by Brenda Novak
He sensed he was losing…something. He’d hung on for eighteen months only to feel a part of himself slipping away, which caused a bit of panic, enough so that he was almost glad to be thrown into crisis mode on this job. Especially when, as a bonus, it kept Kevin too preoccupied to grill him about his new wife.
Sitting in the artsy black and silver chair across from Thad’s desk, Kevin angled his long, thin, basketball player–type legs out in front of him. “We’re in trouble, aren’t we?” he said. “You don’t have anything.”
Thad shrugged and shoved his paper under his blotter so Kevin couldn’t see just how much of nothing they really had. “I wouldn’t say we have nothing. I’ve had a few ideas that might work.”
Kevin took a drink of his coffee, then grimaced as though it was still too hot. “Okay, shoot. Let me hear what you’ve got.”
Advertising agencies typically employed two distinctly different kinds of thinkers: creative minds and business minds. In Thad and Kevin’s homegrown firm, they each did both, sales and marketing, and the creative. And they often did it as a team, which had its drawbacks. Thad wouldn’t be able to bluff his way out of this the way he could if Kevin were some completely left-brained number cruncher.
“Well, I was thinking we could go with a Mafia theme,” he said. “That always makes for a smile and ties into the distinctly Italian bent of some of the Roost’s new entrées. We could have some guy sitting at the table wearing concrete shoes but eating with apparent gusto. Then the Godfather, who’s sitting across from him can rasp, ‘At Rustler’s Roost, you’ll get the best meal you’ve ever had, even if it’s not your last.’”
Kevin raised his eyebrows.
Okay, so it was pretty weak. But there wasn’t a lot to tie the Western images evoked by the restaurant’s name to pasta and salads.
“How about we use a cow wearing a big sign that says, ‘Give cows a break. Try the new pasta entrées at Rustler’s Roost,’” Kevin suggested.
Thad had thought of something similar, back when he was still considering animal mascots, but had discarded it. “I don’t think they want to go that far. Beef is still their main business. We’re not out to destroy that, only to bring in a sector of the populace that isn’t interested in red meat.”
Kevin tried his coffee again. “What about, ‘Get a thief of a deal on pasta at Rustler’s Roof.’ You know, play into the rustler part.”
“It’s a pretty pricey menu. I don’t think we want to go for the price angle.” Thad slid his paper out and started doodling again. “Maybe I should quit fighting the cowboy theme. With a name like Rustler’s Roost and the restaurant’s saloon-style appearance, I think we’re pretty much stuck with it, anyway. We could have an old cowboy do the commercial and say something like—” Thad lounged back to adopt the correct attitude and spoke in a drawl “—‘Rustler’s Roost has the best darn pasta and salads a body can rustle up, and that ain’t no bull.’”
“That ain’t no bull.” Kevin thought for a moment, rubbing a finger over his upper lip. Finally he said, “I like that. We could even use it for the radio spots.”
“Yeah. We’ll get someone with a deep, distinctive voice—”
The telephone rang. Thad picked it up because none of the secretaries were in to answer it, secretly hoping it was Martin Slinkerhoff needing to reschedule their eleven o’clock.
No such luck. It was Thad’s mother. “Hi, Mom. What’s up?” he said, glancing at the clock again.
“Your father and I were hoping we could go to the hospital today and meet Macy and Haley.”
“I don’t think so. Not today. She, I mean we, just got some bad news. Haley’s tests aren’t coming back with the kind of results we were hoping for. They’re going to have to do the bone marrow transplant next week, so they’ve upped Haley’s chemo and radiation. And Macy’s got finals in a week and is pretty stressed out. I think the family should give her some space—for a little while, anyway,” he added, to soften his response.
“Give her some space?” His mother’s tone sharpened. “She’s losing her only daughter, and you want us to give her some space? We may never meet Haley if we give Macy space. And we’re her family now, Thad. She needs us.” His mother’s voice cracked, causing Thad to realize the size of his blunder. June was the most empathetic woman in the world. Just the mention of Haley’s sickness had caused tears to stream down her face when he’d told her yesterday, and he suspected she was crying again now. He wanted to caution her not to overreact, to admit to her that they weren’t really family, but the truth was out of the question. His parents would never understand about the baby, not when they’d been after him for months to put Valerie’s ghost to rest and start dating again.
“Her own mother’s in town right now,” he hedged. “And having a lot of visitors increases the risk of infection for Haley. They have her in a sterile room—”
“We can’t scrub up?”
They could. Thad and Macy and anyone else who came to the hospital to see Haley did just that every time they visited.
Thad pinched the bridge of his nose, wishing Kevin wasn’t sitting across from him, a mocking expression on his face as he sipped his coffee.
“Mom, I don’t have time to argue about this. I have a really big appointment—”
“You’re concerned about a business appointment at a time like this?” she interrupted, her voice rising another octave. “Where are your priorities, Thad? If your wife’s at the hospital with your stepdaughter, that’s where you should be, too.”
Thad shook his head and rubbed his left eye, which was beginning to twitch. “Calm down, Mom. Macy’s handling things quite well. She understands that this appointment is very important, not just to me, but to everyone who works here. And I’m heading back to the hospital as soon as it’s over,” he added for good measure.
She sniffed. “That’s more like it. We’ll meet you there. What time do you think that will be?”
Aw, hell. His mother had maneuvered him right where she’d wanted him in the first place. Thad would have laughed if he didn’t want to strangle her so badly. “Just after noon, around one o’clock.”
“And she’s at Primary Care?”
“Yes, the one next to the University Hospital. It’s on Medical Drive, just off South Temple.”
“I know where it is. We’ll see you there at one.”
With a sigh he didn’t bother to hide from Kevin, Thad hung up. His mother meant well, but once she got something in her head, there wasn’t any telling her different. And she threw herself behind a worthy cause faster than anyone else he knew.
“June wants to meet Macy?” Kevin smiled like the Cheshire cat.
Thad nodded and took a bolstering sip of the coffee Kevin had brought him, only to grimace at the amount of sugar in it. “Jeez, do you drink your coffee this way?”
“What?” Kevin blinked at him innocently. “There’s got to be some redeeming feature to this bitter brew besides the caffeine.”
Thad chuckled. Heaven help him through this day! Somehow, when his parents were out of town, it was easy to picture them playing only a minor role in his and Macy’s lives.
Not a very realistic expectation, at least not with June.
“Let’s get working on the storyboard,” he said. “As long as we can pitch the idea, we don’t have to have anything fancy. We can always do a more detailed workup if Martin wants it, but I’d like to have something simple to give him an idea of what we’re suggesting.”
“You’re trying to change the subject.”
Maybe he’d strangle Kevin, too. Or instead. At least his partner could defend himself. “Of course, I’m trying to change the subject. Our meeting is in less than three hours.”
“Good morning!” Luanne, his middle-aged battle-ax of a secretary, poked her head in the room, bringing her usual scent with her, which was two parts antique store and one part cedar storage. “You missed a spot,” she said, touching her chin, and Thad wondered how she could see so
well from the doorway. Nothing got past her.
Turning his razor back on, he stroked the head of it across his face, then angled his chin up for her approval. “Perfect,” she said. “I see you’ve got your morning coffee, but I’ll go ahead and brew a pot for everyone else.”
Thad shoved the sickeningly sweet coffee away. “No, bring me some, too. Black. And hold all my calls. I’ve got—”
“Rustler’s Roost at eleven. I know,” she said.
Thank goodness he had such an efficient secretary. Too bad his mother hadn’t called just a few minutes later. Luanne would have been a good match even for June.
He turned his attention back to Kevin, only to find his friend watching him with one eyebrow cocked.
“What?” he asked, feeling more annoyed by the minute.
“Tell me what’s going on with you and your new wife.”
“Nothing. You know we have a deal. Nothing’s changed.”
“Deals like that always turn into much more than you bargained for, and usually something ugly. I tried to warn you. You’re in over your head, aren’t you?”
“No!” Thad growled, but then he remembered Macy’s body snuggled up against his the night before and how badly he’d wanted to claim her as his wife in more than word alone, and knew the “deal” was getting away from him, after all.
* * *
“GRANDMA’S COMING to visit!” Haley announced just after Macy returned from grabbing a quick bite of lunch in the cafeteria.
“What?” she asked. Her mother had stopped by the hospital over an hour ago to say goodbye. When she’d come to Salt Lake, she’d left Vegas in a hurry and felt that she should go home and take Champ off her neighbor’s hands, pick up her mail and water her plants. After making arrangements to be gone longer, she was planning to return next week, in time for the transplant. But she should have been well on her way back home by now. “Did she forget something?”
“Huh?” Haley had glanced at the Pokémon program that was playing on the television above her bed, and it had sucked her in that fast.
“Grandma. Why is she coming back? Did she forget something?” Macy prompted.
“No, silly.” Haley giggled. “She’s not coming back. It’s my new grandma, Grandma June.”
“You don’t have a—” For a moment, Macy almost forgot she was married. Thad was never far from her thoughts. He was too large, too in charge, too sexy to forget. But she’d never considered his family when she’d consented to marry him. She’d thought only of how their arrangement would affect the crises at hand. “Do you mean Thad’s mother is coming?” she asked in surprise.
Haley nodded. “She called me. She’s bringing me some presents. She said I could have anything I want.”
“Oh, really.” Letting Haley go back to her television program, Macy grabbed the phone to dial Thad. If his mother was coming, she wanted him here with her to field the more difficult questions. She didn’t know what he’d told his family so far and didn’t want to contradict him. Besides, the marriage was his idea. Let him worry about what should or should not be said.
Which sounded good in theory, but the secretary on the other end of the line told her that Thad Winters was out until after three o’clock. She got only his voice mail when she tried his car phone.
Great. Now what should she do? For a moment, she thought of heading back to the cafeteria to hide. But she didn’t want to leave Haley alone with a virtual stranger.
“Hi, Macy babe!”
Macy jumped, but it was only Lisa.
Thank God it was Lisa! “You can’t leave here until they’re gone,” she blurted.
Lisa looked behind her as though she expected to see someone else. “I think you’re finally cracking up, Macy. What happened to ‘Hello, how are you? Don’t you have to work today?’”
“Hello, how are you? Don’t you have to work today?”
“Nope.” She gave Macy her customary hug. “I traded shifts with someone who needed a day off next weekend.”
“Great, then you can stay.”
“Sounds like I don’t have a choice. What’s going on around here?” She turned to give Haley a squeeze before the little girl fell out of bed reaching for her.
“My new grandma’s coming,” Haley told her.
Lisa’s eyes widened. “Thad’s parents?”
Macy nodded. “What if I say something that gives us away?”
“I think we’ll have a bigger problem if you don’t.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Lisa pulled Macy out into the hall and lowered her voice. “It means that it’s not fair to these people to think they have a granddaughter when they don’t.”
“I know that. But what can I do about it now? It’s Thad’s family. The marriage, what he told them about it, was his decision.”
“But what if they take this whole thing seriously and get close to Haley and—”
“If she lives, she’ll be hurt even more by the divorce. And if she doesn’t, they’ll have to suffer right along with me.” Macy groaned and dropped her head in her palm. “This whole thing was a mistake, wasn’t it?”
“No, just the part where you married Thad Winters and agreed to let him move in. Having his baby was necessary to—”
“Macy?”
Macy whirled at the sound of Thad’s voice, but her relief was short-lived. No less than six adults followed him, all of them beaming at her with a mixture of curiosity and warmth. “Oh, no, he brought an army,” she whispered.
Lisa cleared her throat and smiled. “Don’t look so stricken,” she advised through her teeth.
Macy masked her nervousness, focused on Thad and tried to look a lot less tentative than she felt. “Hi, honey.”
“Hi.” He grinned and looped his arms around her waist, pulling her to him for a peck on the mouth. A show for his family, no doubt, but Macy would have enjoyed it all the same, if she hadn’t been so concerned about their audience.
“My folks have been dying to meet you. I hope you don’t mind the surprise. I was tied up all morning but tried to call a little while ago. No one answered.”
“Haley must have been too intent on the television. I was downstairs eating lunch. How did your big meeting go?”
“We have an appointment next week. I have to finish the storyboard and talk to a couple of directors so I can get a better estimate of how much the commercial is going to cost, but Martin Slinkerhoff, the owner, likes the idea. We’re moving ahead.”
“That’s great.” She looked to the older woman, who was positively beaming at her. Short and plump, she had bluish hair and her arms were loaded with gifts. “This must be your mother, June,” she said, offering a smile.
The woman shoved the gifts she’d been carrying into the hands of the young, slender woman next to her and hauled Macy into her arms. “Call me Mom,” she insisted. “We’re so happy to have you in our family. I can’t tell you what a relief it is to see Thad married again. And we want you to know we’re here for you. Haley belongs to us, too, now. We’ll fight this thing together.”
The last thing Macy had expected was the unquestioning support of Thad’s mother. She started to back away, feeling guilty for the lies she and Thad were perpetuating and the assumptions others drew from them. But June wasn’t finished with her yet. She held her for several minutes, rocking her like a child, crying in empathy for her and Haley’s struggle.
While the others looked on, their faces earnest and kind, Thad’s mother’s motion and her touch soothed something so deep inside Macy she never dreamed anyone could ever reach it. Tears started to fill her eyes, but she struggled valiantly to hold them back, telling herself the whole thing wasn’t real. It was an illusion, built on a falsehood.
Yet the love June offered seemed real. Macy felt as if she’d been running a long, hard race, and just when she couldn’t go any farther, just when she was fighting for every painful inch on willpower alone, this woman came out of nowhere, gathered her in her arms
and began to carry her with fresh energy and determination.
Caught in an awkward box of guilt and hope and need, she glanced at Thad, who shifted uncomfortably.
As soon as June let her go, Thad cleared his throat and introduced her to his father, Sam, who was almost as tall as he was, with short gray hair. Sam kissed and hugged her, then Debra, his slender, attractive sister, Gary, his brother, and their spouses, Steve and Melissa respectively, all hugged her in turn.
“Welcome to the family.”
“We’re so sorry about Haley’s illness.”
“We’re glad Thad’s found someone to love again.”
You mean, Thad’s found someone to give him something to love, Macy thought with a pang of envy. If only he wanted her as much as he wanted the child they had yet to conceive…
She risked another glance at his face. He’d just introduced Lisa to everyone and was talking to her and his brother-in-law about some movie they’d all seen recently. And it struck her then that his family, these people, were part of the reason he was such a fine man. He’d known nothing but love and generosity his whole life, a legacy their child would inherit. Even if he shut her out, she knew their child would never want for a warm embrace, a listening ear, a feeling of belonging. Somehow that made what they were going to do in less than three days easier. And somehow it made it harder, too.
“Well,” Macy said, devastated and overwhelmed on the one hand and already completely enamored with Thad’s family on the other, “I guess you’d like to meet Haley.”
His mother shifted the gifts that were now back in her arms to squeeze Macy’s hand. “We’d love it, dear,” she said simply. “We have only three grandchildren. Haley will be our fourth.”
