About Last Night...

by Michele Dunaway

  Shane looked toward the elevator doors. Lindy was gone, her sentiments toward marrying him still unchanged. And he really didn’t want to meet his friends for happy hour.

  “I have all the time in the world,” Shane told his grandfather.

  “Good,” Grandpa Joe said, his double meaning clear.

  IT WASN’T UNTIL Lindy reached the safety of her apartment that she allowed herself to breathe normally. She’d half expected Shane to follow her, and still didn’t know if she was relieved or disappointed that he hadn’t.

  “So how was your first day at work?” Tina came out of the bathroom, a big white towel on her hair.

  Lindy found herself using that F-word again. “Fine.”

  “Fine?” Tina adjusted the strap on her robe. “You look a little too pale for it to have been fine. What happened?”

  Lindy hesitated for a quick second, but then her need for her best friend’s reassurance won. “Shane’s working at Jacobsen and everyone on my floor now knows I’m the girl he knocked up.”

  Tina scowled. “Not a good way to start.”

  “No.” Lindy put her feet up on the coffee table. Even though she hadn’t been standing much during the day, her feet hurt. Was she swelling up already? She looked at the end table. “Where’s my pregnancy book?”

  “That what to expect one? I hid it,” Tina said.

  “Hid it?”

  “Yeah. You’ve been such a hypochondriac lately, thinking that you’ve had fifty things wrong with you, so my mother suggested I just take it from you. So I did.”

  “Give it back.”

  “No. Not until you admit what’s really wrong.” Tina took the towel off her hair and dropped it onto the floor. She fingered out her hair.

  Lindy made a grumpy face. “Since you’re so all-wise, why don’t you tell me what’s wrong?”

  “You’re missing Shane.”

  An exasperated noise escaped Lindy’s pursed lips. “I am not missing Shane.”

  Tina stopped working her fingers through her hair. “Lindy, he’s the father of your child and the man you’re in love with. Break down and admit that you two belong together.”

  “He doesn’t love me.”

  “So? I mean, I personally can’t stand the man, but it’s starting to get where I can’t stand you, and you know how much I love you. Lindy, he’s a part of you now, and no matter what, you must do what’s best for your baby.”

  “Marrying Shane is not what’s best for my baby.”

  Tina smiled wryly. “Well, I tried.”

  Lindy looked at her suspiciously. “Tried what? What’s going on?”

  “You’ve got a message on the answering machine and I’m going out.” With that announcement, Tina picked up her towel and headed to the bathroom.

  Lindy leaned her head back on the sofa and closed her eyes. Shane had called! In a perverse way, she was pleased. She really should check the answering machine. Instead, she closed her eyes.

  The insistent ringing of the doorbell shattered whatever dream Lindy had been having. A quick glance at the clock told her she’d only been dozing about twenty minutes. “Tina, your date’s here,” she called.

  Tina appeared, dressed in a stylish black shirt, black flats, and a pair of black shorts. “I don’t have a date,” she said as she grabbed her purse. “I’m meeting Jane for a movie.”

  “Oh,” Lindy said. She turned her head so she would be able to see Jane when Tina opened the door. But it wasn’t Jane that walked in.

  “Hello, Lindy. You did get the message I was coming over, didn’t you?”

  As Lindy scrambled to her feet, Tina shot her a “sorry” look as she stepped out the door without saying a word.

  “Mrs. Jacobsen.”

  “Call me Sara,” Sara Jacobsen said as she swooped into the apartment. Her presence made the room seem smaller. “After all, friends don’t call each other by their last names, now do they?”

  “No,” Lindy admitted. She eyed Sara. As usual, Shane’s mother was dressed impeccably, this time in a beige pantsuit. Although she was not wearing one stitch of designer wear—even though she could well afford it—the maven of Blake Jacobsen Ministries had refined the art of discount chic.

  Like money that could be better spent elsewhere, Sara also never wasted time. “Lindy, we have to talk.”

  Five dreaded words. “Okay,” Lindy said slowly.

  Sara got directly to the point. “Lindy, you must marry Shane. I know you’ve already said no, so before I give you my reasons, I want you to give me yours. Please, give me at least one good reason why you will not marry my son, the father of your baby.”

  Lindy looked at Shane’s mother. Sara’s brown eyes remained unblinking as she stared back. Lindy took a deep breath. “He doesn’t love me,” she replied.

  Sara shook her head. “Not good enough.”

  Lindy opened her mouth to protest, but Sara wasn’t about to be stopped now. She held her hand up. “Let me finish. I know he doesn’t love you. I know you know it, too. But Lindy, there are times when we must do things we don’t want to do because of the cause. In your case, because of the precious innocent life that is at stake.”

  Sara paused to draw a quick breath. “I’ve known you for what, almost three years?”

  Lindy nodded.

  “Exactly. You’re a young professional female with visions of romance dancing in your head. You want the man to buy you flowers, profess undying gratitude and endless infatuation. You want him to grovel. It won’t happen. Life is not a soap opera. All that frilly stuff is media hype to help businesses make money.” Sara leaned forward. “Love is a choice and a feeling, Lindy. And if you love your baby, you’ll do the right thing and marry its father.”

  “Marriage is antiquated,” Lindy said. “Children are born to single parents all the time in this modern day and age.”

  “Perhaps,” Sara said, “and yes, God could have had Jesus born to a single Mary instead of arranging a marriage to Joseph. But he didn’t now, did he?”

  Sara paused to let that point sink in a little. “Lindy, you aren’t having an ordinary baby now, are you? You’re having a Jacobsen. This baby’s grandfather is a world leader. Yes, your decision is personal to us because it embarrasses us greatly. But as adults we have the strength to deal with that trial in our lives. But an innocent baby should not have to deal with it at all.”

  “I’m not planning on having my baby in the limelight,” Lindy said. She shifted a little bit, folding her legs so that she could curl her feet up underneath her. Her voice rose slightly with her next words. “Does no one seem to understand that? I plan on protecting my child from parents who don’t love each other. You may not know that I had a horrible childhood. My parents were always fighting. When they weren’t avoiding each other, they threw things at each other. Shane doesn’t love me, and I will not have my child raised in a house where the parents don’t love each other. It’s not fair to the baby. And don’t give me that social stigmatism about being out-of-wedlock. No one cares these days.”

  “Actually, they do.” Sara reached into a beige purse that matched the color of her pantsuit and drew out several newspaper clippings. She handed them to Lindy, and Lindy’s hand trembled as she saw them. “In some parts of the world, Lindy, people care very much.”

  The headlines of various American and world newspapers jumped out her. One tabloid had dubbed her the “single sinner.” Another had made up a story about how she seduced Shane and tossed him aside, that she’d only used him because her biological clock was ticking. A more conservative religious paper’s editorial went so far as to damn her to hell.

  “Because we are international figures, and you’re having our son’s child, you are now an international figure, Lindy. Do you want your son or daughter to grow up with the media speculating about all these goings-on? How will you explain to your son or daughter that Daddy wanted to marry you and be a family under one roof, but you said no? Can you answer that, Lindy?”

  And
Lindy couldn’t. She handed the tabloid articles back and instead took the only path she knew might relieve her guilt. She went on the offensive.

  “Sara, look, perhaps you failed with Shane. After all, he’s a disgrace to you and to Blake. He’s named one of the world’s top playboys on a yearly basis. He hits the eligible bachelor lists. He sees too many women and sows too many oats. But you cannot save him, or your reputation, through my child or me. Shane is Shane. And as for being a good parent, do you think you have the right to lecture me on what makes a good parent?”

  Lindy’s chest heaved, and she drew a quick breath. “Yes, you and Blake love each other and have a wonderful partnership. But you let nannies raise Shane while you were gallivanting all over the world. He’s closer to the family cook than he is to you. You and Blake didn’t even remember to call him on his twenty-fifth birthday because you were so busy in Australia. In fact, if you had remembered to call him in the first place, he wouldn’t have felt sorry for himself, had a party, and gotten into bed with me. So don’t you lecture me. I think if Grandpa Joe weren’t holding this family together, Shane wouldn’t even ever see you. So in a nutshell, I don’t think you have any room to talk about my choices.”

  Sara looked stricken. Silence descended on the room, and Sara used the time to put the clippings back into her purse. Finally, she looked up at Lindy. “Perhaps part of what you say is true. Perhaps Blake and I haven’t been good parents. I freely admit that we have made mistakes that we’d both love to undo. But we can’t turn back time, as you well know. Perhaps your parents weren’t too good either. So, yes, you and Shane have two strikes against you. But there’s such a thing as still being able to hit a home run even when the count is against you. You and Shane have the benefit of your experiences in what not to do. But no matter what, the right thing to do is not to set your child up to fail from birth. Blake and I tried to keep Shane out of the limelight, and you’ve just told me in no uncertain terms how well our plan to protect him backfired. So why don’t you think about your plan, Lindy? The media is already onto this baby’s existence. He or she is already marked for life. You won’t be able to protect this baby, no matter how hard you try. The least you can do is provide the child with a happy home.”

  Sara stood up. “And lastly, you’ve been one of the best things to ever happen to Shane. You two probably have a better chance for happiness than most of the people that I’ve met in this world. If you don’t think that he loves you in some way, then you’re the sorriest fool I’ve ever met.”

  And with that, Sara left without another word or a goodbye, the door ominously clicking closed behind her.

  Lindy stared at the door that still needed a fresh coat of paint. As the only sound in the room became the faint click of the clock, Lindy wondered if Sara had actually been there at all. She stood up, locked the door, and walked into the kitchen to get herself a glass of water. Her brain was still reeling from the conversation.

  Shane loving her even a little? Of course he did. He loved that she was convenient. That she organized his schedule. That she dumped his women for him with unparalleled efficiency. That’s what he loved about her. But he didn’t love her. And that was the difference.

  For a moment she thought of Craig, and wondered what ever happened to him. He’d been such a nice guy and he’d been crazy for her. They’d had a few odd dates here and there, but she’d never really been able to get into him because of her obsession with Shane. For that’s what it was, she’d decided. Not love. Obsession.

  “Ah, you’re kidding yourself again,” Lindy said out loud as she reached for an apple. Before she could take a bite, someone knocked on her door. “Great,” Lindy said. After all, nothing about the day had been ordinary, and it sure couldn’t get any worse.

  Expecting Sara once again, Lindy instead found Shane on her doorstep. She drew back from the peephole. After the fun visit with Sara, should she pretend she wasn’t home?

  No such luck. “I know you’re in there,” Shane said. “I just got the phone call from my mother saying she was leaving. From the tone of her voice, I figured she wasn’t very kind. So I brought a peace offering.” Lindy glanced out the peephole again and saw Shane holding up some familiar black-and-white paper bags. “Now come on, Lindy. Stop hanging out on the other side of the door and let me in.”

  “Only because you brought food,” she called before opening the door. Shane stepped in, bringing with him the aroma of hamburgers. “I admit, I can’t resist. You brought Steak ’n Shake.”

  Shane’s playboy grin melted into a delicious smile. “Yep. I got you a Frisco melt, large fries and a chocolate shake. Your absolute to-die-for-favorites, besides Hostess Ho Ho’s. Those, I regret, I don’t have. As for me, I’m having chili.”

  Shane set the food on the coffee table, and Lindy noticed he had changed. Now, instead of a business suit, he wore a pair of chino shorts and a polo shirt. She tried not to stare at his legs, already slightly tanned from the hours Shane spent out on the golf course. She swallowed, trying to focus on the food.

  “Anyway,” Shane said, “when I got home from work, there was a message on the answering machine from my mother saying that she was going to pay you a visit. So as soon as I changed my clothes, I got in the car and headed over. Sorry I didn’t make it in time to stop her. When she called me again after leaving here, I figured your favorite fast food was in order. So tell me, did she get you good?”

  “I think I gave back just as well,” Lindy admitted.

  “Good for you.” Shane sat down and began unloading the bags. Lindy watched him pull a Frisco melt out of a white paperboard box. “I had no idea she was planning a stunt like this. My apologies. You haven’t eaten dinner yet, have you?”

  Lindy thought of her apple. “No.”

  “Didn’t think so. It’s nearly seven. You should have eaten.”

  “I was getting around to it. But Steak ’n Shake burgers definitely win.” Lindy came and sat down in the chair perpendicular to the couch. Shane had opened her food box and poured her large French fries into the lid. Now he was busy ripping open the small ketchup packets. Lindy had to admit, everything looked wonderful, including him.

  The lights highlighted the golden hairs on his arms and legs, and a cowlick on the top of his head was trying to work its way free from the new corporate haircut. Lindy sighed. Would she ever be able to see him and not long for him? Making an effort to take her mind off Shane, she reached for the chocolate shake, put in the straw, and took a long, deep pull.

  When the ice cream and milk concoction hit her tongue, Lindy closed her eyes. As always, the taste was absolute heaven. She sipped for a while, ignoring the small knot forming between her eyebrows. A cold headache was a welcome side effect, part of the pleasure of drinking a real chocolate milkshake. She opened her eyes to find Shane staring at her. “What?”

  He seemed a bit flustered, for he still held a partially opened ketchup packet between his thumbs and forefingers. He shook his head as if trying to clear it. “Nothing,” he said.

  “Tell me,” Lindy said, for she knew Shane, and when he said nothing it always meant something. Right now, she knew he was lying. “Tell me,” she repeated.

  “No, I better not.”

  “Tell me,” Lindy repeated, a bit more forcefully this time.

  Once again Shane shook his head, and he made a show of squeezing the ketchup into her steakburger box lid.

  “I want to know,” Lindy said.

  Shane shook his head again and took the plastic lid off the bowl of what Steak ’n Shake called Chili Deluxe. Steam wafted up. “I’m not sure you do want to know. I’m not sure I even want to tell you.”

  “Well, I’m sure. Tell me.”

  “You didn’t tell me about your day,” he argued.

  “That was different. Tell me.”

  Shane’s blue eyes clouded slightly before he turned to reach for a package of oyster crackers, which he stirred into the steaming brown chili. The melting cheddar and
Monterey Jack cheeses formed ribbons between the crackers. Finally he glanced at Lindy, and his gaze locked onto hers. “When you closed your eyes it reminded me of how you looked when we were in bed. Like when I was inside you.”

  Okay. Maybe she hadn’t wanted to know that. She turned to hide her own eyes as, immediately, the image of their lovemaking jumped into her brain. She could still feel the smooth of his skin, smell the musky scent that was so simply him. She remembered how those beautiful blue eyes darkened into deep pools that she swam in each time she crested. Just now, Lindy realized, he’d watched her close her eyes, suck on a straw, and thought of their lovemaking.

  Not knowing how to respond to Shane’s revelation, she took a bite of the Frisco melt. Although the taste and feel of the food in her mouth was comforting, Lindy made sure not to close her eyes this time. She and Shane fell into an awkward silence. “Do you want to watch TV?” Lindy asked.

  “Sure,” Shane said. Lindy found a channel showing a popular late-1980s sitcom.

  Fifteen minutes later, Shane pushed aside his empty bowl. “My mother didn’t give you too much trouble, did she?”

  “No.”

  Shane looked relieved. “Good. I told her to stay out of this, but you know my mother. She couldn’t stay out of a situation like this to save her life. So did she succeed?”

  “In what?”

  “Browbeating you into marrying me.”

  Lindy smiled. “Sorry, but no.”

  Shane broke into a wide smile. “Didn’t think so. But she was determined to try.”

  “I think that’s what mothers do,” Lindy said. “I’m sure I’ll be that way, you know, trying to smooth over problems and riding to the rescue when I perceive my child to be in danger.”

  Shane’s expression sobered. “I bet you will. You’ll be great at motherhood, Lindy. And if I haven’t said it, I think I’m lucky that you’re the mother of my child. My child couldn’t have a better mother.”