Montana Dreaming

by Judy Duarte

  What exactly had the woman had to be ashamed of? Not that body, that was for sure. Though the painting must have been scandalous in its day, one could see nearly as much flesh today watching a Super Bowl halftime.

  The artist had captured Lily’s expression so vividly that this was without a doubt the same confident woman as the one in the photograph at the museum. Her dauntless smile revealed her pleasure with life. Perhaps pleasure with herself or her accomplishments.

  Lisa wanted the same confidence Lily had possessed. Why hadn’t she inherited that? She wondered then about Lily’s children and what had transpired down through the generations to make Lisa and her great-great-grandmother so different.

  “Want something else?” the bartender asked, snagging her attention.

  She’d finished her soft drink. “No, thanks. I’ll be moving along.”

  She picked up her purse and left the Hitching Post. A couple of her paparazzi were out of their vehicles, chatting in the shade of a maple tree. They saw her and jumped to their positions to follow. She observed them for a moment and wondered what Lily would have done if she’d been in this same predicament.

  It was several blocks back to the library where she’d parked, but instead of hurrying, she took her time. Along the way she passed the Clip ‘N’ Curl salon. She’d always thought it sounded like a place where you’d take your poodle, but it was the only hair salon in town. Judy Johnson usually cut Lisa’s hair.

  Lisa had gone to school with Judy’s daughter, Jennifer, so she always got an update on Jennifer’s charmed and perfect life with her charmed and perfect teacher husband and her charmed and perfect children—one girl and one boy, of course.

  Lisa pushed open the door and the overhead bell rang. The smell of perming solution immediately burned her nostrils. One customer in rods was being neutralized and two others sat under dryers. A fourth was having her silver-blue hair styled into waves.

  “Hello, Lisa,” Judy called. “I’m doing a perm and a color, so it’ll be another hour.”

  “That’s okay. I’ll come back.”

  She stood on the boardwalk and glanced up and down the street before continuing on to her vehicle.

  As she drove home, she changed her mind about going back to the Clip ‘N’ Curl. She’d try something different for a change. If she thought her Blazer would make it, she’d drive to Billings and visit a salon. Or a day spa.

  Some millionaire she was. She didn’t even have a decent car.

  Joey and Piper wagged their tails excitedly when she arrived, and she knelt to give them both attention before letting them out into the backyard.

  The light on the answering machine was blinking, and the contraption actually cooperated, so she played her messages. One was from Bernadine saying she needed a few signatures. Another was from someone named Dave who claimed they’d gone to school together and was wondering if she’d like to hook up. She remembered him as the receiver on the football team. He’d sat beside her in Language Arts and had never so much as spoken to her.

  The last recording made her heartbeat stutter when she heard the deep male voice. The quarterback.

  “Lisa, this is Riley. Give me a call when you get in. I want to ask you something. Later.”

  She used great discipline in phoning Bernadine first and arranged for a quick meeting. Then she took the slip of paper on which Riley’d written his cell phone number and dialed.

  “Hey, you called me back.”

  “Yes. You wanted to ask me something?”

  “I did. Will you have dinner with me Friday evening? We can drive into Billings. I’ll make reservations somewhere nice.”

  Was this a business dinner? Or…personal? Her stomach dipped. She wasn’t into the whole dating scene, and if he was expecting her to be cute or coy, it wasn’t going to happen.

  “Is this…business?”

  “Do you want it to be?”

  “I just don’t want to mess up our relationship as client and agent.”

  “You haven’t hired me yet.”

  “Right. Well, you’re hired.” She paused a moment. “Now we have a working relationship.”

  “Good. So I’ll pick you up Friday?”

  She still didn’t know his intent, but she surprised herself and said okay anyway. She hung up the phone and second-guessed herself while she looked for something to eat for lunch. Dinner at someplace nice. Just thinking about it almost made her lose her appetite. What would she wear?

  Maybe she would go to Billings and do a little shopping. She had credit cards. She could even rent a decent car to get there. She was a millionaire, after all. Excited about the idea, she slapped together a peanut-butter sandwich.

  Chapter Five

  Lisa glanced around the inside of the New Beginnings Day Spa searching for someone who looked like exactly the person she wanted cutting her hair. She spotted her giving a man in his twenties a cut. “Her.”

  “That’s Miranda. Five minutes, hon.”

  Miranda had short hair, dark at the roots and a combination of blonde and red on the bleached ends. She wore black high-heeled boots and dangling rhinestone earrings.

  “I don’t want to look like the old me,” Lisa told her ten minutes later. “I need a whole new look.”

  “What are you going for? Color? Surprise?”

  “Anything will be a surprise. I just want to feel good. I want to be…confident.”

  Miranda washed and conditioned her hair, combed it back from her face and studied her. “Can I do your eyebrows?”

  “Sure.”

  “You have a great face. I want to give you a look you can learn to do yourself. I can give you a good cut, just above your shoulders and sort of fringy around your face. We’ll do some highlights to add depth. And I can teach you to straighten it yourself. Wait till you see the results.”

  Miranda went to work. She was serious about her job and about the look she wanted Lisa to achieve. She snipped and cut and colored, and Lisa began to have a few qualms about what she’d gotten herself into. She didn’t want to look foolish when all was done.

  Her fears were soon put to rest when the hairdresser spun her around in the chair to face the mirror. The pretty young woman she stared at didn’t look anything like the frumpy old Lisa. No frizz, just shine and soft curl that flattered the shape of her face.

  Lisa had picked a miracle worker. The result was amazing.

  Lisa studied her reflection and couldn’t believe the difference. “I love it.”

  But they weren’t done. Miranda worked with her until she could use the products and the iron and get her hair straight and styled on her own.

  “Now,” Miranda said. “Makeup.”

  “I do okay.”

  “No argument. You said you don’t want to look like the old you. You need a face for the new you.”

  “You’re right.”

  “I’ll go get the cosmetologist.”

  Makeup was one thing. Waxing was entirely another. But Lisa’d come for the day and the works and she was going to stay for the whole ride. Legs waxed, a manicure, pedicure and a signature on a credit-card slip later and she was headed for a shop several blocks away where the stylist had recommended she go.

  Lisa entered the store, which had two levels and a main sitting area with a cappuccino machine. A slim young woman in a fashionable blouse and skirt greeted her.

  “I’m Gwen. Miranda told me you were coming. You look fabulous. I have a few things I’d like you to try on. Did you have anything specific in mind?”

  “Actually I did. I think I’d like something in red.”

  Bernadine nearly fell out of her office chair the next day when Lisa walked in after the secretary’s announcement over the intercom. “Lisa? Oh, my gosh! You look fabulous! It is you, isn’t it?”

  “It’s me.” She did a little whirl before the woman’s desk, showing off her trim two-piece suit and sexy backless heels. It was a completely new experience to feel attractive, and she was enjoying the feeling.


  Bernadine got up to come around and stare, hands on her cheeks.

  “Big change, huh?”

  “Change? My word, more like a total metamorphosis! You’re like one of those extreme makeovers.” She reached up to touch a wisp of Lisa’s hair. “This color is incredible.”

  “I was pretty bad, wasn’t I?”

  The woman looked embarrassed. “No, well, not ugly or anything, just…well, okay, not a very fashionable dresser and, um…Not bad, though.”

  “It’s okay. I know.”

  Bernadine inched closer. “Did you get collagen injections in your upper lip?”

  “I’ll never tell.” She didn’t have to reveal all her secrets. The professional she’d visited had assured her the enhancement was completely safe.

  “When did you do all this?”

  “Yesterday. All day. It was exhausting. But worth it. I’ve been enjoying people’s reactions this morning.”

  “Who has seen you? Have the reporters seen you?”

  “Yes, but I think they thought someone else spent the night with me, because they’re still back at my place waiting for me to come out.”

  “Oh, that’s funny.”

  “Not really. What if they think I spent the night with another woman?” She wiggled her shapely new eyebrows. “You know.”

  Bernadine laughed. “That’s really funny.”

  Lisa sat on one of the comfortable upholstered chairs.

  “They’ll figure it out soon.” The lawyer gathered a few papers that were stacked on the edge of her desk. “These need signatures.”

  Lisa picked up a pen. “I hired him.”

  “Douglas?”

  “Yes.”

  “That’s good. We can get the contracts under way for his salary and percentages. I took the liberty of mocking up a couple of standard ones for you to look over.”

  “Okay. Can I take them to show him? I’m having dinner with him tomorrow night.”

  “Dinner? Remember what I told you.”

  “Trust me, I know. He’s in this for the money.”

  “Hon, when we talked about this before you said you hadn’t gotten any better looking. Obviously you were good-looking all along, you just weren’t letting anyone know. Now…Well, be careful. He’s going to be on you like fuzz on a peach.”

  “I’m a big girl.”

  “I hope so.”

  The reporters were smarter than Lisa had given them credit for. They’d figured it out. They followed her home with cameras rolling. This time she turned and waved, did a little runway turn for them and took a bow.

  The local evening news showed her in her casual suit and sexy shoes. Even Lisa couldn’t believe this Lisa on film was the same person they’d been following. She looked so good. So definitely not a wallflower. Once home she changed, fed the dogs and took them for a run. As daylight waned, she stared into the refrigerator and settled for a bowl of cereal.

  She appeared new and different. But she was still the same boring person she’d been all along. She looked a hundred percent better, but she hadn’t changed. Change on the outside was good, but a metamorphosis had to come from within to be a true difference.

  Maybe she was fine just the way she was. She’d been happy with her life before, even with its simplicity. Dogs weren’t complicated, and she didn’t have to impress anyone. There was no one to impress, she thought glumly.

  Lisa selected a video, started it and settled on the couch with a bowl of popcorn. Piper and Joey snuggled up on either side and ate an occasional stray kernel. She could change. She could be really exciting if she put her mind to it. And at long last she did have someone to impress.

  Somewhere around eleven she fell asleep, and Piper ate the rest of the popcorn.

  The following evening Riley pulled into the long, narrow drive with a hedge alongside and got out of his red Jaguar. It wasn’t dark yet, so the cameras had a good view of him approaching the porch and walking up to Lisa’s door. He knocked, and dogs barked immediately.

  He could see the massive form of a canine through the lace curtain on the full-length leaded-glass door.

  “Get back,” Lisa said from inside.

  Had she been talking to him? He took a hesitant step back.

  The lock turned and she opened the door.

  An enormous golden retriever growled menacingly while another barked.

  “Joey. Piper. Hush.” He thought the woman who spoke to the disturbed animals was Lisa, but he was torn between gaping at her and keeping both eyes on the dogs.

  Couldn’t do it.

  She was wearing a red dress that had a slit clear up one thigh and exposed both her shoulders. The garment fit her sexy, slender body as if it had been made for her, and the shock of knowing she had a sexy, slender body hit him full force.

  “I’ll need to touch you,” she said.

  He stared at her and fought the physical reaction her words nearly launched. Dark hair with golden highlights framed her face—and what a face it was. Sable arched brows, full shiny lips, eyes as blue and deep as a summer sky. “Lisa?”

  “They need to see you’re not an intruder.” She took his hand and pulled him inside. Standing close beside him, she said, “Put your arm around me.”

  Riley did as told, draping an arm around her shoulder, his fingers grazing her bare upper arm. She smelled so good, he closed his eyes and experienced the feminine scent.

  “See, he’s a friend,” she said. “Let them smell you.”

  Riley opened his eyes and took his hand away from Lisa to extend it hesitantly toward the dogs. “You’re sure?”

  She nodded.

  The darker-colored of the two padded right up and sniffed the proffered hand, gave it a lick, then sat and panted. The blond retriever kept his distance and growled.

  Lisa looked up at Riley and shrugged. “I’ve never known him to do that. That’s Piper. This one’s Joey. You boys be good.”

  She turned the lock and pulled the door shut behind her. Riley watched every stimulating movement.

  “You changed your hair.” And your body and face and everything else. “And that dress—wow.”

  “Thanks.”

  He hurried to open the car door. A smooth length of thigh was exposed when she sat. She adjusted her dress, and he closed the car door and cautioned himself.

  It was probably bad manners to ask what she’d done to achieve this incredible new look, but he couldn’t get past the fact that she looked nothing like the woman his father had taken to calling “frumpy” and “bohemian.” Riley got behind the wheel and concentrated on starting the car and backing up when what he wanted to do was turn and soak her in.

  The fact that that body had been underneath those awful skirts and jackets all along loosened a screw in his steely confidence. He wasn’t used to being so unprepared.

  And he’d definitely been unprepared to see her looking like this. Even less prepared to have a very noncerebral reaction.

  “Sorry about the rude welcome.”

  His brain switched tracks and he was glad for the distraction. He couldn’t afford to lose his edge. “That’s all right.”

  “The boys are usually very friendly.”

  “I’m sure they are.”

  “They’re protective of me.”

  “Sure.” He pulled out onto the highway and headed toward Billings. “Lisa, you look incredible.”

  “Thanks.”

  “No, I mean, you look incredible. What…I mean, what…?”

  “Don’t say it. I was ready for a change and I did it, that’s all.”

  “You’re…beautiful.”

  She was too quiet and he knew he’d said the wrong thing at the wrong time, no matter how true it was. He glanced over to see her looking out the passenger window. She raised her chin a little, turned to face him and smiled hesitantly.

  A beautiful smile, too. Familiar and yet so different. “Want some music?”

  She glanced the dashboard. “Sure.”

 
He flipped open the console between them. “Pick something.”

  A silver bracelet dangled on her wrist as she reached to look through the CDs. She flipped through The Flaming Lips, B.B. King and The Doobie Brothers to hand him one by Norah Jones. He gave her a sideways glance but placed the disc in the tray and pushed Play. Was there any meaning behind her selection?

  The strains of a sultry song filled the interior of the car. Surely she didn’t intend to seduce him. Or to be seductive. Riley tried to think of something to say to her that wasn’t about how good she looked. Not much else entered his mind at the moment. “So, you like dogs?”

  “Yes,” she replied easily. “They’re not as judgmental or as critical as people.”

  “Can’t take one to a movie.”

  “My dogs watch movies with me all the time.”

  “Can’t teach one to play chess.”

  “I don’t play chess either, so that’s never been a compatibility issue.”

  “So, in your opinion a dog is as good a companion as a person?”

  “More so.” She glanced at him and her forehead furrowed. “You don’t like dogs?”

  “I like dogs. At least, the respectable ones.”

  “Respectable?”

  “Some breeds you just can’t respect.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “My mother has the most foolish-looking poodle. It’s four feet tall and its fur is cut into ridiculous pom-poms.”

  “Derek,” she said.

  “Oh, you know Derek. Then you can see how I just can’t respect that dog.”

  “He’s friendly and very smart. Well behaved, too. I’ve taken care of him a few times.”

  Riley shook his head in distaste.

  “There, you see? You’re judging him by his looks.”

  “Well…yeah.”

  “He can’t help how he looks. It’s his breed. And the way your mother has him cut.”

  He wasn’t earning any points with this conversation. She was starting to take his comments personally. “Sorry. You’re probably right.”