Between the Lines

by Angela Benson

  Sometimes Eleanor wondered how she and Megan remained friends. Today was one of those days. Megan was in rare form.

  ***

  “You’re so funny, Jake,” Megan said for the umpteenth time, each time needing to touch Jake’s wrist lightly as if to prove she was telling the truth.

  Eleanor could have gagged. She shot a glance at Carl. His response was pretty much the same. He was on his fourth drink; thankfully he wasn’t drinking alcohol.

  “You’re going to rub the skin off his wrist if you keep rubbing on it,” Carl commented, then dropped his napkin on the table and stood up. “Excuse me,” he said, “I need to get some air. It’s getting pretty thick in here.”

  A part of Eleanor wanted to get up and follow Carl, but another part of her wanted to stay right there with Megan and Jake. Somebody had to keep the two of them in line.

  “What’s his problem?” Jake asked, referring to Carl.

  Megan dismissed his question with a wave of her hand. “Carl has so many problems. Who knows which one is bothering him today.”

  Jake sat back in his chair and lifted his glass to his lips. “What’s up with you and Carl? You two act like quarreling lovers.”

  Megan’s eyes flashed anger. “Don’t even go there. Carl is definitely not my type, wouldn’t be my type if he were the only man on the earth.”

  Jake shot a glance at Eleanor and she read the question in his eyes. His perception surprised her. He’d figured out what it had taken her years to conclude. She nodded her head slightly and Jake directed his attention back to Megan.

  Jake and Megan flirted for the rest of lunch, pausing occasionally to include Eleanor.

  “I know you swim, Jake,” Megan said, batting her eyelashes. “Eleanor has invited me over for a swim after work. Why don’t you join us?”

  Eleanor almost choked on her coffee. This was what she wanted, yet it wasn’t. If Jake went swimming with them, he’d definitely figure out she was the woman in the pool. She’d hoped he would have figured it out during lunch but he hadn’t.

  Jake looked at her. “I don’t have any games to cover tonight. You won’t mind, will you, Eleanor?”

  “Why would I mind?” she asked, with a shrug of her shoulders. “You’re living in the house. You can use the pool when you wish.”

  Jake smiled at Megan. “I’ll see you after work, then.” He turned to Carl, who had returned to the table. “Are you game?” Carl snorted. “I can only stomach so much of Ms. M in a single day. I think I’ll pass.”

  Jake smiled first at Megan then at Eleanor, before lifting his glass to them. “It seems I’ve lucked out, ladies. I’ll have the two of you to myself. I’m enjoying living in Lamar more by the minute.”

  ***

  For the first time since she’d taken on the managing editor’s job, Eleanor watched the clock for quitting time. She couldn’t wait for the swim party this afternoon. She glanced over at Jake. She couldn’t wait to see his reaction when he found out she was the woman by the pool. She hoped he swallowed his tongue.

  Then she wondered what he’d do. Would he start to flirt with her like he’d been flirting with Megan? A part of her hoped he would, so she could shoot him down. Yes, it would give her great pleasure to be the one that got away from Jake Mason, Mr. Irresistible.

  “We’re going to have to start discussing plans for the paper,” Jake said.

  Eleanor looked up at him. “So soon? On Monday, you will have been here two weeks and you’re ready to start making plans. That’s kind of quick, isn’t it?”

  “I don’t think so. Anyway, I said we needed to start, not that we needed to finalize anything.”

  “Okay, then. When do you want to start? This weekend?”

  Jake shook his head. “Monday is soon enough. I plan to have some fun this weekend.”

  Eleanor wondered if he’d asked Megan out. No, Megan probably asked him to go dancing at the Farmhouse, a local hangout for the adult crowd. She’d have to wait and ask Megan about it because she definitely wasn’t going to ask Jake.

  “Monday’s fine with me,” she said after checking her calendar. “How about first thing in the afternoon? One o’clock, okay?”

  “It works for me.” Jake didn’t bother to check his calendar. “Well, I’m outta here. I guess I’ll see you at the pool.”

  “You sure will,” she said after he left the office. She waited a good fifteen minutes before packing up her briefcase and following after him.

  Eleanor heard the voices and splashing water before she reached the pool. She stopped a few steps behind the hedges that separated her yard from the pool grounds, adjusted the white thong swimsuit she’d worn the first day Jake had seen her, and took a deep breath.

  She stepped from behind the hedges. “Hi, you two,” she said in as calm a voice as she could muster. Megan, dressed in a red one-piece maillot, and Jake, in black trunks, sat on the far end of the pool. “How’s the water?” She dropped her fluffy white towel on the plaid lounger and dived into the pool to join them.

  The water was the right temperature to make her forget her worry. She used broad strokes to swim to the side of the pool and join Megan and Jake. When she reached them, she hoisted herself up next to Megan.

  Pushing back her mane of dark hair, she smiled. “The water’s great. Why aren’t you guys swimming?”

  Megan put a proprietary hand on Jake’s knee. “I wore him out. He needed his rest.”

  Eleanor looked at Jake for the first time, and when she saw his expression, she wanted to shout her joy. From the cold look in his eyes, she knew he’d figured out who she was.

  “Enjoying yourself, Jake?” she asked.

  “It was you,” he said, his voice full of accusation.

  Megan looked at him. “What are you talking about?”

  Jake wouldn’t take his cold eyes off Eleanor. “You made a fool out of me.”

  Eleanor grabbed the towel behind Megan. “I did no such thing. You made a fool out of yourself.”

  “What are you two talking about?” Megan asked, clearly not liking being kept in the dark.

  “Jake thought I was you.”

  “What?”

  Eleanor explained about the day Jake had seen her at the pool.

  Megan turned to Jake. “Why did you think she was me?”

  Jake glared at Eleanor. “Who else could the woman I saw have been? I surely didn’t think it was Eleanor.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Eleanor said, recognizing an insult when she heard one.

  “Yeah, what does that mean?” Megan repeated. “How come you didn’t think it was Eleanor? She lives here, after all. I don’t.”

  “I’d seen her pictures,” Jake muttered.

  “What did you say?” Megan asked.

  Eleanor didn’t have to ask. She’d heard him. He’d seen her pictures and had concluded there was no way it could be her. She was definitely insulted.

  “I’d seen her pictures,” Jake said more clearly.

  Megan chuckled. “What pictures? When?”

  Jake explained about the friendship between their two fathers and the pictures they exchanged each year at the publishing convention.

  “What did her pictures look like?” Megan asked, clearly enjoying Eleanor’s discomfort.

  Jake’s eyes roamed Eleanor from head to toe. What Carl had said was an understatement. Eleanor was more than beautiful. She was a toasted goddess. “I’m sure you’ve seen the ones on the piano in the living room. In them, she certainly doesn’t look like she’s looking now.”

  Megan turned to Eleanor. “See. I told you to stop dressing like some old woman.”

  “I don’t dress like an old woman, as you put it, Megan. I dress like a professional woman. If I listened to you, I’d be dressed like a hooker.”

  “You know that’s not so. There are a lot of professional outfits you could wear that wouldn’t make you look so stern and old.”

 
“I think I’m old enough to pick my own clothes, Megan.”

  “From what you’ve been picking lately, I’m not so sure. Anyway, it’s not so much what you wear. It’s how what you wear hides who you are.”

  “And who am I, Megan?” Eleanor asked calmly.

  Jake cleared his throat and both women turned to him. They had forgotten he was there. Clearly, this was an argument they’d had before.

  “Sorry,” Megan said sheepishly. “We always get carried away when we discuss this particular topic. But don’t you think I’m right, Jake? She’s gorgeous, but you’d never know it by what she wears every day. Tell her.”

  Jake read Eleanor’s discomfort—no, it was more than discomfort—with the topic. “I don’t think I want to get in this.”

  “You’re already in it,” Megan corrected. “You said that after seeing her pictures, you never would have thought she could look this good.”

  Jake shot a pleading glance at Eleanor. “That’s not exactly what I said.”

  “Not in so many words,” Megan relented. “But it’s what you meant.”

  “Look,” Eleanor said, tired of the entire discussion. “We came here to swim. Let’s swim.”

  “You owe me an apology.”

  Eleanor’s eyes flashed her surprise at Jake’s statement. “I recognized you. It’s your problem if you didn’t recognize me.”

  “I didn’t see your face,” Jake murmured.

  She shook her head in disgust. “And I can guess why. From what I saw, your eyes were focused on another part of my anatomy.”

  Jake’s gaze dropped to her thighs and she knew he was remembering her upturned bottom. “Oh,” he said.

  “Yes, oh,” she said, wishing he’d stop staring at her.

  “Well,” he said, recovering quickly. “That doesn’t matter. You still owe me an apology.”

  “Surely, you’re joking.”

  “No, I’m not. You should have told me it was you. You’ve had me going on and on about meeting Megan since I’ve been here.”

  “Hold on a minute,” Megan said. “This is beginning to sound like you’re disappointed about meeting me. I don’t think I like the sound of that.”

  Jake threw up both hands. There was no reasoning with them this afternoon. “Southern women. Who needs them?” He grabbed his towel and stomped off to the house.

  Seven

  Megan stared after Jake. “What’s wrong with him?”

  “Right now, I don’t know and I don’t care.” Eleanor stood up. “I thought you came here to swim. Let’s get in the water.”

  Megan jerked her friend’s hand, causing her to sit back down. “You like him, don’t you?”

  “He’s all right.”

  “This is me you’re talking to, Eleanor. There’s nothing wrong with it. He’s a fine brother. And he seems interested in you, too.”

  Eleanor squashed the hope that sprang up in her chest. “He’s interested in anything in a skirt.”

  Megan shook her head. “I know men. That man is interested in you. He was probably curious even before he saw the real you.”

  Eleanor paddled her feet in the water and it splashed up her leg. “Now I know you’re crazy.” But memories of Jake’s gazing at her in the last day or two flooded her mind. Was he interested in her?

  “I don’t see what the big deal is. He’s a grown man and a fine one to boot. Go for it!”

  Eleanor paddled faster. “There’s nothing to go for. Anyway, I thought you were interested in him.”

  “I was, but only if you didn’t want him.”

  “I don’t want him.”

  “You may not want to want him, Eleanor, but you do want him.”

  Megan was too right. Eleanor’s feelings for Jake had sneaked

  up on her. Sure, she’d been attracted to him from the beginning, but that was physical. In the past couple of weeks, she’d grown to like him as well. And she’d developed a begrudging respect for him after seeing the way he handled his sports assignments. But her emotions were too new to share with Megan right now. She’d share them, but not now. “What about your feelings for Carl?”

  Megan’s eyes jerked away. “Now I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Sure you don’t.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “It means this game you and Carl are playing. When are you both going to admit that you care about each other?”

  Megan snorted. “I also care about stray cats.”

  Eleanor decided to stop prying. Maybe Megan wasn’t any more ready to talk about her feelings for Carl than she was ready to talk about her feelings for Jake. She stood and dived into the pool. What a pair they were!

  ***

  “I thought you said they were beginning to like each other,” Randolph said, thumping his Cross pen on the desk pad.

  “They were until this little mishap this afternoon,” Mathias responded with impatience.

  “So what happened?”

  “How do you expect me to know?”

  Randolph jumped up out of his chair. “Hell, Mat, you’re right there with them. Jake’s living in your house. Eleanor’s living in your backyard. They both work for you. Why don’t you know what happened?”

  A moment of intense silence preceded Mathias’s muttered response. “It was something to do with a swimming pool.”

  Randolph eased back down in his chair and waited for Mathias to tell his story. Mathias always did this when he was tense. No amount of pushing would make him speed up the telling of his tale. “What happened with the pool?”

  Mathias explained the mix-up Jake had made with Eleanor and Megan.

  Randolph chuckled. “So Eleanor’s female vanity took a beating when Jake didn’t recognize her.”

  “And Jake’s male ego took a beating when he found out it was Eleanor in the pool and not Megan,” Mat finished for him.

  “That’s a good sign. It seems to me things are moving along according to plan.”

  “Well, you must be seeing things I’m not seeing.”

  Randolph’s secretary came in and beckoned him. “Stop worrying, Mat. Things are coming along fine. I’ve got to go.”

  ***

  Carl stood on his toes and let the basketball fly out of his hands. Swoosh! “That’s the game, man,” he said, grinning. “I told you I was good.”

  Jake dropped down on the pavement, grabbed the blue towel next to him, and wiped the sweat from his face. “You’re not that good. I’m out of it today.”

  Carl sat next to him, leaned back on his elbows, and stretched out his long legs. “Excuses, excuses.”

  “You’d better watch it. It’s only one game.”

  “I bet you’d be singing a different tune if you’d won instead of me.”

  Jake shook his head. “Man, if I had on those red polka dot shorts, I don’t think I’d be saying much of anything. Win or lose. Where’d you get those things anyway?”

  “I don’t really remember,” Carl said, looking down at his dotted shorts before looking over at the regulation New York Knicks shorts Jake wore. “Not everybody has designer sportswear.”

  “Don’t even start. I’ve had enough arguing for one day.”

  Carl chuckled, then reached behind Jake for the water bottle. “Eleanor and Megan got you down.”

  Jake snorted, shaking his head. “Those two women are crazy. I didn’t come to Lamar to get mixed up with crazy women.”

  Carl took another sip from the straw in the water bottle. “Why did you come to Lamar, Jake?”

  Jake shot him a quick glance. “You know why.”

  “I know what you’ve said, but I have a feeling it’s more than that.”

  Jake thought about playing off Carl’s question, then decided against it. “Have you ever felt the need to prove yourself?”

  Carl nodded. “I was the class nerd. I felt the need every day and I still do.”

  “Well, I was
never the nerd. I was Mr. Cool. No worries. No responsibilities.” He stopped for a minute to gather his thoughts and was glad that Carl didn’t interrupt those thoughts. “But that’s not who I really was.”

  “So why did you act that way then? To get girls?”

  Jake shook his head. “I wish it had been something as simple as that. No, my reasons were a bit deeper.”

  Again, Carl waited without questioning.

  “It’s almost like my father wanted me to be that. He seemed more comfortable with me in that role than me working with him.”

  “You were a kid, Jake. Your father probably wanted you to act like a kid.”

  Jake wished that were true, but it wasn’t. He’d stopped being a kid a long time ago, but his father’s attitude toward him hadn’t changed. At least, it hadn’t until this assignment in Lamar. Finally, his father had given him a job in Mason Publishing. And he was determined to present his father with a proposal for this merger that would make the older man question why he hadn’t asked for Jake’s help before.

  Unfortunately, Jake had been in Lamar almost two weeks and he hadn’t come up with a fresh angle on the deal. Not yet. But he knew if he kept digging, he’d find the angle he needed.

  Carl punched him in the arm then stood up. “Come on, man. I think we both could use a cold beer.”

  ***

  “Strike!” the umpire called.

  Jake grimaced. It didn’t appear that his team was going to win today. His team. He’d been Carl’s assistant coach for less than an hour and he already felt it was his team. He already had plans for the next practice. The Johnson kid needed to loosen his grip on the bat. The Woods boy should have been playing third base instead of center field. Yes, he had some ideas he was sure could improve this team.

  “Enjoying yourself, man?” Carl asked, coming back into the dugout.

  “Great, man. Look at that kid’s swing. He needs some work. He’s gripping the bat too tight.”

  Carl clapped him on the back. “Does that mean you’re going to work with us while you’re here?”

  Jake nodded. He was glad he’d called Carl yesterday after the women had sent him running from the pool. Their quick game of one-on-one followed by a night of beer drinking had helped to ease his anger at Eleanor’s trickery. He admitted trickery might be too strong a word, but he still insisted Eleanor should have told him she was the woman at the pool.