"We talked at length about Brett Morrison."
It was distracting being in such close quarters with Max and having him be so congenial and agreeable. "Did she agree not to see him again?"
"My conversation with my daughter was private and confidential." Max's sweet smile took the edge from his acid comment. "Don't ask me to betray that confidence, even for you."
He was treating her as if she were someone of importance to him, someone he valued and respected. Julie was moved by disturbing and conflicting emotions.
Max lifted one hand, as if he intended to touch her before sighing and letting his arm fall to his side.
Julie moved back. The last time she had let this man get close to her the results had been disastrous. "Thank you for talking to her." Her cold tone put psychological as well a physical distance between them.
Max seemed to sense her shifting mood. "Shouldn't you be getting dressed for the banquet?"
Julie was suddenly assailed by second thoughts. "I... I'm not sure I have anything appropriate to wear."
Max chuckled. "The banquet's not formal. Wear anything you like." His appraising look drifted across her face and down her trim, taut figure. "Wear something amber if you have it, something the color of your eyes." An intense fire burned in the blue of Max's eyes. "I don't suppose you still have the dress you wore the night I took you to Jim's Place?"
"That was ten years ago." Deep in Julie's heart there bled a silent wound as recollections from that night vibrated through her memory like the chords of a broken refrain.
"I know but I can still recall every tiny detail and every precious moment."
So could Julie. She also recalled the devastating chain of events that encounter had set in motion. "Do you also remember the terrible quarrel we had the next day? Do you recall accusing me of trying to lure you back to Summerville? Do you recollect how you walked out the door without bothering to look back?"
He reminded her gently, "I wasn't the only who said and did terrible things."
That was true. She had done things more terrible than he would ever know. Things she had regretted later, over and over again. "I tried to get in touch with you two months after you left."
Max chuckled. "It took you that long to cool off?"
"It took me that long to decide I should apologize and try to make things right between us." Julie set her glass on the tray. "Your office said you couldn't be reached. I thought that was your way of saying you didn't want to talk to me."
"I would have loved to talk to you." Max ran his long slim fingers around the rim of his glass. "It was true that I couldn't be reached. I left the country the week after I got back to Dallas. I wanted to get away and have some time to think." He lifted his hands in a pleading gesture. "I'd be glad to hear what you had to say then, now."
Julie turned to stare at the wall. It was too late now, forever and ever too late. "It's not important anymore."
Max moved nearer. "It's important to me. I've wanted to call you so many times to tell you I was sorry for being such a jerk, to try to make amends, to ask you to forgive me."
A thousand regrets ago those words would have mattered. Now they seemed no more than empty rhetoric. For a long tortured moment, the room was as quiet as a monastery and then Julie found her voice. "The fault was mine. I have this tendency to try to make over other people. I am sincerely sorry for all the terrible things I said to you."
Max blinked his eyes. "I could do with a little making over. I'm sorry too, for so many things."
In a desperate attempt to lighten the moment, Julie changed the subject. "I'll get dressed. We wouldn't want the banquet's guest of honor to be late." She smoothed the front of her skirt with her hands. "I'm glad we had this talk, and thank you for putting in a good word with Shannon."
Max smiled up at her. "Thank you for being so understanding, for letting me come here and spend some time with Shannon. You could have kicked me out the moment I showed up on your front door step." He turned his head to one side. "Why didn't you?"
This conversation was becoming too intimate. Julie took another step backward. "Your being here is important to Shannon. She wants her father to give her away. "
"And you, Julie?" Max probed, "How do you feel about me being here?"
Julie backed from the room. "I want what makes Shannon happy." She had to get out of here and fast. "I'll be ready by six-thirty." She almost ran from the room.
Julie wore her best dress, the one she had worn to Shannon's graduation. It wasn't amber, but a deep shade of green, cut in simple lines with a scoop neck, puffy sleeves, a tight waist and a skirt that flared attractively over her slim hips.
She brushed her hair until it shone with shimmering red highlights. Then she skillfully applied makeup as excitement bubbled like champagne through her veins. She told herself that she was excited about going out. That wasn't the only reason. She was excited about being with Max. When she was in his company even the most mundane of events became occasion for pleasure and delight.
Stepping back, she viewed herself in the mirror. The woman who looked back at her was vibrant, glowing--almost beautiful. Julie threw her image a kiss and reached for her wrap.
Chapter Three
As they mounted the steps of the school cafeteria Julie hooked her hand through Max's arm. From inside, the sound of laughter and idle chatter filtered out into the humid night air. Max smiled down at her. "Sounds like the festivities have begun." His eyes swept over her flushed face. "You look beautiful and not much older than you did the last time you and I climbed these steps to attend a banquet.
Suddenly Julie was wrestling with phantoms from the past. She fought an urge to turn and run down the steps, out of the schoolyard and in the direction of home and safety. "So much has happened since then."
As they stopped before the cafeteria's ornate double doors Max laid his hand over Julie's cold fingers. "What happened to us? Why couldn't we make it work?"
Julie paused and reflected before saying, "We were so young--so pitifully young."
Max reached for the door handle. "And now I feel very old. Do you realize I'm pushing forty?"
Julie had to smile. Max Anderson would never be old. "You have two more years before you hit the big four O." She stepped through the door that Max held open for her. It was not like Max to engage in serious discussions about the past. She was set to say so when Mitzi Miller pushed through the crowd and swooped down on them like a vulture on carrion.
"Max, darling, how good to see you." She threw herself into Max's arms, kissed his cheek and then stepped back to stare up into his face. "You look wonderful!" Her long skinny fingers wiped at the lipstick smudge she had left on his face.
Max returned her hug and her kiss. "I should have called again but I spent the day with Shannon and time got away from me."
People standing in little clusters around them began to nudge each other and whisper and smile as they sensed the emotional tension that suddenly sizzled through the air.
Mitzi hung onto Max's arm. "You're forgiven since it's your daughter you've been neglecting me for." She smiled directly into Max's eyes. "You're here now. That's what counts."
Pencil-thin and with her dark hair swept atop her head and fastened with a jeweled comb, Mitzi looked every inch the pampered daughter of Summerville's wealthiest and most influential couple. Despite the skillful application of expensive makeup her face was showing the first faint ravages of age and soft living. Her gaze hardened as she turned to stare at Julie. "To what do we owe this honor? You've never been to one of our banquets before."
Julie couldn't miss the definitive 'our' that encompassed Max and excluded Julie. "Max invited me. I've never had an invitation before." She couldn't resist needling her old rival. "He asked me last night when I was in no mood to refuse him anything." A part of her was immediately repentant for being so petty and vindictive, but a part of her rejoiced at the pained look that slid across Mitzi's face and lodged in the hard glitter of her eye
s.
Mitzi made a fluttering movement with her skinny red tipped fingers. Her voice dripped sarcasm. "How thoughtful of Max but this does present a problem. Max will be sitting at the guest of honor's table. Since I didn't know you would be here I didn't reserve a spot for you."
Julie shrugged, feigning indifference. Her eyes looked around the cafeteria. It had been decorated with blue and white crepe paper and festooned with hundreds of red balloons. "I'm sure I can find a place to sit."
Max took Julie's hand in his. "Make that two places."
Mitzi swallowed. "You can't do that. You're the guest of honor and the keynote speaker."
"Julie's here at my invitation." Max answered in that smooth, silky baritone. "I prefer to sit with her."
Mitzi struck him playfully on the arm. "Don't be difficult. It wouldn't be proper for you to be seated anywhere but the speaker's table."
Max's mouth turned up in a smile. His eyes were chips of blue ice. "I don't care which table I sit at. I'm going to sit with Julie."
Mitzi sent Julie a glance that if looks could kill would have felled her where she stood. "I suppose I could arrange for Julie to sit with you at our table."
Max's smile stretched into a wide grin. The ice in his eyes melted. "I insist."
Julie felt a surge of elation that was followed by a nagging bite of suspicion. Max was being nice--too damned nice. On second thought maybe he was mellowing in his old age. She decided to enjoy the evening and worry about Max's motives tomorrow. Taking his arm, she said to Mitzi, "Show us the way."
Mitzi glared at Julie. "Wait here." She walked away saying as she went, "This will take a minute or so."
It took more like fifteen minutes for Mitzi to adroitly shift one of the mayor's many minions to another table. After seating Julie next to Max, Mitzi stationed herself on his other side. Almost like old times, Julie thought as she sat in the chair Max held out for her. Mitzi Ashcroft and Julie Williams competing for the attention of Max Anderson, only this time there was a difference. Julie was older now and wiser. Her starry-eyed expectation of some happy-ever-after had been replaced by a more pragmatic point of view. As impractical as those young illusions had been, admitting their demise left her with a sense of lingering sadness.
As she settled in her chair, Julie smiled at the tall man seated on her opposite side. Robert Morgan was a city council member and one of Summerville's leading businessmen. He owned the town's only hardware store. Over the past ten years he had asked Julie out on numerous occasions. In the beginning Julie had gone out with him several times. Then his sweet declaration of his serious intentions had frightened her away. She considered Robert a friend even though she continued to refuse his occasional requests to go out with him. "Hello, Robert."
Robert's face lit up like a neon sign. "Hello, Julie. This is quite a surprise. I didn't think you attended alumni banquets."
He had every reason to think that since she had never been to one before. "I thought it was about time I relented and put in an appearance."
Robert turned to face her. "I understand that Shannon is getting married Sunday. How time flies." His smile was intimate. "I must congratulate her when she arrives."
Without benefit of invitation or greeting, Max leaned around Julie and said, "Shannon won't be here tonight."
Julie frowned. "Yes, she will. Dan bought tickets weeks ago."
Max put his arm around the back of Julie's chair, a gesture that seemed unnecessarily possessive. "Something came up. There was a last minute change of plans."
From nowhere came a little nudge of apprehension. Julie's frown deepened. "Shannon wouldn't change her plans without telling me."
Max shrugged. "Well, obviously she did."
Apprehension was turning to anxiety. "What came up?" Julie turned to get a better view of Max's face. She could have saved herself the trouble. There was nothing to be gained from his blank expression. "Are you sure she didn't leave a message?" Julie pushed her chair back and shifted to a half-standing position. "I'll call home and see what happened."
Max pulled her back down into her chair. "Will you give the girl some breathing room? In less than a week she'll be a married woman. She deserves a little privacy."
Julie slumped in her chair. "You think I'm smothering her, don't you?" Maybe she was. She tried to relax as she leaned back and viewed the crowded cafeteria. Royce was somewhere in this gathering of people. After the banquet she would catch up to him. Maybe he knew why Shannon and Dan had decided not to come to the banquet.
The meal, for all its fancy trappings, was mediocre. Mitzi had set about to monopolize Max, regaling him with everything from a recent vacation in Hawaii to some rather intimate details of her breakup with Carson Miller, her latest husband. Julie contented herself with gazing around the crowded room or talking with Robert.
Dessert was being served when Mitzi leaned around Max and asked, too sweetly, "Julie dear, speaking from the standpoint of a waitress what did you think of the meal?"
Julie smiled, but inwardly she winced. "I don't think I should comment. It wouldn't be wise to praise my competitors and it wouldn't be ethical to criticize them." She pushed her untouched dessert from her.
For the briefest moment, a light flashed deep in the blue of Max's eyes. Then he smiled. "Julie could cook a better meal than this with one hand tied behind her and she's not a waitress, she's a chef and a damn good one."
Mitzi stuck her fork in her sticky dessert. "Oh, yes. I remember she has a little diner." Again, she leaned around Max. "What's it called, Julie?"
"The Hungry Farmer." Julie was suddenly bone weary. She didn't want to fight with Mitzi. And for some reason she couldn't explain, she resented Max coming to her defense.
"Oh, yes." Mitzi patted Max's hand. "Finish your dessert, darling. I'm going to introduce you in a few moments."
As Mitzi sashayed to the podium Max dropped his napkin over his desert. "I don't have the stomach for dessert or orations."
His speech, nevertheless, was nothing short of eloquent. He began by telling how he had started his career as a teenager working as a carpenter's helper for the Acme Construction Company. Then without sounding egotistical or self-serving he related how over the next twenty years he had worked his way up the ladder until last year he had become CEO of Acme Construction International, and chief stockholder in the huge conglomerate.
As she listened Julie wondered if there were depths to Max Anderson that she had never known existed. Had time and adversity changed the handsome, devil-may-care eighteen year old she had fallen so hopelessly in love with into a mature, considerate man? She wanted to think so. Should she give him the benefit of a doubt? She knew now that he hadn't deliberately avoided her ten years ago. Earlier this evening he had called to her attention her own harsh actions. He didn't know the half of it. Strange and dissenting emotions moved in to challenge Julie's hard-won self-assurance.
Suddenly the speech was over and the cafeteria erupted in thunderous applause. Julie shook herself from her reverie as Max made his way back to his chair. He was enjoying every minute of this. She had forgotten how well Max Anderson loved a challenge. This had been a challenge, and Max had met it and conquered it. He now held the citizens of Summerville in the palm of his hand. He eased down beside her and was promptly mobbed by an onslaught of glad-handers and well-wishers.
Julie slipped away from the crowd and went to stand near the front door. She was leaning against the wall and scanning the crowd when Robert came to stand beside her. "Your ex-husband seems to have made quite a hit with the citizens of Summerville." Then from out of the blue he remarked, "Mitzi is a royal pain in the ass."
The observation was so unexpected and so in agreement with Julie's own feelings that she laughed aloud. "I seem to bring out the worst in Mitzi."
"That's because you married Max."
"Max and I are no longer a couple. We've been divorced for fifteen years."
Robert moved a little closer and spoke a little louder in
order to be heard over the hubbub. "Maybe she thinks you and Max are back together." He tagged his statement with a tentative, "Are you?"
Julie shook her head. "No. Max is here for Shannon's wedding, that's all."
Robert took a deep breath before blurting out, "Then maybe you'd like to go out with me next Saturday night?"
Julie's first inclination was to refuse and then she reconsidered. By that time next week Max would be gone and Shannon would be away on her honeymoon. "I think I'd like that."
Robert's head snapped back in surprise. "You would?"
"Yes. I would."
Robert smiled from ear to ear. "Where would you like to go?"
Julie patted his arm. "Why don't you surprise me?"
Robert inched nearer. "Would you like to drive to San Antonio for dinner and dancing?"
Julie's laughter tinkled out into the crowded room. "I thought you were going to surprise me."
Robert stepped in front of her and leaned his hand against the wall above her head. "I love the way you laugh. Can I call you tomorrow?"
Julie looked around Robert to see Max pushing his way through the crowd with a few die-hard well-wishers still following behind. "I'll be busy all weekend with Shannon's wedding. Call me next week." She ducked under Robert's arm and stood waiting for Max.
Robert extended his hand. "I enjoyed your speech, Max--nothing like a success story to fire us all up and make us work a little harder."
Max ignored Robert's extended hand. "I'm glad you were inspired." Taking Julie's arm, he led her through the doors and out onto the veranda.
Once outside, Julie pulled away from him. "You were rude to Robert."
"Can you blame me? He was trying to make time with my date. I don't like it when another man comes on to my girl." Max grabbed Julie's arm and made long strides across the veranda.
Julie hurried to stay up with him. "I'm not your date and I'm certainly not your girl."
Max spoke from the side of his mouth. "You're no longer anybody's girl."
You Belong to Me Page 3