by Darla Jones
“It’s here.” With a shy titter, she splayed her hand between her full breasts.
The man must have gotten Super Glue in his eyes, because he couldn’t pry them from the spot. “Lord, right between your headlights. Oh, sorry.” With a huge effort, he lifted his gaze to her face, and she tried not to laugh. “I’ll help you get it out,” he offered and a big grin spread across his face.
LynAnn raised her hand. “No, thanks. Turn your head. I’ll get it.” He looked away and in a few seconds she retrieved the necklace. “Okay. I got it.”
He turned in her direction again and eyed-balled her headlights and then the necklace dangling from her hand and smiled. “It would have taken me much, much longer.”
“I bet it would have.” She threw her head back and laughed.
After more fussing over the chain, he finally got the necklace securely around her neck and they started off for dinner and the unknown play.
“Have you gotten your new computer yet?” He inquired as he merged his Buick onto the First Avenue traffic.
“Yes. The price was right, too. In fact, I couldn’t believe the price was so low. Did you have something to do with the cost?”
Jeff gave her a grin and raised his brows. “Ryan owed me a few favors, and I called him on them.”
“Well, thank you. My sites for the search for my birth mother are back up now. There are always so many weird replies, and sometimes I think it’s time to stop looking for her. Maybe my mother doesn’t want to be found. I keep telling myself she gave me up for all the right reasons and I’ll have to accept her decision.” Her voice held a sad note.
“Don’t give up.” He encouraged her.
“Years ago an old lady in Philipsburg told me my birth mother had been around me all my life. For a while I stared at every woman I knew wondering if she were my mother. Eventually, I decided the woman must have been senile and didn’t know what she was saying.” She paused to give her head a hopeless shake. “I’m thirty years old. I can’t spend the next thirty searching for a woman who doesn’t want to be found. Besides, I was told the documents were sealed.”
He reached over the console and laid his hand over hers. “Weird replies or not, it can’t hurt to keep your information on the web sites.”
“When I brought up the subject with my adoptive parents, they said they had no idea who my mother was because she wanted to remain anonymous. ‘God sent you to us and we are blessed.’ I can still hear my father’s reply when I asked about my birth mother.”
“Courts have been known to open sealed documents. Adoption isn’t my field of expertise, but I could look into it for you.”
“I wouldn’t know where to start. My birth certificate says I was born in Pittsburgh, but my father said it was probably a lie. So you see, my birth mother never wanted to be found.”
****
Nearly every seat in Benedum Hall was filled when LynAnn and Jeff arrived. The program listings read Same Time Next Year starring Judith Maccotti and Benjamin Sawyers. Andrea’s daughter proved to be a wonderful actress, and when the play ended a loud and long standing ovation followed her performance.
Andrea Maccotti, her face flushed with excitement, caught up with them before they left the hall. Obviously trying to disguise her large figure, she wore a long black silk dress. The aura of her heavy flowery scent surrounded them. She twined her arm possessively through Jeff’s and snuggled her big body against his side. “Jeff, you have to meet Judith. She’ll be here soon.”
Jeff introduced the women. Andrea gave LynAnn a little nod while her dark eyes did a swift head to toe audit of her petite body. “Hump,” she shrugged one shoulder and glared. No one gives a hoot about you, her body language spoke volumes. Then she turned back to Jeff and tossed him a gleaming smile. “Judith’s heard so much about you, and she’s dying to meet you.” She laced her other heavy arm over his making certain he couldn’t get out of her grasp.
They waited for Judith, and when she finally appeared, she was a beautiful young woman. Her raven black hair and dark eyes gave her ivory skin an luminescent glow. Dressed in a tight shimmering pink sheathe which left little to the imagination, top or bottom, the coed was apparently on her way to a cast party. Once introductions were made, LynAnn congratulated her. “Your performance was wonderful.”
The actress’s eyes did a sweep over her body while her heavily painted lips drooped downward. “Thank you,” she muttered and quickly turned her attention to Jeff.
Bestowing his best smile on the young woman, he poured it on as thick as honey on a bear’s nose in a beehive. “You are an excellent actress. Your mother told me you were beautiful, but it’s certainly an understatement.” He held her hand as he spoke. “It was a pleasure to watch you perform. A pure delight.”
Enthralled by his praise, the beautiful actress smiled as though she’d just won an Oscar for best female performance of the decade. “Thank you, Mr. Kelley,” her voice sultry, she accentuated her drawls with a sexy sway of her hips. “I’m so happy to finally meet you.”
“Please call me Jeff.” His baritone voice flowed like mellow music.
“Je-ff.” She emphasized his name and then offered her hand again as if she expected him to kiss it. “Mother failed to tell me what a handsome man you are.”
Observing the scene from the sidelines, LynAnn felt like a third string quarterback with a fractured leg. The young woman’s hips swayed as she spoke again, and LynAnn decided to check the floor to make sure all the sweet goop flying around wasn’t sticking to her shoes.
Andrea stood beside her daughter and beamed with pride. “Show Jeff the ring I bought you, Judith.”
The young actresses’ hand wound up in Jeff’s once again and she wriggled her long manicured fingers to show off a glittering square diamond.
Jeff’s lips puckered and he expelled a soft whistle. “It’s beautiful,” he exclaimed to both mother and daughter.
They both grinned like Cheshire cats.
LynAnn managed to get a peek at the ring but didn’t speak. She doubted the women wanted her opinion.
Finally, others who knew the actress flocked around to praise her, and she and Jeff escaped.
****
Later, the couple returned to the same lounge where they had danced before. Jeff ordered a beer for him and a margarita for her, then they took to the dance floor. The band’s lead singer belted out a country song, “You’re My Everything,” and Jeff held her close. She pulled back a little to talk with him. “You really fussed over Judith.”
“I suppose I did, but the girl’s performance was exceptional and she is my secretary’s daughter.”
“And very beautiful, too,” she added.
He agreed. “Yes, I didn’t expect her to be so beautiful. Hey, don’t get the wrong idea. I’m thirty-five and she’s a kid. I don’t mess with young girls. I like my women more mature, like you, wore in a little with the first thousand miles on her speedometer.” He chuckled and snuggled her close once more.
“Wore in,” tugging her body from his, she howled not liking his comparison. “I’ll have you know according to statistics, I have yet to reach my prime, while you, on the other hand, are skiing downhill on a slippery slope.”
He threw back his head and roared with laughter. “Pardon me. I stand corrected,” he finally managed to speak.
“Now you got it straight,” she proclaimed with a firm nod. They continued to dance and after a time, she said, “The ring Andrea bought her daughter was really beautiful. I saw it in a flier I got in the mail. Pricey, too. Around a thousand dollars.”
His feet came to an abrupt halt, and he backed away from her to scan her face. “A thousand, you say?” His eyes squinted as he stared straight ahead for a few seconds and then directed his attention back to her. “Do you remember which jewelry store?”
“One of them at Cherry Hill Mall. Why?”
“Just curious.” He shrugged and snuggled her into his arms again. “Andrea’s kinda low on the pa
y scale at the office, and she complains about Judith’s tuition being expensive. I have to wonder where she got the money for the ring.”
After a while and still in his arms, her face nestled against the side of his neck, LynAnn took a deep breath and groaned softly, “Ummm, I don’t know what this smell is here, just below your ear, but I love it.”
He snickered. “Aftershave.”
She sniffed again and expelled another “Ummm. No, it’s more. You smell like aftershave, shaving cream, soap, and something else.” She’d heard about human pheromones and their link with sexual attraction, but she never thought it was true.
“What else?”
“Masculinity, I guess.” She wasn’t about to tell him his male hormones were doing a number on her.
“Sniff all you want, sweetheart. Who was that cartoon skunk who smelled the flowers and the petals went up around his nose? Pepé Le Pew, I think,” he answered his own question. “Have a ball, Pepé.”
He joked about it, but there was a special scent about him and she couldn’t get enough. It’s got to be pheromones. She inhaled his alluring fragrance again.
“Do you remember the name of Pepé’s girlfriend?” LynAnn asked and when he shook his head, she continued, “It was Penelope Pussycat. She was a cat with a white strip down her back, and Pepé thought she was a skunk.”
Jeff stopped dancing and stared at her in disbelief. “Are you making up a story?”
She expelled a mirthful laugh. “No, of course not.” She moved into his arms and started dancing again. “You’re the one who mentioned Pepé Le Pew.”
He twirled her around, and then twirled her again. “You’re the one smelling my neck,” he teased.
They danced more slow numbers, and finally LynAnn pulled her body away from his to look into his handsome face, and whispered, “His name was Todd.”
Jeff’s eyes narrowed and his lips pulled downward in a questioning frown.
“The young guy who helped me the other night at the gas station. His name was Todd.”
“So?” He didn’t understand.
“My husband’s name was Todd.” She spoke his name reverently. “It’s quite a coincidence, don’t you think?”
“It’s a common name.” He shrugged his shoulders. “It was a coincidence.” He pulled her close again as if he didn’t want to pursue the conversation. After more slow dancing, they headed for his car.
Jeff didn’t start the car immediately, instead he turned sideways in his bucket seat with one arm draped over the steering wheel and the other slung over the back of her seat. His sea-blue eyes connected with hers and set her mind swirling. “Remember earlier when you asked me if favors were involved with your necklace?”
“Um hum,” she nodded apprehensively, wondering what was coming next.
“Well, Ms. Penelope Pussycat or Pepé Le Pew, whichever you are.” He shifted his body nearer and his arm encircled her. “I know you didn’t think much of kissing me, but do you think we could try a hug?”
She had no chance to respond.
His arms slipped around her torso. “See, pretend we’re dancing. Your arms go round my neck like this.” He lifted her arms and twined them around his neck. “Now my arms go here.” Both of his hefty arms tightened around her. “And we get close.” He nestled his cheek against hers.
LynAnn’s heart pounded a double rhythm, her breath refused to leave her lungs, and her body trembled. Yet despite her apprehension, a low moan escaped from her lips.
The gentle man held her closer, and his hands caressed her back. “You feel wonderful, but you’re trembling. I’m going to hold you until you stop shaking.” His warm breath teased her neck.
He held her…just held her. For how long, she did not know.
She felt the rise and fall of his chest against hers. She bathed in his scent. She delighted in his nearness. Eventually, her body relaxed in his embrace.
In time, he loosened his arms enough to study her face and as gentle as a butterfly perching on a dew drop, his lips covered hers and in an instant it was over.
They were both silent as they drove back to her apartment. They pulled into the parking area, and he was about to open his car door when she stopped him.
“Jeff, do you believe the man who assaulted me was a drug addict?”
He shrugged his wide shoulders. “The police think so, although they said Dr. Wilson didn’t think any drugs were missing. Who do you think he was?”
“The man couldn’t have gotten to the narcotics. They’re in a metal box bolted inside one of the cabinets, and it takes another key.” She paused a bit because she didn’t want to say what was coming next. “Do you think these incidences have something more to do with you than me?”
His face expressed his shock. “Why would you think so?”
Her hand reached out and rested over his. “Remember our first dinner together? You left me at the table and when you came back I had a drink in front of me?”
“Um hum. What about it?”
“A note came with the drink. It said ‘The man I was with would bring me trouble.’ The person means you, Jeff.”
He sprang back in his seat. “What? Why didn’t you tell me this before? Why didn’t you say something then?”
She squeezed his hand. “I’m sorry. I guess I should have, but I hardly knew you, and I thought it best to keep quiet.”
As if deep in thought, he was silent for a time. Finally he spoke, “Except for the musician, I don’t remember seeing anyone there I have been associated with criminally or otherwise, I mean. I have no idea who could have sent the note, but you have to realize in my profession, I spend my days putting bad guys in jail. I’ve gotten quite a few threats myself.”
LynAnn frowned. “So you think it was someone who had a grudge against you?”
“Yes, I do. I hope you didn’t believe it.” His eyes rested on hers.
She shook her head. “At the time I didn’t know what to make of it. I only brought it up because after these strange events happening to me, I wonder if someone is out to get you and using me to do it.”
He pulled her into his arms. “It’s not likely, LynAnn. If someone were out to get me, they would be after me in their SUV, not you. Do you still have the note?”
“No. I threw it away. Why?”
“It doesn’t matter.” He hugged her nearer. “The police usually check these things for fingerprints, but there never are any. Don’t worry about it. Okay?”
She disengaged herself from his arms. “Okay. I’m sorry I didn’t say something sooner.”
“I bet the note gave you second thoughts about seeing me again.”
“It certainly did and despite it, here I am.” She spread her arms to make her point.
He chuckled and then walked her to her front door. Night insects with furry wings and bodies swarmed around the porch light of the outer common door she shared with her neighbors, and they hurried into the inner foyer, hoping not to let the flying pests inside. His body near to hers, he took both her hands in his, and softly said, “Good night, and sweetheart, please forget about the note.” His gentle arms surrounded her and after a quick embrace he was gone.
****
When Jeff reached home, he felt like a clumsy teenager who had received his first kiss. Shedding his shirt as he charged up the stairs, he quickly undressed and sprawled on the bed. Closing his eyes, he thought only of LynAnn. He knew he had to go very slow and easy with her. He didn’t want to frighten her off again, although the note didn’t help his cause. Whatever her problem…it was not his preposterous idea about Cassie not being her husband’s child. But now he had his name, and he intended to find out more about Todd Johnson. He wanted LynAnn to talk about her husband, but the dance floor was not the time or place.
He drifted off to sleep with a grin on his lips thinking how wonderful the tiny woman felt in his arms. His Miata.
Chapter 11
Jean Harrington studied her body in the full length mirror in her bed
room. Wearing a long white, satiny gown with a matching robe, she liked her shimmering image. Stu liked it as well and called her his angel when she wore it. Although on the thin side, she was curvy in the right places, and Stu loved her long legs. She planned a romantic dinner this evening, and the aroma of the slow-cooked roast beef in Madeira sauce filled their whole apartment. She’d finished spraying her body with a musky perfume when she heard him come in the door. “I’m in here, Stu,” she called to him.
“For Pete’s sake, what are you doing in the bedroom?” He sounded agitated, but when he opened the door and found her, he came to an abrupt halt and examined her from head to toe. “Oh, Jean,” he moaned, “please, don’t do this.”
She eliminated the space between them and wrapped her arms around his strong body she loved so much. She tried to kiss his mouth, but he stiffened and pulled back. Not about to give up, she kissed the exposed flesh above his collar. He groaned, and his arms encased her body. For a few seconds it seemed his body and mind were at war, then he became rigid and gently removed her arms and separated the distance between them.
“I can’t, Jean.” A tremor in his voice edged on desperation. “I can’t. Someday you’ll realize I’m doing what is best for both of us.”
“This is what is best for us?” Confused and frustrated, she gathered him into her arms again.
“No,” he moaned and turned away from her. “Jean we’ve been through all this before, it’s over. Don’t you get it? I’m through. We’re through.”
With a lump in her throat and physical pain in her breast, tears flowed down her cheeks. “But you said you still loved me.”
He squeezed his eyes shut and clenched both fists together, turning to face her once more. “I’m sorry. I don’t love you anymore. I want you to find someone else. I’m not worthy of your love.”