“I know!” he answered. “Look, I value your insight. I just asked you a simple question. What do you think?”
She frowned and glanced up at him. “You know, you’re one of the most puzzling people I’ve ever met in my life. I don’t know what’s going on with you! I never know if you’re serious or not.”
He continued to look at her in an unwavering expression. “Do you want it or not?”
He could hear the coldness creeping into his tone and her look told him that she heard it too.
“And just give up my present job? I don’t think you can afford me.”
“No?” he replied, forcing himself to lighten his tone. “Hey, I thought you were the one who had me all figured! I can afford you the same way that I can afford to help Jada and Little Ted and Mrs. Smith and Grady. Being a cab driver in Newport is a profitable business. Hell, especially for someone like me, who also gets to work as errand boy for Phil Campbell, the all-powerful Oz.”
She gave him a grim smile before turning her gaze back to the crowded bar. He could have sworn that she seemed disappointed. And what the hell did he mean by all that? For an instant, he’d even fooled himself. But his offer had been genuine. He’d wanted her to say yes and stick around. For some reason, he needed to know that she wouldn’t be walking out of his life next week.
“Evan! My God! Lucy, look over there...Evan Knight!”
“Shit!” He never even had a chance to turn his back before the taller of two identically blonde women literally threw herself at him, plastering her body against his chest and looping her tanned arms around his neck. “Ah! Cornelia!”
“I’ve been trying to get hold of you for weeks. I even called...”
“Evan?” Lucy unceremoniously yanked Cornelia’s arms away and took possession of his neck, herself. “This is a fabulous surprise! Except for you, there’s not a man left in this town.”
A wave of disgust washed over Evan at the thought that as lately as six months ago, he’d tolerated rich bimbos like these two in his bed. He tried unsuccessfully to pull Lucy from his neck as Cornelia pushed up against him.
“So, handsome, here for the weekend?”
Lucy never gave him a chance to answer her friend’s question before she started jabbering in his ear. “Evan, we have my Uncle Willie’s place out on Ocean Drive all to ourselves for the weekend. For old time’s sake, how about if we pick up some food and head out there. Just the three of us. We won’t have to surface until Sunday for the Ball. Ooh! This is so exciting. A hot and steamy weekend with Evan Knight. Hey, maybe you can use us in one of your books.”
Cornelia laughed inanely. “He’s done that already. Don’t you remember the...”
“Look!” he shouted, desperate to shut them up. “It’s great...no, fabulous seeing you two, but I have other...”
“Come on, Evan!” Lucy whined, her face falling into a well-practiced pout. “There’s nothing to do down here if you don’t...”
“Look, I...” He physically pushed the two away and turned to look at Meg. Suddenly, though, everyone in the place seemed to be crowding around him...except Meg.
“I had new implants done this summer. You’ve got to see them.”
He dragged his hand out of Cornelia’s grasp before she could pull it to her breast. Where was she? he thought shortly, looking around the two in search of her.
“Meg?” he shouted over the noise of the crowd.
“Who’s Meg?”
The one woman’s question was answered by the other. “I think she was that geeky looking little thing he was talking to before we came over.”
“Come on, Evan.”
“Meg?” He shoved past the two, looking for her. But she was nowhere to be found. Thinking that perhaps she had gone to the ladies room, he ducked through into the little hallway by the restroom doors. Evan waited for a few minutes, but after watching a league of women go in and out with still no sign of her, he gave up on that idea.
Shoving his way through the bar and ignoring the pleas of his two former playmates, he took a peek outside, hoping that she’d just stepped out to get some fresh air. But he could find no sign of her. Worry started to mix with irritation as he searched out the hostess who had taken their order.
“Yes,” she told him in response to his question. “The woman you came in with paid for your food and left. Uh, will you be needing a cab?”
Angrily, he charged out of the place. Where the hell could she have disappeared to, anyway? Storming back to his car, he realized that already, in their short acquaintance, he’d spent more time driving around looking for her than he had done for all the other women he’d ever known! Driving the streets at five miles an hour, checking every alleyway and dead end street between the restaurant and the apartment, Evan was beside himself by the time he reached the B&B.
He took the steps three at the time until he reached her room. But before he could wake up the house hammering down the door with his fist, he spotted the neatly handwritten note taped to her door.
Hi Evan. I’ve got a terrible headache, so I’m hitting the sack early. Left the dinner by your door. Enjoy. Meg
“Enjoy, Meg,” he repeated sarcastically. He stood there for a long moment as he contemplated knocking on her door and letting her have a piece of his mind for taking off like that. But, in the end, he decided against it. They had been having a good time until those two “Debbie Does Debutantes” had cut in on them.
Then a devilish gleam came into his eyes. She was jealous.
Well, first thing in the morning, he would clear the slate with Meg about Lucy and Cornelia. Those two women meant nothing to him...other than to remind him of the immaturity of some of his past, uh, relationships. He wouldn’t give either of them a second look. On the other hand, he was growing really fond of Meg. Perhaps it was time that he should let her know that, too.
Maybe it was time to start revealing some of the truth.
CHAPTER 16
Please, Robert, Meg pleaded. Please, talk to me.
She stared out at the harbor tour boat bringing in a groups of tourists from a huge luxury liner anchored in the harbor. As the white boat swung noisily around the huge yachts, she turned and strode along the water, her sneakers scuffing at the wooden walkway.
I know you’re around. I know you are just doing all this to spite me.
Only the cries of some gulls hovering over the sparkling water came back in response.
I mean, isn’t there something we can do together? Can’t you at least help me through this insanity?
She was miserable. Even this morning, her mind continued to torment her with the images of those two young women draping themselves across the same shoulders she had so trustingly leaned against only moments before, down by the ocean.
She sighed and tried to push Evan Knight out of her mind, forcing herself to think of the discussion she’d had with Jada this morning. When Meg had spoken with her first thing, the young mother had said that the hospital had called saying that Little Ted was doing great, and that when Jada arrived, they’d take him in for the first of the tests.
But Jada had refused Meg’s offer of accompanying her this morning. She insisted on doing this alone--at least for the morning. She’d call Meg and leave a message if she wanted company later on.
After hanging up, Meg thought that Jada had sounded quite confident and self-assured. Definitely more confident than she was feeling right now.
“How can you be such a dip!” she muttered, unable to stop her thoughts from returning again to the events of last night. She watched a pair of sparrows skittering along the walkway and onto the grass, wrestling over a bit of stale bread that one of them had.
Evan Knight was a playboy and obviously had a different woman for every week of the year. Rich women, she corrected, remembering the comment one of them had made about her uncle’s place along Ocean Drive. There were only mansions along that winding stretch of road.
Meg knew what Rebekah would say in a situation
like this. Have a good time! Who cares if he’s slept with every available female in town? Life’s a fling and then you die!
Good old Rebekah.
Jeez, maybe she’s right, Meg thought with a sigh. He’s a man and she’s a woman. He was certainly interested--that was clear enough. And she had definitely been living the life of a nun for the past five years. Meg felt a quiver in her belly at the thought of their few moments down by the ocean.
After all, it was ridiculous to expect that the first guy she got intimate with after Robert’s death would be Mister Right. Rebekah had a line for that, too. In the absence of the other, go for Mister Right Now. ‘Lasting Relationship’ was clearly not Evan Knight’s motto, so far as Meg could see. He was sexy, passionate, and knew exactly what to do to charm her out of her pants. In fact, he’d put her fulfillment ahead of his own from the very start. What did she have to complain about? Why, for once, couldn’t she accept Rebekah’s advice and just think of this as a fling?
Meg closed her eyes for an instant and breathed in a lung full of the sea air. Unfortunately, she knew the answer. Because she was not Rebekah. She was Meg Murphy--the same unchanging person who was terrified of the thought of stepping out of her little world. She was a bird who had never lived outside of the comfortable cage she had constructed. She had never tried to fly on an ocean breeze.
This morning, she’d needed to escape the house. She’d needed to disappear and avoid any chance of running into Evan. Through the long hours of yet another sleepless night, Meg had decided that after all these years, she was far too fragile to be able to handle a man like him.
Meg slowed her steps and looked around. She needed to find Robert. To get back to where she would be safe--where she knew she would be protected and loved for eternity.
“Did you know brooding is bad for your complexion?”
Startled, Meg whirled and then smiled as Phil Campbell fell in step beside her. She eyed with curiosity the large duffel bag that he shifted from one shoulder to the other.
“I wasn’t brooding.”
“If you say so! Then what’s eating at you?”
“Nothing. Really! I was just taking a walk.”
“Well, I don’t buy it.” He placed a friendly hand on her shoulder. “I spotted you when I came out of the marina office. You were lost to the world.”
“So you took it on yourself to come and rescue me.”
“Something like that.” He turned her around until she faced the docks and pointed to a large, hunter green sailboat tied by the gas tanks. Swift was grinning at them from the boat, her long tail thumping on the teak deck. “Actually, I was going for a sail around the bay, and I just hoped that you’d come along.”
She was actually pleased with the invitation but quickly shook her head. “That’s really nice of you to ask. But I...I just don’t think...”
“You don’t think Evan would like it?”
She found herself rising to the bait. “He has nothing to do with it. It’s just...”
“Great, because it’s a perfect day.” Phil grabbed her by the arm and started toward the boat. “I’ve got everything aboard that we’ll need. Nan packed a lunch big enough to feed half of Newport.”
She planted her feet and looked up into his handsome face. “I’m not really sure about this.”
“Come on, Meg. It’ll be fun. Besides, we’ve got Swift to chaperone us. I'll call Nan and tell her you’re with me.”
“I don’t think that’s really necessary...”
She hesitated for another moment to think it over. There was something about Phil Campbell that was so easygoing. And knowing that, romantically speaking, he had no affect on her made the whole thing very innocent.
Oh, the heck with it, she thought. It was a beautiful day! What did she have to lose?
*****
A cheery faced nurse asked Jada to stay in the waiting area as an orderly wheeled the sedated infant in for a second echocardiogram. With a thudding heart, the young mother watched Little Ted disappear through the swinging doors.
He’ll make it through all this. He will, she kept reminding herself. Trying to swallow the large knot that had risen in her throat and was threatening to choke her, Jada plunked herself down in the closest chair and absentmindedly dragged a copy of the local paper onto her lap.
She’d wanted to go through this alone this morning. She’d wanted to prove to herself that she was capable of dealing with the problems of life. But now, sitting all alone in this waiting room, her baby in the hands of doctors and nurses, all she could think of was the sense of helplessness that was making her feel so hollow inside. Yes, she was almost sixteen, but at her age--with no education and no job--how was she to support herself and Little Ted?
She loved her father, and it wasn’t fair to expect him to do everything for them. Jada gnawed at her lip, thinking of the man who had suffered so much, financially and emotionally, during and after the long years of her mother’s struggle with cancer. With a pang of uncertainty, she wondered how he would deal with the fact that his new grandson had an ailment. How would he deal with the possibility of more medical bills and more hospital stays?
She brushed away the tears that had dropped onto her cheeks. Reaching inside her backpack and taking out a tissue, she blew her nose.
“Sad story?”
She looked up in surprise as Evan sat down beside her.
He took the paper off her lap.
“The baby in there?” He nodded toward the door to the testing facility.
“Uh huh.”
He frowned and gave the open page a cursory glance. From the scowl on his face she could see that he was in a terrible mood.
“What are you doing here?”
“Since when do I need a reason to come and check on you?”
“Since I’m no longer the helpless, pregnant teenager. Since I can take a cab across town myself.”
He looked at her, and Jada could see the wheels turning in his head. But before he could start the lecture she was sure he was about to deliver, she leaned her head affectionately against his shoulder.
“I know. I know. You’re the grown up, and I’m the kid. And until my father comes home, you feel totally responsible for taking care of me. Did I get it right?”
He grunted with a short nod and looked back at the paper.
Despite her struggle to prove she could do this on her own, she had a very special place in her heart for Evan. From the first time he had walked through their front door with her father six months ago or so, he’d continued to prove himself a great friend to them.
Looking up into his face again, though, she knew something was eating away at him. There weren’t too many times that you could find Evan Knight in public with a day-old shave and such a beat look on his face.
“Are you still mad at me for not calling you sooner yesterday?”
“No!”
“Are you mad at me for not asking you to drive me to the hospital this morning?”
“No!”
“Did you lose your job?”
“No!” He turned and eyed her suspiciously. “All right, enough with the questions, Miss Marple.”
“Miss Who?”
He rolled his eyes. “Never mind!”
“Did you and Meg get into a fight?”
He turned his attention back to the paper, but she saw the hard clench of his jaws.
“You and Meg had a fight!” she announced with certainty.
“Don’t you have something to do? Something to read?”
She placed a hand on his bare arm. “Evan, aren’t I your friend?”
It took him a long moment before he turned his hazel eyes on her face. She didn’t even realize it until then, that she was holding her breath. Having Evan think of her as a grown up and not a kid--as a friend and not a ‘responsibility’--suddenly meant the world to her.
“Yes, I do consider you a friend.”
She smiled. Hooking her arm through his, she sat silently for
a moment as he continued to glance at the paper.
“I like Meg,” she whispered a moment later. “I don’t know...there is something about her that is so real, so caring. She’s very cool...in her own way.”
He didn’t say anything.
“And I think you like her, too. She is different from most of the women who hang around this town, isn’t she? For someone who is so...you know, desperate in her own life, she is so giving...”
“What do you mean desperate?”
Jada bit her lips, forcing back a smile while she pretended to take her time to answer. She sure had his attention, now. All Evan Knight needed to know was that Meg needed help in some way, and he would rise to the bait. This might be her first attempt at matchmaking.
“Well, you know she’s on the verge of losing her job.” Jada pulled another tissue out of her bag. “And I think she’s still bothered by her dead husband. Did you know she hasn’t been able to go out with anyone since his death--and that was five years ago! She’s getting older, too. She’s already thirty-five. She said a friend told her she had a better chance of getting hit by an asteroid than finding a marriageable bachelor at her age. But she told me she’s sorry that she and her husband never had a child of their own...in spite of what some dork we both know said the other day. What else do you want to know?”
He looked at her in silence for a long moment. Whatever he and Meg were fighting about, Jada knew that Evan was trying to push it all aside and focus on what she’d just told him.
“How do you know all this?”
“Women talk, you know. And Meg and I have spent a lot of time together the past couple of days.” Jada paused a moment and then turned and looked into Evan’s face. Suddenly, he didn’t look so beat. “Now that I think of it, though, some of that might have been meant in confidence. Don’t say anything. In fact, forget everything I just told you.”
He regarded her in silence for another moment.
“You know,” she continued, “I talked to her this morning. She sounded pretty bummed out when I told her I wouldn’t need her here with me today.”
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