Besides, it was hard to think of anything but the fact that she had bared her soul on such a private matter. Jinni now knew everything that Val did about Reed Kingsley and his arrogant attitude.
Rather, Jinni now knew everything with one exception. Val hadn’t mentioned that Sweet Talk florist’s card with Reed’s handwriting on it, and she wasn’t going to, either.
How would she explain keeping it when she was so adamantly opposed to Reed’s attentions?
Chapter Six
Throughout lunch Jinni talked about Max, their marvelous marriage and their incredible week in California. She mentioned Michael several times, so Val knew that Max wasn’t the only Cantrell male making her sister’s eyes glow. It was all about family, Val thought, trying hard not to be envious of the starry-eyed happiness Jinni conveyed. Never one to hide her feelings in any case, Jinni simply couldn’t stop herself from bubbling over with love for her husband and stepson.
It was over coffee that Jinni’s ebullient mood changed. She spoke in a quieter tone of voice as she related how closely Max was working with the lawyers he had hired to defend his brother.
“Max is completely convinced of Guy’s innocence, Val. He said that Guy was always a big softy and had never hurt anyone or anything in his life. When they were kids themselves, other kids teased Guy unmercifully because his head was always in the clouds, pondering some off-the-wall question. Questions like why is the sky blue? Or the grass green…or why am I tall and you’re short? He was born a scientist, Val, and that’s all he ever wanted to be. Max wonders how Wanda ever got her hooks into Guy, but I told him that even a scientist needs affection. Actually, what I said was that even a scientist needs sex. I mean, when it comes right down to it humans are still only animals. We just have bigger brains, vocal cords, straight backs and opposable thumbs. Am I right or am I right?”
Val nearly choked on a swallow of coffee. “You are very close to being right, but how in the world are you able to summarize the human condition in one brief sentence?”
Jinni took her sister’s question in stride, with barely a pause. “My writer’s imagination, I guess. Anyhow, scientific brain or not, Guy Cantrell had—has—physical needs, just like the rest of us, so if he hadn’t let Wanda get her hooks into him, as Max defines the relationship, he would have let some other female latch on to him.”
Just like the rest of us. The phrase repeated in Val’s mind as Jinni continued to talk. Not everyone has physical needs, Val thought, putting herself in that picture. A sudden sadness gripped her and she forced a smile to her lips while she listened to her sister.
Finally Jinni wound down and picked up the check. “I’m paying, and I don’t want an argument.”
“Go ahead and pay. I’ll pay next Monday.”
“Well, we’ll see about that.”
Val shook her head. “I’m not going to let you pay for everything we do together, so you might as well face the fact that I can be as stubborn as you can.”
“Me, stubborn?” Jinni smiled. “The Fairchild sisters, together again.”
“When were we ever together before this? That five-year difference in our ages seemed more like a hundred when I was fifteen and you were twenty.”
“Bite your tongue!” Jinni exclaimed. “And by the way, I’ve told no one, except Max, my exact age. Keep ’em guessing is my motto.”
“Sister dearest, you are something else,” Val drawled in amusement.
“I certainly hope so. There are two things that are no one else’s business, my age and my weight.” Jinni laid money on the check and looked around for their waitress.
“I’ve been thinking about taking a trip to my cabin in the mountains for a few days,” Val said rather matter-of-factly, never dreaming that Jinni would object.
She was wrong. Jinni’s head jerked around and there was nothing but objection on her face. “Alone? All by yourself?”
“Of course alone. Jinni, for heaven’s sakes, I’ve been going there alone since the day I bought the place.”
“Yes, but you were strong and healthy then.”
“Supposedly, according to my doctors, I’m strong and healthy now,” Val said quietly, then drew a breath and changed her tone. “Jinni, I’ve been longing for a few days in the mountains. Someday I’d love you to go with me. Not now, of course… I know how busy you are with Max and Michael and the rest of your new family, but sometime.” Val paused, then smiled. “On second thought, tranquillity really doesn’t ring your bell, does it?”
“And it shouldn’t be ringing yours, either. You’re thirty-five, in the prime of life and looking like a model with that svelte new figure.” Jinni leaned forward and spoke excitedly. “Let’s go to Billings tomorrow and do some shopping. I’m dying to see you in some new clothes. The hot new styles are feminine and sexy, great for a woman with a perfect figure…like yours.”
Val was taken aback. Jinni had never been stingy with compliments, but categorizing her figure as “perfect” was really too much to swallow. Val nearly said out loud what was on her mind—the word ridiculous featuring prominently—but she decided not to bait Jinni into an argument over something so silly, and shut her mouth instead.
In the next breath she opened it again. “We’ll shop next week, or the week after, if you still want to. I’m going to be getting ready for a trip to the mountains this week, when I’m not working. Actually, I may stay at the cabin longer than the weekend, which means stocking up on food and supplies, and packing more than an overnight bag. The length of my stay will depend on Jim and Estelle, of course. If they have plans of their own and can’t take over during my absence, then I’ll have to vacation around their schedule.”
Jinni frowned at her. “Val, I wish you wouldn’t do this. Darn it, you don’t even have a cell phone!”
Val rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. “I suppose if I carried a cell phone while I hiked around the mountain and a grizzly came at me, I could dial your number and let you listen while he gobbled me up.”
“Val, that’s not funny! There really are grizzlies in those mountains!”
“There are also black bears, moose, elk, deer and…and chipmunks,” Val said, laughing with genuine relish. “Don’t let your writer’s imagination carry you away, Jinni. I’ve yet to see even a small bear on my property, although I’ve watched many deer and elk grazing around the cabin, and the sight of those beautiful, graceful creatures is always deeply moving.” At the concern on Jinni’s face, Val said, “Please don’t worry about me, not when I’m here in Rumor and not when I’m at the cabin.”
“I wouldn’t worry quite so much if you took a cell phone with you.”
“It probably wouldn’t even work in the mountains.”
“It would if it was one of those satellite phones.”
“Jinni, I don’t need or want a phone out there. That’s one of the reasons the place is tranquil, one of the reasons I love the cabin. The only sounds are made by Mother Nature, and they’re lovely…and restful. Oh, there’s our waitress coming over.”
In a few minutes the Fairchild sisters were outside, walking toward Jinni’s car. “This weather is unbelievable,” Val said. The sun was so bright she pulled her sunglasses out of her purse and put them on.
“The weather is great,” Jinni agreed, “but don’t think you can get me to stop worrying about your little jaunt into the nether regions of Montana by changing the subject.”
“Oh, don’t sound so gloomy. You’re never gloomy, and if you go home with worry lines on your face, Max will think I cried on your shoulder all during lunch.”
“Worry lines? Where?” Jinni stopped and pulled a compact out of her purse, which she immediately opened and used. “Oh my God, I am getting worry lines!”
“You are not! Put that thing away. This sunshine is so bright you’re squinting into that mirror, and those little squint lines are the only ones you’re seeing. Your skin is as smooth as Pete’s head.”
They looked at each other and burst out
laughing. Pete had been a neighbor when they’d been very young, and they had giggled then about his shiny bald head. It had been years since either of them had thought of Pete, which made Val’s comment even funnier.
In a good mood again, Jinni drove Val home, but when they got there she turned off the engine and got out when Val did.
“You’re coming in?” Val asked.
“If it’s okay with you.”
“You know it’s okay! What is with you today?”
“Lunch was fun and I feel good. Hi again,” she said to Estelle as they walked into the house through the kitchen door.
“Well, you two look well-fed and happy,” Estelle said with a smile of her own.
“I’m well-fed,” Jinni quipped. “Skinny here ate about three bites of her Chinese chicken salad.” She walked off toward the dining room, leaving Val and Estelle staring in surprise.
Then Val caught on and hurried after her sister, who was checking out the wilting blossoms on the sideboard.
“This was not an inexpensive bouquet,” Jinni announced with a smug glance at Val. “Men do not spend two hundred dollars on flowers without very good reason.”
“That’s a terrible exaggeration,” Val scoffed. “That bouquet probably cost around fifty dollars. Maybe seventy-five.”
“No way. It cost a bundle.”
“Well, you stand there and admire it to your heart’s content. I need to call Jim.” Val left the dining room and a minute later Estelle walked in. Jinni sent her a glance. “Did you see what was written on the card, by any chance?”
“What card?”
“The card that came with these flowers.”
“Reed brought them himself. There wasn’t a card.”
“Hmm.” Jinni thought that over, then, because she wasn’t quite convinced, asked, “Are you positive?”
“I put them in that vase, Jinni. If there had been a card, I would’ve seen it.”
Jinni gave up. “Okay. Guess I’ll be off. Oh, one thing. Not that I’m asking you to give away any secrets lurking around this house, but was Val nice to Reed when he delivered the flowers?”
“I’m sure she was. Val’s nice to anyone who comes to her door, isn’t she? But if you’re asking me if I heard or saw something pass between them that could be described as titillating, or even slightly, dare I use the word, romantic that day, I didn’t. I spoke to Reed briefly and then took the flowers to the kitchen. That was the extent of my participation.”
“Gotcha,” Jinni said dryly, resigned to the fact that she would never hear one word of gossip about Val from Estelle. “Well, it’s time I went home. If I don’t see Val on my way out, tell her goodbye for me and that I’ll be calling later today or tomorrow.” Jinni was almost through the door when she stopped. “Did she tell you that she’s going to that cabin of hers in the mountains?”
“Not specifically, but it doesn’t surprise me because she’s been mentioning it in a general way since…since your wedding, actually. She truly loves going up there, Jinni.”
“Well, it worries the hell out of me. I hate her going out there alone. Have you been there?”
“No, dear. Jim and I only became acquainted with Val after she became ill. Remember?”
“Yes, that’s right. Well…’bye.” With a frown of concern between her eyes, Jinni departed.
Reed parked his SUV next to the fire station and got out. Stopping by the place to make sure everything was ready for the next emergency call was habit and a generally satisfying task for him. He usually strode in purposefully, busied himself inside for fifteen minutes to an hour, depending on whether or not another volunteer was there, then locked up and went on to whatever else was on his agenda for the day.
Today, however, he stopped short of unlocking the door and walking into the building, turning his head to look across the intersection of Logan and Main Streets to the Animal Hospital, situated on the corner, and Val’s house, next door to that. Was she there now, either at the hospital or in her house? he wondered. It angered him that he cared where she might be, and it angered him that he couldn’t put her out of his mind however determined he was to do so.
Was she really that special, that unique?
He was still pondering that question when he drove away from the fire station about twenty minutes later. What made Val special? What was the big draw—her beauty? Reed snorted. Val was pretty, no one could doubt it, but there was no shortage of pretty women in Montana. Val’s attractive face and tall, lean body did not make her unique.
“Then what the hell is it?” Reed muttered. Chemistry? Okay, so he was knocked out by the chemistry, but if she didn’t feel it and it was all one-sided, then there was something wrong with his reception.
More than likely, though, it was Val’s that was on the fritz. Maybe she was naturally a cold fish and wouldn’t recognize chemistry with a man if it took the shape of a flying dragon and hovered over her head.
Reed grimaced. His thoughts were getting ridiculous. But that woman was driving him crazy, or rather he was driving himself crazy because of that woman.
“Aw, hell,” he mumbled. He still didn’t understand why he couldn’t eliminate Valerie Fairchild from his mind, his life, his everything, and what was really tough to accept was the knowledge that he might not ever understand it.
Along with the book she was currently reading, Val took a pad and pen to bed with her that night. She was wearing soft pajamas, the television’s volume was set on low, her bedside lamp was on and her back was comfortably supported with pillows. Half sitting, half lying down, she picked up the pen to begin a list of things that she needed to take with her this coming weekend. It had been months since her last visit to the cabin and she never left perishable food there, so she would need to shop for groceries.
Just the thought of entering MonMart made her shudder, though. There was no place in Rumor where she was more apt to run into Reed again, and she didn’t want to have to say hello and then stand there tongue-tied, trying to think of conversation that wouldn’t give him weird ideas about her. He already had enough weird ideas about her, and where he’d gotten them from she would never know. She had never done or said anything in his presence to make him think she was interested in him. She didn’t even remember how a woman flirted and did silly things to spark a man’s interest. Of course, she didn’t try very hard to remember those things. She’d been good at batting her eyes, smiling flirtatiously, saying clever things and wagging her butt in a sensual way at one time, but that was a different life. She’d been a different woman.
Val sighed and laid her head back against a pillow. She’d been so carefree back then, so full of light and life…very much like Jinni still was. And then…
No, she wasn’t going to think of that day. Raising her head, she again turned her thoughts to her list. This time she wrote the words paper products on the pad, and with that first line filled in, necessary items to take with her flooded her mind and she wrote rapidly.
An exciting aspect of this trip to the mountains was that Jim and Estelle had both agreed to stay in her house and take care of the dogs and cats in the Dog and Cat Houses for as along as she was gone. She could stay at the cabin for a week, if she so decided.
It also meant arranging any appointments requested by pet owners around next week, but that wasn’t difficult to do.
It was all doable, and it was lovely to contemplate. The cabin had always been good medicine for her, the best medicine.
She could hardly wait for the moment when her SUV was packed and ready to go. She was ready now—emotionally ready, at any rate—and she’d told Jim and Estelle that she would like to leave on Friday morning. She hadn’t yet told Jinni that she was leaving on Friday instead of Saturday but she would, of course. Val wouldn’t go anywhere for a week without telling Jinni about it. But since she’d already heard her sister’s negative feelings on the topic, she saw no good reason to impart her exact plans right away. She would tell Jinni later in the week and she
would not let her sister talk her out of going a day early or at any other time, for that matter, however adamantly opposed to the trip Jinni was.
Val let her head fall back to the pillow again. She had always found such marvelous peace at the cabin, and just thinking about it gave her comfort. On Saturday she would attain that incredible sense of everything being right with her world once again.
And it was an appropriate time to go up there, in any case, because this perfect weather couldn’t possibly last for much longer. She had to make sure the cabin was ready for a long, hard winter.
In the Cantrell mansion, Max and Jinni were settling in for the night. Michael’s room was far enough away from the master suite that they couldn’t hear him and he couldn’t hear them. Not that Jinni would have minded him overhearing what she was about to discuss with her beloved husband.
In a drowsy, totally relaxed voice she said, “Reed Kingsley was at our wedding. Did you invite him?”
“Mom did, I think.”
“Are they friends?”
“I think she admires him because of his contributions to the town.”
“Contributions…in the way of money?”
“No, sweetheart, in the way of time and energy. Reed’s always been very involved in civic affairs. And he played a big role in saving the town from the summer’s big fire.”
“Are you and he friends?”
“Oh, sure. Everyone is Reed’s friend.” Max turned over to face his wife. “Why all these questions about Reed? Am I already losing my beautiful wife to another man?”
“That’ll never happen, sport.” Jinni moved closer and kissed him. “No more teasing, okay? This is serious business, or it might be. I’m not altogether sure of what exactly is going on, but Reed brought flowers to Val, and it wasn’t a cheap bouquet, either. What do you think it means?”
“Maybe he likes her.”
“Yes, maybe he does.”
Sweet Talk Page 8
