“Can we get Quaid to come home? He sounds like someone who can handle Georgette.”
“Quaid can handle anything, but he’s in Alaska doing sea rescue on Kodiak Island. Don’t think he can come home to rescue his little brother from Ms. Spandex, though he’d have one hell of a time with it.”
“Okay, no Quaid. So you’ll pay somebody. Get a guy who needs money. That’ll work.”
“Me pay? Why me? This was your show, remember?”
“I have to put LuLu through law school. Besides, I’m going to make you famous with my great article.”
“I don’t want to be famous. I just want to act, do theater.”
Sally brought over a big plate of all things grilled and delicious, put it in the middle of the table along with a pile of napkins, then took a seat. “Okay, what’s going on? You two got your heads together, you’re planning something.” She picked up a piece of sausage and plunked it in her mouth. “Give,” she said around a mouthful.
Callie balanced Bonnie with one hand, grabbed a sausage with the other and ate. “Oh, this is good. This is really good.” She licked barbecue sauce from her thumb.
“No changing the subject. I know a dodge when I see one. Spill it.”
Callie said, “We’re trying to divert Georgette’s attention from Keefe and get her involved with someone else. He’s paying me to get the job done. Any suggestions?”
Sally pursed her lips. “Yeah, think of something else to do. That woman gives a whole new meaning to the term ‘high maintenance.’ “
Callie found a rattle in the diaper bag for Bonnie. “So, we need someone really, really desperate.”
“Honey, I have never in all my life met a man that desperate.”
An older woman with dyed red hair, a blue and pink seersucker suit and hobbling on crutches came up to the table. “Keefe O’Fallon? Oh, my Lord, is it really you? After all these years? Usually you buzz in and out of town so fast and keep to yourself we never even know you’re here and gone. And to think you got your start right on our own high school stage. This is so exciting.”
“Mrs. Stanley? Tenth and twelfth grade English class. How could I forget?” His stomach rolled, and it took all his effort to plaster a smile on his face and not tell her just how much he’d like to forget her.
“You remembered? I’m tickled to my toes. I heard you were in town visiting the family for a spell, and I was wondering if you might help with the summer play.”
Keefe reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. “I can always make a contribution to the community theater and—”
“Well, isn’t that so nice of you to give of yourself like that, so I know you’ll love directing the play they’re putting on. I can’t because of my ankle, but you could take over. Part of the Education and the Community program for the summer and mostly it’s the senior citizens who showed up. They always do for some reason. The play is scheduled in two weeks, A Hundred Dresses. All you have to do is put on the finishing touches. They’re all ready to go. You can do that for your old teacher, can’t you?”
He looked at Callie, who was soaking this all in like a giant sponge. If he didn’t do this, something like “Heartless Soap Star Too Good For Hometown Stage” would for sure be the topic of Soap Scoops’ next issue. He gave Stanley his best Lex Zandor smile because he knew how to fake that. “I’d be delighted to help out.”
Then he gave Callie a smug look that reeked sainthood and said I’m so damn near perfect you’ll never find one thing wrong with me for the next three weeks. And—he added as he felt every muscle in his body suddenly become more attracted to her by the minute—that includes getting involved with you.
Callie watched Keefe leave with the teacher, and Sally said, “I don’t know what hold you have over Keefe, but it must be a doozy to make him go off with Stanley and agree to do her a favor. She hates Keefe, and the feeling’s mutual. I remember one time in a school production of the Wizard of Oz she made him one of the monkeys and told him he’d never make it as an actor and he should just quit trying. He was twelve. Rotten thing to do to a kid.”
“If Stanley’s such a witch, why in the world did Keefe go with her now? He should have told her to take a flying leap off a tall bridge.”
“Mentally, I’m betting he did and a whole lot more.” Sally stood and smiled. “But he’s a theater junkie. If you shine so much as a flashlight in his direction, he thinks he’s on stage. But there’s more going on this time, and I’m betting the bar you’re involved. You and Keefe kind of dance around each other when you’re together, all restless like, prowling and sizing each other up for the . . . pounce. You know what they call that around here?”
“If you take the last chicken leg you’re dead meat?”
“Foreplay. Be careful, girl. You got the tiger by the tail and just don’t know it yet, but it’s my guess you’ll find out soon enough.”
Sally strolled off, and Callie’s heart kicked up a notch. Foreplay? She wasn’t even sure how foreplay worked anymore. For the last ten years her focus had been on LuLu. Besides, men weren’t all that interested in a woman with a younger sister to raise. Callie said to Bonnie in a quiet voice, “Tiger? Don’t think I’d know what to do with a tiger if I had one. Been a long, long time since I had . . . tiger or anything that remotely resembled it.”
“If you’re counting on that baby answering you anytime soon,” Digger said as he stood by her table and snagged a sausage, “you need a drink more than I do, and I need one plenty bad.”
He looked like the actors she’d interviewed who’d just been kicked off a soap, their dreams suddenly shattered and not sure how to pick up the pieces and go on. She hated those interviews where they had to put on a good front for the press when all the while their lives were falling apart around them. “What’s wrong, Digger? Sit down and I’ll buy you a beer, and you can tell me about it. Can I help?”
Sally set a long neck down in front of him and claimed the seat she’d left earlier. “Saw you come in looking like you lost your best friend. Anything I can do?”
“Yeah, give me the winning numbers to the lottery. The investors I had lined up for the Liberty Lee took one look at her and laughed. They really did laugh, damn their miserable Yankee hides. I should have known a group of suits from Connecticut would never understand a riverboat on the Mississippi.”
He ran his hand over his handsome face now lined with fatigue and worry. “What were they expecting? If the Lee was perfect, I wouldn’t need their dang money. She’s docked down at Rory’s landing, so she’s seaworthy enough. Guess that the paddle wheel being rotted along with the railings sort of put them off. And there aren’t any smokestacks yet and some of the windows are still cracked and she’s only half painted and ... Ah, hell, what was I thinking? No wonder they wouldn’t invest in the Lee. She’s still a mess. No matter how much money I sink into her and how many hours I spend, it doesn’t seem to make a dent. I need a crew.”
“Which means you’re desperate for money?” Callie offered as she rocked Bonnie in her arms.
Sally gave a sassy grin. “Uh-oh. Here we go. Digger, if you have any sense, you better high-tail it right for the door and don’t stop till you get home. Callie Cahill might sound like a nice, sweet, innocent name, but the girl’s got big plans for you, and it ain’t going to be pretty.”
Sally was fun and smart and friendly and loyal, not something Callie ran across every day in her line of work. There it was mostly a lot of backstabbing for better interviews or inside scoops. “Don’t listen to her, Digger, it really is going to be pretty, very pretty. Sally’s an alarmist. I got a real sweet deal for you. Something that’s going to make your day a whole lot better. What if Keefe pays you to do him a favor? That could give you some extra money. See that good-looking gal at the bar? The favor involves her and getting to know her real well. See, told you it was a pretty deal.”
Digger took a gulp of beer and gave a wolfish grin. “Well, hell, you are so right about that. What
ever it is, it can’t be totally bad. She’s a fox. This is the best offer I had all day, make that all year.”
Laughing, Sally picked up a drumstick, took a bite and said, “That’s what you think, country boy. You better hold on to your butt; the favor’s going to get a lot more interesting, and you’re the guinea pig.”
Callie continued, “It involves dating the fox. Her name’s Georgette. How’s that sound?”
Digger’s grin dove into a frown. “Like it’s not going to happen. Flashy gals want smooth and suave. That leaves me out. I’ve been raised on the riverbanks all my life and now run barges up and down the river. That’s a long way from Miss Long-and-Lean.”
“So Keefe can give you a few pointers. When it comes to women he knows all the angles. Then you’ll get the girl and get paid for the trouble.”
Digger stroked his chin. “So, why are we doing this anyway?”
Sally laughed again as she headed off to wait on people at the bar. “You be careful what you get yourself into, Digger, but I got to admit it’ll give us all plenty to talk about around here for years to come.”
Callie said to Digger in a quiet voice that wouldn’t carry over the music from the jukebox, “Here’s the deal. Georgette thinks she got gypped out of a dream weekend with Keefe. We’re going to make her fall for you instead.”
He rolled his eyes. “Me take the place of Keefe? All the pointers in the world aren’t going to make me Keefe.”
“You’ll be better than Keefe, and you’ll have fun and a pretty gal on your arm. It’s a win-win situation, Digger. What do you say? A pretty girl, a working crew, how can this not be a good thing?”
Chapter 4
Digger didn’t know what in blazes to say as he studied Georgette sitting at the bar. Her short white skirt exposed long tan legs that probably went clear up to her armpits, and her green blouse not only matched her eyes, but showed off incredible cleavage that made his eyes bulge and his mouth water. She’d put her hair up on top of her head in a pile of curls, leaving a few sexy strands hanging loose to frame her perfectly made-up face and drive him totally bonkers.
If there was a hotter babe east of the Mississippi, he couldn’t imagine who it might be. But why in the world would a gal like that want anything to do with him?
“Well,” coaxed Callie. “What do you think? Going out with Georgette is not a life commitment, you know. She’s just passing through town and wants—”
“A TV star,” Digger added. “She wants Keefe O’Fallon, not me.”
“Maybe, maybe not. She sure seems to be having a good time with the guy she’s talking to now, and you have all the basic qualities any woman wants.” She gave Digger a head-to-foot once-over. “You’re tall, well-built, hardworking, handsome, smart, fun—”
“Is this the flattery approach to convincing me?” he asked on a chuckle.
“It’s the truth, I mean it. With a little help from Keefe every woman within a hundred miles will be after you, panting at your doorstep.”
Digger turned his beer in little circles on the table, watching the sweat rings form on the worn wood. What to do. Getting all gussied up to impress a woman wasn’t exactly his style; then again, he hadn’t been with a woman in so long he doubted if he had a style. Hell, he wasn’t sure if his style even worked! “If I’m going after Georgette, I’ll be taking more time away from working on the Lee. With running barges up and down the river two out of every three months I’m gone a lot already.”
“Keefe will help you fix up the Lee, and I’ll pitch in when I can. You help us with Georgette, and we’ll help you.”
Digger raised his eyebrows, a sly grin on his lips. “Tell me, Callie Cahill, does Keefe know about all your great plans for him?”
“It’s for his benefit. And then he’ll owe me for saving him from Georgette. He’ll be thankful.”
“He’ll be something, all right.” Digger rolled his shoulders, the stress of losing the funding for the Lee pulling his muscles tight across his back. “Oh, hell. Why not? It’s not like I got anything else going on in my life right now. I got a month’s vacation coming, and I can sure use the money and the help. Let’s do it.”
“That’s the spirit.” Callie beamed. “You won’t be sorry.” She kissed Bonnie, then kissed Digger on the cheek. “This will be fun for everyone. You’re going to be Georgette’s perfect beau. You’re going to dazzle her, sweep her off her feet.”
He grumbled, “I just hope I don’t step on them if we have to dance.”
“Of course you’ll dance,” Callie said as she set Bonnie in the stroller and fastened her in. “And you’ll be great. Keefe can teach you. I remember that episode on Sins and Secrets where he waltzed at a charity ball. He was pretty good until the bad guys came in shooting up the place. Lex Zandor’s been shot so many times his poor old body must look like a piece of Swiss cheese. I have to feed the wee one here or she’s going to get crabby, and she can kick up one fuss when she’s not happy. I think the saying goes, ‘When Bonnie’s not happy, no one’s happy.’ Come on over to the O’Fallons’ tonight. Keefe should be done with play practice, and we’ll get a plan worked out.”
“Play practice? I can’t wait to hear that story. And you’ll have to tell Keefe his part of this little plan you just cooked up. I got a feeling that little scene is going to make this all worthwhile.”
Callie parked her hand on her hip. “He’ll love it. I fixed his little problem.”
He watched Callie push the stroller to the door and wondered just what the hell he’d gotten himself into this time. Sometimes he was the master of disaster. Getting expelled from school at sixteen and not going back, running away from home a year later that left him living in his car for a year till he swallowed his pride and came back and now thinking he could fix up the Lee.
The only real intelligent decision he’d ever made was going to work for Rory O’Fallon and becoming a damn good barge captain. Gave him purpose, friends, money, respectability. He’d never gotten much of any of those things from a family who made their living gambling and swindling folks out of their savings. But that was behind him now, and a pretty woman was in his future, sort of. And he had the promise of money and hands-on help for the Liberty Lee. What seemed like a screwed-up day was turning into a damn good one, thanks to Callie Cahill. He didn’t know where Keefe found her, but she was a keeper.
Digger gulped down the last of his beer, then headed for the bar, Sally coming his way after serving up a long neck and a smile to another customer. When she got to Digger, he said, “Hey, thanks for the beer. I needed it, and I needed to talk more than anything. You and Callie were just the ticket.”
“Callie seems like an okay gal, and she sure has a way with Bonnie, but she and Keefe have got something between them, and I just don’t know what.” She cut her gaze to Georgette. “And you’re sure in for a ride with that one.”
“Hell, I hope so. I could use some spice in my life, just like you have going on in yours. Heard there’s a cop working with the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office who came up here looking for Rory’s fiancee and had his eye on you as well. How’s that going?”
“Piss poor, not that I’d go telling it to just anyone. Demar, that lily-livered snake in the grass, never leveled with me on who he was and what he was doing here. He played me for information about Rory and Mimi.” Sally stepped back and opened her arms wide. “Do I look like a woman who can’t be trusted with a little information?”
Digger folded his arms on the bar and leaned forward. “My guess is you had that boy in such a lather he didn’t know what to think and probably still doesn’t.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Don’t you go standing up for that jackass. He’s long gone, and that’s just peachy-keen by me.”
Digger cupped Sally’s chin in his hand. “Let me know what happens, pretty girl. You deserve the best.” Then he winked and headed for the door. Even with her big fancy education and him not even finishing high school Sally Donaldson never made him f
eel anything but her equal. He’d keep an eye on her, and if this cop guy came back, maybe they’d have a little talk on how men treated women in this neck of the woods and how friends always stood up for friends.
Digger turned for the docks, catching a glimpse of the sun perched on the Arkansas shore sending rays of gold shimmering across the Mississippi. The earth stilled as if waiting for the cool of evening. He’d squeeze in a few hours of work on the Lee while he had the light, then head on over to Keefe’s and get his take on dating Georgette. Deep down inside Digger felt it was never ever going to happen. He was too rough around the edges, too backwater to ever be appealing to the likes of city-girl Georgette.
———
Georgette flirted with Mike . . . least she thought his name was Mike. Maybe it was Charlie or Jim. Since she’d developed her foolproof brand of flirting that got guys asking for her phone number and wanting to dance with her she couldn’t remember the names of them all. They sort of blended together into one big testosterone blob. Before her days of rounded boobs, flat stomach and jazzy hair no one paid her any mind no matter what she said or how she said it unless they wanted to file for bankruptcy or Chapter 11.
She drummed her perfectly manicured fingernails on the bar and eyed the local-yokel in the beat-up captain’s hat as he headed for the door. That guy had been eyeing her since he came in, but a lot of men did that these days. Whoever thought wallflower Georgette Cooper of the stunning— except for her—Savannah, Georgia, Coopers would ever, ever have that experience?
She turned back to Mike, or whoever he was, hoping something he said was marginally interesting, until she heard behind her, “Georgette!”
Oh, God! It was a familiar voice that sent chills up her spine and turned her stomach to jelly. Slowly she spun on the bar stool, hoping it was not the person she thought it was. But her hoping hadn’t worked. “Rachel?”
The Way U Look Tonight Page 4
