"Are you going to show him the p-pictures?"
Fred hadn't released her hand. He squeezed her fingers. “I have to Lilith."
She squared her shoulders. “I trust you Fred."
His face became serious. “I'm glad.” He stood up and grabbed the pictures. “You go and wait at the Yarn Barn. I'll speak with you later, just as soon as I find out something.” He pushed in his chair and walked away.
"Fred, wait!” Lilith leaped up from her chair and followed him.
He stopped when he heard her call his name.
"Listen, I'll go with you. I can't just stay at The Yarn Barn and wait. What if ... what if it's something really bad? What if ... I mean, what if Kat...” she didn't get a chance to finish. Fred reached for her waist, spanning it with the fingers of both hands. He lifted her up until they were nose-to-nose.
She let out a startled squeak and clutched his broad shoulders. Yikes! She was in Fred's arms. Well, not exactly. Fred had a hold on her waist. Lilith melted. The feel of his fingers ... his hands ... as he lifted her. Gentle. Sweet...
"Listen to me, Lilith,” his face was in hers. “You are not, do you hear me? Not to come with me. If, as you say, something really bad is happening, I don't want you to be a part of it."
"But I am a part of it, Fred,” she gripped the back of his neck, clinging with both hands. “I am involved."
He slid her down the front of his body. Heat pooled deep down inside her. Desire hit her swift and hard.
"No."
"Well! Why I..."
He leaned his head down to hers, covering her mouth with his.
Lilith swayed against him, clutching the front of his shirt where it said, ‘Sixty-Two Flavors.'
"Fred,” she breathed. “Fred, Fred ... Fred." She kissed him back.
"Mind me, Lilith,” he told her. “Please,” he implored, kissing her deeper. “I promise, I'll see you later and tell you what I found and—"
She opened her eyes wide and looked up at him.
"We've got a lot of catching up to do."
Fred left her there, to stand and stare. That's all Lilith could manage in that moment. She couldn't seem to get her feet to move.
Fred walked away, then turned and came back. He drew her to the side, and pointed to the picture of her. “And wear this, Lilith,” he grinned. “Please."
She should be angry ... furious.
But inside, she was absolutely delighted.
Fred Meyer wasn't such a gentleman after all.
She had KISS ... and Kat ... to thank for that.
[Back to Table of Contents]
Chapter Twenty One
Jared sat in his office a few days later. He tried to concentrate on his task, which was to write a speech for the Fiftieth Annual World Food Summit. Addressing the world's leading retailers about business in the twenty-first century should have been a snap. Jared knew exactly what he wanted to say about the bottom line, profits, and technology. He also knew how he would address the issues facing retailers in the twenty-first century, those being environmental. Already, his experimental, ‘environment-friendly’ store in Kansas had taken off. The store contained many of the best conservation and design technologies available to reduce the amount of energy needed to run the store. The stockholders were thrilled, the employees of the Kansas-based experimental MegaMart were thrilled, Jared's associates were thrilled...
It's just too bad he wasn't.
He threw down the pencil. Jared always worked better when he had pencil and paper in hand, but not this time. Glancing out the window, he saw the sun, a big, bright burning ball of fire in the early evening sky. It dipped low on the horizon on its way to sunset, reminding him of Kat's fiery auburn hair.
Kat.
Kat ... Kat ... Kat.
Even his father sensed his loss. He had said simply, ‘girl,’ the last time Jared visited him. He knew what Sam meant. Kat. Where was Jared's girl ... Kat.
Her betrayal still tore through Jared, an open, festering wound of utter despair. Jared's body ached with need. He tried going on a date with one other woman and found he kept studying her all evening ... what she wore, how she ate, how she moved ... the color of her hair...
The smell of her perfume.
Was nothing like Kat.
Fool! Stop, just stop.
He sighed and leaned back in his chair. Work came first ... it always did. If he could only remember that, he'd be much better off. He wouldn't think of Kat and how she made him feel. He wouldn't think of Summerville and how he felt at peace there.
Jared gazed down at his forearms. The faint lines of the scratches she marked him with remained, just like the mark on his heart. He had not only been marked with Kat's fiery passion, but with her passion for Summerville, as well.
In the fuzzy thoughts that made up his mind, a dim sound came through. Voices ... the sound of loud, angry voices. It started out low then grew, reaching a crescendo of noise that he thought was right outside his office door.
When he looked over at the door to his office, it burst open. Jeanine, his secretary, stood there, looking pale and upset. “Mr. Martin, there's a crowd of people outside to see you. I have no idea who they are, but they insist on seeing you."
Jared rose from his chair and walked over to her. Jeanine struggled with the door to keep it closed, pushing on it. He moved her aside and opened it to find a sea of faces staring back at him. Familiar faces. Summerville faces.
He felt his heart skip several beats as he scanned the crowd for Kat.
She wasn't there.
Jared sighed, happy yet ... sad, knowing she had not joined them. They had come to tell him the good news—that despite Kat, Summerville would move forward and allow MegaMart to be a part of the fabric of the town. Jared knew it would be good for them, and they apparently knew it, too. It was just too bad that Kat didn't. And just too bad she had to use such underhanded means to try to get her way.
The odd thing was, so far, no one, not one reporter or media hound had bothered him about Sam Martin. It hung over Jared's head like a brick waiting to fall. Maybe that's what Kat had wanted all along—to keep him off balance, to keep him at bay. She wanted to restrain the winds of change, but they blew across Summerville anyway.
"Hello,” he smiled at all of them.
"Mr. Martin, do you want me to call the police?” his secretary asked.
"No Jeanine ... I know these people. There's no need. In fact, why don't you order in some lunch for all of us, okay?
She left to do his bidding.
"So, this is a welcome surprise.” Jared found that for once, he really meant it. The people standing before him, Summerville's own, were the people of his heart.
Fred came forward. “I've been elected spokesperson,” he told Jared.
This was it, Jared thought. At least he could come away with one dream in tact, his father's dream of a different MegaMart—a MegaMart that served the needs of an entire town without breaking its spirit or its people.
"I've come to say...” Fred stopped, thoughtful. He ran a hand through his hair.
Fred. Good old Fred. He always took his time. Never rushed. Gave of himself and his store. They were one in the same.
"We took a vote,” Fred continued. “All of us. Everyone in Summerville turned out."
"That's great, Fred.” Jared told him.
"And we just want to tell you,” he shifted from one foot to the other. “That we wouldn't allow your MegaMart store into Summerville for all the tea in China!"
A chorus of angry voices joined in. Jared noticed lots of nodding.
Kat had gotten to them, he thought sadly. She had won. The battle for Summerville was over.
"After what you did to Kat,” Fred moved forward until he stood right in front of Jared. “Lilith told me I couldn't, but if I hadn't promised her, I'd knock you from here to Montauk."
"Now, wait just one minute."
"Someone should string you up by your ... thumbs and hang you.” Lilith bur
st out.
Jared stuck his hand, palm out. “I didn't do anything. I have no idea what you're talking about. Kat—"
"Only tries to help everyone!” someone shouted in the back.
Jared didn't want them to see what he felt deep inside. They didn't just want MegaMart—they didn't want him. He moved to the window and shielded his eyes against the sun's setting rays as he watched it dip. Turning back to face them, he asked. “Just tell me why, Fred ... all of you. Just tell me why."
Fred glanced at Lilith. Jared saw him take an envelope from her outstretched hands. “Here,” he threw it atop Jared's desk. “That's why.” He pointed at the envelope.
Curious, Jared walked over and retrieved it. He opened it and removed a pile of photographs. Gazing at them, his eyes grew wide. There was Lilith, and Evelyn and Annabelle, and ... he looked over and scanned the crowd quickly. Yup. It sure was ... Doris. There were other familiar faces, too, faces he had seen...
The night he had stormed into KISS in search of Kat. The night she admitted she knew about his father's mental condition.
He scrutinized each one. Finally, he said to Fred, “I-I don't understand.” He flipped through the pictures again, confused. “Who took these pictures?"
Fred rounded the desk and stood by him. “Typical corporate slime,” he sneered. “Now, you're going to deny any knowledge of taking those pictures, aren't you?"
Jared heard angry murmurs. He shook his head. Maybe Jeanine's idea of calling the police had been a sound one.
He looked Fred right in the eyes. “I didn't take these pictures."
"But you were there that night. At KISS. We,” Lilith looked back into the crowd gathered in his office. “We saw you there. And you saw us."
Jared sighed and ran a hand across the back of his neck. “Look, I admit I was there."
"That's a start,” Fred snorted.
"I was there, yes. Kat and I had a, well, we had an argument."
"So you got mad ... and tried to get even.” Fred folded his arms across his chest, his stance angry.
"Of course not. And even if I did, why would I take these pictures? For what purpose?"
"Blackmail,” Lilith intoned.
Jared shook his head. “No, I ... blackmail? Who? Who would I want to blackmail?"
Lilith stuck out her chin. “Kat."
"No, no...” Jared swept the pictures aside. “This is crazy. I have no reason to blackmail Kat.” But, she tried to blackmail, me, went unsaid. He gazed out at the crowd. Never in a million years would they believe that one of their own, their dear, sweet, ‘Kat’ would try to use blackmail to get her way.
"Mr. Martin.” Doris moved forward then, making her way through the crowd to stand in front of his desk. “I've known Kat all her life. Her mother and I ... we were friends. Good friends. I consider Kat a daughter."
Jared moved away from Fred's angry stance to plunk his tall frame into his chair. “I'm sure you do,” he murmured. “You told me all that."
"Did you know that her mother died of breast cancer?"
An image tore through his mind. The lingerie form, the one Kat had destroyed at KISS that night he went to confront her about not accepting his job offer. It had an ugly gash across the right breast.
He looked up at Doris. “No, he said quietly. I didn't know that."
"Kat doesn't say much about it, but we know it hit her hard."
He knew all too well what it was like to have and take care of an ill parent.
"It hit her really hard, considering she lost her sister to breast cancer, too."
His head snapped up. “I had no idea."
Lilith spoke next. “She came back to Summerville after her divorce to start over. That's when her sister got sick, then her mother soon after. Kat had her hands full, nursing them through their last days ... starting up KISS. I'm surprised she survived the stress."
So was he!
When he looked over at the crowd next, it was to see Nancy Noone come forward. “Here,” she told him, placing a check on his desk. “I don't want your money. If my Bill knew I had taken money from the likes of you, he'd be rolling over in his grave right now. I won't sully his memory by accepting this. I'd rather starve first.” She picked up the check and ripped it in two.
Jared's heart pounded as he stared at the shreds of paper before him. It reminded him of how Kat had destroyed that beautiful chemise she had created.
"Look, I swear to you,” he said. “I swear I didn't take those pictures or try to use blackmail."
No one said a word.
"Recognize me?” A tall woman pushed her way through the crowd. “I'm Lilith's friend, April Chapman."
Jared looked up at her. “Should I know you?"
"My picture graces the front covers of a lot of the magazines you sell in your MegaMarts."
Jared cocked his head. “Go on,” he told her.
"I'm a model. I get paid big bucks for what I do."
Jared shook his head. “Just ... get to the point."
"The point is,” she leaned her hands on his desk, her palms flat. “Is that I hadn't worked for months. Couldn't. I was ill. Very ill. I had cancer."
"I'm sorry,” he murmured. “I truly am."
"After my surgery, they gave me chemo. That, I can tell you, is probably worse than the damn cancer."
He heard low laughter coming from some of the women in the crowd.
"This, is what it did to me,” she pushed up from the desk and in one swift, clean movement, removed the wig from her head.
Jared almost jumped back in his chair.
A bald head outlined April's beautiful, fine facial features, her model's trademark. “This wig,” she laid it down gently in front of him. “Was donated by Kat. It's her hair in that wig. Dyed, of course, but her hair."
He looked down and stared at it, then fingered the short, silky strands.
One by one, they came forward. Four women stood next to April. Slowly, tentatively, they removed their wigs to reveal starkly naked heads.
He sucked in a breath. Doris Henderson is who got to him. The elderly woman stood there, silent, standing proud and defiant in the wake of illness and despair.
"Kat saved my Doris.” Harvey, her husband, pushed through the crowd. He placed his arm around his wife's shoulders. “She gave us back our lives, Martin, our lives. We were married forty years when that goddamn disease struck my Doris. We don't know what we would have done without Kat. We just don't."
Three younger women looked over at him, their bald heads reflecting the light that shone down on them. He recognized their faces. They had been at KISS that night he had stormed in there. The virgin nymphs...
"That night you saw us there,” one of them said softly. “At KISS, when Kat gave us that lingerie party, she gave us such pretty things—beautiful things. She promised to fit us, that th-at we could still feel feminine and pretty and...” her voice broke. Evelyn Rogers moved forward and placed an arm around the girl's shoulders.
"No one knew about the lingerie parties,” Lilith spoke up. “No one. And now, now you want to tell everyone that, that—"
He frowned. “What, Lilith?"
"That Kat's running a house of, of ... oh! Prostitution!"
He sprang from the chair. “I never said any such thing!"
Fred grabbed his arm, but Jared shook him off. “You,” Fred aimed his finger at him. “Hired a private investigator to take those pictures."
"You're crazy. I hired no one."
"Don't lie,” Fred snarled. “Whatever you do, don't lie to us."
Angry voices were raised. Jared looked at them, his body vibrating with his own anger. How dare they!
"Look, I would never do that. No one here at MegaMart does business this way. Trust me."
"Our police chief did some digging, Martin. You hired a guy to take these pictures. He brought the guy in for some questioning. The guy said MegaMart hired him."
Lilith crossed her arms over her breasts and glared at Jared. “How
about the blonde?"
Jared shook his head. “The blonde? What blonde?"
"Your assistant, that blonde snooty ... oh! She was at KISS before the Civic Association Meeting. I saw her. And the next time I saw her was in the coffee shop the next day. She dropped her bag. Those,” she unfolded her arms and pointed at the pictures. “Fell out of her hand bag."
Jared glanced at the pictures. It was suddenly starting to make sense...
George!
"Come with me,” he told them all, his voice hard and steely.
He strode out of his office, past his secretary and the reception area, rounding a corner. As he strode down the hallway, he was acutely aware of the avenging army of Summervillians behind him.
Jared stopped in front of George's office door. He burst in to see her lounging back in her chair, chatting on the phone, feet up in the air. She twirled the ends of her long, blonde hair and wrapped it around the long, red nail of her index finger.
"And then I told him, he couldn't..."
She never got the chance to finish. Jared swung her chair around to face him. “Jared, I'm on the phone,” she said petulantly. He ripped it from her hands and tossed it on the desk. Reaching under her arms, he pulled her straight up from the chair. George looked over at the sea of angry faces. She paled.
Jared shook her. “I want to know what you did, you little bitch!"
"Stop it!” she shouted. He dropped her back in the chair, caging her in by placing his hands on the arms. “Why did you go to KISS before the Civic Association meeting?"
"I...” Her body shook. “I..."
"Spit it out, George. Tell me what you said to Kat Sullivan before the Civic Association meeting. Tell me what you were doing at KISS, or by God, I'll..."
She held up both hands. “All right! I'll tell you!"
It got very quiet. Jared could swear he could hear a pin drop.
Finally, George spoke. “I told her,” she glanced at the crowd, then back at Jared. “I told her you were sick and tired of her causing trouble for MegaMart. I told her that if she didn't stop..."
He stood up straight, folding his arms across his chest, legs apart. “Go on,” he said through clenched teeth.
"I told her if it didn't stop, I-I..."
"What?” he roared.
KISS Page 28