Adam Then and Now

by Vicki Lewis Thompson

  She pulled into the valet-parking area, tossed the keys to a uniformed guy who was semicute and allowed a bellman to deal with the luggage while she whisked in the door. The place was nice, Spanish tile and all that, but Daphne was used to nice.

  When she reached the room that was to be hers, she gave it a cursory glance and walked back out the door. Orienting herself to all the amenities—pool, spa, tennis courts, golf course and health club—took less than twenty minutes. She had the rest of the day until four o’clock to fill. She’d planned to spend it shopping at Tlaquepaque, a cluster of shops that had some cool stuff, but now she had a better idea.

  In minutes, she’d retrieved the black convertible and headed up the airport road. She loved airplanes. She’d taken flight lessons in the first place to impress her father. She’d even followed her mother’s advice and hired someone else to teach her so as not to disturb her father’s busy schedule. She’d looked forward to surprising him with her expertise.

  He hadn’t seemed all that surprised or impressed, although he’d let her fly his plane once she was rated for a twin-engine. But it turned out she didn’t care so much now whether he was impressed, because flying was the neatest feeling she’d ever had. If she couldn’t be flying, she’d rather hang out with mechanics than with her regular friends.

  Except she’d never met a mechanic as cute as Josh. What made him extra tempting was that Loren obviously didn’t want her within a thousand miles of him. Daphne intended to get a whole lot closer than that.

  * * *

  LOREN COULDN’T believe it. Her father was a turncoat. He’d practically pushed her into this survey trip with Adam, and now the two men were swapping flying stories like long-lost buddies. If her father even dared to move from flying stories to accounts of his days on board an aircraft carrier, which would naturally bring up Adam’s war experiences, she’d strangle them both.

  She dimly remembered that her father had taken a shine to Adam back when she’d been dating him, but she hadn’t ascribed much significance to it at the time. Later, she was sorry her father hadn’t shown the same affection for Jack Stanfield. But then when she and Jack had parted ways, she’d thought it for the best that her father hadn’t been attached to him.

  Adam taxied past the terminal and parked the plane just outside the open Icarus hangar. From the way Walt praised his flying ability, Adam could have been a reincarnated Charles Lindbergh returning from his flight across the Atlantic. So the guy was passable at the controls. So what?

  Both men got out of the plane still talking. Loren handed her father the partially used canister of film, and he headed off to find out how Josh was coming along on the tune-up.

  As Loren started to climb out, she realized Adam had his hand extended to help her down. She had a split second to decide whether to be ungracious and safe from harm, or cordial and in danger of making a fool of herself. Her mother’s training in manners won out and she placed her hand in Adam’s.

  The result was as disastrous as she’d feared. The familiar warmth of his hand clasped around hers unsettled her so much that she stumbled on the way down, which meant he had to catch her around the waist to keep her from falling to the tarmac and skinning both knees.

  For one sizzling moment, their bodies touched before she jumped back in what must have looked like a ridiculous overreaction. “I—I’m sorry,” she muttered, hot with embarrassment. “I’m usually not so clumsy.”

  She heard a little sigh. Startled, she glanced into his eyes.

  “I know,” he said with too much feeling for the remark to be empty conversation. “Loren, I”

  “I’m gonna tar and feather that boy!” shouted her father from inside the hangar.

  Loren spun toward the building in alarm. “What’s wrong?” she called, hurrying to her father, who stood next to the workbench, his feet braced and his hands on his hips.

  He gestured toward a note held down by a large wrench. “Seems he’s left for ice cream. Seems he’ll be back at four. Look at this place!”

  Loren surveyed the tools left out, the rags lying around, the goggles tossed in a corner. Her stomach churned when she saw the uncharacteristic mess. “Did he finish the tune-up?”

  “The note says he and Daphne finished it together.”

  “Daphne?” Adam asked, coming up behind Loren. “Daphne was here?”

  Loren whirled to face him. “Look, Adam, this is a business. You’ll have to explain to your daughter that she can’t”

  “We can’t blame it all on Daphne,” Walt said, and Loren knew how much the admission cost him. He liked to think his golden grandchild could do no wrong. “Josh knows better than this.”

  “But he’s never left the shop a mess before,” Loren persisted. “He’s never left the shop, period, without checking with us first. But now that Daphne”

  “I’ll speak to her,” Adam said.

  “Well, you’d better, because I can’t have”

  “I said I’d speak to her.” Adam’s blue eyes flashed a warning.

  Loren was shaking, but she had to assure herself that Josh would be protected from Daphne. “It may take more than one conversation, Adam. I saw the way she looked at my son. She has her moves all figured out. He’s no match for her, and you know it.”

  He didn’t respond right away. Then he smiled ruefully. “That’s right, he probably isn’t. No more than I was a match for you at that age.”

  Loren felt the blood drain from her face.

  “But don’t worry, Loren.” An intensity in his eyes contradicted his easy smile. “I’m more than a match for you now.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  THE IRONY of the situation, Loren protecting her son from his daughter, didn’t escape Adam.

  “I don’t think this is the least bit funny,” Loren snapped, her dark gaze indignant. Just then, the black convertible wheeled across the tarmac toward them, Daphne at the wheel, blond hair flying.

  Loren stiffened. “Well, they’re back.”

  Adam welcomed the reprieve. Loren couldn’t see the humorous side of the incident, and he really didn’t want to fight about their kids. “Then I guess we’ll take off. I’ll meet you here in the morning, say six?”

  “Six is fine.” She kept her attention on the black car as it braked to a stop a few yards away.

  Adam noticed how good Daphne and Josh looked together as they got out of the car—blond, heartachingly handsome examples of the next generation. How could he blame them for wanting to taste everything life had to offer? He’d wanted to at their age. So they’d taken off for ice cream. Big deal.

  Nevertheless, he adopted a stern expression as he approached the car. “Let’s go, Daphne,” he said.

  She smiled. “Okay. I’ll drive.”

  “No, I’ll drive.”

  She glanced at him, shrugged and walked around to the passenger side of the car. “Whatever.” Then she turned and waved at Josh. “See you.”

  “Yeah,” he called, sticking his hands in his pockets and slouching in seeming nonchalance. “Thanks for the ice cream.”

  “Anytime.”

  Adam shoehorned himself into the Geo and adjusted the seat several notches to accommodate his long legs. He wadded up a chocolate-stained paper napkin and brushed aside sugar-cone bits on the console before he turned on the ignition and shifted into first gear.

  “Josh is sweet,” Daphne said as they drove out the airport gate and started toward town.

  “That may be, but you’ve caused him some problems today.”

  ”I’ve caused him problems?” She didn’t look very innocent behind her aviator Ray-bans, but her voice was filled with ingenuous amazement.

  “His mother and grandfather have entrusted him with quite a bit of responsibility for an eighteen-year-old,” he said. “They don’t expect him to run off for ice cream and leave the place a mess. His grandfather was really upset when he saw everything still lying around.”

  “But he said he’d clean it up later, Dad,” she s
aid, her tone martyred. “How was I supposed to know his gramps would wig out about it? Like, we went for ice cream. It’s not like I invited him to the resort to do drugs, or something.”

  ”Where you went wasn’t the problem.” Although Adam figured Loren would have found something wrong with any plan involving Daphne and Josh. It was as if they’d come full circle. How well he remembered his parents lecturing him about the dangers of becoming too involved with Loren. “Leaving without cleaning up was the problem.”

  “Well, it’s not my fault if he was hot to ride around in my car. I did what I was supposed to. I was there when I said I’d be there to pick you up.”

  “Yes, you were.” He didn’t contradict her about whose car this was. “I appreciate that.” He turned into the wide driveway leading to Los Arboles. Not three miles down the road was a rambling house on the creek side of the canyon, where Loren’s parents had lived. He wondered if Walt still did.

  Los Arboles hadn’t existed then, and Adam could imagine Walt complaining about the increased traffic its presence brought. The resort was elegant to look at, though, nestled against the cliffs, the massive Spanish architecture softened with juniper, spruce and countless beds of flowers.

  “I am always very punctual,” Daphne announced with pride, crossing her arms over her chest.

  Adam braked the car at valet parking. “Yes, you are. It’s a good trait to have.” One of the few successful moves he’d made as a father was giving her an alarm clock when she’d turned five. She’d been responsible for getting herself up every morning after that. It was one area in which she differed greatly from her mother, who was always late.

  Adam glanced in disapproval as the valet opened Daphne’s door and ogled her legs as she got out. Short of asking her to wear less revealing clothes, which he was smart enough not to do, he had no choice but to put up with the reaction of most males.

  After handing the keys to the valet, he followed Daphne into the lobby.

  “This way, Dad.” She led him out a side door and down a path between fragrant junipers and beds of petunias. “I have this place all figured out.”

  Smiling to himself, he allowed her to direct him to their adjoining rooms. Daphne had always prided herself on her navigational skills. It was another thing that helped make her a top-notch pilot. He’d like to see her turn her skill into a profession, but he hated to push, was wary of making even the suggestion for fear she would think he was trying to plan her life and would stubbornly resist.

  She handed him his key, and they unlocked both doors, then the one between the two rooms. Each room had a flower-bedecked patio and a view of vermilion cliffs jutting up behind the resort. “Let the vacation begin,” she said, standing in the doorway between the two rooms, her glasses shoved to the top of her head.

  “That’s right. Except for one small thing I still have to do. But it shouldn’t affect you.”

  Her expression became guarded. “What do you mean?”

  “The weather was uncooperative today, so we didn’t get the photographs. We have to go back to Laughlin in the morning. I should be through before you get up, though.”

  “Why do you have to go? Can’t she do it alone?”

  He noticed the bitter emphasis on the word she. “Actually, Loren needs someone to fly the plane, so I volunteered. Walt and Josh are tied up with repair work.”

  Daphne’s mouth tightened and her blue eyes grew cold. “I think you just want an excuse to be with her.”

  The truth of her statement jolted him. He regarded his daughter with caution. “What do you mean by that?”

  She let out an exasperated breath and looked up at the ceiling. “Dad, I’m not stupid.” She glared at him and began ticking off items on her fingers. “First you hire an aerial photographer from Sedona, when there must be companies in Phoenix. Then you decide you have to go with the aerial photographer while they’re taking pictures. And after we get up here, I find out you knew her back in high school. I saw the way you looked at her. And she looked pretty freaked out, herself. She was your girlfriend in high school, wasn’t she?”

  Adam met her gaze. “Yes, she was.”

  “Dad, is the ink even dry on the divorce papers?”

  His jaw tightened. “Daphne, don’t pass judgment on something that isn’t your”

  “It is my business. You said you had to get some aerial photographs. You didn’t say anything about looking up an old flame. Do you think I’d have asked to come along if I’d known that?”

  He felt trapped. “I didn’t know what would happen when I saw her again.”

  “Well, I guess that question’s settled. You’re both hot to trot.”

  “That’s enough, young lady!”

  She shrank back a little, but the fire never left her eyes. “So tell me I’m wrong.”

  He gritted his teeth. A shouting match wouldn’t be helpful, but boy, she could be mouthy. Anita had taught her that. “You’re wrong,” he said quietly. “I don’t know what will happen between us. She may be involved with someone. But she was important to me once, and I wanted to see her. Maybe I should have told you, but”

  “You should have.”

  “You’re being pretty hard on me, Daph. It’s not the sort of thing a father usually discusses with his daughter.”

  “How would you know?”

  He caught his breath at the pain that knifed through him. “Dammit, Daphne, I”

  “Forget it.” Eyes bright, she turned and stormed into her room.

  Just before the lock clicked, he grabbed the knob and pushed.

  She stepped away from the door, obviously amazed he’d barge in on her and spoil her dramatic exit. But he’d lived with Anita for twenty years, and so knew pretty much what to expect from Daphne, who’d trained at her mother’s knee.

  “No, I won’t forget it,” he said. He took a deep breath and spoke more gently. “Whether you believe it or not, I care about you.”

  Her throat moved convulsively as she seemed to be struggling not to cry.

  “I was glad you wanted to come along on this trip, even if I had misgivings about bringing you. I decided to chance it. We can still have a great time—if you’ll try not to judge me so harshly.”

  She hugged herself and stared at the floor. Finally, she lifted her head. Her lashes were wet, and she looked very young. “Okay,” she whispered.

  When she was little, he would have gathered her into his arms to comfort her, and he longed to do so now. But they’d lost that closeness along the way. “Dinner?”

  She nodded.

  “Great.” He started back to his room.

  “You know what, Dad?”

  He turned. “What?”

  She sniffed and wiped her nose. Then she gestured around the room. “This is nice. I’m not complaining. But you know what I always wanted to do for a vacation?”

  “No, I don’t,” he said. “I don’t know a lot of things about you, Daphne,” he added softly.

  “You’ll laugh.”

  “Try me.”

  “Camping.”

  He was too astonished to laugh. “Daphne, are you sure you mean that? Camping, as in no washrooms and no electricity for hair driers, and sleeping in tents that sometimes leak, and trying to keep the creepy-crawlies out of your sleeping bag? That kind of camping?”

  “Yeah.” Her smile trembled. “I’ve always wanted to do that. Remember Jenny?”

  He nodded, vaguely picturing one of her friends from school. He hadn’t known any of her friends very well, another unfortunate fact he regretted.

  “Jenny and her family went camping every summer. Sometimes they came up here to Oak Creek Canyon. It sounded so neat, Dad. They asked me to go with them once, but...”

  “What happened?” He prayed he hadn’t been the one who’d refused to let her.

  “Mom had planned this big shopping trip for that weekend to San Diego. She’d bought plane tickets, and everything.” Daphne shrugged. “I couldn’t tell her I’d rather go camp
ing. I mean, I wanted to go shopping. We bought lots of cool stuff, but I still wish...”

  Adam walked over and gave her the hug he’d been afraid to try earlier, and she hugged back. “We’ll go camping,” he said.

  “Really? You know how?”

  Adam thought of pitching a tent in a steamy jungle clearing, of trying to start a fire in the midst of a drizzle, of eating reconstituted food and trying to sleep while gunfire echoed in the distance. “Yeah, I know how,” he said. He gave her another squeeze. “So, are you ready to eat, or did all that ice cream spoil your appetite?”

  Daphne beamed at him. “I’m starved.”

  * * *

  “IT’S JUST NOT like you, Josh,” Loren said as she sat on the edge of his bed after dinner. Outside his open window birds twittered as they settled down for the night, and the creek gurgled over jumbled rocks. They’d had many talks sitting on this bed. As always, she gathered her thoughts by smoothing the blue corded spread beneath her fingers. “I think Gramps reacted like that because he was just so surprised. So was I.”

  Josh plucked at a loose stitch on his running shoe and wouldn’t look at her. “I didn’t think it’d be such a big deal cleaning up after we came back. Daphne had to pick up her dad at four, so we had just enough time to go into town.” His chin jutted forward. “And you guys were early.”

  Loren ignored his belligerence. “What if someone had come by the shop?”

  “Nobody was scheduled to come by. I checked.”

  “But still, someone unexpected could have shown up.”

  Josh thumped both feet to the floor. “Will you get off my case? You act like I’m some sort of criminal.” He glanced at her, a sneer on his face. “Busted for ice cream. Big whoop.”

  She stood, her stomach clenching. She hated to see that expression on his face, hated fights with him. They hadn’t had one since his high school graduation, when he’d wanted to enlist. “I don’t like that girl, Josh. I don’t think she’s good for you.”