She still wasn’t following. “So, what? You want to get back together to spite him?”
He frowned at her sarcasm. “No, it just got me to thinking about why we split up.”
“We split up because you showed no respect for me and you let your parents get away with bullying me,” she said flatly.
“I know.”
He spoke so softly that at first she wasn’t sure she’d even heard him correctly. “You’re admitting it?” she asked incredulously.
He shrugged. “I have to. It’s the truth.”
She sat back in shock. “Well, I’ll be. That must have been some confrontation.”
“It just made me see a bunch of stuff in a different light,” he said. “I know it’s too late for us. Not even you with your soft heart can forgive all the things I did to you.” He gave her a wistful look. “Can you?”
“Probably not,” she admitted.
“You left a little wiggle room in there,” he noted.
She leveled a look into his eyes. “I didn’t mean to. Look, Walter, if you finally see what a controlling man your father is, that’s great, but I don’t want any part of that life again. I’m trying to get a handle on who I am, and until I figure that out, I don’t want any man trying to shape me into what he thinks I ought to be.”
“I understand. You sure did get more than enough of that from me. When I think back on some of the things I said, the way I treated you…” He shook his head. “It makes me ashamed, Sarah. It really does.”
Tears stung her eyes. “Thank you for saying that.”
“I should have said it a long time ago.” They sat there in amazingly companionable silence for a long time. Eventually he turned to her. “Is it okay with you if I spend more time with the kids from here on out? I’m thinking I’ll try to come over every weekend and spend at least Friday night, maybe Friday and Saturday. I know that’s not what the custody agreement spelled out, but there’s probably a way to fix that if you don’t object.”
“As long as you’re good to the kids—both of them—you can see them whenever you want,” she said. “I have them to myself all week long. Now that I’m working, that’s not as much time as it used to be, so I’ll want some weekends for myself, but we can work it out so it’s fair to both of us.”
“Do we need it in writing? That lawyer of yours seems to like everything on paper.”
“I’ll speak to her,” Sarah promised.
Walter stood up. “Then I’ll say goodnight. I’ll be by in the morning to say goodbye to the kids.”
She nodded, then sat there long after he’d left, wondering at the transformation. If he truly was turning over a new leaf, more power to him. But just in case this was some passing whim of his, she thought she’d leave their custody agreement just the way it was. Maybe change was possible for some people, but she feared Walter, like the leopard, wasn’t capable of changing his spots this easily.
By Monday morning the word had spread that Travis McDonald had offered Sarah a job at the radio station. It was Annie who called an emergency margarita night for all of the Sweet Magnolias, young and old, to discuss what she referred to as the insane idea Sarah had of throwing away a perfectly reliable job at Wharton’s to work at a brand-new, yet-to-be-tested radio station that could be off the air in a month.
Because Raylene had flatly refused to leave the house, Annie had convinced the original Sweet Magnolias to come here. Now Dana Sue Sullivan, who owned the town’s fanciest restaurant, attorney Helen Decatur and Maddie Maddox, who managed The Corner Spa which all three women owned, were seated in Sarah’s living room with drinks. Jeanette McDonald, who managed the spa’s personal services such as facials, massages and manicures, hadn’t yet arrived.
Annie, newly married to Maddie’s son, Ty Townsend, wore a worried frown on her face that even one of Helen’s lethal margaritas hadn’t been able to erase.
“You don’t know anything at all about this man,” she reminded Sarah. “He handed you some line and now you want to quit your job and become a radio star? This just isn’t like you. What’s Walter going to think? Did you mention it to him when he was here this weekend?”
Sarah shook her head.
“Why not?” Annie pressed. “I’ll tell you why not—because you know he’s going to make some big stink about it.”
“Since when do you care what Walter thinks?” Sarah retorted, her determination to do this kicking up a notch. “This isn’t about Walter.”
“Isn’t it?” Annie scoffed. “Are you telling us that on some level this isn’t an in-your-face act designed to make him crazy?”
“So what if it is?” Sarah said, even though Walter hadn’t once crossed her mind when she’d been saying yes to Travis. “It’s not as if I’m going to be doing something disreputable that he can use against me in court.” A sudden worry nagged at her and she turned to Helen. “Right? There’s nothing wrong with having a local talk show on radio, is there?”
“Nothing I can think of,” Helen agreed. She faced Annie. “What really has you so worried?”
Annie squirmed uncomfortably. “Okay, I mentioned all this to Ty when he called tonight. The Braves have been on a road trip so his calls don’t last long, and believe me, we don’t spend the time talking about the local news. When I mentioned the radio station the other day, it was the first he’d heard that Travis McDonald was settling here. Anyway, it turns out Ty knows him, or knows of him, I guess I should say. He says he had a real reputation as a ladies’ man when be played for Boston. A couple of Ty’s teammates have known Travis ever since he played in the minors. He called me tonight to fill me in on all this.”
Sarah’s mouth gaped. “Travis played for the Boston Red Sox? You’re kidding me!”
“You didn’t know that?” Maddie asked, looking surprised.
Sarah shook her head. “He said he’d played ball for a while. He didn’t say anything about playing in the majors. I figured he was maybe on some farm team for about a minute.”
“It was a little longer than a minute, according to Ty,” Annie said. “It was long enough to make an impression on a lot of women in a lot of cities.”
“Well, so what?” Sarah said, even though she was disconcerted by the news. “It’s not as if I’m going to date him. I’m just going to work for him. Besides, maybe he’s reformed and wants a chance to start fresh. Ty did.”
Annie winced at the reminder of her husband’s well-publicized exploits with women. He’d wound up with a son during that wild phase of his life. Trevor, in fact, was living right here with Annie while Ty was on the road with the team.
Before Annie could respond, though, Jeanette breezed in. “Sorry, I’m late. Are you talking about Travis? He just told me he’d hired you, Sarah. Congratulations!”
Maddie, Dana Sue and Helen turned on her.
“Just how well do you know him?” Dana Sue asked, radiating suspicion. “I know he’s Tom’s cousin, but you’ve never even mentioned him.”
“Haven’t I?” Jeanette asked with a shrug. “He’s been staying with us. He wanted us to keep it quiet when he first got here. He’d had his fill of publicity.”
“Did you know about the radio station?” Helen asked.
Jeanette nodded. “Of course.”
“And you never said a word,” Maddie said with a shake of her head. “What kind of Sweet Magnolia are you?”
Jeanette chuckled. “One who can keep her mouth shut,” she suggested.
“Which is not a recommendation, as far as I can tell,” Helen said. “We’re supposed to be up on all the big news in town.”
“And now you are,” Jeanette said readily. “So, what’s the emergency? Why are we all here?”
“Because some of us think Sarah’s nuts for taking this radio job, especially to work with a man with the kind of reputation Travis apparently has,” Annie told her. “No offense.”
“None taken,” Jeanette said. “But how can he possibly have any reputation when he just got to town a f
ew weeks ago?”
“Ty,” Maddie said succinctly. “Word on the road is that Travis was a real player with the ladies when he played ball in Boston.”
“Oh, so what?” Jeanette said, dismissing the assessment as unimportant. “Sarah’s an intelligent woman. She’s not automatically going to fall under his spell. Besides, if you want an opinion based on personal observation, rather than gossip, I think he’s kind of sweet.”
Sarah tried to reconcile that impression with her own. It didn’t fit. Now Travis as a player? That fit him perfectly. But fair warning ought to be enough.
“Okay, I suppose I could back out,” she told them. “But the truth is that I want to do something that stretches my limits, something fun. Waiting on tables at Wharton’s doesn’t qualify. And, if I’m being totally honest, neither does the idea of teaching kids their ABCs. I majored in education because it was a solid, safe career choice.”
Raylene, who’d been silent up until now, nodded. “I think she should go for it. Sarah needs to prove to herself that she is so much more than that little Stepford wife Walter and the Prices wanted her to be.”
“Amen,” Sarah said.
Annie still looked concerned, but eventually she nodded, too. “Since I’ve been telling you ever since you got back to town that you’re much more intelligent and talented than Walter ever gave you credit for being, I suppose I can’t take it back now. Go for it.” She shot a dire look toward Jeanette. “If Travis gets out of line, the rest of us will have your back.”
Sarah laughed at the protective note in her voice. “I don’t think you need to worry about that. Somebody who’s a player when it comes to women isn’t going to take a second glance at me.”
Dana Sue reached over and squeezed her hand. “Oh, sweetie, don’t sell yourself short. Obviously, he already has.”
Rory Sue’s visit home had been an exercise in frustration for Mary Vaughn and Sonny. She had no job lined up. Nor did she seem all that concerned about finding one. She’d flatly refused to consider anything Mary Vaughn or Sonny suggested about moving back home. Her opinion of Serenity seemed to be summed up in one oft-repeated word: boring. Mary Vaughn was at her wit’s end. Sonny was even more exasperated.
“You’d think raising one child, especially a girl, would be easier than this,” he said as he and Mary Vaughn climbed into bed on Sunday evening after their precious little girl had headed back to Charleston to spend more time with her friends.
“I’m sorry we never had the boy you wanted,” Mary Vaughn told him. “But you have to admit, there’s something about a girl and her daddy that’s special. Sometimes I felt like an outsider when you and Rory Sue would team up.”
“That was true when she was nine or ten, but once she reached her teens, she didn’t have much use for either one of us.”
“And then we hit her with the divorce,” Mary Vaughn recalled. “She never entirely forgave me for that.”
“I’m the one who asked for a divorce,” Sonny said. “I told her that repeatedly.”
“But she knew you never would have filed for it if I hadn’t done something wrong.”
“Well, we’re back together now, just the way she always wanted. It’s not going to feel right if she’s living somewhere else. It’d be nice to be a family, at least for a little while longer,” he said wistfully. “One of these days she’s going to get married, and then things will change forever. I want her to be happy, but I can’t say I’m looking forward to that day.”
“It’s a funny thing,” Mary Vaughn said, “but when she was away at college and you were gone, too, I still didn’t feel like one of those empty nesters you read about. It all felt so temporary. Then, sure enough, you and I got back together, but without Rory Sue under the same roof, it doesn’t feel quite right. I finally see what all those articles I read were talking about. It’s like a piece of us is missing.”
“Exactly what I was saying,” Sonny said. “So, how do we get her home?”
Mary Vaughn considered the question thoughtfully, or as thoughtfully as she could with Sonny beginning to lazily caress the curve of her hip.
“I think we have to give her a little more time at her friend’s place in Charleston,” she finally conceded. “You know she’s not job-hunting the way she should be, or if she is, she’s finding out just how tough things are out there.”
“I guarantee she’s not too worried about it,” Sonny admitted. “She knows we’ll keep supporting her for as long as it takes.”
“That’s the thing. We can’t do that,” Mary Vaughn said, figuring it was going to be up to her to take the tough line. Sonny was putty in their daughter’s hands. “We have to give her a deadline. At the same time, I’ll give her an alternative.”
Sonny’s gaze narrowed. “What alternative?”
“She can come home and work with me.”
“Why not with me?” he said at once. “She’ll inherit that car dealership one of these days. Despite what’s happened to the auto industry, we’re still doing well. She ought to at least know the basics of running it.”
“Can you see Rory Sue getting excited about selling cars? All she cares about is driving the latest, fanciest car on your lot. And given today’s market, she’s not going to make the kind of money she’s expecting with that high-priced degree of hers.”
“And she will in real estate?”
“She will working with me,” Mary Vaughn said confidently.
Sonny finally nodded. “Okay, then, we have a plan.” He met her gaze. “Now I have a few ideas of my own.”
Mary Vaughn reached for him at once. “Why, Mr. Lewis, I do believe we’ve been thinking along the same lines.” Even as she settled into her husband’s embrace, she was struck by reality. “You do know, don’t you, that if she comes home for good, we’re going to have to start behaving ourselves around here. No more skinny-dipping in the pool, for one thing. No afternoon quickies in the middle of the living room.”
Sonny looked into her eyes, but it wasn’t alarm or even dismay she saw there. It was excitement.
“You’re taking that as a challenge, aren’t you, Sonny Lewis?”
A grin spread across his face. “You know, I am. The fear of getting caught could add an interesting edge of danger to these trysts of ours.”
She laughed. “I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure how much more excitement I can stand.”
His touches became more intimate. “Why don’t we experiment a little and find out?”
Before she could reply, Mary Vaughn completely lost her train of thought. Whatever she’d been about to say couldn’t possibly be more important than the way Sonny made her feel whenever he put his mind to it. And lately, to her delight, he’d been putting his mind to it quite a lot.
6
Until Sarah walked through the door at the radio station on Wednesday after her shift at Wharton’s, Travis hadn’t been totally convinced she’d show up. He figured, based on what Jeanette had told him about some screwy ritual called a Sweet Magnolias margarita night, that Sarah had probably had second and third thoughts by now.
He hadn’t expected his reputation with women to come into play at all, but apparently it had. He’d been tempted a couple of times to tell Sarah he’d put that life behind him, but he doubted she’d believe him, especially since he’d been flirting with her since the day they’d met.
When she stepped into the office at the back of the station, he was overwhelmed by relief. He couldn’t seem to stop the grin that spread across his face.
“Well, look who’s here. It’s our morning deejay,” he said, standing up to move the pile of papers from the seat of the only remaining chair in the cramped space. “Welcome aboard, sugar. Have you met Bill Roberts?”
She shook her head. “I did see you at the press conference, though.”
“Well, Bill’s the one who’s going to make sure we don’t go on the air and make fools out of ourselves,” Travis said.
Sarah gave him a weak smile. “T
hen you’re probably going to have your work cut out for you. This is all new to me. I’m still not a hundred percent convinced that putting me on the air makes a lick of sense.”
“Travis believes it does, and that’s what counts,” Bill told her. Ever the Southern gentleman, he stood until she’d taken a seat. “He tells me you can charm the socks off anybody. Now instead of doing that one customer at a time, you’ll be charming as many people as this station’s signal can reach all at the same time.”
“Oh, God,” she murmured, turning pale. Her grip on the pen and pad she’d brought along tightened until her knuckles turned white.
Travis regarded her with sympathy. “Maybe you shouldn’t think of it that way just yet. Concentrate on talking to one person. Everybody else, well, they’re just eavesdropping.”
A spark lit her eyes. “You certainly have the knack for that down, don’t you?”
“Hey,” Travis protested, pretending to be wounded. “Let’s not start picking on the boss on your first day on the job.”
“Sorry.” She sounded contrite, but the glint in her eyes suggested she was anything but sorry.
Bill stepped in. “How about we go in the studio so you can see how things work? Once you have a feel for all the monitors and controls, I think you’ll start to feel comfortable in there. I’m going to be around for a couple of weeks acting as your producer, so initially all you’ll really have to do is interview your guests, maybe chat a little between songs. Once you’re both settled in and comfortable on the air, you’ll be able to handle your shows on your own.”
Sarah’s eyes widened with alarm. “You didn’t say anything about me having to do the technical stuff,” she said accusingly to Travis. “Just go on the air and talk. That’s what you said.”
Travis put an arm around her shoulders as he urged her toward the studio. “And that’s all that matters. If ad sales keep going the way they have been for the first month, I’ll be able to hire a producer before too long. First, though, I have to get an afternoon deejay on board.”
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