“No beer?”
“I don’t drink so I don’t keep it in the house.”
But Brad saw through that. He hated to use it, but Penny’s happiness was at stake. “Recovering?”
“From what?”
Alex was a good actor, Brad had to give him that. “Alcoholism,” Brad said. “I have a friend who never keeps alcohol in the house and that’s why.”
“Oh.” Alex shook his head. “No, just don’t care for the stuff.”
“Ah.” Brad just sank down onto the sofa. No rings from wet glasses on the low table in front of it. The guy probably didn’t even eat in the living room and used coasters with his drinks. “An iced tea would be fine.”
Alex went into the kitchen and Brad forced himself up. He couldn’t get discouraged just because no vices had fallen into his lap. Alex was a college professor, for goodness’ sake. He had to put on a good show.
Brad sped over to the bookshelves surrounding the television. The books were all leather-bound classics. Thoreau. Hemingway. Hawthorne. The videos were all specials that had been on the public broadcasting stations. The few small statues were copies of famous works...maybe.
With a furtive glance at the kitchen doorway, Brad picked up the statue of an embracing couple. That could be it. Under all this perfection, Alex was a secret collector of rare art objects. Stolen from museums and worth millions. He wanted to have them to satisfy his own ego, but that same ego forced him to put them on display.
The label on the bottom said. Middlebury Mint. Number 8,445 out of ten thousand copies. Rare and priceless all right.
“Interested in artwork?” Alex asked.
Brad caught himself before he dropped the statue and put it carefully back. “Yeah. Can’t afford even this kind of stuff but do admire it.”
“Uh-huh.” Alex’s voice sounded almost mocking, but his gaze was bland as he handed Brad a glass—and a coaster. “Here’s your drink.”
“Thanks.” Brad went back to the sofa. He took a short drink. It was real tea not a mix. Was the guy perfect, or what?
“Now what can I do for you?”
Brad carefully put his drink on the coaster, then looked up. “I want to talk about Penny,” he said. “Specifically, your intentions toward her.”
Alex didn’t look intimidated. More amused. “My intentions? I can’t see where they’re any of your business.”
“Penny’s an old friend of mine and I don’t want to see her hurt.”
Alex raised his eyebrows. “I daresay Penny’s an older friend of mine,” he said. “Since I’ve known her consistently over the years. Not just in and out like some.”
As if you could measure friendship in terms of years. Brad ignored Alex’s argument. “So, are you serious about her?”
“Perhaps you should be asking her if she’s serious about me,” Alex said.
“Penny’s feelings are her own business.”
“And maybe mine are, too,” Alex said. “I think it would be much more interesting to discuss why you want to know so badly.”
Brad glared darkly at him, but it had no discemable effect. “I told you. She’s a friend.”
“Like she was a friend back in junior high and high school?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Alex snickered. “Oh, come now, Brad. You had it bad for Penny when you lived here before. It might not have been common knowledge, but it wasn’t a secret, either.”
Brad didn’t know what to say. For a moment, he was a kid again. A secret was out in the open and he was feeling exposed and vulnerable. Something inside him pulled up tight.
“I did not,” he denied. “She was just a friend.”
“A friend?” Alex grinned. “You wouldn’t let another guy get within ten feet of her. You concocted the wildest stories to get rid of your rivals.”
“No, I didn’t.”
Alex seemed not to hear him. “I always wondered why you never dated her. She wouldn’t have cared that you didn’t have much money to spend.”
She might not have cared, but he would have. She deserved the best of everything, and that included a boyfriend who could take her places. Not one that worked every spare hour of the day and even then could rarely afford to go to the movies himself, let alone take someone.
But he hadn’t come here to discuss his past. He’d come to protect Penny’s future.
“We’ve gotten pretty far off track here,” Brad stated. “I just want your guarantee that Penny’s not going to be hurt.”
Alex shook his head as he got to his feet. “I don’t know what right you have to demand it, but I can guarantee I won’t hurt her. I happen to be fond of her, too.”
Brad wasn’t sure that was real reassurance, but knew it was the best he was going to get at the moment. Was it enough to allow himself to leave Chesterton, though?
Penny bit her lip as she listened to the phone ring and ring and ring. Weren’t doctors supposed to have an answering machine? She thought it was a law or something.
“There’s no answer,” she told Gran as she hung up the phone. Worry ate at her stomach. “We’ll just go to the emergency room.”
“I’m fine,” the old woman snapped. “I just got a little dizzy from the heat, that’s all.”
“Better to be safe than sorry.” Penny picked up her purse and grabbed the truck keys from the basket under the phone. “Come on.”
But Gran didn’t move from the kitchen chair. “What about Brad? We should leave him a note.”
With a loud sigh of exasperation, Penny found a piece of paper and a pen and scribbled out a note to Brad, saying that Gran had had a dizzy spell and that Penny was taking her in to be checked. This was crazy. If it was nothing, then they’d probably be home before Brad. And if it was serious, then they really shouldn’t be wasting the time with this note.
“Tell him not to worry,” Gran insisted, looking over Penny’s shoulder. “Gracious, that’s messy. How’s he ever going to read it?”
“He’s used to my writing.” Penny added Gran’s admonition not to worry, but she was not going to rewrite the thing in neater penmanship! “Now, let’s go.”
“Oh, all right.”
Gran took her own sweet time getting into the truck while Penny wanted to scream in worry and frustration. Finally she got the old woman in the passenger side and she hurried around to the driver’s side.
“You know, you shouldn’t be driving with that sprained ankle,” Gran said. “Why don’t we wait for Brad?”
Penny started the truck. “It’s better. I can drive.”
“You might get a relapse.”
She put the truck in gear and started down the drive. The truck was stifling inside, even though it had been parked in the shade. The air moved now that they were driving, but the air-conditioning sure took forever to start working. She turned the dials on high.
“I mean it,” Gran said. “You hurt your ankle some more and you’ll have to be off work.”
The air was finally starting to feel a little cool, and Penny relaxed. “I never did hurt my ankle,” she admitted. “I did it so I could keep an eye on Brad.”
Gran started to laugh. “You sly one,” she said. “And here you were pretending not to like him.”
Trust Gran to misinterpret things. “Not because I was attracted to him,” she said and turned onto the main road. “But because I didn’t trust him.”
“Sure.” Gran’s smile was smug. She was certain she knew the real truth.
It wasn’t worth arguing. Certainly not now, when Gran might not be well. Penny just held her tongue and sped over to the hospital. It only took a few minutes, and Gran didn’t seem any worse.
Penny pulled into the emergency room drive and honked the horn. An orderly came out with a wheelchair and helped Penny get Gran into it.
“I’ll park the truck and meet you inside,” Penny said.
But by the time she got into the emergency room a few minutes later, Gran had already been taken into the
back for tests. There was nothing for Penny to do but wait. She sank into a vinyl-covered chair that held the chill of the supercold air and gave free reign to her worries.
Nothing could happen to Gran, nothing. She was all Penny had left. Oh, sure, Will and Thad were still around, but not close by. Not really a part of Penny’s life. Not somebody to come home to.
A little voice pointed out that Gran was in her seventies and wouldn’t live forever. That maybe Penny should be looking elsewhere for someone to come home to. Like in Brad Corrigan’s direction.
Penny jumped to her feet and hurried over to the desk. “Can I wait with my grandmother?” she asked the nurse.
The nurse shook her head. “I’m sorry. She’s been taken down for an EKG. You need to wait here.” She smiled sympathetically. “Are you all alone?”
Like it was a fatal disease. “I’m fine, thank you.” Penny went back over to the chair.
She liked being alone. There were things she wanted to accomplish and she wasn’t ready to tie herself down yet. Her life was fine. Perfect. She didn’t need anyone else in it.
An emergency code rang out over the public address system and Penny’s heart stopped. She sprang to her feet again, gazing at the double doors leading to the examining area. What if it was Gran?
Penny vaguely heard the whoosh of the outside door opening and felt the heated summer air wash over her briefly. But all she could do was stare at those examining room doors.
“Penny?”
Brad was there and she went into his arms. She must have, for she suddenly found herself in his embrace. And it was perfect. For a wonderful minute, she let him be strong. Then she pulled away.
“How is she?” he asked.
“I don’t know. They’re doing tests. She said it was just the heat.”
“It is awfully hot out,” he agreed. “And you know she would tell you that she’s always right.”
Penny smiled slightly. “Always. But there was just some code blue they were announcing—”
“In surgical preop. I doubt they rushed Aunty Em off for surgery and didn’t tell you.”
She nodded. “I guess you’re right. They were giving her an EKG.”
He took her hand and led her back over to the chairs. “You need to be patient. Want to hear about the time I broke my arm in diving class?”
“Diving class?” She shook her head at the rapid change of subject. He was just trying to distract her, but it was working. She leaned back in her chair. “I can’t imagine you as a diver.” She looked at his broad shoulders and solid build. “Football player, yes. And you’re tall enough for basketball. But diving?”
He nodded with a sheepish grin. “When we got to California, my mother decided I needed California skills. She really felt awful about uprooting me and so once she got a decentpaying job—which was pretty fast—she enrolled me in a swimming and diving class.”
“And how were you?”
“After about three weeks of sinking like a stone, I finally got the hang of swimming. I did okay in diving because it was just a matter of making my body follow orders.”
“Just?” she ached with a laugh. “What if your body is too smart to do a back flip no matter how much you order it to?”
“Mine wasn’t,” he replied. “Besides, the reputation of Indiana was riding on my shoulders. I had to prove to those California kids that us Hoosiers were every bit as good as they were.”
She heard a darker undertone in his voice that said he’d carried his pride with him—and the demons that went with it—when he’d moved. But she knew better than to let on. “And did you?” she asked lightly.
“Damn right I did. Completed every single dive for my final exam.”
“So, how’d you break your arm?”
He grinned. “Tripped when I went into the locker room. Fell right on my face and broke my arm in two places.”
She laughed. “At least it was after you proved yourself,” she said, then let her laughter dwindle to just a smile. “So, was the move good for you?”
He leaned back in his chair with a twisted grin on his face. “You sound like my mother,” he said. “Every night she’d ask me if I was happy. Was it working out for me? Did I miss my friends?”
“And what did you answer?”
“That it was great. Best decision she ever made. Never gave Chesterton another thought.”
“I’m glad. It can be hard starting over at that age.”
“Or easy,” he said. “No one knows about all the dumb mistakes you made. You get a clean slate.”
“But no friends.”
He shrugged. “You make new ones. Real ones.”
That kind of hurt, that they hadn’t been real friends. But who was she kidding? She had been madly in love with him and he had thought she was a way to earn some extra money. That wasn’t friendship, not even in the twisted world of junior high school. She looked away and saw Doc Pierce approaching.
She jumped nervously to her feet. Brad rose also, slipping an arm around her. She leaned into him and found strength there.
“How is she?” Penny asked the doctor.
“Just fine.” He smiled. “A little too much sun and not enough liquids. She was just overheated. We gave her some fluids and she can go home anytime.” After patting Penny’s shoulder, he hurried down the hall.
Penny felt herself go limp with relief for just a quick second. Brad’s arm tightened and then she was fine. She turned to smile at him.
“Guess I’ll never hear the end of this,” she said. “Gran said it was just the heat.”
“But you can point out she needs to watch her fluids, too,” he suggested. “Don’t let her get off scot-free.”
By that time a nurse was wheeling Gran out. “Am I interrupting something?” Gran said. Her glance was most definitely on Brad’s arm around Penny’s waist. Her smile was smug. “I can feel faint again, if you two want some more time alone.”
“Gran.” Penny hurried over to take the wheelchair. “Would you stop kidding around? You had us worried.”
She just reached over her shoulder to pat Penny’s hand on the wheelchair’s handle. “I know, honey. I’m sorry.” With her other hand, she reached for Brad. “I’m so glad you were here for Penny. This is a horrible place to be by yourself.”
Actually, there were lots of places that were horrible to be by yourself, Penny thought as she wheeled her grandmother outside. But she was not going to dwell on those. “Brad kept me quite entertained,” she said. “I heard all about how he broke his arm during his diving lessons.”
“Broke your arm?” Gran sounded surprised. “Hal told me how you were a diving champ in your high school for a couple years running, but he never mentioned breaking your arm.”
“Prechampionship days,” Brad said. They stopped outside under the covered entrance to the emergency room. “Why don’t I drive the truck up here? Save you all some steps.”
He took Penny’s keys and hurried off across the parking lot while Penny watched. A diving champ, huh? Looked like the move really was great for him. California must have been just what he needed. No wonder he never looked back here with regret.
Unaccountably, the idea made her sad.
Dorothy hurried into the Yellow Brick Road Bar and Grill, her stomach growling at the wonderful smell of food. She was starving. Lunch had been too small and too long ago.
“Dorothy, over here.”
She looked around at the sound of her name and saw Toto and Junior at a small table near the back. She waved back and then wove her way over.
“Sorry, I’m late,” she apologized. “It’s been some day.”
“No, problem,” Toto said. “We didn’t mind waiting.” Junior grumbled a little as Toto held a chair out for her.
“Not sure your buddy here agrees,” she noted and she sat down.
“He’ll get over it. How was your day?”
“Just great.” She couldn’t help but laugh. “Fabulous, actually. I sold the Kramer estate.
A couple came by the open house, made an offer on the spot, and the Kramers accepted.”
“Wow, calls for a real celebration. Sure you want to stay here?”
“And break a long tradition of Yellow Brick Road Sunday dinners? No way. Years of bar food has probably brought me my good luck.”
Toto waved the waitress over and they both ordered dinner, then he ordered a near beer for Junior as well as a bottle of champagne.
“We have to celebrate right,” he told her. “This will be your third year as the agency’s top seller.”
“In terms of units sold, I’m not the leader this year, but in terms of dollars I am.”
The waitress brought over Junior’s nonalcoholic beer, then the champagne and glasses. Junior was too busy with his drink, but all around them, people turned to watch the waitress open the champagne. Their eyes said they were putting their own interpretation on the champagne. Toto didn’t seem to notice, but it made Dorothy wistful.
Toto held up his glass. “Here’s to staying the leader,” he said.
She clicked her glass with his and took a sip, keeping her eyes from him and from their audience. What was she moping about? This sale was huge. Which meant her commission was fantastic. Which meant her bank account was almost big enough for her move to Paris. But somehow it didn’t feel as exciting as it should have.
“Did I tell you Brad gave me the listing for his uncle’s house?” she said, then wished she hadn’t.
Selling that house would put her over her goal. Was that something Toto would celebrate? Probably. After all, they were friends. That was all he had wanted to be for years now.
“Really?” Toto topped off her glass. “That would be a great place to raise a family. Even the carriage house where Brad and his mom lived is nice.”
Dorothy didn’t know what to say. For some reason, the whole subject left her feeling down and depressed. Maybe it was the champagne on an empty stomach. Maybe it was the normal letdown after a big sale.
The place was just a house. Not the magical setting for a wedding that she used to think it was. Not the variations of home that Toto saw it as. Just an old building that would bring in some good money when it sold.
If I Only Had A...Husband (The Bridal Circle #1) Page 14