“I couldn’t get your mom to apologize. I’m hoping you can influence her. She refuses to face reality. When we heard you were MIA, we couldn’t believe it. We wouldn’t believe it. We never gave up hope. Your mom was the strongest of us all, and I love her for it.
“But Rosie and Zach are another matter. They’re planning to be married, and that’s a fact your mom simply has to face or I don’t know what’ll happen. Janet’s unreachable right now….”
Face it, Armstrong. The world has blown up in your face. Now you’re going to have to put up the bravest front of your life.
“Tell you what, Dad. After my therapy today, we’ll take off for Yellowstone for a while. Just the three of us. Since I got home, Cody and I have been pretty much inseparable. I think he’ll be able to handle my being gone for a week or so.
“Mom needs to understand that I’m going to make it without Rosie. Maybe by the time our vacation’s over, she’ll believe it.”
Even if I don’t.
“Thank you, son. You don’t know how good that sounds. We’ve wanted to be able to spend time with you. This will be the best therapy Janet could have.”
“I agree. So it’s settled. Why don’t you go on back to your room and tell Mom what’s up? I’m going to take care of some last-minute business concerning the sale of the ranch—I want to make sure everything goes through while I’m gone. So, let’s plan to leave here about two.”
His father stood up. “Ah, Nicky.” He hugged him hard. “It’s so wonderful to have you back home.”
“I feel the same way, Dad. It’s what I longed for, too. All that time.”
“…HAVE ONE S ORBITAL. The P orbitals have a more specific orientation of charge distribution. One of you asked about the hourglass distribution. This refers to the P orbital. For any one P orbital, the region of high-charge distribution is oriented with respect to an atom passing through the nucleus.
“This phase correctly implies the orientation as far as an axis is concerned, but it incorrectly implies that the electrons are confined to a specific volume.
“For a given principal quantum number of two or higher, there may be a maximum of three orbitals.”
A movement out of the corner of her eye made Rosie pause in her lecture. She saw a tall dark male figure enter the auditorium and take a seat near the back.
Nick!
Her body started to tremble. He knows what happened last night.
Since his return from the war, he’d never made an appearance in her classroom. He’d never shown a modicum of interest. She could think of only one reason he was here…. Class would be over in a few minutes. She dreaded being alone with him, but his presence ensured that she had no other choice.
Clearing her throat, she tried to remember where she’d left off. “There may be a maximum of three P orbitals, Px, Py and Pz, oriented at right angles to each other along the x-axis, the y-axis and the z-axis, with the nucleus and constricted portions of the hourglasses at the origin.”
Taking an unsteady breath because she couldn’t withstand Nick’s scrutiny another second, she announced that class was dismissed. Immediately the students began filing out of the hall.
Needing some way of channeling her nervous energy, she wiped off the equations she’d written on the portable blackboard.
“While I was sitting there—” his deep familiar voice said, “I had to keep telling myself that the impressive and attractive Dr. Armstrong was once Rosie Gardner, the fun-loving, carefree girl who used to skip math and physics classes with me to go for a ride in my old Jeep. You’ve come a long way, baby.”
Despite her fear about the outcome of this confrontation, his words brought a smile to her lips. She hesitated turning around to face him. She felt a reluctance to mar a shared memory that represented a time of pure bliss for her. In those days she would have done anything to be with Nick.
“All you had to do was flash that sunny smile and I thought I’d died and gone to heaven.”
At least she turned to meet his gaze. “Nick Armstrong was the big man on campus. Captain of the football team and financial wizard all rolled into one. Every guy’s friend. Every girl’s secret fantasy. All you had to do was beckon me with those famous Armstrong eyes and I forgot who I was and what I was doing.”
Nick’s smile devastated her. It came to her then that he was starting to look more and more like the Nick she remembered. An older version, of course, but in all honesty, better-looking. She’d married a boy.
Now he was a man. An amazing man who’d come back from the dead a true hero. He was bigger than life. Bigger than death…
“We had our time in the sun, didn’t we, sweetheart?”
She averted her eyes. It pained her to hear him say that. His use of the past tense had the effect of dashing every dream.
What dream, Rosie? You’re marrying Zach. It’s all settled.
“H-how was your camp-out with Cody?”
“Honestly?”
Her heart skipped a beat and her head came up abruptly. “What happened?”
“I think it’s more a case of what didn’t happen.”
She shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
“Cody missed you. In his words, you’re a totally awesome mom.”
Don’t tell me that, Nick. The things you say clutch at my heart. Every time we talk, I bleed a little more.
“I missed him, too. I always miss him when he’s gone. The house feels so empty.”
“Until my mother showed up and a bomb exploded.”
She looked away. “I imagined that was the reason you came to see me. I love your mom as if she were my own, but…”
“You were right to demand an apology from her. I’m sorry she caused you so much grief. Mom’s got a problem right now. Dad and I both agree she needs professional help. The trick is to get her to see a psychiatrist. That’s why I’m going away with them for a while.”
Going away? Her heart started to pound out of control. “Where? For how long?”
“You know how much the folks love Yellowstone. We’ll be gone for a week or ten days.”
That would sound like an eternity to Cody. Unless…
“Did you want to take Cody with you?”
“Much as I’d love to, it wouldn’t be a good idea. I need to spend some time alone with my parents. Maybe it’s what Mother needs.”
“Are you going today?”
He nodded his dark head. Rosie could see that his hair was getting longer and starting to curl around his neck. When he was asleep, she used to love playing with those curls until she roused him enough to kiss her. That was all it took to get his total attention. Those kisses would set off a conflagration that brought both of them rapture for the rest of the night and gave Rosie a thrilling reason to greet the day.
“One of the reasons I came here was to ask your advice on how to tell him. Dad wants us to leave around two. It’s twelve-fifteen now. Do you think it would be better if I just left and you told Cody after he gets home from school?”
“No!” she cried. She felt an immediate sense of panic because she walked a shaky line with Cody these days. “I think you should go over to his school and get him out of class. Explain to him that your mom isn’t very well and you’re going to spend a week or so with her.
“Even knowing that, Cody’s going to have a hard time. Maybe you can reassure him that you’ll phone him at night so he won’t feel abandoned.”
“I’ll do that. I was also thinking it might be a good idea if you came with me to see Cody. When’s your next lecture?”
“I’m through for today.”
“Then let’s talk to him together. If we present a united front, he’ll be more accepting.”
You always did put me first. You’re always thinking of me, always smoothing my path with Cody. How do I thank you? Any other man might have tried to create a wedge. Not you, Nick Armstrong. Maybe it’s time I returned the favor and thought of you.
“I agree. I’ll come wit
h you,” she murmured. “Let me grab my purse from the office.”
As they walked through the auditorium, a memory came back so strongly she found herself expressing it to him. “Do you know that the first time I ever taught a chemistry class in here I wondered if you could see me from the other side.”
“Of the grave?” he quipped, clasping her elbow as they went out the door.
She smiled. “Yes.”
“Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn about the other side. I much prefer seeing you in the flesh.”
“Why, Rhett, how you do turn a girl’s head,” Rosie couldn’t resist responding in an exaggerated Southern accent before breaking into laughter.
She loved his old imitation of Clark Gable in Gone with the Wind. Sometimes when he used to call her from the brokerage, he’d ask for Scarlett. It had been a silly private joke between them and was as amusing to her now as it was then.
As she let herself into the office to retrieve her purse, Nick flashed her an answering smile that made her heart turn over, exactly the way it had when they’d first met during a school-sponsored carnival.
There’d been a pie-throwing contest—the football team got to throw pies at the pep-club girls. All the girls’ faces were covered in whipped cream. Everyone looked like the characters in her favorite childhood storybook, Snipp, Snapp and Snurr, about the little boys who fell into a gingerbread vat.
When it was Rosie’s turn, there was Nick, towering, virile and holding a pie in his hands. She’d started to scream—and that was when he’d laughed. Then he’d thrown the pie at her. Through it all, his white smile and brilliant blue eyes became the focus of her world. She’d never been the same again.
“Rosie?” Nick’s voice brought her back to the present. “Zach’s out in the hall.”
“Oh, dear. I forgot we were going to have lunch together. Stay here for a minute and I’ll talk to him.”
Nick put a detaining hand on her arm. “Don’t break your lunch date. I’ll go to the school without you.”
The touch of his hand on her arm was electric. Stunned, she pulled away from him. “No. Seeing Cody is much more important. Why don’t you go out to the car? I’ll join you in a minute.”
He nodded and left her office. She gave him a minute’s head start, then locked her door and went in search of Zach.
She didn’t have to look for long. An arm slid around her shoulders and for a moment she was crushed tightly against Zach’s lean body. They began walking toward the entrance of the building.
“What was Nick doing here?”
Without stopping for breath, Rosie explained what had happened. “I’m so sorry, darling. Do you mind?”
“Not at all. In fact, I don’t envy you your job. Cody’s just been reunited with his father. If this isn’t handled right, it could set him off again.”
“Thank you for being so understanding, Zach.” They’d reached the outside steps. “I’ll see you at six.” Nick’s Land Rover was in her line of vision.
How many times had she seen his Jeep in front of the high school with him in it, waiting for her? Again her heart gave a curious kick.
“Maybe earlier.” Zach swooped down to brush her mouth with his before loping off in the opposite direction.
Though the kiss was an automatic gesture with him, she wished he hadn’t done it, on the off chance that Nick had seen it.
Rosie felt a strange lingering guilt as she made her way toward the Rover. Never in their lives had either Rosie or Nick tried purposely to make the other jealous. Theirs hadn’t been that kind of relationship.
It felt like a betrayal of the great trust they’d shared to know that Nick might have seen her being kissed by another man. Then she chastised herself for criticizing Zach. They were engaged. What could be more natural? Everything was out in the open, understood.
Still, when she got into the Rover and they drove off, the disquieting premonition that Nick had been witness to that small intimacy hurt her.
Because you know it hurt him, Rosie.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“I’LL RUN IN and get him out of class.”
Before Rosie could respond, Nick had leapt out of the Rover. She watched him sprint across the concrete and up the stairs with that familiar male grace of his.
A tense disturbing silence had prevailed during their five-minute drive from the university to Cody’s school. She lamented the loss of the rapport they’d shared for those brief moments in the building where she taught.
While she waited, she glanced around the car’s interior, noting the gear that had been stashed in the back. Despite her absence last night, she had no doubt Cody had been in a state of ecstasy. Part of Nick’s charm lay in his ability to make every moment count, to turn even a routine activity into an event.
There’d never been a man as exciting to her as Nick. He made things happen, lit his own fires.
“Hey, Mom?” Cody jumped into the back seat of the car as his father came around the front. “Dad says we’re all going to have lunch together.”
Her eyes read the message in Nick’s as he slid behind the wheel. “We thought it would be fun, honey.”
“This is so cool.”
Cody’s face glowed. Obviously he approved of this simple outing, just the three of them.
“Tell me about your camp-out,” she asked as they drove off. Had Nick had a nightmare? Would Cody mention it? How many secrets did they share that she’d never know about?
“Dad told me what it was like when his bunker got bombed. I told my class about it during Channel One. Mrs. Clegg thinks it would be neat to have an assembly at school so you and R.T. could come and talk to everybody, Dad. Do you think you could? Do you think R.T. would do it?”
Nick didn’t bat an eyelash. “Of course. You just tell us the day and we’ll be there. In fact, I’ll promise to do that favor for you if you’ll do one for me.”
Rosie could feel it coming.
“Sure, Dad.”
“Your grandma got upset at your mom last night and really hurt her feelings.”
Cody blinked. “Grandma did?”
“That’s right. It’s because I’m her son and because of what happened to me. You know how she cries all the time and just keeps wanting to hold me. Stuff like that.”
“Yeah. I know.”
Rosie closed her eyes. Nick’s a master father, a master psychologist.
“Well, she wants me all to herself for a little while. Your grandfather told me that when I was born, she had to count my fingers and toes to make sure they were all there. Now that I’ve lost a hand, I guess she wants to find out if anything else is missing. Of course, nothing is. But do you know what I mean?”
“Yeah.”
“The thing is, your mom’s all upset, too, and now she wants her son to herself for a little while. Fair is fair.”
Cody sat forward and put his arms around Rosie’s neck. “I’m sorry, Mom.”
“It’s okay, Cody. I’ll get over it—especially if you’re with me and we can do some fun things together.”
“You mean just the two of us? No one else?”
Rosie had to make a split-second decision. Forgive me, Zach. “No one else, honey.”
“Great!”
“So how about us working out a deal, son? You take care of your mom for a week and I’ll take care of mine.”
“It’s a deal.”
“Where do you suppose your grandma would rather go than anyplace else in the whole world?”
“Yellowstone Lake.”
“You think if I took her up there and we did a little fishing, it would calm her down?”
“Yeah. She and Grandpa love to fish.”
“Suppose I call you every night, and we all get on the phone and tell you who caught the biggest fish.”
Cody giggled. “Grandpa always gets the biggest.”
“No matter what, right?”
“Right!” Cody laughed.
“So, how about you and Jeff flying up
to West Yellowstone a week from Saturday morning? I’ll meet you two guys at the airport and we’ll go horseback riding on Ferron’s Dude Ranch. Then we’ll drive back after a couple of days. Is that all right with you, Rosie?”
Rosie couldn’t talk.
They’d spent part of their honeymoon at Ferron’s in a tiny cabin hidden away in the forest. It was a time of such love, such ecstasy, Rosie could hardly breathe, remembering it.
“It sounds wonderful.” Her voice quavered a little.
“Why don’t you come, too, Mom?”
“You know why she can’t, Cody,” his father intervened.
“Yeah. I know. I was just asking. Where are we going to have lunch?”
“Hires.”
“They have good onion rings.”
“I know. I dreamed about them for seven years.”
“This morning in English, Jeff and I made a list of the things we’d miss if we were in prison for seven years. Mr. Magleby caught us, but when he found out what we were doing, he made it a class project. Do you want to see it?”
Nick’s deep rich laughter was so contagious Rosie started giggling, too. Then laughing—she laughed until her sides ached. She couldn’t recall enjoying a moment this much…in seven years. Before Nick’s reserve unit was called up for Desert Storm.
Be honest, Rosie. You haven’t known this kind of happiness for so long you’ve forgotten until just now what it feels like.
Their lunch turned out to be a lighthearted affair, with Cody doing ninety-nine percent of the talking, never noticing his parents’ silence. Rosie smiled and laughed frequently, but hardly spoke, savoring the feeling of closeness and contentment. But it was a bittersweet emotion, tinged with regret.
Later Nick dropped her off at the university and took Cody back to school. Rosie went to her office and prepared for the next day’s lecture, then drove to Zach’s office in North Salt Lake. At four o’clock she entered the parking area; he’d indicated he might leave work early and she wanted to surprise him. To her chagrin, his Passat wasn’t there. His secretary, Barbara, said he’d already left for the day.
Frustrated, she called Zach’s condo from the office, but got his answering machine. There was nothing to do but leave a message that she was coming out to his place and asking that he wait for her there. Then she thanked Barbara, and returned to her car.
Strangers When We Meet Page 17