“He’s not going to call you,” she muttered to herself fiercely. “He’s got a job, and a busy schedule. So do you.”
When the phone rang she jumped, punching the button before Jillian could break in. “Rose Talent,” she announced, waving Jillian away through the window. Jillian shrugged and turned back to some paperwork.
“Hey, Mom,” April greeted her. “Wanna do lunch?”
Kate’s racing heart began to slow. She mentally kicked herself for being such a dolt. “It’s been crazy here. Why don’t you come in and we’ll make it a quick one at Lacey’s.”
“I’ll be there in twenty.”
Lacey’s was a small cafe wedged into an alley between two brick buildings. The restaurant had been blocked off and covered with a skylight; its kitchen several of the rooms in the building on the left. Tables were kept in the alley itself, and the alley was heated by panels suspended high overhead to make the dining spot a year-round establishment. Its most convenient feature, however, was that it was two blocks from Rose Talent Agency.
Kate picked up the menu absently, wondering why she felt so let down. Whatever do you expect? she asked herself.
“Just water,” she told the waiter. Inside, she could feel the germ of regret taking hold. During the heat of passion it was easy enough to tell Jake she would have no second thoughts, but as hours passed and she reviewed her weekend with her ex-lover, Kate couldn’t help thinking she had made a mistake.
It was unlike her to be so out of control. Whatever had possessed her to embark on an affair with the one man who could really hurt her? Love was no excuse. Her feelings could do her in way too easily. She should have been smarter. Taken things slower.
Fools rush in…
“You could argue that it’s been eighteen years,” she said through her teeth. She was flat-out angry with herself.
April appeared in a rush. “It’s impossible to find a parking place. I nearly got in a fistfight with a guy who tried to steal it from me.”
“A fistfight?”
“Okay, I was exaggerating, but he did make a rude gesture at me,” April declared, eyeing her mother.
“Just don’t tell me you made one back.”
“No. I was polite. I told him what I thought of him!”
“April!”
“I just said that I didn’t think he was being fair since I had my blinker on and I was pulling into the spot when he started backing up like it was his.” She cleared her throat. “Or something to that effect,” she admitted in an aside.
“He probably didn’t realize you were there,” she said, sounding like an authority.
April bristled. “Why are you taking his side? What’s eating you?”
Kate snatched up her glass of water again, feeling itchy and quarrelsome. “Nothing.”
“Oh, yeah? You wouldn’t tell me about Mr. Wonderful last night,” April said. “I told you all about my camping trip, but you were mum on the subject of Mr. Talbot, the younger.”
“There’s nothing to tell,” Kate muttered repressively.
“You were pretty clear that you and Ryan’s dad didn’t work out, but you haven’t said the same thing about Jacob Talbot. What gives?”
Kate narrowed her eyes at her daughter. “I don’t think I like this dating thing.”
“Oh-ho. Did something go wrong?”
“No.”
“Did something go right?” she asked, a slow grin stealing across her lips.
“April,” Kate warned, losing patience.
“When you feel like talking about it, I’m all ears.” With that April bestowed her smile on the waiter, who reacted as if she were royalty and stumbled all over himself to help her.
Kate just felt tired. She knew she was being unfair to her daughter, but she had no intention of describing her love life in detail to anyone—and especially not Jake’s daughter.
Her chest ached. A weight lay somewhere inside in the vicinity of her heart. Worse than worrying that she had made a mistake in rushing this relationship was the knowledge of the secret she bore. She had to tell him, and soon, or what was already an impossible situation would become catastrophic, and her worst fears would be realized.
Tomorrow, she thought. April’s audition was tomorrow, and she would go with her daughter to Talbot Industries and figure out how to approach Jake. It was the right thing to do.
Tuesday morning dawned gray and hazy. It seemed like the clouds couldn’t decide whether to form or drift away into a melting fog. Kate pretended that it was a normal day, and that she was just going to work, but she dressed with extra special care. Her dress was a button up the front denim worn without stockings, her shoes strappy sandals of soft brown leather. Her ankle was still bruised and swollen and she had to baby it, but there was nothing to do about that but wait until time healed the damage. She concentrated instead on the rest of her appearance, fussing in the bathroom longer than usual. For a final touch she twisted her hair up and secured it with a comb, then touched on makeup until her amber eyes shone like molten gold.
Now, staring at her reflection, she was surprised at what she saw. Even when she had gotten ready for her date with Tom DeSart, she hadn’t looked so, so sensual! A weekend in bed with Jake Talbot had irrevocably changed her, and she wasn’t sure how to feel.
“Oh, that’s not true,” she admonished the image in the mirror. She knew exactly how to feel. Terrified! They had made love over and over again, missing both an extraordinarily beautiful sunset and sunrise, according to the local papers, with neither of them caring a whit. Kate had been giddy with joy, though she had carefully kept her feelings close to her heart. With good reason, it turned out, when late Sunday afternoon she had suggested it was about time to head back to Portland and Jake made no demur. She realized then, that he had been waiting for her to make that decision. Their weekend together was over. Time to get back to reality.
It shouldn’t have bothered her, but it did. And then when she had arrived home and there was no message from him, doubts had crept in on little feet, treading endlessly across her brain, giving her no peace. Then Monday had arrived and not a word. Now it was Tuesday, the day of April’s audition with Talbot Industries, and Kate was a mass of nerves.
Was it just a quick physical thing? Maybe he wanted to expunge the past in the most celebrated way? Was I too forward, too easy, too eager?
“Oh, God,” Kate muttered now, snatching up her purse and heading for the kitchen. Worried and anxious, she blanked out her mind and forced herself to concentrate on the task at hand.
“Wow,” April said, her gaze skating appreciatively over Kate from head to toe.
“Wow, yourself.”
April wore a short, straight black skirt and a white shirt that nevertheless made her look very feminine. Her hair was smooth and straight, and her skin glowed with the beauty of youth.
“You look…healthy,” Kate commented.
“Whoa, hold down the compliments, Mom. I might get a big head!”
“You also might want to change that shirt. The camera hates white.”
“What do you mean?” April glanced down at her apparel.
“White washes out color. It’s too bright under the lights.”
“Oh.”
April hurried to change, and Kate sipped on a cup of coffee, fighting the nerves jumping around in her stomach. April returned with a dusty blue blouse that highlighted her gray-blue eyes.
“Dynamite,” Kate told her, and they headed for Talbot Industries.
The corporate offices spanned a block and a half with room to grow. Steel girders stabbed into a gray sky, silent sentinels to the newest addition still under construction. Inside, they were escorted down a hall to an elevator that led them to the third floor. Here an anteroom opened to a room that had been equipped with a camera and rows of chairs where Talbot Industries’ employees would hold the audition. The talent—a group of men and women from different agencies around Portland—were scheduled to arrive one after another in
fifteen-minute intervals. Kate normally did not attend these kind of cattle calls, but this was her daughter they were interested in—and they were Talbot Industries.
Her pulse jumped erratically, but a quick reconnoiter of the area showed Jake to be missing from action. However, Jake’s brother, Phillip, greeted her with a hearty handshake.
“April’s got a good chance. She’s got my vote.”
Kate sent him a fractured smile. She wasn’t certain what she thought of Phillip, and now, with the memory of her wild weekend affair filling her head, she was almost afraid to meet his gaze. As if he would know, and condemn, or something!
“You really think she’s good enough?” Kate murmured.
“Oh, yeah. Absolutely.”
Phillip hugged her as if they were old friends, and Kate caught a whiff of alcohol. It was one o’clock in the afternoon. It appeared Phillip had to have been enjoying his lunch hour in more ways than one.
Kate stayed in the anteroom with April. Several young actors walked around, talking overly loudly and trying to impress anyone they deemed an employee of Talbot. April’s eyes were rounder than usual, but she maintained an outward calm. In fact, she was better off than her mother, Kate realized ruefully, feeling her own pounding heart and trembling fingers, although she was nervous over other reasons than the audition.
As if he had heard her thoughts, a side door suddenly opened, and Jake strode through. His hair was combed in place, and Kate couldn’t help noticing how its faint curl crept in where it curved near his ears. Without warning she remembered what it felt like to run her fingers through its thick pelt. Memories of kissing his beard-roughened cheek, and glorying in his murmured sighs and moans of love, filled her head.
But today he looked grim and purposeful, his gray-blue eyes alighting on April, though he flicked a quick look in Kate’s direction. Kate’s throat went dry. He smiled, seemed about to say something, then glanced behind him to where a petite brunette, slim and businesslike, followed him into the room.
This was no secretary, Kate realized, reading the body language, and from the way her hand touched his forearm lightly, this was also no mere business associate.
With difficulty Kate tore her gaze from the woman, only to realize that Jake had caught her staring. Heat flooded her cheeks.
“Hello, Katie,” Jake finally addressed her.
“Hello, Jake.” She had almost said Mr. Talbot because Jake sounded so familiar and for reasons she didn’t want to examine too closely, she wanted to keep things formal. But then, he had called her Katie, hadn’t he?
The woman focused on her with an intensity that spoke volumes. With feminine insight Kate realized the brunette was highly interested in Jake but concerned he didn’t feel the same. This improved her mood enormously.
“Hello, Mr. Talbot,” April chimed in, her smile a bright reflection of his. Kate’s heart jumped. Their resemblance was so obvious she expected everyone else to see it, too!
“Hi, April.” He shook her hand and said, “Good luck. Don’t let the team of interrogators inside there put you off.”
“Interrogators?” she asked, taking him seriously.
He grinned. Kate was no proof against that smile. She had to turn away to keep from adoring him. “Just some Talbot employees looking for the best person for the job. They’re pussycats, really.”
“You’re April Rose,” the woman said. April looked at her quizzically. She went on, “I’m Sandra Galloway of Turner and Moss Advertising. I understand Phillip felt you might work as the Talbots’ spokesperson.”
Phillip, who was leaning against a wall nearby, whipped around at the mention of his name. The scowl that crossed his face when he realized Sandra was talking about him was downright scary.
“Our agency came up with the copy for the series of commercials, and frankly, Miss Rose, we pictured someone older,” Sandra continued.
“Oh.” April gazed at Jake, whose own face had darkened at her terse words.
“Nothing’s decided,” he said.
“I’m just saying—”
“Keep it to yourself, Sandra,” Phillip interjected. “You’re not the boss, even though you like to think you are.”
“Phillip!” Jake warned, annoyed.
Sandra, realizing her mistake, gave April an apologetic shrug. “It’s up to Talbot Industries, of course.” She walked away smartly, but as she passed Phillip, she inhaled deeply and lifted her eyebrows in silent judgment of the odor on his breath. Then she passed back through the door to the auditioning room.
“I’m nervous,” April whispered to Kate.
“So am I.” Her gaze surreptitiously followed Jake, who was now speaking in low tones to Phillip. Phillip apparently heeded whatever he was saying, because after an unsteady moment, he followed after Sandra.
Jake turned back to April. “Too many chiefs,” he said by way of explanation. “Hang in there.”
Then he was gone. April slid Kate a look. “I forgot to bring him his money!” she realized with a start.
Kate’s mind’s eye remembered the bills stacked behind the kitchen telephone. “You can do it later,” she assured her.
“Mom?”
“Uh huh?” Kate’s heart nearly broke at the terror she witnessed behind her daughter’s calm exterior. “It’s a cakewalk,” she whispered in her ear.
“I’m scared.”
“It’s okay.”
“Do you think that woman’s going out with Mr. Talbot?” she asked.
Before Kate could answer, the door opened and April was ushered into the audition.
Chapter Thirteen
Kate paced around the anteroom. She was nervous as a cat waiting for her daughter. It was one thing having clients audition for parts, quite another to have it be her child.
When April reappeared she seemed slightly dazed. “They asked me so many questions,” she admitted. “I don’t know how I did.”
“You’re always great. You’re a natural.”
April smiled at her gratefully. “That’s a mom talking.”
“Of course it is. I am your mom.”
April was barreling out the building, but Kate hung back, hoping to connect with Jake. As if surfacing from a fog, April suddenly said, “Oh, you want to see him, don’t you!”
Having her mind read made Kate want to negate everything. “No, it doesn’t matter.”
“Yes, it does! You really like him.” She slid Kate a devilish look. “He is kind of cute for an old guy.”
“An old guy!” Kate choked on a laugh.
“Well, what are you both? Thirty-six?”
“We’re not quite ready to be put out to pasture, thank you very much!” Kate declared, pretending offense.
April ignored her. “We can wait here.” She paused by the exit door to the elevators. “He should be coming out soon.”
“No, he’s busy.”
April finally picked up Kate’s tense vibes. Reverting to her earlier question, she demanded, “And what about that witch he was with? She wasn’t any better while I was auditioning. Kept giving me the old evil eye. Luckily the Talbots ignored her.” April sighed and made a face. “I don’t think she likes me at all.” She slid a glance her mother’s way. “Or maybe it’s you that got her all worked up.”
“You’re imagining things,” Kate declared, throwing open the door to the outer passage. “Come on.”
“Don’t you want to wait?”
Kate had already concluded that hanging around hoping for an iota of Jake’s attention was an ill-conceived idea. If Jake wanted her, he knew where to find her.
On the way back to the office, she sighed to herself, realizing one of the reasons she had exited so hastily was to avoid dealing with the issue of April’s parentage. She had sworn to herself that she was ready to tell him the truth, but it just wasn’t so. She could tell herself to come clean with the truth till kingdom come, but it wouldn’t make her do the deed any faster.
“You’re awfully quiet,” April observ
ed as they headed up the clanking elevator to the third floor of their building and Rose Talent Agency.
“I’ve got a lot of things on my mind.”
As soon as Jillian saw them, she jumped up from her chair. Her frizzed hair bounced with excitement. “I’ve got that date all set,” she informed Kate. “You, me, Jeff and Michael. This Friday!”
“Jillian, you didn’t!”
“Hey, I managed the baby-sitting last weekend, didn’t I? Well, didn’t I?” she demanded to Kate’s look of consternation.
“Yes…” Kate threw a glance at April, who lifted her hands as if to say, “Don’t look at me.”
Jillian continued, “And you promised to pay me back by going on a date. Well, this Friday’s the date, and unless you’ve suddenly developed a raging social calendar, you’re on, my dear!”
There was no way to get out of it. Kate was well and truly stuck. And it was impossible to tell Jillian that she had fallen in love over the weekend—or maybe never fallen completely out of love—with Jake Talbot.
April, however, had no such qualms. “Mom’s got a crush on Jacob Talbot.”
Jillian stared. “Say what?”
“April,” Kate began, her tone long-suffering.
“They were classmates together, and they’ve recently found each other again.”
“I will go on the date with Michael,” Kate stated firmly. “I could use an evening away from this obnoxious child.”
April hooted with laughter. “She’s soooo touchy!”
“Are you sure?” Jillian asked.
“Positive.”
Jillian regarded Kate thoughtfully. “Well, okay, but if you change your mind…”
“I won’t.”
“Then we’ll see what develops,” was all Jillian could think of to say.
Jake called just before five. When Jillian, waggling her receiver aloft, pointed knowingly to Kate through the window of her office, Kate’s skin feathered in anticipation. She knew without being told who was on the other end. Carefully, lest he realize how much one simple phone call meant to her, she answered, “Kate Rose.”
By Candlelight Page 20