DAC_II_GenVers_Sept2013

by Donna McDonald

  “What do you think a smart woman like Jane is going to think about me on the cover of the calendar?” Walter demanded. “Do you think she’s going to think it’s good business?”

  Harrison grinned. “No. I think Jane’s going to think it’s the equivalent of taking out a personal ad. All the booty a man like you could ever ask for will be lining up to take their turn with the calendar cover model.”

  “Great. Just great, Harrison. That’s ten times worse than anything I’d come up with,” Walter complained, swiping a hand through his hair. “I’m on call tonight and sleeping at the station. Here’s the number of the emergency caregiver I’ve arranged for you. Don’t give her a hard time. She’s the last one on Jane’s list willing to deal with you after hours.”

  Harrison swiped a trembling hand over his heart and crossed it in the other direction. Damn heart medicine gave him the shakes.

  Hugging Harrison quickly, Walter snorted in disbelief of the promise as he went out the door.

  ***

  Harrison smiled after Walter left, wondering how best to get a copy of the calendar into Jane’s hands. Grinning, he picked up the phone.

  “Hey, Morrison Fox. Yes, it certainly has been a while. How’s Lydia? Good. Good. You’ll never believe why I’m calling you. Walter got goat-roped into posing for a nudie calendar. No, a man’s nudie calendar, dummy. Some charity thing they do at the firehouse. At least I think that’s what it was. He wouldn’t give me a copy so I could check.”

  Harrison paused, laughing softly at Morrison’s streaming questions.

  “Proud? No, I think Walter’s totally embarrassed. His mother got him all upset about it too. Think you can get one for me? I want to know how bad it is in case I have to help with damage control. Yeah, I knew you’d understand. Sure. I’ll wait.”

  Harrison heard commotion and a vivid discussion taking place on the other end of the line. He heard Lydia laughing and it made him smile. Morrison Fox. That damn Morrison Fox did that for her. He was never going to get over it.

  “Yeah, bring a couple copies over to me if you can find where they’re selling it. Bring Lydia by with you when you come. I’d love to see you both. Keep her happy, old man. Okay. Bye.”

  Harrison hung up the phone and grinned.

  Chapter 5

  Alexa and Regina’s heads were together as they turned the pages of the calendar and ‘oohed’ and ‘aahed’.

  “Would you look at Mr. October’s pecs?” Alexa said. They had started with Mr. December and were working their way to the front.

  “None of them look better than Ben,” Regina said.

  Lauren snorted and patted her belly. “I didn’t bring that here to watch you two drool over men half your ages. I brought it to shock you. Close it and look at the cover.”

  Alexa flipped the calendar closed and laughed. “Oh look at how cute he is. His shirt is dirty and there’s a smear on his cheek. His mother is going to die when she sees this. If April and Leland had their way, the boy would never be out of a suit.”

  “No one seeing this will be looking at the dirt, Alexa. Look at the size of his. . . giant fire axe,” Regina said finally, giggling harder when Alexa and Lauren laughed. “Walter has a killer smile like Ben and is a very fine looking man. Too bad he isn’t one of the guys on the inside. Or is he?”

  Lauren grinned when Alexa and Regina both looked at her expectantly. “Check out Mr. March,” she ordered.

  Alexa flipped pages slowly until they saw the second photo of Walter. “Damn, that’s appealing. Makes you want to help him rip that dirty shirt the rest of the way off, doesn’t it?” She ran a manicured fingernail over the picture. “Nope, just not as good as the real thing.”

  “Sparks the libido though,” Regina said wistfully. “I’m ready to go home to Ben now.”

  Alexa sobered from momentary Walter lust first, remembering the older woman who had a sincere longing for the younger man in the picture. “Wonder what Jane thinks about Walter being a pin-up model? Did she and Walter ever work out, Lauren?”

  “Mother says Walter is still chasing, and Jane is still running,” Lauren reported.

  “Jane should have stopped running when she had the chance. Walter is going to get a lot of hungry females hitting on him because of this calendar. Going to be hard for Jane to believe he could want her more than them,” Alexa said.

  Regina nodded solemnly. “I wish we could help her see what Walter sees when he looks at her.”

  Lauren’s eyebrows rose. “Want me to talk her into making an appointment to see you? I don’t think I know her that well, Regina.”

  Regina laughed. “No, but you know her well enough to ask her to dinner next Thursday. Lydia told me Jane’s girlfriends all live out of town. Maybe she needs some new friends, especially notorious ones.”

  Alexa and Lauren looked at each other and grinned.

  ***

  “Where is Dad tonight?” Jane asked, climbing up to seat herself in one of the massive chocolate leather bar stools.

  “He’s visiting your Aunt Rachel. She’s thinking about moving out of her house and into your father’s condo.”

  Jane nodded. “That would be a good thing for her. She needs a change.”

  The hamburger Lydia slid in front of her smelled divine. Jane was afraid to think about the calories in the pasta salad filling the rest of the plate. She was going to have to put in some extra time at the gym this week.

  “Lydia, I think I gained three pounds just looking at this,” she grumbled, sighing at the older woman’s laugh. “I’m surprised some rich guy didn’t marry you just for your cooking. Add in the fact you look young, are in great shape, and have a dream car. . .you’re a prize.”

  “Cooking skills, eh? Maybe that was what I was missing all those years. Truth is, I never cooked at all until your father taught me,” Lydia said, sliding her own plate onto the bar top before taking the seat next to Jane. “Eat now. Don’t let it get cold. Nothing worse than a cold hamburger.”

  Jane picked it up, took a giant bite, only to become appalled when tears slid down her face. She put the burger back down and picked up her napkin. “Wonderful. I’m glad I wore the waterproof mascara today.”

  Frowning, Lydia slid from her seat to fetch a box of tissues. She climbed back up on the bar stool and busied herself with a bite of pasta while Jane blew her nose.

  “Despite your flowery praise, I doubt you’re crying with joy over my cooking. Want to talk about it?” Lydia asked finally, keeping her gaze on her plate.

  Jane sniffled and laughed.

  “You know, there has never been a time in my life when I didn’t know what the right thing to do was. Even when I made a big mistake—like waiting years to believe that Nathan was a cheating bastard for instance—I still always knew how to deal with my bruised ego and get things done. Now. . .”

  Jane lifted a shoulder, unsure how to explain.

  “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I want too many things I shouldn’t. I have no desire to go on to the next job. It’s like I’m stuck.”

  She plucked a fresh tissue from the box and tried to stave off more tears with it.

  “Sorry for crying into my burger, but it’s just because you’ve been so nice to me. I’m over here all the time, mooching your food, whining about my life. Now I’m being terrible company. Guess I should have stayed home tonight.”

  “Nonsense,” Lydia said briskly. But she sighed as she picked up her burger and took a bite. Instincts singing as she chewed, she looked at the droop of Jane’s shoulders as the woman covered her face with her hands.

  “Don’t take this the wrong way, Jane. . .but I think you need to get laid,” Lydia said solemnly, turning in her seat just as Jane’s hands dropped away from her shocked face. “And yes, I would tell this to my own daughter if Lauren were still single. I read that it’s very challenging for a normal woman to go without physical intimacy for long periods of time. If I had my life to do over again, I’d go back and sleep with H
arrison Graham when he wanted to all those years ago. I love your father more than I dreamed possible, but I passed up intimacy with some really great men just because I was being stupid. Don’t be stupid, dear. You’re too smart to make the same mistakes I did.”

  “Setting aside my total shock to even be having this level of discussion with you, there’s no one I want to sleep with, Lydia. I’ve dated, but it’s not working. No one interests me that way,” Jane said.

  “No one?” Lydia repeated.

  Jane picked up her burger again and took a bite. She chewed and swallowed, all the while wondering how not to lie to Lydia more than she was lying to herself. “Let’s say no one appropriate interests me that way.”

  Lydia snorted and picked up her burger. “Define appropriate. Like your father was appropriate for me? You once didn’t think he was.”

  “That’s different. You and Dad. . . ” Jane stopped mid-declaration. What was her point again? Her mind couldn’t seem to hold two simultaneous thoughts at the same time lately, especially when one of those thoughts was about sleeping with Walter.

  “You and Dad were old enough to know your own minds,” she said finally.

  “Yes. . .and I held Morrison off for a really long time too,” Lydia said, frowning at her own discomfort with their conversation, but also knowing Jane needed to feel like she could vent to someone. “I held your father off because I didn’t feel like anyone could want me. I figured if I couldn’t be happy that way with Lauren’s father, how could I be happy with any other man? But you know what? I discovered that I can be happy, Jane. And you can be happy too. Your ex is not the only man capable of pleasing you in bed. Trust me.”

  Jane stared at her plate. “I didn’t bring enough cash with me to tip you for the therapy. Some cheap ass date stiffed me with a hundred and twenty dollar restaurant bill last week.”

  Lydia laughed and shook her head, both appalled and sorry Jane was picking such losers. “No problem. Since I don’t keep sweets in the house, you can consider the advice as your dessert.”

  “You think I should sleep with Walter, don’t you?” Jane demanded, snorting at the blush climbing the older woman’s face. “He’s twenty-six, Lydia. TWENTY-SIX. It would be like sleeping with a friend’s son. I just don’t think I can do that.”

  “He’s young, but not a kid,” Lydia said, shrugging. “And I’m not suggesting anything specific, other than you take some steps to get your needs met. It just seems like common sense to get them met by a man so obviously willing to meet them.”

  “Is that you or your therapist talking?” Jane asked, laughing now as she picked up her fork and attacked her pasta salad.

  “Regina Logan is a very smart woman. I only wish I had half her nerve,” Lydia said.

  Jane nodded. The few times she’d been in the woman’s company, she had admired her too. “Dad keeps telling me I need to go to Princeton sometime when Dr. Logan gives a talk. He said I would be amazed.”

  “Your father is right. You would be amazed,” Lydia agreed, nodding.

  “How do you know my ex is my problem?” Jane asked.

  Lydia turned in her chair to look Jane up and down. “You’re way too smart for most men to keep up with, filthy rich despite your reluctance to reveal it, and beautiful though you don’t see it. If you aren’t sleeping with any man you want any time you want, it’s because you’ve let a bad one do a number on your head. Get over him, Jane. He’s not worth the sacrifice you are making.”

  Jane nodded. “This anxiety doesn’t feel like it’s about Nathan.”

  “No? Then why are you holding Walter at arm’s length when all the boy wants to do is put a smile on your face?” Lydia demanded.

  “See? Even you called him a boy,” Jane declared, but she smiled as she finally let herself feel flattered about Walter’s interest.

  “Yes, I called Walter a boy. And I think of you as a girl,” Lydia pointed out, poking Jane’s arm with a finger as the woman giggled. “At my age, everyone seems young and immature unless they’re old and stodgy.”

  “Stodgy? Who uses that word anymore? Now you sound like Harrison,” Jane teased.

  Lydia reached over to snatch Jane’s plate away, relenting when the woman laughed and wrestled it back into place.

  “I’m only trying to help in a woman-to-woman kind of way,” Lydia insisted.

  Jane laughed. “You’re right. I’m sorry. Feel free to use all the archaic speech terms you want in any conversation with me. I’ll save them in quotes and post them to my social media later.”

  Lydia shook her head and went back to her food. “Fine. Make jokes. If you don’t jump that boy soon, you’re going to lose your chance anyway. He’s going to be seduced away from you. That will be a disappointing situation for both you and Walter.”

  “From what I saw the other night, he’s not having much better luck at dating than I am,” Jane admitted, wincing when she realized she had voiced her thoughts aloud. Even to her ears, it had sounded like she was looking for reassurance that it was true. “Forget it. It’s none of my business. Walter should be dating. I should be dating. The idea of us getting involved makes no sense whatsoever.”

  “Walter dating occasionally is one thing. Having a harem waiting to attend to him is another matter. Walter is pretty honorable for a man his age, but he doesn’t look like he’s that good. A lot of temptation is about to come his way,” Lydia said.

  Jane stopped eating. “Why do you say it like that?”

  Lydia blinked. “The calendar, of course.”

  Jane blinked back. “What calendar?”

  Shaking her head and blaming the depression for Jane being so out of the loop, Lydia slid off the bar stool for the second time that evening. She padded to the living room, returning shortly with the calendar. Sliding it onto the bar, the calendar didn’t rest for two seconds before Jane snatched it up.

  “Look at this. Walter is on the cover,” Jane said, laughing with joy at the cute picture he made. “He looks great, but his shirt is dirty. Wait. Did he mean to do this?”

  Lydia shook her head. “I don’t think so. I believe ‘goat-roped’ was the term Harrison used. Walter was helping set up the calendar shoot, but his photos got mixed in with the rest. It isn’t hard to tell though why he ended up in it.”

  Jane shrugged. “He definitely looks good enough for the cover. Even dirty. I can see the allure, but. . .”

  “Stop right there with the denials,” Lydia said interrupting, “I have two words for you—Mr. March.”

  Jane wrinkled her forehead, but turned some pages. She gasped at a close-up shot of Walter grinning at the camera as he lifted one side of the shirt as if preparing to peel it off for whoever he was gazing at.

  She flipped to look at Mr. February’s gleaming chest and wicked grin, and then to Mr. April’s long blond hair falling over his narrowed eyes and drool-worthy chest. Then she went back to Walter, sighing at the truth.

  The appeal of Walter’s photo over the others was that it so obviously wasn’t posed. His snapshot was a glimpse of the real man. It revealed the unvarnished sexuality of the guy who had leaned in her office doorway and once teased her about marrying him. The man in the picture was a man that no woman with eyes in her head would ever write off because he was chronologically a boy. No woman except her that is.

  “I’m going to be thirty-nine on my birthday. Next year I’ll be forty. You should have seen the woman Walter was with at dinner. She wasn’t even as old as he was and her body. . .oy vey, as my mother would have said. Four inch heels, Lydia. Four inch heels and an ass with no droop at all,” Jane declared, her gaze going back to Walter as she ran her fingertips over his picture. The memory of what those muscles felt like was still vivid in her mind. And now. . .now she could see how good they looked too.

  Lydia returned her interest to her plate and set about finishing her food. “Well, what woman wants a droopy ass? Mine doesn’t droop. Nothing on me droops. And I’m damn well going to make certain it doesn�
��t until the day I die, even if I have to get fake boobs like Dorothy Henderson did.”

  “If I cave now, I’m just going to be one in a long line. I don’t think I can do that. I’m not that kind of woman,” Jane said with groan.

  “Okay. What kind of woman are you then?” Lydia demanded, scraping the last bite of pasta salad off her plate and onto her fork. She ate it, keeping her gaze locked to Jane’s.

  “I don’t know what kind of woman I am,” Jane answered finally, hating to hear the whine in her voice. “An indecisive one about Walter obviously.”

  She pushed the excellent pasta salad away before putting her face in her hands again.

  “Probably also a stupid one for even worrying about this.”

  Lydia sighed as she shook her head. “Don’t wait too long to find out the truth. You’ll only hate yourself for it when you’re older.”

  Jane groaned loudly, the sound of her indecision filling the room.

  Chapter 6

  If anyone had asked, Jane would have said that she hadn’t made money flipping businesses by giving up when she’d done something stupid. No, the secret was that she had just gone right back the next day and figured out what needed to be done to make it right. This morning she found herself hoping that same approach would work in her personal life.

  She had indeed been stupid about Walter. Staying away wasn’t working. Only time in his company was going to cure the silly infatuation they had for each other.

  Jane took a deep breath to quiet her nervousness as she walked toward the office at North Winds. She heard a woman laughing and a husky male voice telling a story. She would have recognized that sexy Virginia drawl anywhere.

  “Hitting on Walter’s new help, Harrison? You have to watch out for this one, Amanda. And whatever you do, stay out of his golf cart if he offers you a ride. The man drives like a maniac.” When Harrison smiled in welcome and lifted his hand to her, Jane took it, walked closer, and leaned down to kiss his cheek. “Hello, handsome.”