by Karen Young
“Maybe some time with his dad will improve his attitude,” Rachel said dryly. “I know some time without him will certainly improve mine.”
“Shame on you,” her mother said, but she was smiling. “And speaking of free weekends, you should grab the opportunity to go somewhere special, indulge yourself while you have a chance.”
“I’m way ahead of you.” Rachel brushed a ladybug off her knee. “There’s an art exhibit in the Galleria. Marta and I have already made plans to go. Is there anything you need in Dallas? I could pick it up. Just tell me what and where.”
“No, forget about me. Forget everything. Have fun. I don’t think you’ve had a single moment since Ted went crazy when you could just take off and do what you wanted.” Dinah plucked a few spent blooms from a potted azalea. “Which reminds me. I’ve been meaning to ask where Francine is spending the weekend. Considering Ted’s infatuation, I’m surprised he’s able to tear himself away for a night, let alone two.”
“He isn’t. Francine is part of the plan.”
Dinah straightened and studied her face for several seconds. “They’re not going to be sleeping together with Nick and Kendy right there, are they?”
“Actually, that was the plan originally,” Rachel said. “Silly me, I assumed Francine was busy elsewhere since I couldn’t see her choosing to spend two days with the kids. But, just to be sure, I called Ted before he picked them up yesterday and was told that she would be with them. When I asked about sleeping arrangements, he seemed surprised. He expected me to be pleased that Francine was willing to spend time with Nick and Kendy, which included staying with them at the lake house. Of course, they’d be sleeping together. Why would I think otherwise?”
She nodded when Dinah rolled her eyes. “Can you believe how dense he can be? He saw nothing wrong with that. If it made his children uncomfortable, they’d soon get over it, he said.”
Dinah stood with her hands on her hips. “Are you saying you approved his plans? He and Francine are shacking up in front of Nick and Kendy?”
“No, of course not. Francine’s still going, but she’ll be staying at her apartment overnight.” Rachel had to smile, recalling the small victory. “The prospect of sleeping alone made Ted very grumpy.”
“I’ll bet.” Dinah turned her attention to an asparagus fern. “How did you change his mind? I can’t see him giving in just on general principles. We know he hasn’t got any.”
“He’s behind in child support payments and I threatened to drag him into court.”
“Ah.” Dinah nodded.
Rachel grinned. “He’s strapped for cash right now, thanks to Walter pushing the lawsuit, so he was forced to deal. But mainly, he wouldn’t want the publicity. I heard from a source in the practice that he’s been shopping his résumé around looking for an attractive situation in Dallas.”
“Big-city practice, big-city income,” Dinah said, unsurprised. “Francine’s pushing for that, I bet.”
“Without a doubt. But it wouldn’t be Ted’s first choice. If he joins a large practice, he’ll be forced to spend several years before making partner status,” Rachel said. “Francine may favor a move to the city, but I know he’s still hoping to set up his own practice. Any hint of dishonorable personal behavior would be a serious impediment.”
“Meanwhile, he still owes you money. So you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t.” Dinah scowled while snipping away on the fern.
“True, but at least the kids won’t be exposed to the sexual aspect of his affair with Francine.” She watched her mother move the large pot to a different spot. “It amazes me that Ted doesn’t seem to see how his behavior sends the wrong message to a boy of Nick’s age. And Kendy. My gosh, she’s still a complete innocent. What was he thinking?”
“Who knows?” Dinah stood back to judge the effect of her tinkering. “But it’s clear what he’s thinking with.”
“Which is why I’m glad he’s devoting a weekend to the kids.” Rachel’s gaze wandered from the swing to the neighboring house across the way. “If he keeps this up, Nick and Kendy may look elsewhere for a replacement.”
“Cam,” Dinah guessed, following her gaze.
“Go figure.” In spite of Rachel doing her best to keep Nick and Kendy away from their prickly neighbor, both kids seemed as drawn to him as if he was the embodiment of Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny combined. “I swear Kendy has a crush on him, Mother. No matter what I do, she finds opportunities to chat with him. She acts as if he’s a favorite uncle and she’s known him forever. When I try laying down the law, she gives me that big-eyed, bewildered look and says Cam’s her friend, and then she tells me I’d like him, too, if I’d just try. ‘Buy one of his books,’ she told me a couple of days ago. ‘He’ll autograph it and then you can have coffee and stuff.”’ Rachel rolled her eyes.
“You want to have coffee and stuff with him?”
Rachel put her hand on her chest and patted it dramatically. “I’m just panting for the opportunity. Not.”
Chuckling, Dinah moved a low stool to a corner of the patio. “Nick’s pretty taken with him, too, I think.”
“Even more so. But it takes two, Mother. If Cam would discourage them, neither Nick nor Kendy would be over there. But if he’s outside puttering around in his garage or doing repairs to his house, it’s like an open invitation and they’re over like a shot.”
“I can’t see any harm in this, Rachel. As you say, if he doesn’t like it, all he has to do is send them home.” Dinah gazed thoughtfully at the yellow house. “Authors can be reclusive. It’s not uncommon in his profession, and by holing up inside it would be easy to avoid people. In fact, that’s mostly how it used to be before you moved in.”
“You were here only a couple of months before we moved in, Mother,” Rachel pointed out.
“Long enough for me to see that Cam was a man closed off from the world,” Dinah said. “There are people who can lose themselves in their work and it strikes me that in his particular profession, that might easily happen. And who knows, with the loss of his son and a failed marriage, he had a lot on his plate. But, lately, he’s been more accessible. So if the kids are drawn to him and he’s receptive, everyone benefits. At least, that’s the way I see it.”
Rachel was still looking at Cam’s house. “Speaking of his puttering in the garage, what’s up with that, do you know? He’s in and out of it a lot lately. I hear him sawing and then he’s painting. Next, he’s hammering away. Is he building something?”
“Could be he’s making a project of restoring that old house,” Dinah said, studying her daughter’s face. “If you’re so interested, why don’t you ask him?”
Hearing something in her mother’s tone, Rachel quickly brought her gaze back to the patio. “I’m not that interested. Besides, can you imagine anyone having the nerve to question him about anything?”
“Actually, I can.” She moved about, collecting bits and pieces she’d pruned and putting them in a plastic bag. “We’ve just discussed how approachable he is to Nick and Kendy. And I’ve found him to be quite neighborly.”
“Even an un-neighborly neighbor would have come to your aid when you fainted in your flowers, Mother,” Rachel said.
“He was a good neighbor even before I fainted in my flowers.” Dinah closed the bag with a twist.
“Meaning he nodded coolly if the two of you happened to pass near the petunias,” Rachel said. “Next you’ll be telling me I broke up a beautiful friendship.” Looking peevish, she increased the pace of the swing.
Holding the bag, Dinah looked at her daughter and chuckled. “Is that a complaint? If so, maybe you should take a leaf out of Nick and Kendy’s book.”
“What?”
“Maybe Nick and Kendy aren’t the only ones drawn to Cam.”
Rachel stopped the swing abruptly. “That is absurd!”
“Why is it absurd to be attracted to a man like Cam? He’s successful, he’s unattached, he’s sexy.” She dropped the tone of
her voice and waggled her eyebrows suggestively. “And he has a past. What’s not to like?”
“I’m in the midst of a divorce, if you haven’t noticed. I’m up to my ears adjusting to that and to the fact that Ted has had a mistress for a year. Plus, my financial situation is so dismal that my kids and I are homeless. I know, I know—” she waved off Dinah’s instant objection “—you don’t have to say it. Mi casa, es su casa. I appreciate it, more than I can ever say. But you must admit, I have a lot on my mind.”
“All the more reason to have a little fun.”
“What, like an affair with Cam Ford?”
Dinah’s expression was devilish. “Sounds good to me.”
Rachel gave herself another push and started the swing again. “You’re the flower child, not me.” Dinah’s college years during the sixties had given her a loosey-goosey outlook that Rachel had simply never had any desire to emulate. “I’ve just had a big row with Ted over the example he’s setting by living in sin with Francine. Are you now suggesting that I do the same thing?”
Dinah laughed and picked up the two glasses to take inside. “I wasn’t suggesting anything of the sort and you know it. But I do think—” She broke off at the sound of a commotion. Somewhere in the front of the house, a door slammed and loud voices could be heard all the way out to the porch. Rachel sprang up from the swing in alarm.
“That’s Nick,” Rachel said, rushing to the door. “And Ted. Oh, my God, something’s happened.” She hurried inside just as Nick burst into the kitchen. He was flushed, his face set and angry. Kendall, who was with him, looked pale and scared. Catching sight of Rachel, she burst into tears and rushed into her mother’s arms. There was no sign of Ted.
With Kendall’s face pressed to her breast, Rachel looked at Nick. “What’s wrong? What happened, Nick?”
“We’re not going back with him, Mom. I don’t care what he says!” His eyes flashed with defiance, but the hand he used to rake his hair away from his eyes was shaky. “This whole thing was a stupid idea to start with. Look at Kendy. She’s really freaked and I don’t blame her.”
Rachel tried pulling back to get a look at Kendall’s face, but the little girl’s arms were tight around her waist and she was sobbing wildly. “Is she hurt?” she asked Nick. “Was there an accident?”
“It was no accident,” Nick said bitterly. He slapped a hand flat on the countertop, rattling dishes and cutlery. “I don’t understand why Dad is so, like, ga-ga over her, but he is. Anybody can see she sucks!”
“Nick. Watch your language,” Rachel ordered. “Now, calm down and tell me what happened. And where is Ted? Did he just drop you at the door and leave?”
Nick’s mouth twisted with disgust. “No, but I bet that’s what Francine wants. What gets me is why Dad planned a whole weekend with me and Kendy if she was gonna be there. Francine was miserable from the minute he picked us up yesterday.” He kicked at the leg of a chair. “She’s a real bitch, Mom.”
“That’s enough, Nick.” Ted stood in the door, scowling at his son. “I know you don’t like Francine, but you will show some respect.”
“She doesn’t deserve respect!” Nick shot back angrily. “She hurt Kendy.”
Rachel’s eyes widened. “Hurt her? How?” Prying Kendall loose, she examined the little girl’s face. “Are you hurt, Kendy?”
“It’s nothing, barely a scratch,” Ted said in a dismissive tone. “It was all a misunderstanding. Francine…” He took a deep breath to calm himself, then spoke stiffly, “Francine may have been a bit harsh. She sends her apologies, Kendall. She says to tell you she’s sorry.”
“Oh, yeah, now she’s sorry,” Nick said with heavy sarcasm.
“I hate her!” Kendall said hotly.
“Oh, for pity’s sake!” Ted said, throwing up his hands. “She lost her temper. It happens.”
“What happened?” Rachel cried. “Will somebody please tell me.”
“We were having breakfast at a restaurant,” Nick said, shooting a glare at his father. “Nobody wanted to go there, but his precious Francine insisted. It was a stupid place not meant for kids, but whatever Francine wants, Francine gets.” More heavy sarcasm. “And then Kendy accidentally spills her orange juice, which goes into Francine’s lap and ruins her dress, she says. Beats me why she even wore something like that to go to a rodeo. She looked more like she was going to a party or something instead of the rodeo, but Dad seems blind to anything except her boobs and her butt!”
“Nicholas!” Ted roared. “I told you to watch your mouth and I won’t tell you again.”
“Nick,” Rachel chided in a lesser tone, “you know better. Just tell me how she hurt Kendall.”
“She jerked her by the arm and dragged her off to the rest room, and Dad just let her!” Nick cried, giving his father an accusing look.
“I certainly couldn’t take her into the men’s room,” Ted said.
“And then the minute they got out of sight,” Nick said, ignoring him, “she pinched the hell out of her!”
“I didn’t want to go with her!” Kendall looked tearfully at Rachel. “But she made me, Mom. I started to cry because she doesn’t like me. She didn’t want me to take my camera, that’s why I know she doesn’t like me. And she told me to shut up and don’t embarrass her and that’s when she pinched me with her long fingernails just the minute we got inside the rest room. See?” She stuck out an arm, shoved the sleeve of her shirt back and displayed an angry bruise just above the elbow. “It really, really hurt, Mom.”
Rachel looked at the purple mark and turned instantly to Ted. “Is this true, Ted?” she asked evenly.
He gave an impatient sigh. “They’ve made it sound worse than it was.”
“In what way? Kendall has an ugly bruise. The skin is broken. Was Francine’s version of the way it happened different from what Nick and Kendy say?”
“That’s it, more or less,” he admitted reluctantly. “Francine’s not used to kids. And it was embarrassing to have juice dumped in her lap.”
“I’ll tell you what’s embarrassing,” Nick said, looking angrily at Ted. “It’s watching my old man make a big fool of himself over some stupid woman whom he’s almost old enough to be her father and then when she does something that’s mean and cruel to his kid, he pretends it’s okay because he doesn’t want to piss her off.” It wasn’t simply disgust on Nick’s face. It was utter contempt. “What’s the matter, Dad? Are you afraid she won’t be ready to screw tonight if you stand up for Kendy?”
With a muttered oath, Ted came at Nick with his hand raised, but Rachel moved faster. She stepped in front of him and warned, “Don’t even think it, Ted.” Then, still holding Ted’s gaze, she said to Nick, “Go somewhere and cool off, Nick. Your father and I need to talk privately.”
Nick hesitated, both hands fisted at his sides. Chest heaving, his eyes teemed with the hot accusations he longed to throw at his father. But after a moment, he muttered something under his breath, turned abruptly and stalked out of the kitchen.
Dinah, who’d been watching in silence, moved quickly to Kendall. She slipped an arm around the little girl’s shoulders and urged her toward the door. “C’mon, Kendy, let’s go to the greenhouse and check on those zinnia seeds we planted. I’ve got a first aid kit in there, too. I bet there’s something in it that’ll take the sting out of that bruise.”
With everyone else gone, Rachel struggled to control her outrage. She wasn’t sure what made her more angry—that Francine had dared to hurt Kendall or that Ted had allowed it. She took a deep breath. “I’ll make this short, Ted, as we know Francine’s patience is wearing thin today. I assume she’s waiting for you outside.”
“She left in my car. I told her I’d call her on my cell phone after I dropped the kids off. I knew you’d overreact, just like they did.” He leaned against the counter, crossing his arms. “Say it so we can discuss it and I can get the hell out of here.”
“At least you admit we need to discuss it.”
&n
bsp; “You don’t discuss anything, Rachel,” he told her. “You lecture. So, let’s have the sermon where you tell me what a pig I am when, in fact, this whole thing was a simple accident. And don’t bother to say you don’t accept that Francine was upset and reacted as she did because she’s not used to kids. You’ve already expressed your opinion on that. We both know what you think.”
Rachel didn’t allow herself to be distracted by his attack on her. “Being unused to kids doesn’t excuse hurting Kendy, Ted. Surely you see that. Most people who aren’t used to children don’t resort to violence, especially in response to a minor accident.” Rachel raised her hand to stop his reply. “No. Don’t make it worse by trying to defend what she did, or I’ll have to agree with Nick that you are so besotted that you’ve forgotten your first duty is to your children. What possessed you to include Francine in a trip to the rodeo, anyway? It strikes me as the last place she’d choose.”
“It seemed a fun way to introduce her to Nick and Kendy.” He moved, turning away with his shoulders hunched against her disapproval.
“They’ve been introduced, you know that. We’ve had Francine and Walter in our home on several occasions while the kids were around. This past Christmas, to name the most recent.” She was shaking her head. “But that’s beside the point. You realize, don’t you, that after what’s happened it will probably be a long time before Kendy is willing to go anywhere with you if Francine’s included? That would be a very normal reaction for a nine-year-old.”
“She’ll soon forget it if you don’t poison her mind first.”