Waking Up in Charleston

by Sherryl Woods

Susie shrugged. “I guess so.”

  The response wasn’t exactly reassuring, but it was probably the best Amanda could hope for. If she went overboard trying to extract a promise from Susie, it would probably guarantee that marriage would be the very first subject Susie brought up the next time she ran into Caleb.

  Susie scrambled out of Amanda’s lap and headed for the house. “I’m starving,” she announced. “Can we have pancakes for breakfast?”

  If it meant they wouldn’t have to discuss Caleb and marriage, Amanda would make her a dozen pancakes and let her drown them in syrup. The whole conversation had stirred up a yearning she’d been working overtime to avoid. Apparently she was going to have to work a little harder.

  Nadine’s little rental house was crowded with guests for Thanksgiving dinner when George Winslow pulled Caleb aside.

  “Could we talk for a minute?” he asked.

  Caleb knew what was on George’s mind, and the last thing he wanted to discuss with Amanda no more than a few yards away was Max. Too risky. George didn’t know a single thing about discretion or keeping his voice down.

  “Could we do this later?” he asked George. “Something tells me Nadine could use some help in the kitchen.”

  “Nadine can barely turn around in that kitchen when she’s in there all by herself,” George retorted. “She doesn’t need you underfoot.”

  “Yes, but—” Caleb began, only to have George cut him off.

  “Would you tell me why she insisted on renting a tiny little place like this when I told her I would help her find something nice?” George asked, gazing around the cramped space with irritation.

  When Caleb remained silent, George gave him a helpless look. “I’m really asking your opinion. Why would she insist on this place?”

  “Maybe she needed to feel independent,” Caleb suggested mildly, relieved to have George suddenly distracted by his frustration at his inability to get Nadine to fall in with his plans for her.

  “She could have had a nicer place and her independence, too,” George grumbled. “I wasn’t going to attach any strings.”

  “George, you always attach strings, even when you do things with the best intentions in the world,” Caleb said. “It comes from too many years of negotiating the best possible deals for your company. I doubt you could turn off that switch if you tried.”

  George frowned at him, then shrugged, looking sheepish. “You’re probably right. Old habits and all that. Probably why Nadine fascinates me. I can’t seem to get her to fit into a niche I understand. That woman needs me, but I’ll be damned if I can get her to admit it.”

  “And that’s probably a good thing for both of you,” Caleb said. “By the way, have you had a chance to sit down with Cord and talk about the new housing project?”

  George gave him a sour look. “Not since you told me I was going to be forking out a fortune for land, instead of buying some little plot for one small house the way I intended.”

  Caleb regarded him with amusement. “Something tells me you’ve been scouting out property, just the same. Found any bargains? I know how you love finding a good deal.”

  “I have my eye on one or two areas over in Mount Pleasant that could work and won’t bankrupt me in the process,” George admitted. “I’ll get with Cord next week and take him to have a look.”

  “You’re doing a good thing,” Caleb told him.

  “Speaking of good things, let’s get back to the reason I wanted to talk to you in the first place. It’s about Max.”

  “This isn’t the time,” Caleb said, casting a look in Amanda’s direction.

  “You telling me she doesn’t know about his Alzheimer’s?” George demanded, looking shocked. “Why the hell not?”

  “Because Max swore me to secrecy,” Caleb explained defensively, “so don’t look at me like that. I imagine he did the same with you. For now, I think all we can do is honor his request. Let’s table this discussion for another time.”

  George ignored his plea. “What do you mean, for now?”

  Caleb sighed. “To be honest, I’m with you. Amanda needs to know before it’s too late. I’ve been working on getting her out there without mentioning Max’s illness, but she’s every bit as stubborn as he is. And, truthfully, I can’t blame her. What he did was wrong.”

  “I can’t argue with that,” George said. “But it’s time to let bygones be bygones for both of them. She’ll hate herself if she doesn’t have the chance to make peace with her daddy.”

  “I agree,” Caleb said. “Now, please let’s stop talking about this before Amanda catches wind of it and we ruin Nadine’s party. Nadine would never forgive either one of us.”

  “You’ve got that right,” George said. “Keep me posted. And keep going out there, Caleb. Max needs all the friends he can get now.”

  He walked away just as Amanda appeared beside Caleb. He could tell from her expression that, just as he’d feared, she’d overheard some of what George had said.

  “What did he mean?” she asked him, her face tense.

  “I’m not sure what you’re talking about,” Caleb said evasively.

  “Don’t you dare give me that, Caleb Webb. George said something about you visiting my father. Is he right? Have you been spending time with Big Max?”

  Caleb couldn’t bring himself to compound the problem by lying. “Yes,” he admitted.

  “How long?” she asked, barely concealing her fury.

  “A while now.”

  “How long?” she demanded again. “And why?”

  “A year or more,” he admitted reluctantly. “We play cards from time to time.”

  “A year or more,” she repeated incredulously. “And you didn’t see any reason to tell me that?”

  “What would you have done if I had?”

  “Told you to get the hell out of my life,” she said. “Which is exactly what I’m telling you now. Stay away from me, Caleb. Stay away from my kids.”

  “No,” he said softly. “I understand why you’re upset—”

  “Upset?” she said in a barely controlled rage. “Upset doesn’t begin to cover what I’m feeling right now. You betrayed me, Caleb. You’ve been friends with the one person on this earth who hurt me, and you saw no need to mention it. Obviously you get to be friends with anyone you want to, but not to tell me when you know it’s a man I despise…” Her voice trailed off and she shook her head. “All the times you’ve brought him up are starting to make sense now. You see yourself as some sort of great peacemaker, don’t you?”

  “That’s not it.” He was feeling his way along, trying to find a way to explain that she would accept. “Please, let’s talk about this later. I’ll explain everything, but let’s not spoil Nadine’s party.”

  “Why bother talking?” she retorted. “I don’t see how I can ever believe another word out of your mouth. And I have to tell you, Caleb, that breaks my heart.”

  She whirled to walk away, but he caught her arm and forced her to face him. “I never lied to you, Amanda.”

  “No, of course not. You would never lie,” she said derisively. “You just failed to tell me the truth—that you’ve been in cahoots with my father all along.”

  “Cahoots? What exactly do you think we’ve been plotting?”

  She faltered slightly at the question. “I don’t know exactly, but with my father involved it can’t be good. Now let me go.”

  “Don’t leave,” he pleaded. “We haven’t even sat down to dinner yet.”

  “I’m not leaving,” she said impatiently. “I wouldn’t do that to the children or to Nadine, but I don’t have to stand here and talk to you.”

  “We need to get past this misunderstanding,” he persisted.

  She gave him a pitying look. “It’s not some little misunderstanding,” she retorted. “Don’t you get that? I won’t forgive you for this, Caleb. Not ever.”

  “Then I’m to become one more person on your personal hate list?” he asked gently. “Careful, Amanda. Pret
ty soon there won’t be anyone who hasn’t offended or hurt you in some way. If you don’t learn how to forgive, you’ll wind up leading a very lonely life.”

  She yanked her arm free and headed for the kitchen. He noticed that just before she entered, she plastered a smile on her face. When dinner was served, she made sure they were at opposite ends of the table. Not once did she so much as glance his way.

  Nadine’s terrific meal tasted like sawdust to Caleb, and the conversation ebbed and flowed around him without any of it registering. He knew that it was going to be a thousand times harder to bring about a reconciliation between Amanda and Max now that he’d lost her trust, but he couldn’t let that stop him from trying. Too much was riding on it…for all their sakes.

  10

  Amanda was still fuming when she went back to work on Monday morning. So when she looked up at lunchtime and saw Caleb coming in the door of the boutique, she immediately headed for the bathroom. She was not going to have another confrontation with him in public, not with her boss and several customers around. Obviously he’d counted on her sense of discretion and figured this would be the perfect place to have a quiet, reasonable talk with her. Fat chance! She was in no mood to be reasonable, not where he was concerned.

  With the bathroom door securely locked, she turned the water in the sink on full force, then splashed some on her overheated face. When she heard the tap on the door, she ignored it.

  “Amanda, Reverend Webb is here to see you,” Joanna Mills called through the door. “He says you have a lunch date.”

  “He must be mistaken,” Amanda said tightly as she shut off the water. “Please tell him we’re busy and that I can’t leave now.”

  “Maybe you should tell him that yourself,” Joanna said.

  “Tell me what?” Caleb said from outside the door.

  “You’re on your own, you two,” Joanna said. “Play nice.”

  Amanda could hear the tap of Joanna’s high heels as she walked away and left them alone. She sighed and leaned against the door, wondering if she remained perfectly silent Caleb would eventually give up and go away. Probably not. One of the things she’d always admired most about him was his persistence. It just wasn’t as admirable when it was being aimed at her.

  “Amanda, we need to talk,” he said now. “You can come out and go to lunch with me, or I can stand right here and say what’s on my mind. Before you choose that option, though, you should know that there are a couple of fascinated customers lurking just outside. By one o’clock everyone in Charleston will know what we said. We might as well broadcast it on the midday news.”

  Amanda didn’t doubt it for a second. It just reconfirmed her opinion that Caleb had counted on her reluctance to create a scene where she worked. He knew this job was important to her. How had she not noticed before that the man was so blasted sneaky?

  Resigned to dealing with him, she flung open the door. “I’ll get my purse,” she said, clenching her teeth.

  He beamed at her. “Good decision.”

  “I didn’t make it to please you,” she snapped.

  He held up his hands and backed up a step. “Never thought you did.”

  He wisely said nothing more until they were safely outside. Then he asked, “Anything in particular you’d like for lunch?”

  “Privacy,” she said at once.

  “Other than that.”

  “Anything’s fine.”

  “Then we’ll walk down the block and have some of Mirabella’s homemade soup. Seems like it’s a good day for it. The air finally has a bit of a nip in it. Did you notice? December’s just around the corner.”

  She shot an impatient look at him. “Do you really want to discuss the weather?”

  “It seemed neutral enough for a starter,” he said.

  “And you thought what, that it would help me to mellow out?” she asked scathingly. “Not going to happen, Caleb. I’m furious with you.”

  He met her gaze evenly. “I know that. And I am sorry I didn’t say something to you sooner about my friendship with your father.”

  “No, you’re sorry I found out at all,” she corrected.

  “That’s not true,” he insisted. “I always meant to tell you, but with all the bad blood between you and your father, I wanted to pick the right time.”

  “You actually thought there would be a right time?”

  He shrugged. “Yeah, I did.”

  “I know you’re not stupid, so you must be naive.”

  “I prefer to think optimistic.”

  She studied him curiously. “How long did you say the two of you have been such buddies?”

  He winced at her sarcasm. “As I told you at Nadine’s, it’s been about a year now. Maybe longer.”

  She nodded sagely. “Yes, that’s what I recall you saying.” She met his gaze. “And in all that time, you couldn’t find a suitable moment to mention it to me? Please, Caleb. You were just being a coward. You knew how I’d react.”

  “Of course I did,” he agreed. “I wanted you to trust me enough to maybe listen when I tried to patch things up between the two of you.”

  She pondered that for a minute. “Yes, that would explain what all those little mentions of Big Max lately have been about,” she said. “You were testing the waters to see if I was ready to mend fences with my father.”

  “Yes,” he admitted.

  “I guess you know the answer to that,” she said dryly.

  “I know you’re being stubborn.”

  She regarded him with shock. “You must be kidding! You think I’m the one being stubborn?”

  “Oh, believe me, I’ve said very similar things to Max, as well.”

  “And how’s that been going for you?”

  He shrugged. “About the way you’d expect, since the two of you are exactly alike. Both of you have more pride than’s good for you.”

  Amanda was not accustomed to anyone suggesting that she was a chip off the old block. “I’d like to think I’m more reasonable than my father,” she said stiffly.

  “Trust me, you’re not,” Caleb retorted. “Now, let’s table this till we’ve ordered some lunch. Mirabella has Tuscan tomato-basil bisque on the menu today and I intend to enjoy it.”

  “Then perhaps you should have come alone,” Amanda responded. “I’m going to do whatever I can to see that you wind up with indigestion.”

  Caleb’s lips twitched at the threat, which only annoyed her more.

  “Okay, actually I hope you choke on it,” she said, flouncing past him and marching into the little café.

  “I’d be hurt if I thought you meant that,” he said as he slid out a chair for her.

  Amanda deliberately yanked out a different chair and sat. Caleb shrugged and sat down on the one he’d pulled out.

  Only after they’d placed their orders and been served their tea did Amanda finally meet Caleb’s gaze and ask the question that had been bothering her ever since Thanksgiving.

  “Why, Caleb?” she asked wearily. “Why of all the people in Charleston would you befriend Big Max?” She noted the startled look in his eyes, then pressed, “What made you think this would be okay, especially after you and I got to be friends?”

  “Truthfully, I knew it wouldn’t be okay,” he admitted. “Not at first, anyway. But I trusted in your generous heart. I thought you’d forgive me and I thought in time you’d forgive your father.”

  “I can’t,” she whispered, not entirely sure if she meant him, her father, or both.

  “He needs people to care about him,” Caleb said. “He’s lonely.”

  “And whose fault is that?” she demanded, still unyielding.

  “His own, of course,” Caleb agreed readily. “But that doesn’t mean it ought to be that way. Somebody needs to take the first step. He should be surrounded by his family. He should have you and the kids in his life.”

  “We’re not there because he doesn’t want us there,” she reminded him.

  “I don’t believe that,” Caleb re
torted. “Not for one single second. In fact, I think that’s why he got in touch with me in the first place.”

  Amanda stared at him in shock. She’d assumed that the friendship had been at Caleb’s instigation. “My father contacted you?”

  Caleb nodded, but he looked oddly uneasy about the admission.

  “Why?” she asked.

  “To get to know me, I suppose.”

  She stared at him skeptically. “My father’s not a religious man.”

  “No,” Caleb agreed. “He’s expressed his point of view on that subject more than once. We’ve had some invigorating debates.”

  That made sense. Her father did enjoy intellectual stimulation, as long as he was victorious. She doubted Caleb gave him an inch.

  “So, what?” she asked. “You get together, debate religion and play cards?”

  “Something like that,” Caleb agreed.

  “And my name has never come up?”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  She believed that, too. Her father had probably taken every opportunity to disparage her. “Has he been telling you that this rift between us is all my fault?”

  “No. He’s never said a bad word about you, at least not to me. Nor to anyone else I can think of. He’s kept the feud between you to himself, probably because he knows in his heart he was wrong to start it and let it go on this long.”

  “You’re assuming he has a heart,” Amanda said, knowing she sounded every bit as heartless as her father. Maybe they were two of a kind, after all. “Do I need to remind you that he didn’t bend even a little when Bobby died and everything in my life fell apart?”

  “I think he regrets that,” Caleb said.

  “Do you really? What planet are you living on, Caleb? William Maxwell doesn’t have regrets. He’s always right about everything.”

  Caleb held her gaze. “Maybe once,” he conceded. “You haven’t spent any time with him for years now. You have no idea how he’s changed.”

  “I think I’ve known my father a lot longer than you have,” she said. “I’ve also been the victim of one of his personal vendettas. Big Max doesn’t get mad. He gets even.”

  Caleb seemed startled by the depth of her bitterness. “How do you think he got even with you? You don’t think he was somehow behind everything that happened to Bobby, do you?”