A Different Light

by Mariah Stewart

  Athen nodded thoughtfully. Izoie synehizete, her father would say. “Life goes on.”

  “So tell me how it feels to be the duly elected mayor of Woodside Heights. Ha! What a kick.” Meg slid her shoes off, pulled her feet under her, and settled onto the sofa for a long chat.

  They sat and talked until well past two, switching from tea to a glass of wine to toast Athen’s new position and Meg’s homecoming.

  “So all in all, it’s been pretty smooth sailing,” Athen told her as she emptied her glass. “Everyone’s been pretty nice to me. Dan gives me advice whenever I need it, which is every day. The only real problems I have are with Council and this one damned reporter for the Herald who’s made it his life’s work to make me as miserable and look as foolish as possible.”

  “Oh?” Meg poured a second glass of wine for herself, offering a refill to Athen, who declined.

  “Council generally ignores me and the reporter won’t leave me alone.” She pulled her feet up under her.

  “What do you mean, Council ignores you?” Meg asked curiously. “How can they ignore you? You’re the mayor.”

  “Well, there’s only one member of Council who’s very … active, I guess is the best word. He and the solicitor both talk to Dan every day, so I guess by the time we meet in the afternoon there’s not a whole lot left to talk about.” As she spoke, she realized how ineffectual she sounded.

  “Wait a minute.” Meg held up a hand to stop her. “I thought you replaced Dan as mayor.”

  Athen nodded. “I did.”

  “So why is he still talking to … who’s he talking to, anyway?”

  “The president of Council, Jim Wolmar, and Harlan Justis, the city solicitor.”

  “Do they talk to you?”

  “Not so much.”

  “Why not?”

  “Well …” Athen sought an explanation that would make her look less stupid than she felt at that minute.

  “Do you let Rossi tell you what to do?” Meg’s tone was accusatory.

  “He gives me advice.” Athen chose her words carefully.

  “And you do what he suggests you do.”

  “Most of the time,” Athen admitted, then nodded slowly, adding, “I guess all of the time.”

  “Why do you do that? Why do you let him tell you what to do?” Meg pressed.

  “Well, I guess because he knows more than I do about what’s going on.”

  “What are you doing to educate yourself? What steps have you taken to become informed on your own?”

  “I haven’t really had much time to get into things as much as I’d like to.” Athen squirmed uncomfortably under Meg’s glare. “I’ve only been in office for two months. Not even two months.”

  “Well, what do you do when you don’t agree with him?”

  “Well, I pretty much always agree with him.”

  “Because he tells you he’s right?” Meg stared at Athen in disbelief.

  “Pretty much, but he knows what’s best for …”

  “Don’t you have your own agenda, things you think are important?”

  “Of course I do,” Athen defended herself staunchly. “I’ll get to them. I mean, I plan to, but other things seem to keep popping up that need to be tended to.”

  “Things Dan tells you to tend to? Things he thinks are important?”

  “Look, Meg, you’re not born knowing how to run a city. Dan has years of experience. I have none. I don’t think it’s so odd that he gives me advice. I’m sure if my dad could, he’d be advising me, too.”

  “Giving you advice is one thing. Telling you what to do is something else.” Meg stared at her. “You do know the difference, don’t you?”

  “Of course I do. But, Meg, there’s so much to learn. I’m trying my best, but there’s just so damned much.”

  “Just let me get this straight.” Meg tapped her fingers on the arm of the sofa. “Dan asks you to run for mayor, gets you elected, then tells you what to do, so effectively he’s still the mayor.”

  Athen did not respond.

  “Athen,” Meg said quietly, “if Dan still wanted to be mayor, why didn’t he just run again? … Why did he talk you into running?”

  “Because he’d already served four consecutive terms.” The true meaning of the words became clear as glass as she spoke them aloud. “And that’s all the city charter allows.”

  “So after your term he can run again . . .” Meg spoke the obvious.

  “I don’t know. Maybe.” Athen had never felt so small, so much a fool in her life. “I guess so.”

  They sat in silence for a very long moment.

  “No wonder the press beats up on you,” Meg said after a time. “I’d be beating up on you, too, if I covered Woodside Heights.”

  “I don’t think it’s as bad as you make it sound.” Athen struggled to defend Dan as well as herself. “Dan really knows this city, he loves it. He knows what’s best …”

  “In whose opinion?” Meg challenged her. “Besides his own, I mean.”

  “I-I guess in everyone’s opinion,” Athen told her. “He was a great mayor, Meg, he’s done more for this city than …”

  “Like what? Name three major things he’s accomplished over the past eight years and I’ll get off your back and never bring it up again.” Meg crossed her arms over her chest and waited.

  Athen thought hard.

  “Has he brought new business into the city? More jobs?” Meg asked.

  Athen thought of the layoffs announced just two weeks ago at the paper plant, only one of several factories to suffer severe setbacks over the past two years.

  “Has he been able to make a dent in the drug problem? Hired new law enforcement officers, encouraged a town watch in the inner-city neighborhoods?”

  Athen recalled a conversation she’d had with one of John’s classmates from the police academy back around Thanksgiving. He was thinking of quitting the force. Their weapons were outdated, there were not enough men on the streets, and there was indifference at the top to the problems facing the rank and file. He’d expressed the hope that Athen would take a more aggressive approach.

  “Has he formulated a plan to rejuvenate the business district? Improve public housing?” Meg’s finely honed ability to see clearly to the heart of things was developed through years as an investigative reporter, and later as a news anchor. She quickly sifted through facts and discarded sentimentality.

  Athen thought of the recent HUD report that had declared Woodside Heights’s public housing “grossly inadequate.” Of the boarded-up, abandoned buildings in the northern sections of the city.

  “Seems to me that the most significant thing Mr. Rossi has done in eight years is to find a way to serve eight more,” Meg noted bluntly.

  “Well, I guess it’s been obvious to everyone but me.” Athen was suddenly sick to her stomach. Dan had needed someone to hold his place in line, and she’d agreed to do it for him. “You must think I’m a total idiot.” She covered her face with her hands.

  “I know better.” Meg rubbed her shoulders. “But I do think Dan Rossi knew exactly what he was doing when he picked you to be his successor.”

  “Yeah. ‘I’ll get Athen to run. She’s stupid enough …‘” Her eyes filled with tears.

  “Not stupid, babe. Naïve, yes. Trusting, yes. But not stupid, okay?” Meg moved closer and put an arm around Athen. “Look, wasn’t he your dad’s friend all those years? They worked together on the City Council, right? I’ll bet your dad was a big supporter of Rossi’s, too.”

  Athen nodded.

  “So he’s a trusted family friend, and you’ve been brought up to show respect and to defer to your elders. Why wouldn’t you trust him? You had no reason to suspect him or his motives. Add in the big losses you’ve had to deal with over the past few years—your dad’s stroke, losing John—Rossi came on like a father figure, I’m betting. Took you under his wing, convinced you that you’d be a natural, and, oh, yeah, he’d always be there to advise you, right?”
>
  When Athen nodded, Meg continued, putting it all in perspective. “So, of course, when he approached you, you had no reason to look for an ulterior motive. Why would you?”

  “The way he explained it, me running for mayor would be a good thing for the city, something my dad and John would be proud of.” Athen began to cry.

  “They will be,” Meg assured her.

  Athen looked up at her. “How could they be? I’ve allowed myself to be a pawn. Even if Dan only wants to be mayor again so that he can do really good things for the city, I still allowed myself to be used.”

  “Yes, you did.” Meg sat back against the sofa. “But now that you know, what are you going to do about it?”

  What was it Quentin had said to her that day in the park? Ask: What’s in it for me? What’s in it for him?

  Everyone had known all along what was in it for Rossi—everyone, apparently, except Athen.

  What was in it for her remained to be seen.

  10

  Now, bring me up-to-date on your life.” Athen poured coffee for Meg at breakfast the next morning and tried to ignore the fact that she still felt the sting of Meg’s comments from the night before. Meg’s ability to cut so cleanly to the heart of the situation left Athen with the unavoidable knowledge that she had some serious questions to ask herself between now and the time her Christmas holiday concluded. “I take it things did not work out with what’s-his-name?”

  “That son of a bitch.” Meg scowled. “Remember I told you I thought he was seeing someone else? Well, guess who? Jenny Scott!”

  “Your next-door neighbor?”

  “The same. Of course, we’re not neighbors anymore. They moved into a neat little town house on the other side of Tulsa together. Can you believe it?” She put her head back and all but screamed, “I hate men!”

  “Until the next one comes along.” Athen laughed.

  “Well, of course. That goes without saying.” Meg grinned.

  “Where are you off to?” Athen asked Callie, who was pulling on her jacket and hat.

  “To Nina’s,” Callie told her. “We’re working on a project at her house.”

  “School project?” Meg poured cream into her cup.

  “Nope. Something special. A surprise.” Callie kissed them both and headed for the back door. “See ya.”

  “Must be a last-minute Christmas present,” Athen explained. “Callie’s into arts and crafts this year.”

  “Speaking of last-minute things, I’ve a few items to pick up myself,” Meg said. “Would you have time to drive me into town?”

  “I’ve got some baking to do, and I haven’t finished wrapping Callie’s presents.” Athen frowned. “Why don’t you just take the car and run your errands?”

  “Good idea. Thanks. I appreciate it.” Meg drained her cup. “Listen, Athen, not that I really mind sharing a room with a ten-year-old for a week—God knows I love Callie like she was my own—but don’t you think it’s time to finish that guest room? I mean, the chances of my beloved brother coming back to hang those last few rolls of paper are not good.”

  “I know.” Athen sighed. “I think about it from time to time, but then I get depressed and I put it off.”

  “And if you don’t mind my saying so, the hall bath—and the hall, for that matter—are ready to be done over. And maybe it’s time for you to get that bunny paper off Callie’s walls.”

  “I wouldn’t know where to start.” Athen clenched her jaw as she cleaned off the table.

  “Start here.” Meg tossed her the phone book, then pulled on her jacket. “The Yellow Pages. Under Paint and Paper.”

  “DAMN MEG, ANYWAY,” ATHEN GRUMBLED as she measured flour into a bowl for the first batch of cookies. “She always has a way of making everyone feel like an idiot.” You’re nothing more than a figurehead mayor, Athen. How could you be so stupid, Athen? Your daughter isn’t a two-year-old anymore, Athen, nix the bunny paper. …

  Athen was miffed, and she took it out on the cookie dough. She was well aware of her shortcomings. She didn’t need Meg to point them out to her. It took four batches for the snit to pass, but by the time the last tray went into the oven, she was over it.

  When Meg failed to return by two, Athen began to wonder just how many stops her sister-in-law had to make. At four thirty, she left a note on the table, telling Meg she’d be back by five, and arranged a plate of cookies for her elderly neighbor. By the time she delivered the goodies to Mrs. Sands and walked back across the street, her car was safely in the driveway.

  “Where’s Meg?” she asked Callie, who was gleefully raiding the cookie jar.

  “She’s in the shower,” a cookie-crammed mouth told her. “She has a date.”

  “She has a what?” Athen hung her coat up in the hall closet and stuck her head back into the kitchen.

  “A date with a man.” Callie grinned. “Someone she went to college with or something. She’s real excited.”

  Athen started dinner, splashing a jar of spaghetti sauce into a pan and spattering the front of her shirt, wondering who Meg’s mystery man was. When the hum of the hair dryer ceased, she went upstairs to find out.

  Meg was in a frenzy, struggling into a short black velvet dress and cursing at the zipper.

  “Here, I’ll do it.” Athen laughed and lent a hand.

  “I hope you don’t mind, Athen.” Meg leaned over the dresser and attempted to apply eye makeup with shaky hands. “I mean, with me just getting here last night and everything. But I have waited fourteen years for this date and I’d walk through downtown Woodside Heights naked before I’d miss this opportunity.”

  “Whoa.” Athen sat down on the bed and laughed. “Tell me, tell me.”

  “Well, when I was in college, there was one guy who was so phenomenal, everyone was in love with him. He dated a girl on my floor senior year and we all used to hang out the window when he’d come to pick her up just so we could watch him walk.” Meg groaned as a poorly aimed brush slid eye shadow onto her face. “Anyway, who do I see when I walk into Silver’s Card Shop this afternoon but Buddy. Tall, dark, and incredibly handsome Buddy. I must say the years have been very good to this man. So, of course, I had to go over and see if it was really him, you know? So we started talking, and he suggested we take a stroll through town to see the Christmas displays, and we ended up having coffee over at Lorenzo’s—I didn’t even know that place was still there—and the next thing I knew he was asking me if I’d like to go to a cocktail and dinner party with him tonight. Well, he didn’t have to ask me twice.”

  Meg flounced her hair, nervously glancing at the clock on Callie’s desk. “Oh, God, Athen, he’ll be here in five minutes. What do you think? How do I look?”

  “Gorgeous. He’ll fall at your feet,” Athen assured her.

  “That’s close enough for starters. Thank God I had the sense to pack my lucky dress.” She grinned. “This little number has never let me down. Oh, shit, where’re my shoes? Oh, God, that’s the doorbell. …”

  “Calm down, Meg, I’ll get it.” Athen headed for the landing.

  “Talk about miracles of fate.” Meg kept up a nervous patter as Athen took the steps two at a time. “Him coming here from St. Louis, me coming home from Tulsa …”

  Athen all but froze in midair.

  “What does he do?” she asked cautiously.

  “Well, he’s writing a book on the Underground Railroad, the local connections and that sort of thing, but he’s working for his stepfather, too. Athen, will you please get that door?”

  Cement feet carried Athen to the front door. Wooden hands opened it. An obviously startled Quentin Forbes stood on the top step.

  “I-I think I have the wrong house,” he stuttered. “I was looking for number two thirty-five.”

  “You found it. Please come in so I can close the door, ‘Buddy.’” She motioned stiffly for him to enter.

  He stepped inside but only enough to push the door closed behind him.

  “Meg …?” He cle
ared his throat awkwardly.

  “My sister-in-law.”

  “Meg …?” He looked at her blankly.

  “Moran.” She finished for him.

  “Oh. I hadn’t remembered her last name. Your husband’s …”

  “Sister.”

  “I see.” He was obviously unaccustomed to such discomfort. Athen found herself enjoying it.

  “Buddy, hi.” Meg sauntered down the steps in her short black dress, looking casually gorgeous, and it was then that Athen realized how frumpy she herself looked. Her white sweatshirt was liberally doused with spaghetti sauce. Her shoeless feet were clad in white wool socks, and her jeans were faded, her hair a rumble, half hanging from a knot at the back of her neck.

  “Athen, I guess you’ve met …” Meg began to formally introduce them.

  “‘Buddy.’” Athen nodded. “Yes, we’ve met.”

  “Well,” he said, looking not at Meg but at Athen. “I guess we should …”

  “Yes,” she replied. “You certainly should.”

  Meg looked at her, questioning, her eyes narrowing slightly, not for a second unaware of the strange undercurrent running between the man of her dreams and her sister-in-law.

  “Have a good time.” Athen fairly pushed them out onto the front steps. Closing the door quietly behind them, she wondered why she had a sudden urge to bang her forehead against the oak panels.

  Athen was still wide awake when she heard the car doors slam. Callie, having chided her for being such a grump, convinced Athen to take her foul mood to bed before ten.

  She heard them in the hallway for a few minutes, their laughter floating up the stairwell into her room. It took all her self-control not to tiptoe to the top of the stairs to eavesdrop. The front door closed quietly several minutes later. Athen closed her eyes and pulled the covers up when she heard Meg tiptoe into her room.

  “Don’t you even pretend to be sleeping, Athena Moran. I know you’re not.” Meg poked her.

  “How was the party?” Athen dropped the childish ruse and sat.

  “It would have been a hell of a lot more fun—not to mention less awkward—if you had told me ahead of time that you’d had something going with my date.” Meg was ready to explode.