by Curry, Edna
Trace raised an eyebrow unbelievingly, and said, “But Bob was driving a new red Corvette!”
Lisa laughed, her chin quivering. She took a deep breath, determined not to give in to tears again. “I know. Corvettes aren’t exactly cheap, are they? To be fair, he bought it before I came to my senses and asked them to leave.”
“I see.”
“I think I told you earlier, they both have good jobs and can afford to live on their own. I tried to be patient, thinking they’d come around and realize they weren’t being fair to me.”
“Didn’t you try to get them to pay some room and board? I mean, if you were having financial problems, surely they could have done that, at least?”
“Oh, they did agree to, but then somehow they just never seemed to do it, at least not on any regular basis. So things just got worse and worse. I put the house up for sale. A lot of people came to look at the house, but then they would back away because it needed a lot of repair. It’s so huge the overhead is enormous. I began to think I’d never get off of it, or the responsibility for the kids.”
Trace nodded. “So you felt totally trapped.”
She poured their tea. “Yes. That’s when the nightmares started.” She described them, shuddering at the memories.
He remembered the night she’d screamed in her sleep until he’d succeeded in waking her. “Like the one you had the night I stayed at your house just before Renee’s accident?”
She nodded. “Yes. I always woke myself up screaming in panic. Everything seemed to be closing in on me. Sometimes I felt like I was drowning.”
“So you decided your only recourse was to run away?”
“Well, not right away. I kept thinking things would get better, you know? Then I lost my job. Just when everything seemed totally hopeless, Carol, my real estate agent, sold the house. So, I suddenly had plenty of money.”
He smiled in sudden understanding. “Aha. Freedom at last.”
“That’s what I thought. But Bob wanted to move with me to another house.”
He frowned. “Really? Most young men want to be on their own, away from parents. I have trouble getting Renee to come home even for a visit now and then.”
When Lisa said nothing, he glanced at her, and added thoughtfully, “I know statistics show that more young people than ever are moving back home after college or a divorce. It’s a big problem for a lot of middle aged people.”
Lisa nodded. “I’m sure I’m not the only parent who’s had that problem. It does help to know I’m not alone, and I realize now the problem was partly my fault. Both Bill and I spoiled Bob and Jodi rotten. Bob had plenty of freedom even when he was living at home. And he’s lazy about doing housework. I think he just likes being waited on, and I was doing too much of it. Anyway, that’s when I decided disappearing and starting over away from them was the only answer. I think it’s called ‘tough love’, isn’t it?”
“Yes. I don’t blame you. You mustn’t let them bully you into changing your mind.”
“Thanks, Trace. But I feel so guilty, pushing them away like that.”
“Don’t let them make you feel guilty, either.” He got up and came around the table to take her into his arms. “I’m glad you told me. I was imagining all sorts of things after overhearing the telephone conversation that day.”
Lisa frowned. “What day?”
“You know. The day I was helping you move the furniture around? I walked in on you when you hadn’t locked the door, and I overheard you say something about abandoning your children.”
Lisa frowned, and then remembered repeating what Sam had told her that day. So, Trace had overheard some of the conversation with Sam. No wonder he had acted so strange that day. “And you thought?”
Trace put a finger over her open lips. “It doesn’t matter what I thought, then. Now I think it’s long past time for you to start living your own life. Beginning where we left off when those kids interrupted us earlier this afternoon. Okay?” He leaned down to kiss her.
“Mmhm,” Lisa agreed. She glanced nervously toward the sofa that had been the site of the fiasco earlier the day and added, “But I’d feel safer from interruption and much more comfortable if we’d lock the door and go upstairs.”
Chapter 13
By midweek, Lisa regretted her angry rejection of Bob and Jodi. The resentful words she’d spoken that day haunted her as she worked at her desk, typing away on her novel. They echoed in her head as she drove to the market, and reverberated again while she spent hours more at the library on research. The hardships of the people in the late 1800’s that she studied, reminded her of the fragility of life and made her wish she could recall her words.
Several attempts to call Bob to apologize ended the same way, with only the lonesome ringing of the phone on the other end of the line. Knowing how much Bob loved to date and party, she wasn’t surprised neither he nor his roommate were at home to answer their phone. Carol had told her Bob and Annette were still dating hot and heavy. But by her fourth attempt to call, she began to worry. He couldn’t be out all the time, she reasoned.
So Lisa called Jodi. Jodi sounded pleased to hear from her mother.
“I want to apologize for last Sunday,” Lisa began.
“No, we should be the ones to apologize, Mom. I tried to tell Bob to let you have some space, but he wouldn’t listen. By the way, I love what you did to Gram’s house. It looks so much brighter and friendlier now. Of course, I haven’t seen it for years.”
They spent a pleasant twenty minutes catching up on news of her latest role at the theater and the details of Sally’s wedding. Jodi had enjoyed the experience of being Sally’s bridesmaid and related every detail to her mother.
Finally, Lisa was able to change the subject. “Have you talked to Bob lately?” she asked, trying to sound casual.
“No. Have you?”
“No. I wanted to apologize to him, too, but there’s been no answer at his apartment. I thought perhaps you’d seen him.”
“Not since he dropped me off Sunday afternoon. And he never did tell me what his surprise was.”
“Surprise?”
“Yes. Or maybe ‘secret’ is a better word. That was why he talked me into going to find you in the first place, you know.”
“No, I didn’t know.” Lisa frowned, putting down the cup of coffee she’d been sipping. She was really losing touch with these two, and she had no one but herself to blame. She had wanted some space, but not this. Now she was feeling totally isolated from their lives, and it hurt. Bob had wanted to share something going on in his life, and she had pushed him away.
“It was something he wanted to tell you. Then, when we surprised you two making out on the couch—”
“We weren’t making out!” Lisa objected in a shocked voice.
Jodi laughed. “Well, whatever you call it, Mom. Anyway, he was too mad to talk on the way back to St. Cloud. The way he drove, I felt lucky to make it back all in one piece. He didn’t even get a speeding ticket, though he surely deserved one.”
“Will you let me know if you hear from him?” There was silence on the line. “Jodi?”
“I don’t have your phone number, remember?” Jodi countered peevishly.
“Oh, right. I’m sorry, Jodi. I think it’s time you did. Do you have a pen?”
Lisa gave her the number and hung up. She got another cup of coffee and went back to her desk, trying to concentrate on her work.
But Jodi’s revelation of Bob’s reason for hunting for her bothered her. She tried once again to phone him with the same result.
She had an overpowering urge to talk to Trace, but he was in Chicago, on another two day trip to see Renee. Anyway, she scolded herself, she mustn’t bother him with her worries. With Renee ill, he had enough of his own.
The chasm that had developed between them earlier had seemed to close after he’d returned from Chicago after Renee’s accident. Still, she worried he might be reconnecting with his ex-wife and her family.
> Lisa didn’t know if he was, but Trace seemed preoccupied and she felt sure it involved more than Renee’s condition.
When Trace returned home on Thursday and asked her out for dinner, he was in a more relaxed mood.
“So, how’s Renee?” she asked as they walked out to his car.
“Doing much better. She was discharged from the hospital yesterday. She’s staying with her mother for a while until she’s back on her feet. She should be able to go back to school at least part- time next week.”
“How about the others in the car?”
“None of them were seriously hurt. Mark, her boyfriend, is feeling especially bad about her injuries, because he was driving. He’s carrying assignments back and forth to her classes for her, so that she won’t be too far behind.”
“I’m glad.”
“She did apologize for her comments that night, you know.” Trace glanced at her, as he pulled up at a stoplight, then drove on when the light changed to green.
Lisa looked up with a smile. “She did?”
Trace nodded. “I think she’s grown up a lot these past few days. Sandra has, too. At times, she’s been almost nice to me.”
Lisa’s heart felt heavy at that bit of news. “Oh?”
Trace parked at the restaurant and grinned. “Don’t get jealous. That doesn’t mean we’re going to get back together or anything. No way!”
She smiled at that. He took her arm and they went into the restaurant.
Trace insisted on having steaks and they enjoyed a relaxed meal. It was delicious as usual. Over dessert of apple tarts and coffee, Lisa told him about not being able to reach Bob to apologize.
“Don’t you know where and when he works?” Trace asked.
“Well, yes, but—”
“You’re afraid he won’t like it if you call him there? Lisa, so what? It’s worth it to set your mind at rest, isn’t it?”
She tossed him a relieved smile. “You’re always so sensible, Trace. If he doesn’t answer at his apartment tonight, I’ll call him at work in the morning.”
When they got back to her house, Trace came in for coffee.
Lisa called Bob. This time his roommate Harvey answered. When she identified herself, Harvey told her bluntly, “Bob moved out.”
“Moved out? Where did he go?” she asked. Trace came back into the living room, handed her a cup of coffee, and stood there listening to her side of the conversation.
“Didn’t tell me. We had a few nasty words a couple of weeks ago and we haven’t been too friendly.”
“But didn’t he leave a forwarding address for his mail?”
“Nope, never got mail here. Just had a box at the post office. You could ask there,” Harvey said and hung up.
Lisa turned a shocked face to Trace. “He moved out and didn’t say where he was going. He’s probably getting back at me for not telling him where I went, when I moved,” she guessed.
“Revenge?”
She nodded. “I talked to Jodi this afternoon and she said Bob had a secret to tell me last Sunday. But I didn’t give him a chance.”
She dialed Jodi. But Jodi didn’t know anything about Bob’s moving out, and could tell Lisa no more than she had the last time they’d talked.
Lisa hung up, dejectedly sipping her now cold coffee.
Trace took her cup from her and put it down on the coffee table. Then he took her in his arms and kissed her. “Forget him, Lisa,” he said. ”He’s just trying to get back at you. Don’t let him upset you. He’s a grown man and can take care of himself.”
“You’re right, of course. He’s probably just moved to another apartment nearby. I’ll call him at work in the morning.”
One kiss led to another and they turned out the lights and went up the stairs to her bed.
The heat of desire chased all other thoughts from her head as they gave in to unbridled passion. She couldn’t get enough of this man. In her wildest dreams about him as a teenager, she’d never imagined lovemaking like this. Trace seemed to know how to find every sensitive curve and crevice in her body, and tease or taste it into sizzling response. At last she could wait no longer, and objected, “Now, Trace!”
When he entered her, Lisa felt as though she had come home. They were so right for each other, she thought, matching thrust for thrust with him, until pulses pounding in unison, they found release.
But long after their lovemaking, Lisa lay awake. She thought about her son as she listened to Trace snore.
Tomorrow she would make Bob understand how she felt. She didn’t really want to be separated from them; she just wanted a life of her own. He had to realize he had to grow up and be responsible for himself. Jodi seemed to be adjusting to the idea much better than Bob. Lisa sighed and turned over, running a long finger over the blond curls on Trace’s bare chest, careful not to awaken him. Why was life so complicated?
She waited until Trace had left for his classes to try to call Bob at work.
But she had no more success there. “He doesn’t work here anymore,” the receptionist said. She refused to give Lisa any more information, quoting company policy on privacy issues.
Lisa hung up, her heart pounding, frustrated beyond words. Her mouth felt like someone had stuffed a dry rag in it, sapping away all the saliva until she could hardly swallow.
What was going on? Had he been fired? Quit? Found a better job somewhere else? Had she turned him away when he truly did need her help?
She didn’t have a phone number for Annette and neither did the operator. If Annette had a phone, it must be in her roommate’s name. For the life of her, Lisa couldn’t remember Annette’s father’s name, either, so she couldn’t ask her family for the number.
In fact, she couldn’t remember hearing anything about Annette’s family over the last year Bob and Annette had dated. Had she forgotten the information because of all the other things she had been upset about? Or had she never heard anything about Annette’s family?
For heaven’s sake, had she been so preoccupied with Bill’s illness and money worries that she’d been ignoring an important thing like getting to know her only son’s new love? What if they were serious?
By the time Trace returned in mid afternoon, she’d worked herself up to a bad case of nerves.
With his usual calm, Trace suggested, “Why don’t we drive to St. Cloud, and see what we can find out? Someone must know something.”
“We?”
“Renee’s staying with her mother, and I’m certainly not going to join them. So, I’m free for the weekend. If we stay here, you’re just going to keep worrying until you make yourself sick. It’s better to keep busy, isn’t it?”
Lisa leaned over and kissed him. “You’re a good friend, Trace.”
“I’ll go pack a suitcase and meet you back here in, say half an hour?
“Make it twenty minutes.”
Trace was back in less than the twenty minutes, but even so, Lisa was waiting for him.
“Maybe we should take my car?” Lisa asked nervously as Trace picked up her suitcase and headed for his old Buick.
“Your car may look newer, but I’ll bet my engine is in better shape, Lisa,” Trace said with a grin. He put their cases in the trunk and handed her in, then walked around and got behind the wheel.
“This old girl,” he said patting the steering wheel as he maneuvered through the residential streets, “has almost all new parts on everything that counts. I’d take it to California without even an oil job, if you’re in a mood to go.”
“No, thanks, St. Cloud should be as far as we need to go.”
He smiled at her, and turned onto the freeway heading north. “Well, you never know about kids these days.”
She caught her breath sharply. “You think Bob has moved a long way away?”
Trace kicked himself for that kidding remark. He didn’t need to give her any more things to worry about. “I was only joking, Lisa. I’m sure I don’t have any idea of what Bob is likely to do. I only met him f
or a minute, you remember. And it wasn’t exactly under the best of circumstances.”
Lisa nodded, nervously twisting her rings.
Trace watched her out the corner of his eye. That’s another thing. When is she going to take off Bill’s wedding and engagement rings? We’ve been making love for weeks, and she’s still wearing the damn things. I feel like he’s still between us.
The weather was good and the sun was still high, even though it was almost six. Lisa said little, no doubt still blaming herself for this problem along with half of the rest of the world’s ills.
“Would you like to stop for coffee?” she asked as they pulled into a town two hours later.
“Sounds good to me. How about a bite to eat? I’m starving.”
“Well, if we can find someplace fast and as long as it has a clean bathroom.”
“Ah yes, the most important item.” He pulled up in front of a restaurant advertising family food and parked.
“Order me anything fast,” she said over her shoulder heading for the bathroom. A few minutes later, he saw she was using the pay phone near the rest-rooms.
“I called Jodi for directions to her place,” she explained as she joined him in the booth. “She still hasn’t heard from Bob. But she’s going to start calling some of their friends, and Annette’s, too, to see if any of them knows what’s going on.”
“Annette?”
“Bob’s girl friend. Surely I’ve mentioned her?”
Trace frowned. “Maybe. I can’t recall. So much has been happening with Renee and all.”
The waitress brought their hamburgers and poured more coffee.
“Now you’re beginning to sound more like an absentminded professor should,” Lisa said, biting into her burger with a smile.
Trace sent her a rueful glance, and stuffed a French fry into his mouth. At least she’s still smiling. But what if we don’t find Bob? Will she be heartbroken, then? People can get lost very easily these days if they really want to.
