by Kit Morgan
“For your information, he’s not riffraff. He’s working his family’s ranch and quite successfully.”
“Really?” her father drawled. “So he is here on business.”
“You mean you didn’t believe him?” She crossed her arms, getting madder by the second. Unfortunately, when she got really upset, she cried. She didn’t want to do that, especially not in front of Bill.
“Wendy, it doesn’t matter to me what he does or how he’s doing.” Her father straightened a stack of papers on his desk, then leaned back in his chair. “I have more important things to think about. Such as the wedding …”
“I’m sorry.” She forced a smile. “But I don’t have time to discuss the wedding. Besides, shouldn’t we be discussing the engagement first?” She turned to Bill. “You know, the one that doesn’t exist because you’ve never actually proposed?”
“Of course I have.” He glanced at her father. “Haven’t I?”
“Why quibble over unimportant details?” Her father frowned at her. “And you do as you’re told! I didn’t put this deal together to have it fall apart now.”
She stared at him in rage, her chest so tight it hurt. “A deal. That’s all this is.” She tossed her arms out to the sides and let them fall against her legs with a slap. “Just another deal.” Her last words were barely audible – she was on the verge of tears. And the worst of it was that it was partly her fault. She had to learn to stand up to her father and not let him boss her around – she was twenty-nine years old, for Heaven’s sake! He couldn’t be allowed to run her life like this!
“Wendy, are you quite all right?” Bill asked as he took the chair across from her father.
“No, Bill, I am not. And is it any wonder?” She turned on her heel, opened the door and stormed out. She didn’t bother looking at Clara, making a beeline for the elevators.
Bill came after her. “Wendy, wait!”
She pressed the down button but didn’t turn around. “What do you want?”
“Have dinner with me tonight, darling.” He put his hands on her shoulders and turned her to face him. “I know you’re upset. I don’t like seeing you this way. It makes my stomach hurt.”
“What?” Was he being … compassionate? Understanding?
No such luck. “Yeah, I hate dealing with these tedious details. They irritate me to no end. Now be a good girl and have dinner with me.”
She swallowed hard as her back stiffened. “No.”
“Why not?” He actually pouted.
The elevator doors opened, and Wendy squirmed away from him and stepped inside. When she faced him again the doors were already closing. “I have other plans.” She waved as they shut, blocking Bill from sight. Only then did she let the tears fall.
* * *
Back at her condo Wendy cleaned her bathroom with a vengeance. She always did when she was upset. No wonder her place was spotless of late. How she’d let her father railroad her into being engaged (theoretically) to Bill Reeves, she didn’t know. Mostly because she didn’t want to think about it.
She’d never thought of herself as a weak person, but obviously she was or she wouldn’t be in this predicament. When they moved to Dallas, she was underage and could do little about her father, who was exceptionally cranky at the time. Her parents weren’t getting along, and he wouldn’t let her have a computer or cell phone, taking away the ones she had. He especially didn’t want her to have contact with anyone in Cutter’s Creek. She thought it was because of some sort of scandal, and that was why they’d left town. Had he had an affair or something?
She never found out. At this point she didn’t care.
Done with the bathroom, she plopped onto her couch and stared at the coffee table. Jack would call soon. She’d already spoken to Missy about going out with him, and her friend had wholeheartedly agreed. Of course Missy would – she didn’t care for Bill. If this outing meant getting Wendy away from him for a while, Missy would take it.
Wendy sighed and tried to look at things logically. Did she like Bill? Lots of people liked Bill. She … wasn’t sure. She liked him sometimes … when he wasn’t being a self-centered jerk. So, 40% of the time, maybe. Did she want to marry Bill? She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. “No,” she said aloud. “No, I don’t. But I have to.”
Did she really? Why? Because Dad will have a heart attack if I don’t.
So the real question was, did she have the guts to stand up to her father and tell him no? Was she brave enough to face life on her own? Because once Dad blew his top, it was Mt. Saint Helens. She hadn’t been joking with Missy – he really would be so mad he’d disinherit her. Not that he didn’t love her, but when he didn’t get his own way, all bets were off. If she was really lucky, she’d only get ten years of long, cold silence from him.
Okay … what she really had to face was her fear of not having any money. Was it worth the risk? It might be, if she were happier …
Her cell phone rang and she snatched it up. “Jack?”
“Everything okay?”
“Yes, yes, I’m fine,” she lied, and winced.
“I have a rental car. I thought I’d pick you up at seven, then we’ll get Missy.”
A tingle went up her spine. “Works for me.”
“I’m looking forward to tonight,” he said. “I’m glad we arranged it.”
“Me too.” She stood and paced her living room. “Jack, I’m sorry about my dad and Bill …”
“I don’t want to talk about them,” he interjected. “Not yet, anyway.”
She ground to a halt. He saw it too – that she was weak, ruled by her father. What did he think? “I know it looks like Dad bosses me around, but it’s, well …”
“It looks like he’s controlling you. It looks like you let him.”
She didn’t expect him to be that blunt, and she felt like a child being scolded. But she was kind of acting like one. She’d been coddled, spoiled and allowed to do almost anything she wanted, except learn responsibility, take care of herself and make her own choices. Most of her life had been just one grand game – any time she didn’t cross Dad, really – and she’d been playing it long enough. This wasn’t going to be easy and it was going to hurt, but she had to grow up.
“Wendy? You okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine. You’ve just made me think, that’s all.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
“Not in my case. By the way, you’ll like Missy – you and she think a lot alike.”
“We do?”
She scraped up a halfhearted chuckle. “Oh yeah. And she’ll like you too.” But will you like me after tonight? By now he probably viewed her as some spoiled brat or a weakling – and she’d have a hard time arguing he was wrong. “Where did you have in mind for dinner?” she asked to get her mind off it.
They discussed their dinner plans and where they might go after, then hung up. Wendy put the phone back on the coffee table and curled up on the couch. She felt like a fool, an immature fool. Everything going wrong in her life was the result of her being too complacent, too … comfortable. Her father the risk taker hadn’t passed one ounce of that trait on to her. It was one of the reasons he was successful in business. She was more like her mother, smart but quiet and docile.
She didn’t want to be like that anymore. She wanted to be the person she was when she was with Jack all those years ago. But her father managed to verbally and emotionally beat that out of her and turn her into what she was today. He padded his abuse with money, lots of it. And she’d spent every penny.
Wendy closed her eyes, released a long sigh and said, “No more.” But would she be able to live that out, not just say it?
Chapter Eight
“And you like designing?” Jack asked Missy. With as much attention as he was giving her, Wendy began to wonder if the two of them were going to start a long distance relationship and that would be that, no more Jack. But what did she care? She was getting married herself …
No. No, she wasn’t. You’re not going to crumble, she thought to herself. Dad isn’t going to win this one. So what if he cut her off and she had to get a job? It’s not like she didn’t have skills. She’d just never used them.
“I found the architecture in Rome especially fascinating,” Missy said. “This is the third time I’ve been there.”
“The third time?” Jack said in surprise. “I was telling Wendy earlier today I’ve hardly been outside of Montana. In fact, this is the farthest I’ve been away from home.”
Missy looked at Wendy and back. “You’ll have to come here more often. Texas has a lot to offer.”
Jack, too, glanced Wendy’s way and smiled. “It certainly does.”
Missy smiled in triumph and took another bite of salad.
They’d spent the evening in pleasant conversation, Missy checking Jack out and Jack watching Wendy. Not that she minded, but nothing would come of it. As soon as she did what she planned, she’d be scrambling not only for a job, but for her sanity. She’d have to talk to Missy later and tell about her decision.
But a part of her wished Jack would just sweep in and come to her rescue. Seeing him again made her realize how much time she’d wasted. More than once she’d wondered how different her life would be had she and Jack never been separated. They might have married and had children. True, they might have nothing but a broken-down ranch to their name, but would they have been happy? She didn’t know.
She watched him laugh and joke with Missy – they were now talking about pets. “Do you remember that old dog my dad had?”
“Oh,” Wendy said with a shake of her head, turning from her thoughts of Jack back to the real thing. “Were you asking me?”
“Well, considering Missy wouldn’t remember him, yes.”
“Mr. Jitters?” Wendy said with a smile. “That old hound?”
“That’s the one,” he said with a grin. “After you left, Mr. Jitters met the future Mrs. Jitters and they had lots of nervous little puppies.”
“That’s awful,” Missy laughed.
“Yes, which is why my mother change their name to Sitters,” he explained. “The dogs didn’t notice the difference.”
Wendy laughed too. “I remember the kitten I brought home and gave to you, since Dad wouldn’t let me keep it.” She stopped laughing. Did she have a single positive memory of her father?
Jack nodded. “I had Peter Pan a long time. He died not long after Dad did. He always wondered if it would outlive him.”
“Was he that ill?”
Jack shrugged. “Off and on. We thought he’d last longer than he did. Leukemia.”
“I’m so sorry.”
Missy set her fork down. “It’s too bad your friend Charlie couldn’t tag along,” she said, probably to get off the dark subject.
“Well, someone has to see to the business. We can’t both come out to play. Maybe next time.”
Missy looked at Wendy. “Will there be a next time?”
Wendy gave her the side-eye. Missy was doing her best to make sure there was.
“I’d like there to be,” Jack admitted.
Missy smiled in triumph. “Wendy and I still have Christmas shopping to do. What about you?”
“Come to think of it, I did say I’d bring back a few souvenirs.”
“We could meet downtown at the Galleria tomorrow,” Missy suggested.
“I don’t think that’s Jack’s kind of place,” Wendy said.
“What is it?”
“A mall of sorts,” Missy said. “You’ll find some lovely gifts there.”
“What she’s failing to mention,” Wendy said, “is that it’s over in Dallas. You’d be dealing with all that traffic.”
“I don’t mind,” he said with a smile. “Besides, believe it or not, I like shopping.”
Missy made a show of gasping in shock. “A man who likes to shop? Will you marry me?”
Jack and Wendy laughed. But despite their laughter, Wendy felt a sting of jealousy. “Well, then,” she said, “looks like we’ll be Christmas shopping tomorrow. When shall we meet?” They work out the details, finished their dinners and settled on a movie for afterwards.
But just before going into the theater, Missy suddenly came down with a whopper of a headache – or so she said. “Really, you two,” she insisted. “I’ll be fine so long as I can go home and lie down. I can get a Lyft. Enjoy yourselves – I’ll see you tomorrow.” And before either of them could protest, Missy was walking away, her cell phone to her ear.
“Maybe I should drive her home?” Jack suggested.
Wendy sighed as Missy turned and waved at them, then returned to her phone. “Don’t bother. She’s fine.”
“Oh?” he said, curious. “Then why’s she leaving?”
“She’s leaving because it means we’ll be alone with each other. That’s how Missy operates.”
Jack laughed. “I like how your friend thinks.”
Wendy rolled her eyes. “You wouldn’t if it was your life she was constantly interrupting.”
“And she does yours?” He quipped with a smile.
“Don’t get me wrong, she means well.” She sighed. “But sometimes she tries a little too hard.”
To her surprise, Jack took her hand. “She’s just looking out for you. If I was her, I’d do the same thing.”
“Are you saying you’d look out for me only if you were Missy?” She shouldn’t be asking but did it anyway. “Would you look out for me as you?”
He chuckled. “Believe me, I am looking out for you.” He wrapped her arm through his and ushered her to the ticket booth.
They enjoyed the film, left the theater and strolled arm in arm to his car. She was enjoying her time alone with Jack, just as Missy anticipated. The rat. But she didn’t want to enjoy it too much. He’d be leaving soon, and she didn’t want to get to the point where she dreaded it. Defying her father – and Bill – was going to be hard enough. Missing Jack would only make it worse. And she needed to stand on her own two feet – her problem, at the root, was relying on other people to run her life instead of doing it herself.
Besides, as much as she’d like Jack to be her knight in shining armor come to rescue her - albeit from a situation of her own making – it wasn’t so. He’d changed just as she had. They weren’t in love with each other anymore. What they had as teenagers probably may not have been love at all but infatuation. What teenager was capable of true love?
She held to that as Jack drove her home, stealing glances the entire way. They reached her place, and Jack got out and opened the car door for her. “How chivalrous,” she said as she stood.
“Always, m’lady,” he said with a bow. He certainly had manners – Bill never opened the car door for her. “Shall I walk you to the door?”
She felt a tingle go up her spine and smiled in response. “If you’d like.”
He wrapped her arm through his again and leaned toward her ear. “I would.”
She shivered in response. She had to get a hold of herself – not an easy thing when she was enjoying this so much. She’d never felt this way with Bill – at best they had a comfortable camaraderie. At worst, he was a three-year-old and she was his pull toy, getting dragged along behind.
Jack escorted her to the door and let go of her arm. “Well, here we are.”
Wendy looked into his eyes as regret settled on her like a load from a dump truck. “Yes. It was fun.” She pulled out her keys and unlocked the door. The sooner she got away from him the better, before she did something stupid like kiss him. “Jack, about tomorrow …”
“I’ll pick you up,” he said. “Missy said she’d meet us there, remember?”
“Yes, I know, but maybe I should drive myself.”
“If you want, but it’s just as easy for me to come get you.”
She gazed into his eyes again. It was a mistake.
He leaned toward her. “I enjoyed spending time with you, Wendy.”
She swallowed hard. “I … liked it
too.”
He took her hand and gave it a squeeze. “Until tomorrow.” Then, like the knight he was, he kissed her hand, making her insides melt. He just as quickly let go and backed away as he stood there, dumbstruck. “You’d better get inside,” he suggested.
Wendy nodded shakily and hurried in, shutting the door behind her. “Oh, Jack,” she whined, leaning back against the door. “Why did you have to do that?”
Chapter Nine
Wendy barely slept, tossing and turning all night, her hand burning from Jack’s kiss. “It was just a simple kiss,” she kept mumbling to herself. At one point she even beat her head against the pillows to get thoughts of Jack out of her head. Never had such a simple gesture affected her like this.
Bleary-eyed, she made coffee the next morning, still pondering her reaction. Bill never made her feel like this. And no wonder – she didn’t love him. She tolerated him. She couldn’t even fake it anymore, not even to herself. She was going to have to do something about it. Jack’s kiss on the hand only confirmed everything she already knew.
But she’d deal with her father and Bill another day. Today she wanted to spend time with Jack and enjoy him while he was still around. She was entering new territory, and wasn’t sure how Jack fit into the equation yet. Besides, he might have just been acting gentlemanly, with no specific affection toward her. Unfortunately, his kissing her hand was the equivalent of getting struck by lightning. It didn’t kill her, but it sure opened her eyes.
She dressed quickly, put her hair into a ponytail and checked the weather on her phone. Should she bundle up? Winters in Texas varied, though they were nothing compared to the ones in Montana. She decided on a light leather jacket she’d bought last fall, and a cute red scarf to go with it.
That was the only thing that remained of her outfit by the time Jack showed up. She changed three times in the interim.