Right now Alex didn’t know if she wanted to scream at Daniel that he’d overstepped his boundaries as a family friend, although not as a father, she reminded herself, or jump in the car with Lizzie and return to Chicago. Of one thing she was certain. She felt betrayed by Daniel in more ways than one. He’d backed Lizzie’s plan without discussing it with the girl’s own mother, and he’d let Alex face Lizzie without preparation. She’d begun to think of Daniel as an ally, and he’d betrayed her tonight.
“Lizzie,” she began calmly. “It’s late. I’m tired. You’re tired. But you need to know that I am not in support of this idea. I think you would be making a mistake. How many young girls have set their sights on something as flimsy as an acting career? And how many have failed? I can’t let you throw away everything your father and I hoped for you, not to mention what you wanted for yourself, until you got this taste for acting. This is just a whim. Hopefully, once we’re home, you will forget about it and start thinking about your real future.”
Lizzie’s eyes filled with tears. “I won’t forget about it, Mom. I won’t! If you won’t let me go to Ohio State, I don’t know what I’ll do. I can’t afford to pay all my expenses myself. I know you control my college finances...”
This was true, but Alex hadn’t played that card yet and hoped she wouldn’t have to. “Go up to bed, honey,” she said. “We’ll talk more in the morning.”
“And will the outcome be any different?” Lizzie asked.
“Probably not.”
Without another word, Lizzie stood and strode to the stairs. The echo of her footsteps pounded in Alex’s heart. She hated arguing with Lizzie. They so rarely disagreed. But she had to be the wiser, smarter one now. She had to be the mother.
Alex didn’t know how long she sat in the living room, but sometime later, her cell phone rang. She checked the caller ID. Daniel Chandler. Without connecting, she turned off the ringer and went up to bed.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“GOOD GRIEF, DANNY, you look worse than I do!” Gus set down his coffee mug and stared at his son.
His eyes gritty from lack of sleep, Daniel went to the counter to fill a cup for himself. “I’m not surprised. I didn’t sleep well.” Or at all.
“You’re getting an early start,” Gus said. “It’s barely eight o’clock.”
“I have one stop to make before I take off for Columbus,” he said. “But I’m glad you’re up. I want to go over some stuff with you first.”
“If it’s about my well-being, you can save your breath, son. I think you’ve got me prepared for any eventuality.”
“That’s my job, Pop. Aunt Margaret is coming tomorrow and she’ll be here as long as you need her. I hope you’ll let her stay until the deal is done with the hardware store and the building is listed. I don’t want you trying to cope with any additional stress by yourself.”
“We don’t know how long that will be, Danny. You know I don’t want to disrupt everybody’s life. It’s bad enough that you’ve spent your entire time off helping me out. You could have had a real nice vacation, but instead...”
Daniel leaned against the counter. “Stop it, Pop. I’ve been where I want to be, and I’m coming back as many weekends as I can.” He opened a drawer and took out a tablet. Sitting at the table with his father, he flipped through a few pages.
“You’re going to wear that book out,” Gus said.
“Just making sure all the phone numbers are correct. We’ve got your doctors, Aunt Margaret, Bill Justin down the street, Phyllis Conklin from your church...”
“And the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker,” Gus added. “I’ll be okay, Danny. Go save the world, or at least this part of Ohio.”
Daniel took a last long swig of coffee. “Still got a few things to pack up in my car and then I’ll head out. I can’t believe my assistant has me scheduled for dinner with the Ohio Corn Growers Consortium tonight. I won’t have time to unpack.” He got up, strode around the table. Without embarrassment he bent down and gave his father a long hug. “I’ll miss you, Pop. Be sure and call if you need anything.”
“I’ll call if I do, Danny. Now go on before we both turn into weepy old women.”
Five minutes later Daniel drove down the main street of Greenfield. But he didn’t take the highway south toward Columbus. Instead, he headed toward Fox Creek.
* * *
LYING IN HER BED, Alex heard a car pull into the drive of Dancing Falls. Her body felt like lead, and she didn’t even try to get up. She knew her father was an early riser and would answer the bell. But when the front door opened, and her dad’s booming voice identified the visitor, she padded to the bedroom door and listened through the crack.
“The girls aren’t even up yet, Daniel,” Martin said. “Can I get you a cup of coffee while we wait for them?”
“No, thank you, sir. If you wouldn’t mind, I’d like you to tell Alexis that I’m here. I wouldn’t ask, except I’m leaving for Columbus, and the matter is urgent.”
“I guess I can do that,” Martin agreed. “Why don’t you wait on the back patio and give her a minute to pull herself together.”
Alex listened to Daniel’s footsteps through the main-floor hallway as he walked toward the back of the house. She threw on a pair of yoga pants and a T-shirt and tied her hair at her nape. At the last moment she squeezed a dime-size amount of toothpaste on her finger, rubbed it over her teeth and rinsed.
She met her father halfway down the stairs. “I heard. I’ll take care of it, Dad.”
“Is something wrong, Alexis? Do you want me to go with you?”
“No, but thanks. I think Daniel just wants to say goodbye.” And ask why she didn’t pick up his call last night. After a restless sleep she was ready to tell him the answer and a whole lot more! Her anger hadn’t abated in the overnight hours. If anything, she was even more determined to let him know he’d disappointed her.
Her heart hitched in her chest when she stepped out on the patio. There, seated at the table, was her Daniel, the man she’d once loved, the man she was falling for all over again, until last night. He looked as if he hadn’t slept, either. His hair was mussed, his eyes blinking in the bright sun. He was dressed for driving in shorts, a T-shirt and sneakers. A ball cap lay on the table.
At her approach, he turned, stood. “Alex, we need to talk.”
She smoothed her hands down the sides of her pants and took a chair. Only then did Daniel sit back down. Always the gentleman.
“That’s funny, Daniel,” she said. “I think we should have talked last night before Lizzie told me she’s decided to throw her future away.”
“It was Lizzie’s place to tell you, not mine.”
She huffed out a long breath. “Daniel, we’ve become so close—at least I thought we had.”
“I feel the same.”
“Then didn’t you feel any compassion for what I was going to face? Any compunction to give me a heads-up? You know how I feel about Lizzie’s future.”
“It wasn’t my place to interfere with a mother and daughter,” he said. “I’m Lizzie’s friend, but that’s all. Otherwise, I’m an outsider.”
His innocent words brought a fresh stab of guilt to her heart.
“What would you have had me do?” he asked.
“Tell me what I was facing! Include me in what you and Lizzie talked about. You encouraged her without consulting me!”
He looked genuinely confused. “What are you saying? I didn’t encourage her. I told her to talk to you.”
“Then you didn’t tell her that everyone should follow their dreams, as if we only get one shot at life, so we should do what makes us happy?”
“Yes, I suppose I said that, but I was speaking in general terms. I certainly didn’t say that she should drop out of Bryn Mawr and go to Ohio State.”
Alex shook her head and lowered her voice. “I think she’s been planning this for weeks, ever since she met you and got that part in the play. Last night was just the culmination of all those hours at the theater. And all those hours with you.”
He leaned slightly forward. “Alex, is it really fair to blame my influence for this? It was you who brought Lizzie to the theater in the beginning. You thought the diversion would help her get over her father’s death. And it has. So a lot of good has come out of her experience at the Red Barn.”
“Maybe so, at first,” she said. “But a bit of good does not make up for altering an entire future. Lizzie is smart. Her IQ is in the top five percent of her age group. She’s a girl with a bright career ahead of her.” When her voice began to tremble, Alex paused and swallowed. “I can’t let her throw all that away.” She stared hard at Daniel. “And I can’t let you tell her that dreams can become reality.”
He waited a moment before responding. “But can’t they, Alex? Can’t dreams become our reality? Since you’ve come home, I think I’ve become a believer.”
“Don’t be so sentimental, Daniel.” At his shocked expression she sat back, ashamed of the way she’d spoken to him. It wasn’t as if her own dreams hadn’t been filled with Daniel lately. “I’m sorry, but Lizzie will be throwing her future away if she follows these impossible, impractical dreams.” She crossed her legs and stared out over the expansive back lawn. “An actress! What chance does she have, really? How many young girls head out on this path only to end up disappointed, living hand to mouth, waiting for their phone to ring?”
“I might be able to help her,” Daniel said.
Alex cringed, turned her gaze back to him. “Haven’t you helped enough?”
He looked as if she’d struck him. “Hear me out, please. I’ll be close to her. I’ll visit her at the university, monitor her progress. I think I’m qualified to judge if she has talent. Right now I’d say she’s got plenty, but I won’t flatter her if she doesn’t show promise.”
Alex placed her clenched hands on the table. “That won’t be necessary. Don’t you get it, Daniel? She’s not going to Ohio State. She’s going to Bryn Mawr. And it’s time for you and everyone else to stay out of her life!”
“So you’ve made up your mind?” His eyes had taken on a combative spark. “That’s it?”
“She made up her mind last night,” came a voice from the back door. Lizzie stood in flannel pajama bottoms and a tank top, her eyes bleary, her hair in disarray. “It seems I’m not to have any say in my own life.”
Alex stood. “Lizzie, there is no need to be so dramatic.”
“That’s right, I forgot. There’s no room for drama in this family, is there?”
Alex’s heart was breaking. She and Lizzie had never spoken so angrily to each other. In twenty-four hours Alex had lost most of what mattered to her. But she wasn’t going to sacrifice her daughter’s future just to end an unpleasant scene.
“Go back inside, please,” she said. “We’ll talk later. Right now this conversation is between Daniel and me.”
Anger flared in Lizzie’s eyes. “That figures. I’m standing right here listening to the two of you talk about the next few years of my life, and I’m told to go back in the house. How is that right, Mom?”
“Lizzie...”
“Fine. I’m going!”
When she’d gone inside, Daniel did the strangest thing. He smiled, reached out and took Alex’s hand. “Being a parent can really suck, can’t it?” he said.
His compassion was her undoing. The lack of sleep, the emotional turmoil—it came spilling out in a huge sob and a flow of tears. And his arms came around her. He held her close but she felt cold and lonely.
“I’ve got to go,” he said. “But I’m not giving up on us, Alex. I’ll be back on Friday, and I hope you will be waiting for me.”
He kissed the top of her head. “If I screwed this up in any way, I’m sorry, honey. Really, truly sorry. You’re the parent, not me.”
She shuddered in his arms.
“I won’t interfere again. I promise.”
He picked up his cap and walked around the side of the house. Alex waited until she was sure his car had left the property, and then she went inside. She actually wanted Daniel’s help, needed it, and though he had every right to give it, she had no right to ask.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
DESPITE THE WARM summer temperatures, the next few days were the most bitter Alex could remember. She missed Daniel. She was sorry they’d quarreled and that she’d assigned so much of the blame to him. He was just being sympathetic to Lizzie’s problem. But she still resented his influence in Lizzie’s life. He was changing everything about the comfortable relationship she’d built with her daughter and she didn’t know when that would stop. Or if it should. But most of all, she didn’t know what she would do when he came back on Friday.
Lizzie continued with her role in The Music Man, putting aside her disagreement with her mother to do the best job she could. Alex attended two more performances, and at each one, she had to agree with the audience and critics that her daughter had talent. But that did not mean she should give up the plans Teddy and she had made with Lizzie’s blessing.
Alex hoped that Lizzie would wake up one morning to the realization that her goals to attend Ohio State were impractical and would ultimately be unfulfilling. By Friday afternoon that hadn’t happened, and there were only two more performances of The Music Man before the run ended on Saturday. And only two weeks until Alex and Lizzie planned to return to Chicago and shop for the necessities for college, a chore they once looked forward to with enthusiasm.
Just before noon Alex was making sandwiches when her father came into the kitchen. “What are you doing home so early, Dad?” she asked.
“I moved around some appointments and got everyone taken care of this morning. Thought I’d just spend the afternoon in the pool. You and Lizzie want to join me?”
Was it Alex’s imagination or did her father’s invitation sound less than sincere? “I don’t know, Dad. I’ll see. You should ask Lizzie yourself. These days she does what she wants without any coaxing from me.”
Martin poured lemonade into a pitcher to take to the pool. “Things still aren’t better on the mother/daughter front?”
“We’re speaking, so I suppose that’s some progress. But I haven’t relented on this crazy idea to go to acting school.”
“And she hasn’t changed her mind, either?” Martin asked.
“No, and I feel awful about it, but I’m going to have to play the mother card on this one. I feel like I’ve always done what’s right for Lizzie, and this is no exception. Her decision was based on pure impulse, and that’s no way to decide the rest of your life.”
Martin added ice to the pitcher. “Hmm... I suppose you’ve talked to your sister Jude about this.”
“Of course, but so has Lizzie. As you might expect, Jude professes to be unbiased, but she’s really on Lizzie’s side. But you know Jude. She runs her life by being spontaneous, and we all can recall some of the consequences of her behavior!”
Martin chuckled. “I’ve bailed her out of any number of jams. Remember when she posted those No Hunting signs all over northern Ohio? She had them printed so they looked like authentic Government Issue, and it had the hunters around here up in arms.”
“I remember. She was only twelve or thirteen and got someone to drive her to all the hunting areas.”
“I never worried about you doing those foolhardy things, Alexis. But to give Jude credit, usually her heart’s in the right place,” Martin said, “though she often acts before she thinks. I’m not surprised she sides with Lizzie on this one.”
“What about you, Dad? You haven’t weighed in on this situation. Do you think I’m doing the right thing as far as Liz
zie is concerned?”
“Oh, honey, I don’t want to get in the middle of this one. I love you both and want what’s best for you. I trust your instincts. You’ve always been a good mother. Can I just leave it at that?”
Alex smiled. “Coward.” She nodded at the pitcher in his hand. “Plan on drinking a lot of lemonade, I see.”
“Not just me. I’m having company.”
Alex raised her brows. “Really? Who?”
“Aurora Spindell from next door. I told her I’d show her some water exercises for her sore ankle.” He looked at his watch. “She should be here in a few minutes.”
Alex knew her father was an honorable man, but she was concerned about his interest in Aurora. “What’s going on, Dad? You’re seeing a lot of our new neighbor.”
“Haven’t seen her in a week, Alexis. And, like you say, we’re neighbors. Helping each other is the right thing to do. She’s alone over there with no one to give her a hand.”
Alex shrugged. “Okay. Have fun.” She had enough to worry about without exaggerating her father’s interest in Aurora. After all, he slept every night in a narrow bed in his wife’s sickroom. He never complained about his responsibilities. In fact, he seemed to thrive on them. If he wanted to befriend a neighbor lady, what was the harm?
“You’d better get out there, Dad. Your patient has arrived.”
He stared out the window. Aurora sat on the edge of the pool next to Lizzie, and from the looks of things, they were having a spirited discussion. Alex could well imagine the topic. Lizzie was collecting supportive opinions like soldiers collected ammunition.
* * *
A FEW MINUTES LATER, Lizzie had gone inside, and Martin patted Aurora’s hand as she clung to the side of the pool.
“Ouch! I don’t think I’m ready for this, Marty.”
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