’t find the paper, how can she feel it so she can find it?”
“Exactly. Doreen ordered all new signs for every business in town. They all came back with Abernathy spelled Abernutty.”
Amy laughed.
“Doreen collects red paper clips. Ask her about them. She can talk for hours about her collection. She has red paper clips from every office supply store within a hundred and fifty miles, and she will tell you that the amazing fact is that they all come from the same company.”
Amy started to laugh in earnest. “And Jason wants to marry her?”
“Jason wants to kill her. He calls me every few days and tells me the latest method he’s come up with to kill her. He can be quite ingenious. I liked the one where he crushed her under a mountain of red paper clips, but I said it might give her too much pleasure.”
“If she’s so inept, why did he hire her? Or keep her? Why was he hugging her?”
“Doreen may be horrible at her job, but it wasn’t exactly her idea to be a secretary in the first place,” Mildred said with an arched brow. “You see, she’s Jason’s former secretary’s sister, you know, the formidable Parker.”
“Yes, of course. Parker did everything for him. She helped him do all those things to me.”
“Yes, yes, Jason was vile. He bought your kid clothes, arranged for you to have a fabulous night out, made Christmas a dream come true, and—Okay, I’ll stop. Anyway, Parker married David and—”
“David? Dr. David? Jason’s brother?”
“The very one. Parker was staying at David’s house while Jason was with you, and they got to know each other, and, well . . . Anyway, Jason could never replace Parker, so when she begged him to hire her sister, Jason jumped at the chance. He wanted to fire Doreen the first day because she sold his car for a dollar—no, that’s another story—but he found out that day that Parker was pregnant and David said it would make his wife miscarry if he fired her sister.”
“My husband died while I was pregnant, but I didn’t miscarry,” Amy
said.
“Ssssh. Let’s not tell our little secrets, all right? I’m sure David just wanted peace, so once again he conned his big brother.” Mildred paused to chuckle. “Jason constantly says that he wants to go back to New York, where the people are less conniving, underhanded, and devious than they are here in Abernathy.
“Anyway, Jason agreed to keep Doreen on until Parker had her baby, and at last count that baby was nearly two weeks late. However, my guess is that once the baby is born, David will figure out another reason his brother should keep Doreen on. But if he doesn’t fire her soon, I really do think Jason will murder her.”
“Or marry her,” Amy said heavily.
“I want you to tell me about that,” Mildred said seriously. “What exactly did Doreen say?”
“Something about houses and silver . . . I don’t know. I was pretty miserable and Max likes him.”
“How do you know?”
“Because she said so. She told me that they were picking out china patterns and—”
“No, I mean, how do you know about Max liking Jason?”
“Because he was more interested in Jason than he was in pulling books off the shelves or seeing what was in the paint cans. And he stood by me and didn’t climb on anything. But then Max always did like him.”
Mildred listened to all of this without saying a word; then she narrowed her eyes at Amy. “My grandson needs a father. And you need a husband. I’ve had all I can take of you living in secret somewhere else and my not being able to see my only grandson whenever I want and—”
“Please, Mildred. I feel bad enough as it is.”
“You don’t feel bad enough that you can make up to me for missing two years of my grandson’s life,” Mildred snapped.
At that, Amy stood. “I think I should go.”
“Yes,” Mildred said quietly. “You should go. You should run away, just as you did when Jason wanted you to be his wife.” Her voice lowered. “And just as you did when you married Billy.”
“I did no such thing!” Amy protested, but she sat down again. “Billy was always good to me. He—”
“He gave you a reason to hide. He gave you a reason to stay away from everything in life. You could have a baby and stay in that old house, and no one expected any more from the wife of the town drunk, did they? Did you think that I didn’t know what was going on? I loved Billy with all my heart, but I knew what he was like and I saw what was going on. And after Billy died, you were afraid of stepping outside of that house.