“Hm, I see you’re having trouble with serenity.”
“You’re damned right—”
“Oh my, and you’re not using wisdom either. Please, Lilly, you must have faith. You must continue. It’ll all work out if you put your mind to it.”
Lilly took a deep breath, though she couldn’t say it was very calming.
“Now, let’s see. What was it I needed to tell you?”
“John’s your supervisor, right?” Lilly demanded. “I want to talk to him.”
Elizabeth didn’t do earthly things, like tugging on her sleeve or examining her fingernails or chewing her lip. She just gazed off into space, then said, “Shoot, I wonder what it was. Well, maybe later.” She started to fade.
“Hey, wait a minute!”
“I’m not supposed to be here,” wafted back to Lilly. “If only I could remember…”
It threw Lilly off-balance to find herself suddenly addressing a kitchen cabinet. “I must continue,” she muttered Elizabeth’s words with a sarcastic bent. “It’ll all work out. Yeah, sure, maybe when I talk to John.”
She’d been doing pretty well so far. Jake had quit hugging the car door, quit doing his best to avoid her touch. He even seemed to enjoy giving her a tour of all the automated controls he’d installed in his parents’ house. But after this fiasco, well, there was always stage two. She flipped her cell phone open and got lucky; someone had just canceled their appointment for tomorrow. Lilly nabbed the spot.
She called Betsy next and left a voice mail. “Mayday, Mayday. Meet me at Victoria’s Secret.”
9
Tell me again why I need thongs?” Lilly asked.
Jake had come around after a few minutes of fussing and fuming on the back porch, almost as if he’d decided that getting mad at her had been propitious. He’d dropped her off at Galleria Mall, and she and Betsy were presently studying a wall hung with scores of colorful, minuscule panties.
“I mean, it’s not as if he’ll know,” she rationalized. “By the time he sees it, sex is pretty much a foregone conclusion, if you know what I mean.”
“Because you’ll feel different.”
“Yeah, like pulling ribbon out of my butt every two minutes.”
“Trust me, after the first day, you won’t even notice. But you’ll feel sexier, and if you feel sexier, girl, you are sexier. That’s what he’ll notice.”
Resigned to putting herself in Betsy’s hands because she had more experience, Lilly sighed and said, “Okay.”
“Along with no visible panty lines.”
“I can get that with panty hose.”
“Oh yeah, ditch those, too.”
“Oh, I’m so looking forward to going outside in a skirt and a bare behind.”
“I have two words. Garter. Belt.”
“Me too. Frostbitten. Ass.”
In spite of Lilly’s objections, Betsy thrust two red thongs at her, one lace, one satin. “Try those on for size.” She snagged matching red bras off the wall. “These too.”
“The cups’re only half here and, my God, look at all the padding. I’ll fall out of them.”
Betsy winked, added a red garter belt, and summoned a salesclerk to unlock a dressing room. Five minutes later, she expected a report. “How do they fit?”
Fit? The bra Lilly had on was more like a shallow shelf with a high peekaboo quotient. The thong covered as much as a child’s plastic bandage, and was about as comfortable as one would be in the same place. The garter belt was actually okay.
“How about I go with just the garter belt and a sign around my neck?”
“Let me see.”
“Over my dead body!” Which, come to think of it, had already happened. “Oh, okay.”
Betsy slipped inside the dressing room, took one look, and nodded approvingly. “If that doesn’t do the trick, there’s something wrong with him.”
Lilly doubted there was a thing wrong with Jake. She should know; she’d kissed him. More importantly, he’d kissed her back. While he’d been tentative at first—poor guy’d probably been shocked out of his boots—he hadn’t let it end that way. Nosirree. Just remembering how his lips had taken possession of all her senses made her hot. Now, if she could only repeat the experience.
“Okay, now we shop for skirts, blouses, shoes…”
“I have plenty—”
“Trust me.”
By the time they were done three hours later, Lilly had some killer clothes. She ran into two friends from the country club who exclaimed over her new hairdo, how fabulous she looked, and how it was great to see her out and about. Seems word was out that she’d been blasted to Kansas, never to be seen again.
“I just knew what I heard couldn’t be right,” Helen said.
Hannah agreed. “Of course not. Whoever heard of someone getting killed by a flying dildo?”
Lilly just smiled and said no, she was still here.
“Mrs. Therringer’s been asking after you.” She was Lilly’s former nanny, who’d gone back to college and now worked at the club.
“I’ll give her a call,” Lilly promised, then asked after their adorable little boys. They invited her to attend a bridal shower at the club in April, then went their own way.
“Isn’t that your brother-in-law coming this way?” Betsy said.
“Andrew? Where?”
At first glance, Lilly felt a pang in her heart, but it wasn’t just because he looked so much like Brady, which he did, with his trim physique, brown eyes, and impeccably styled blond hair. It was simply because he reminded her of Brady when they’d been in love, how his eyes used to light up whenever he saw her, and the slow smiles they’d shared over special moments. But that had been so long ago.
“Hello, ladies.” Andrew smoothly hugged Lilly and bussed her cheek, and she couldn’t help noticing that he smelled delicious.
“Hi, Drew. I don’t know if you remember Betsy?”
“Yes, hi.” He smiled politely and shook Betsy’s hand, then quickly turned his attention back to Lilly, nodding toward all the pricey shopping bags. “Going on a vacation?”
“Betsy thinks I need new clothes.”
“I’m trying to get her circulating again.”
Andrew gave Lilly the once-over, and then the once again. He smiled slowly. “You look fine to me.”
“Those are the old clothes,” Betsy said.
“Like I said…”
Lilly shot an I told you so glance at Betsy and a You ‘re so sweet at Andrew.
“I just got back in town and heard about your accident. Are you really as okay as you look?”
“Yeah, we were really lucky. Only my limo’s a total loss, and my chauffeur has a broken arm.”
Drew scooped his cell phone out of its holster. “I can help you find a new one.”
“That’s okay, I’ve already hired someone.”
As he reholstered his phone, Drew winked in admiration. “You always were the capable one. I’m glad I ran into you. How about dinner this weekend?”
“Oh, that’d be nice. Sunday at your mom’s?”
Betsy groaned.
Andrew smiled charmingly and said, “No, I mean just the two of us, out somewhere Friday or Saturday evening. Unless you’d like to come over to my place. We could put on some quiet music, open a bottle of wine, watch a movie…”
Ohhhh. “You mean like a date?”
She must’ve sounded pretty alarmed, because he backpedaled and said, “Just as friends”—He grinned engagingly—”and then we’ll see. No pressure.”
It occurred to her that this was a zillion times easier than getting near Jake. In five seconds, her lips had been closer to Andrew’s than they had been to Jake’s all week.
Uh-oh.
Had she targeted the wrong man again? Had Elizabeth meant she’d picked the wrong brother, not the wrong partner! Shouldn’t it be this easy to catch the right man, since she was destined to have a baby who’d grow up to do something special—kind of a fail-safe child?
“Lilly?”
“What? Oh sorry, Drew, yes, I think I’d like that.” She made herself smile and, even though she wasn’t committing herself, said, “Can I call you?”
“I look forward to it.” He tipped his head slightly and drew back, a silent good-bye.
“Oh, wait, do you have another minute?” Lilly asked.
“For you, sure.”
Betsy excused herself in favor of a storewide shoe sale.
“I feel kind of funny asking this, but what do you know about Jake Murdoch getting gypped out of Brady’s life insurance?”
Andrew scowled. “Is he bothering you with that?”
His hint of temper caught Lilly by surprise. “He just… mentioned it.”
“I don’t like him bothering you with that. It’s not right. Brady changed the beneficiary on his policy—legally, mind you—about a year ago, because their company was doing extremely well, and they had plenty in reserve. I’ll have another talk with him.”
Andrew’s heated response unsettled Lilly. She didn’t doubt Brady’d done it legally, but he should have explained everything to Jake. The fact that he hadn’t just reinforced Lilly’s belief that the money rightfully should go to him, in spite of word to the contrary via Elizabeth’s home shock therapy bracelet.
“No, please don’t say anything to him.” She didn’t need Jake even more reluctant to get into bed. He already had three million reasons.
“Well…”
“Really, Drew, please don’t.”
“You promise to let me know if he bothers you?”
“Absolutely.”
He smiled, all hint of temper gone. “Okay then.” He held up his cell phone to remind her to call, then strolled away.
“He’s shorter than I remember,” Betsy said, as she and Lilly hooked up. They buttoned their coats against the wind and walked out to her car.
“He didn’t need to see me in a red ribbon.”
Betsy grinned. “I saw him looking at a certain pink-striped lingerie bag.”
“I’m sure that had nothing to do with it.”
“Well, we know he wants you, but you don’t want him, do you?”
“You don’t like him?”
“Silly girl—while you’re off chasing Jake, who do you think’s gonna mend Drew’s broken heart this weekend?”
Lilly grinned. “Oh, so I’m out of the picture already?”
“Once Jake gets a look at you tomorrow, you’re gonna be too busy to see anything outside his bedroom.”
Lilly buckled up. “So help me, if I see one woman on a street corner wearing any of what I bought, I’m burning it all.”
“Just so Jake sees it first.”
The first thing Lilly did at home alone that evening was open a bag of gourmet mixed greens, pour a really large glass of wine, sit in her atrium, and try to figure out how Brady could have erred in judgment.
He was a smart man; he had to have known Jake would need the money to keep the company going.
He was a loyal friend; he would have wanted Jake to have it.
He was an honorable man. Had he somehow known he was going to die and made the change out of a misguided attempt to give her all the security she’d ever dreamed of?
She lost her appetite, for food anyway, and refilled her glass.
It was only right that she clear up old business. The insurance money, in her opinion, amounted to a debt, and therefore was not part of her charity-bound net worth. She slapped her palm on the inlaid-tile table, satisfied that she’d worked the dilemma through. She’d been allowed to pay other debts and expenses. Armed with this conclusion, she opened her purse and started to date a check, but no sooner had she touched pen to paper than she got another zap in her right arm.
Stubbornly, righteously, she picked up the pen and tried again. And again. Always with the same result. She knew who was responsible.
“It’s Jake’s!” she shouted heavenward. “Brady was wrong to change it.”
No reply. Of course. Angry, she threw the checkbook across the atrium, gulped her wine, and refilled her glass.
“I’ll give away all my money, just like I agreed. After I pay Jake back.”
The next morning, she didn’t need an alarm clock to wake her out of a heavy, wine-induced sleep in time to make her first appointment. No, she had a frickin’ bracelet for that. One second she was dreaming about how wonderful Jake’s arms felt, holding her against him on the parking lot with the snow falling all around them, and the next she was on her feet, wondering how she got there. As soon as she tried to lie back down, another sharp jolt hit her and didn’t let up until she aimed herself toward the closet.
Okay, so she’d give some money away today. But until she found a solution, she’d sure as heck go about it slower.
At Lilly’s request, Jake drove her back to the kids’ club a few days later. He wasn’t really surprised, because she’d mentioned the children several times since her first visit, like wanting to give that stray dog to Reggie.
It was four o’clock, and the complex bubbled with children of all ages and colors, excited to be out of school after a long day. Just outside Ollie’s office, Jake was tackled by a six-year-old girl in cornrows who wanted a ride on his shoulders. She climbed aboard with a big smile and securely clamped her hands to his forehead.
“I’m Kissee,” she informed Lilly from her perch. “What’s your name?”
“I’m Lilly. Kissee’s a cute name.” She was grinning up at both them, and Jake could tell from the merriment in her eyes that she was struggling not to laugh out loud. “Have you been finger painting, Kissee?”
“Uh-huh. I was painting a school bus.”
Jake closed his eyes and hung his head. “Is it bad? Tell me I don’t look like I have a schoolbus on my head.”
She snickered. “Not to worry. It just looks like a bad case of jaundice.” She knocked on Ollie’s doorframe on her way into his office.
Ollie immediately handed Jake a package of wet wipes, all the while beaming at Lilly. “Couldn’t stay away, huh?”
“I keep thinking about Reggie and how he comes out of his shell around Mooch.”
“You should see him, it’s like he’s a different child.”
“I know, I heard him talking to Jake and Mooch before we left last time. I couldn’t stop thinking, wow, wouldn’t it be wonderful if he had a cat he could pet and talk to and take care of? Wouldn’t that help to boost his confidence. But Jake says his grandmother’s allergic, so he can’t have one at home?”
“That’s right.”
“And then I wondered if there are other kids like him here?”
“You mean introverted?” Ollie nodded. “Sure, a couple, though he’s the shiest.”
She gazed out the window at the complex beyond, some of which was still under construction. “Well, I was wondering, would you have room for a pet area here? You know, one where Reggie could ‘help out’ and interact with other kids like him?”
“We’ve thought about it, but we just couldn’t justify it. Though if someone, say you”—Ollie grinned—”were to earmark part of her donation specifically for a ‘pet therapy’ room, well then, we’d have to include one, wouldn’t we?”
Jake saw Lilly’s smile and knew he’d been right to bring her here. She’d wanted more involvement, and just look how happy she was when she said, “Then consider it earmarked.”
“I have to warn you, though, nothing happens overnight.”
“The weather should warm up soon. How about a field trip to the Children’s Zoo? It’d be therapeutic. Educational.”
“Hey, you don’t have to convince me.” Ollie got that speculative look in his eye that made him a natural at soliciting. “But it would require special funding.”
Lilly laughed and pulled out her checkbook.
Jake was torn between, Well, there goes more of Brady’s money and A week and a half ago, who would’ve guessed she had it in her? He had to hand it to her, she’d stuck with it. No
t that he’d wanted her to, because she was going overboard at it. But shoot, he had to admire what she was accomplishing.
Over the next week, Lilly learned a few things in her new clothes, stage two highlights and Kick-Ass Claret nail polish.
One, women reacted negatively. She suspected her dangling earrings and plunging necklines had a lot to do with their attitude, putting them off, making them cool until she handed them a check made out to their organization. That usually thawed them, though she suspected uppity Mrs. Dawson wondered just what Lilly’d done to “earn” a hundred thousand disposable dollars.
Two, men didn’t take her seriously. And there she suspected not only all of the above, but also the amount of skin displayed between her hem and strappy, high-heeled sandals. Admittedly, she had a disproportionate number of doors held for her, both by men to whom she handed checks and any other male within twenty feet. She started carrying a scarf in her coat pocket, and whenever she went into offices of charitable organizations, she draped it around her neck so when she unbuttoned her coat, their attention didn’t immediately plummet to her chest.
Three, little kids, bless their hearts, didn’t notice or care what she had on. Just as before, some hung back out of shyness, others rested sticky hands on her skirt and begged for another box of raisins.
Four, Jake went through several stages. Hot glances. Stammered half sentences, then silence. Shorter than usual phone conversations with his sisters, on whom he normally doted. Distracted driving. A few times, he actually lowered his window and insulted other drivers, until he noticed the male ones stare at her, then he gave that up and sulked for a day.
“Is he sweating?” Betsy asked during one of their evening phone calls. Progress reports, they laughingly called them, although Lilly wasn’t laughing nearly as much as she would’ve been, had she not been carrying a heavy burden of guilt. She still hadn’t figured out how to get Jake the money she owed him.
“He lowers his window a lot.”
“It’s freezing outside, so that’s good. It means he’s hot, and you’ve almost got him. You’re brushing up against him a lot, aren’t you?”
“Well, maybe not a lot.”
“Why not?” she demanded.
“Because he’s already asked me twice if I’ve been drinking.”
A Date on Cloud Nine Page 11
