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“No idea? No idea that the rediscovered princess of pop on the arm of the biggest player in the major leagues would make it to the papers? C’mon.”
The shrill whistle of the kettle was a startling peal that made her almost jump. She hurried to the stove to turn the burner off. “The thing at the Frick was for charity, and Meghan Morrisey pestered me into going. You know I have a hard time saying no to anything.”
Eric bolted from his seat so quickly he almost upended his chair. “Did you have a hard time saying no to Brett Masters, too? When I said he was a player I wasn’t just talking about baseball.”
“Are you serious?” Jenna rushed over, tipping her face up so she and Eric were nose to nose. “It was a blind date. He was a perfect gentleman.”
“Humph,” Eric scoffed. “Masters is in the tabloids with a different woman every week. Gentleman isn’t how any of them describe him.”
Jenna’s cheeks grew hot. “You of all people should know the tabloids never print the truth. Brett is very sweet. In fact, he invited me to tonight’s game as his guest and for a quiet dinner afterward. I was going to pass, but now you’ve made me curious. I think I’ll go and see whatallthe fuss is about.”
A flush of red that matched the heat in her face tinted Eric’s skin. He looked down and into her eyes. His glinted ire. “Don’t you dare.”
Jenna shoved and brushed past him. “You told me there was no future for us, so you don’t get to tell me what to do.” She turned and fired her words at him. “You don’t get to tell me what to do anyway!”
Following on her heels he shouted, “I never said there was no future for us. I said I needed some time.”
“Oldest line in the book.”
Eric flung his arms wide. “Book? What book?”
“It’s a metaphor.” Jenna marched to her door and pulled the heavy oak panel wide. “Don’t you have some gardening to do?”
He grabbed Janie’s clothing and stormed through. “Have fun tonight,” he spat as he jumped into his truck and roared away.
****
Architects had modified the original plans for the town houses and shops of Baldwin Ridge Country Club. They added scrollwork, gingerbread details, and reversed gable ends. The result would be a quaint yet elegant Victorian village named The Glade at Cromline. Ina Cummings’ house, almost restored and perched at the end of the grounds, fit right in.
Ina and Janie carried flats of impatiens to the fence that ran along the shady side of the house. “Do you want to tell me what’s got your daddy so worked up? He’s found a hundred things wrong with my house he didn’t notice a couple of weeks ago.”
On cue, Eric shouted from across the yard. “Would you look at this!”
The girls pivoted around to see what he was complaining about. He had been doing it all day. He was on his knees scrutinizing the clapboard by the back door. “The painters didn’t give this section two coats of primer before adding the topcoat. I can practically see the old paint coming through.”
Ina threw down her hand rake and marched to where he was examining the siding. “There is no old paint showing through. You replaced those boards yourself. It’s all new.” She shook her head and stomped back off to her annuals. She and Janie shared more head shaking and eye rolling as Eric continued to study obscure corners of the property.
“My mom had a date last night,” Janie confessed laughing.
“Did she now?” Ina poured planting soil into a shallow hole she’d dug, and Janie deposited a plant that would grow into a collection of bright pink blooms.
“Aunt Ina, if he’s this mad over my mom having a date, do you think that means he still loves her?”
Tilting her huge sunbonnet back away from her face, Ina leaned on the shovel she’d been tilling the bed with. “Oh, honey, I don’t think there was ever any doubt that your daddy loves your mother.” She winked and a web of wrinkles framed her eye. “But sometimes men just need a little reminder of how much they do.”
“That sounds kind of sneaky.”
Ina tipped her face at the sky, a sunbathed blue dotted with fleecy clouds. “I prefer to think of it as gentle prodding. Men seem to always need it.” She dropped a plant into a hole and tamped dirt around it. “As for your daddy…let’s let him stew until his mind catches up with his heart.”
****
“Hey! I’m going inside to get my caulking gun. Those windows aren’t sealed tight. You’ll have a draft like a tornado next winter if I don’t fix them.” Eric looked out toward the fence, but Ina and Janie had moved out of earshot and ignored him.Good thing,he reflected the thought back to himself. He sounded like a two-year-old blustering over a missing toy.
He huffed off through the back door and marched directly to the kitchen counter where he had tossed his cell phone. He picked it up and pounded Jack Morrissey’s number on the keypad.
“Talk to me, kid. I was waiting for you to call and bitch.”
“I didn’t call to bitch. I called to find out what Meghan was thinking by fixing Jenna up with somebody like Brett Masters.” He drummed his fingers on the counter waiting for his answer, but Jack’s laugh crackled though the receiver.
