Sparring Partners

by Leigh Morgan

  "She'll be fine. She didn't know enough not to contradict Mr. Takahara. Reed thinks everyone she meets is her equal." Jordon absently flipped through value-line reports of various stocks more out of habit than interest. Funny, in the time he'd been at Potters Woods, he hadn't found the time or the desire to pull it up on his computer, he hadn't even bothered with The Wall Street Journal.

  Lily entered the kitchen, and whatever William may have said to that was lost. Jordon caught a glimpse of desire that flashed across William's face before he could hide it and his eyes narrowed. He knew the two of them had been spending a lot of time together, but it never dawned on Jordon that William's interest in Lily was anything other than brotherly, until this moment.

  "Is there some reason Reed shouldn't assume everyone in the room is equal to her?" Lily asked, kissing the top of his head as she took a seat next to William. William seemed surprised that she sat right next to him when there were nine other empty seats at the table, but he quickly hid that look too.

  "That's not what I meant, mom."

  Thorson poured a cup of tea for Lily, left the pot, and disappeared. He didn't serve or even acknowledge William or Jordon. "Thank you, Thorson." Lily said, her smile lighting up the room. Thorson winked at her and bowed in response, leaving the room as silently as he appeared.

  Lily took a sip of her tea. "What did you mean dear?"

  Jordon knew that tone, perfectly pleasant, way too pleasant, and that cock of his mother's head. Since he'd been born, every lesson he learned from his mother started out this exact same way. Seemingly polite inquiry and subtle misconstruing of his deeds or words by his oh-so-understanding mother led to him feeling like shit.

  "Thorson already gave me the third degree, mother, although I'm not sure where he wanted me to go with his Shakespeare analogy. You're wasting your time, Reed doesn't need you to stick up for her, she's perfectly capable of defending herself."

  "Umm. She is, isn't she. Seems strange to me how that courageous girl bit her tongue all through dinner. It was as if she'd been told to shut up and smile."

  Jordon's face flamed. He hadn't used those exact words.

  "I didn't tell her to shut up."

  "I'm sure you didn't dear. That would have been like telling her she's not worthy to be your wife. That she wasn't equal to the other people in the room." Lily turned to William. "No offense to Mr. Takahara, William, but I'm not sure he is Reed's equal. He's polite and important, but he didn't treat my daughter-in-law with the respect she deserves."

  Jordon should have felt better that William was being dressed down as badly as he was, but he didn't, especially when he saw the way his mother's hand covered William's as she stood.

  "Now, if you gentlemen–" she managed to imbue the word with sarcasm without changing her sweet-mother tone, "– will excuse me, our guests are starting to arrive. I trust the two of you will treat them all with equal dignity."

  Ouch.

  Jordon felt exactly like he did in fourth grade after pulling Jenny Johnson's hair when she tried to kiss him. His mother didn't yell, she just slew his soul with her disappointment. Of course she made him apologize too which was equally painful, embarrassing and shame inducing.

  Damn it. He didn't have anything to apologize for. There was no reason he should feel like a recalcitrant nine year old. His coffee turned to acid in his stomach for the second time that morning and he suddenly wanted to hide from his wife.

  Sometimes loving the women in his life really sucked.

  CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

  Reed missed the luncheon that Lily hired Wolfgang Puck to cater in her honor.

  She also missed the afternoon sailing, volley-ball by the beach and impromptu polo match where Jordon knocked Giles off his horse.

  He probably shouldn't have done that in front of the man's wife, but the competitive burst of adrenalin coursing through Jordon's veins made it so easy. Giles was good about it though. Jumped right to his feet. Most people didn't even notice his slight limp. Six months ago Jordon would have seen that as a minor victory and taken pleasure in it. Six weeks ago he would have allowed himself a smile at Giles's tossing.

  Today, he just felt empty and slightly ashamed of himself for getting all worked up over a game.

  Where the hell is Reed?

  When she didn't make an appearance during cocktail hour, when guests are invited to mingle and sit for dinner, Jordon was no longer angry, he was starting to get worried. Especially after the way they left things last night and the Shakespeare lecture he'd received this morning.

  Jordon tried her cell for the third time. It went directly to voice mail. Again.

  "Problems in paradise?" Giselle's sultry voice made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. What did he ever see in her? She was like a coral snake. Beautiful, deadly, if only to his soul, but in the end, still a snake.

  She wrapped her arm around his at the bar and pulled him in.

  Yeah, just like a snake. Or a leach.

  Jordon was about to pull away when Reed walked through the front door, down the steps and toward the outdoor bar set up for the evening. She made eye contact with him briefly before turning to smile at William, as he took her arm and began introducing her to the new arrivals.

  The uncertainty and self-doubt he saw flash across Reed's pixie face in the millisecond when she made eye contact turned his stomach. Had he put it there? The thought left him feeling mean and heavy, like his heart just turned to a fifty pound free weight in his chest, threatening to fall and decimate all of his lower organs before it landed at his feet.

  "She looks almost presentable without that wild mass of hair around her face." Giselle purred in his ear, her grip tightening ever so slightly.

  For the first time Jordon looked directly at her and smiled. It wasn't a pleasant smile, although to anyone who didn't know him, it would have appeared that way. It was the smile he always smiled when he sealed a deal, all Damascus steel, the kind of blade that hit bone before the enemy felt the cut.

  Jordon leaned into Giselle whispering softly as he twisted the blade. "If you don't smile and back away from me right now I will make the kind of scene that ensures you never hobnob with anyone who's primary aspiration isn't to drink bad beer and clerk at McDonalds ever again.

  "Look." Jordon said, pointing to the garden area where his mother had tables set before a string quartet. "Isn't that the head of Warner Brothers studios? One word from me, Giselle, and you won't get hired to do toothpaste ads. I hear there's money in porn though."

  Giselle let go of his arm, stepping away with a smile that split her lovely face painfully and real fear in her eyes. That satisfied him. Giselle was no idiot, she knew enough about him to know he'd squash her like a mosquito, and feel about as much remorse as he'd give the parasite while he did it. She waived one delicate hand, like the actress she wanted to be, and left with more grace than he'd thought she was capable of, but then, self-preservation dictated her every move.

  "She's a bitch." Jesse said, taking the seat Giselle vacated.

  Jordon laughed, pulling the kid in for a quick hug. "You do a disservice to female dogs everywhere." Jordon looked around for Reed, saw her shaking yet another hand, that polite and infinitely gracious smile plastered on her face. In that instant she reminded him of Lily, elegant, full of grace and wit, a real lady.

  Who was studiously avoiding making eye contact with him, again. Jordon looked away.

  "She looks beautiful tonight, doesn't she?"

  Jordon didn't pretend not to know who Jesse was referring to. "She always looks beautiful." Jordon said matter-of-factly. "Can I buy you a Coke?"

  Jesse smiled at him. "You can't buy anything here. It's all free. I heard some blow hard order some kind of scotch and then brag that it's two hundred dollars a shot at his 'club'. Jerk managed to go through five of them before I left."

  Jordon could hear the disapproval in Jesse's voice, although the kid went to great lengths to cover it. In Jesse's world, what one m
an consumed in scotch at one sitting, a family of four could eat on for a month. Jordon was beginning to realize he preferred living in Jesse's world.

  "You can't save the world from excess tonight kid. That's what this shin-dig is all about. That doesn't mean you can't lay the foundation to change things, if that's what you want to do." Jordon shrugged. "You can't beat this system. It's too big. Too powerful. But if you're smart, you can use it to make life the way you want it to be, at least some of the time."

  Jesse's eyes narrowed and Jordon could see the neurons flashing as his brain made the connections. This kid with the knowing eyes would change the world some day. Jordon hoped like hell he was around to see it happen.

  "Now can I buy you a Coke?"

  "No." Jesse smiled, and the teenager was back. "But I'd love a Mountain Dew."

  Jordon gestured to the bartender with a simple nod. "Make it two. Just to be daring, I'll take mine straight up. The kid needs ice."

  ...

  If Reed needed to smile, nod and be polite one minute longer, not only was her face going to crack, she was seriously thinking of booming out a chorus of Ozzy Ozbourne's Crazy Train. Then her in-laws and the assembled who's-who masses would get to know the real Reed, 'right here - right now' as her grandmother used to say. That probably wouldn't bode too well for her budding marriage, but as the minutes began to move like concrete in the wind, her tolerance for polite bullshit waned in equal measure.

  William snagged a glass of champagne from a passing tray and handed it to her. "I prefer scotch to get me through the last tenth of a crowd who come to see me. That, or a giant root-beer float, but champagne will do. Keep your lovely smile dear. It's almost over and you've yet to knock anyone out."

  A compliment, advice on carrying herself in a dignified manner, and a slam all in one breath. "Damn, you're good." Reed said, before draining the contents of her flute in one long swallow.

  "So are you. More than good enough to hold your head high for the rest of the evening. Don't swear in public."

  That stiffened her back and loosened her smile more than anything else he could have said. "Have you been speaking to my Sensei?"

  "Once or twice. He's quite colorful and generous when he speaks of his students, especially you, but he's more prone to Zen and some kind of panda quotes. It's Thorson who regales with Shakespeare."

  "Is that supposed to make sense to the plebeians in the crowd, or only to those in your tax bracket?"

  William laughed, drawing the attention of the more attentive guests, and pulled her in to kiss her cheek. "My tax bracket is lower than yours, which is a crime I'm trying to fix, but we'll talk more about that and how you can help later. But for now, smile and employ that regal nod of yours. Only five more tables to go."

  Reed snagged another glass of champagne and slapped an artfully painted plastic smile on her face as she tried to ignore the ten-thousand bobby pins plastering her curls to her head in a classically elegant, pain in the noggin, twist from down under.

  She would have thought 'ass' and 'hell', but William didn't want her to swear in public.

  "Your Sensei, Thorson and Charlie are sipping vintage Bordeaux, arguing the merits of Marlowe, Shakespeare and Humphrey Bogart." William held up a hand staying her questions. "They're engrossed in some Japanese game with pebbles. They'll wait. Dinner won't. After dinner you can sneak away to them. I think your friend Shannon O'Shay is planning on joining them after dinner as well."

  William stopped and turned to her, growing serious. "One should always have an oasis when in the desert. Friends among family, so to speak." Then the smile was firmly back in place and William was once again king of his domain, introducing the dutiful princess.

  Not so dutiful, and not much for royalty, especially the tight-ass clothes and attitudes. Give her a Goo-Goo Dolls t-shirt and a good pair of tennis shoes any day.

  So much for not swearing in public, if only in her head.

  ...

  Lily watched the man she'd learned to love, in the decade since her husband died, introducing her daughter-in-law to the invited guests, a few of their friends, and the majority of business contacts that kept William and B.H. on top, in a world of brilliant entrepreneurs. She felt a sense of pride, but more than that, a sense of rightness about embarking on a new and more private life with William, especially with Reed at Jordon's side to help him move forward on his own journey.

  Jordon and Jesse moved toward her, and her son put his arm around her thinning, but still strong, shoulders. She looked up at him, but his gaze was honed in on the small redhead on William's arm. His eyes narrowed as William laughed at something Reed said, and they both knew William well enough to know he didn't usually laugh at social gatherings with such impetuous sincerity. Reed obviously caught him off guard. But then, she was catching them all that way. She was easy to like. Even easier to love if one could let go of their pains, long since buried but never fully acknowledged.

  "She fits in like a handmade glove, don't you think?" Lily said.

  Jordon grunted and took a sip of some neon yellow-green liquid that looked toxic. Lily cringed but held her tongue, she had more important things to discuss than his unusual drinking habits of late.

  "Her dress is lovely too, but it's not one she and I picked out in New York. Her hair and make-up are also tasteful, but I haven't seen her present herself like this before."

  Jesse piped in, "Shay took her shopping and to some fancy spa downtown this afternoon. I've never seen my mom wear nail polish before, much less on her toes. She's going to get laughed right out of the sparring ring."

  Both sets of whisky-gold Bennett eyes turned to him as Lily watched her new grandson blush. He really was a handsome boy. As a man, he was going to be devastating.

  "She wanted to clean up on her own. She said if she couldn't figure it out on her own, then she might as well walk now and save herself an unnecessary trip."

  "Unnecessary trip?" Jordon asked, his tone deceptively light. Lily recognized the fear, underlying the practiced calm in her son's voice, and took heart.

  "That's what she said." Jesse shrugged. "I think this whole 'meet the billionaires' thing is stressing her out."

  Lily held back her smile, not wanting Jesse to misinterpret the gesture as making light of the situation or his mother's feelings on the matter. She stepped closer to him instead.

  "It stresses me out too." She cocked her head at Jesse. "Do you think I should start karate?"

  Jesse turned serious. "Sure, I could teach you a few moves, but you might want to ease your way into it." His eyes lit with the enthusiasm of a brilliant idea. "We could start with tai-chi for strength, it helps with balance and getting your mind and body working as one." He smiled at her, teasing her lightly. "It could be fun...grandma. Whadda you say?"

  Lily smiled warmly and raised up on her tip-toes to kiss Jesse's cheek. "Sounds like a plan, young-gun. When do we start?"

  CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

  Jordon found Reed curled on the library floor, barefoot, playing the Japanese game of Go against both Thorson and Charlie. Shay was pretending to help her, but he didn't appear to have a feel for the game. Sensei Schwartz was nowhere in sight, he probably retired early, having little tolerance for people he thought cared more about the hood ornament on their car than for who they were inside.

  Sensei was judgmental, in the same way Jordon was. He didn't care to surround himself with shallow people. It was one of the reasons Jordon chose him to be his teacher, although he didn't realize it or acknowledge it even to himself at the time. Now it was so obvious, he wondered why he hadn't seen it before. He didn't worry about it though, he just stood in the shadows and watched Reed play her game, thanking God that his better self knew enough to make the right choices for him when he was too stupid or too unaware to consciously make them.

  Reed moved a black stone forward to a crisscross intersection on a board filled with white and black stones. "Ha! Watch out boys, I'm about to kick your ancient tookusses
s."

  "Many a drip is missed between the cup and the lip, my girl." Thorson said.

  "Yeah? And every dog has her day, Thorson. You and Charlie won the last round. Of course, you had Sensei to help you. Give me a break and let me bask in the golden glow of Go glory."

  "Not on your life fancy pants. Where did you get that dress anyway?" Charlie asked.

  "Why? Don't you like it?" Jordon didn't like the hesitancy in her voice.

  "Very much, sweetheart. It becomes you. Spill the goods, girl. Where did you get it?" Charlie was the only man Jordon would let get away with that particular endearment when referring to his wife. But then, she'd been Charlie's wife too, if only for enough time to solidify Jesse's adoption. Since Charlie was unabashedly gay, the love he put into the word didn't stress Jordon as much as it otherwise might have. He was jealous of their comfort with one another and the deep affection and loyalty they shared. He wanted that from Reed too, although he realized he hadn't exactly given it in return.

  "Macy's clearance rack. Forty-nine, ninety-nine." Reed grinned, as she moved another black stone to an intersection, surrounding and capturing three of Charlie and Thorson's white ones. Jordon couldn't quite make out the emotions flitting across Reed's powdered face as she gave the place and price she paid for her dress. Pride was there for a moment. Self-deprecation too. But it was the flash of uncertainty, and the settling of vulnerability between her brow, that hurt his heart and made him want to punch something. Since Shay was sitting so close to her, he'd do nicely.

  "Do you think Jordon liked it? I didn't get a chance to ask him before he left with Mr. Takahara, Jay Giles and William for another one of their endless meetings."

  The hitch in her voice, as she said his name, had him moving forward. Enough doubt went into her question to twist his insides and heat the back of his neck.