13
“SO THE PARTY WAS A BIG success and the rumors are already spreading throughout town about how fabulous your store is. Tomorrow’s grand opening will be a hit, I guarantee it. What’d I tell you? You’re going to fail to fail.” Jack couldn’t keep the smug tone out of his voice as he and Kate brushed another coat of varnish remover on the old concession counter at the Rialto on Sunday afternoon.
She stuck her tongue out at him. “Anyone ever told you it’s not nice to say I told you so?”
“Anyone ever told you it’s not nice to stick your tongue out at people? Unless, of course, you’re issuing an invitation.” He caught her mouth in a quick, hot kiss that left them both breathless.
When they reluctantly parted, she looked down at the plastic drop cloth beneath their feet, which was splattered with liquid. “Paint washes off. I think varnish remover would sting, though.”
“There’s no work going on down on the stage,” he whispered. “And our table’s still there.”
“Miss Rose will be back from the hardware store any minute now.” She sounded disappointed. Just like he felt.
They couldn’t seem to get enough of each other. No matter how many times he made love to Kate, it was always exciting, always amazing. Like that first time had been, right here in the theater all those weeks ago.
Jack had a hard time believing how much things had changed since then. In the past several days he and Kate had spent hours and hours in each other’s company. He’d told her about his plans to open his own firm, she’d talked about her desire to expand her store. They’d gone through the past relationship comparisons, each trying to one-up the other with stories about some really bad first dates.
They’d even talked about their families a little. She’d told him what it was like growing up without a father. He’d told her of his regrets at leaving Angela alone in a house with his very unhappily married parents.
She’d grown uncomfortable when he mentioned his parents. “I think we ought to change the subject.”
Though he knew she was right, he wished he could tell her what he’d discovered Friday. He could hardly believe it himself and had no one with whom to discuss it.
Dealing with his father’s bank records had been nearly impossible from the beginning. But suddenly, the other day, he began to make sense of things. For the first time in weeks, Jack started to realize that his father had, in his own way, tried to do right by Edie.
For each and every month when there had been an uncashed paycheck made out to Edith Jones, Jack had found a subsequent payment to a mysterious account at a state bank. Some digging had revealed the truth. His father had made several sizable payments against Edie’s mortgage. He doubted she’d even realized it was happening.
No, his father hadn’t wiped the slate clean by any means, but it was nice to know he had not completely taken advantage of Kate’s mother. He’d obviously cared about her, enough to help her even when she refused to take his help.
It didn’t make things right. But at least it made them better. It also made Jack wonder if he would ever really understand the truth about their relationship. It seemed now it had been more about emotion than just sex. Sex wouldn’t have taken the older couple through nearly two decades. There had to have been love.
Somehow that made it a little easier to deal with.
“So, what are you going to do now that your store’s on the road to success? You can’t just shut it down,” he asked.
She shook her head. “I’ve been thinking a lot about that. Cassie and I have worked there a lot lately and we’ve been discussing some options. At least she’ll be here until the end of the summer. And who knows what she’ll want to do then.”
He laid his brush down and stared. “No way would Cassie stay here long-term.”
She shrugged. “I don’t know if she actually would, but I don’t think it’s a bad idea. I kind of suggested it to her.”
He raised a brow. “I can only imagine how she reacted.”
“After she stops laughing, maybe she’ll really think about it. She’s got a great house. And she seems to have found some things she likes about Pleasantville.” She snickered, obviously thinking about Tag.
“So you really think she’d stay?”
“I honestly can’t say. But it’s a possibility. We’ll see how tomorrow’s grand opening goes.”
“Then in a week or two you’ll go back to Chicago.”
“Right. And you will, too.”
He nodded.
“I’m going to miss having you right next door,” she admitted. “Who’ll nearly kill me when he bursts in to tackle me in the middle of the night?”
“I only hurt you the first time I tackled you in the middle of the night. Admit it, every other tackle since then has been painless.” He gave her a suggestive look, telling her he meant their more amorous tackles. “Don’t forget, I did kiss it better that first time.”
“Oh, yeah, you definitely did.”
Though he hadn’t planned to bring it up, figuring Kate might not have realized yet that she was falling in love with him, he couldn’t help himself. “Besides, we don’t have to give up on having each other around once we get home. I have a big apartment. And if it’s not big enough, I can design us something better. Closer to your store.”
Her eyes widened. “What are you saying? You mean, you want us to…”
“Move in together,” he said. “I know it’s kinda fast, but we’re practically living together now. Why don’t we just make it official when we get home?”
She lowered her eyes, looking away. Jack called himself ten kinds of fool for bringing it up. It’s too soon. Hell, he knew they hadn’t been together long enough to start talking about cohabitation. But he was already picturing little dark-haired Jacks and blond-haired Kates! Marriage, happily-ever-after, all the stuff he’d once sworn wasn’t for him.
Now he understood. He simply hadn’t found the right woman yet. Until Kate. His future. The woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.
The one who’d gone silent and white as a sheet at just the mention of them moving in together. If he told her he wanted to marry her someday, she’d probably faint face-first into the bucket of varnish remover.
Kate was an unusual woman and she wouldn’t approach things—including her love life—in the usual way. A complicated mix of modern vixen and smart businesswoman, she’d wanted the sex first, then the relationship. He couldn’t forget that, because she might never have even thought about the future or long-term plans. Talk of those things might scare her off.
It killed him to wonder if she’d figured their involvement would end once they left Pleasantville behind. Because it wouldn’t. It couldn’t. He was never letting her go. Though she might not be ready to admit it, he knew damn well she felt the same way.
She couldn’t hide the way she looked at him, particularly when he held her in his arms. There was love in her eyes.
“Let’s talk about it later, okay?” he said, quickly backtracking. “We still have some time here, and I know you need to focus on the grand opening tomorrow morning.”
She looked troubled; her eyes were bright, as if she had tears in them. He silently cursed himself again for putting her on the spot, pressuring her too soon.
Before he could say anything, or even think of what to say, a woman’s voice intruded. “Speaking of the grand opening, Kate, I need you to set something aside for me tomorrow morning.”
They both looked up as Rose joined them, her arms loaded with bags of supplies from the hardware store.
“I want one of them Kama Sutra sheet sets, so I can honestly say my bed has had every sexual position known to man performed on it.”
Kate’s worried expression faded as she ruefully grinned. “You got it, Rose.”
* * *
KATE FIGURED the grand opening of Bare Essentials in Pleasantville would be discussed by its residents for years to come. Old-timers would reminisce about it the way they did the big snowstorm of ’73, the high school girls’ state championship team of the early eighties. Even Flo Tremaine’s striptease and skinny-dipping session in the town square fountain thirty years back would take a back seat to this day.
The newest generation of Tremaine women were definitely giving them something to talk about.
The line to get into the store Monday morning wound down the cobbled sidewalk, blocking the entrance to the Tea Room. That obviously ticked Mrs. McIntyre off royally, because she’d posted a snippy little sign saying Do Not Block Stairs on her porch railing.
Kate heard later that a few of the Tea Room biddies had made rude comments about the store. They’d been overruled by the people in line, including Mayor Otis who declared Kate and Cassie worthy of a civic award for their efforts to revitalize Pleasantville’s downtown shopping district.
A neighboring city had even sent in a news truck. Sure, it was a teeny cable station, with a viewership of about eight, but it was exciting, nonetheless. The reporter conducted interviews with the customers, many of whom were the Bunko women who’d come to the pre-opening party last week. Their husbands were even more enthusiastic in their support of the new shop.
Singles, couples, young and old, the populace of Pleasantville chatted and laughed, lauding the store as an asset to the town while they shopped their hearts out.
Armand’s lingerie was a huge hit, with sexy books and fun-and-naughty gifts doing well, too. Kate suspected the hotter items—dildoes, vibrators and the like—would sell better when there were no throngs of townspeople present. Or TV cameras.
If Kate hadn’t already changed her mind about wanting this store to fail, she might be feeling pretty upset about its obvious success. Now, since she wanted it to succeed, she should be feeling at least triumph, if not downright jubilation.
Depressed better described her mood.
Stupid. It was stupid, juvenile and girlish, but she was depressed about Jack asking her to move in with him yesterday.
The modern woman who carried a vibrator around in her purse should have been thrilled, recognizing Jack had really been offering a sort of commitment in today’s day and age.
A deeper, more vulnerable part of her had been very hurt.
Did he want her to serve the same function as her mother had? The woman who was good enough to mess around with, but not the one you married, not the one you had children with?
Men from Lilac Hill didn’t marry trashy Tremaine women. They had sex with them in secret and left them stuff in their wills, but they certainly didn’t introduce them to their mothers or give them wedding rings.
She knew her reaction was unfair. She’d seen motives and desires he might never have intended. And it wasn’t as if Jack knew about his father’s relationship with her mother, so he couldn’t possibly have realized how she might take it.
Kate was intelligent enough to know her own deep-down insecurity had made her tense up when he’d asked. That didn’t lessen the feeling, though.
At the end of the day, a few minutes before closing time, Kate found herself alone behind the cash register. Cassie had run an errand, most of the shoppers had left. There were one or two people in the dressing rooms, she believed. She was ready for them to get out so she could go take a long, hot bath. When the bell jingled over the door, she glanced up and saw, to her surprise, Darren McIntyre.
“Still open for business?”
She glanced at the clock. “You’ve got two minutes. Tell me what you’re looking for. I’ll point you in the right direction.”
He shrugged. “How about the apology area?”
Kate dropped her pencil. “Huh?”
Darren walked over to the counter, not able to disguise his interest as he studied the various items on the shelves. He chuckled. “Bet my father never pictured this display case being used for those when he had it installed.” When Kate didn’t reply, he said, “Look, Kate, I came to apologize. I know it was years ago, and I’m sure you’ve forgotten, but I was a jerk to you in high school and I’m sorry.”
Well, indeed, a day of surprises. “That’s nice of you, Darren. I appreciate it. I know it’s probably not easy for you to walk in here, remembering your dad and all.”
He shrugged. “My father had every right to do with this building whatever he wanted to. I’m sure he’d rather see it open as a ladies’ shop than sitting here moldering away. My mother on the other hand…”
Kate snorted. “Yeah, I can imagine.”
“Divorce can be tough.” He glanced away. “On everyone. You marry someone you think you know, think you love, then you find out you don’t really know them at all.”
She figured he was referring to his marriage but didn’t ask. After a minute of small talk Darren said, “I’d better go. I just wanted to wish you luck and to say I’m sorry. Your, uh, friend Armand reminded me the other night that you might have a score to settle.”
Kate shook her head, putting aside not only Darren’s doubts, but any of her own. “No, Darren, I don’t.” Not anymore.
Darren had no sooner left, shutting the door behind them, when Kate heard someone emerge from the dressing room area. She sensed her long, hot bath was going to be further delayed when she recognized Angela. “I didn’t know you were here.”
“Stay away from Darren,” the woman said. “You got your revenge. Your friend made a big fool out of the both of us the other night, so leave him alone.”
Seeing tears in the other woman’s eyes, Kate had to wonder whether Angela had ever given up on her first marriage. Any sympathy she felt for Angela evaporated when she saw the book she held. Her diary. The last time she’d seen it, it had been in a drawer in a desk in the storage room. “Snooping?”
Angela didn’t even have the grace to flush. “Stay away from my brother, too. I won’t let you hurt him in some nasty plot.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Suddenly so tired, Kate rubbed her eyes. She didn’t want to have this conversation. Ever.
Angela slammed the diary on the counter, open to the page with Kate’s revenge list. “Yes, I do. Didn’t you write this? ‘For Mom’s sake, get even with the Winfield family,’” she read. “‘Particularly John Winfield.’ My father isn’t around to hurt anymore, so you’ve decided to focus on my brother. A different man, but who cares, the name’s the same, right?”
Kate took a deep breath, trying to remain calm enough to deal with Jack’s sister, trying to have sympathy for her, given the way Jack had described her childhood. “Angela, that was years ago. I don’t have any intention of hurting Jack.”
The other woman crossed her arms. “Just like you didn’t want revenge on me and Darren, by setting us up to look like fools at the mayor’s reception the other night? Like you didn’t want to hurt the town by opening up this shop? Don’t give me that. You want to hurt my family the way your mother did.”
Then it hit her. Angela didn’t seem the least bit surprised her diary had spoken of Edie and John. She tilted her head and stared at the woman. “You knew. About their affair.”
Angela nodded. “Of course I knew. I’ve known for years. Everyone knows, even my mother.”
Everyone? Including Jack?
“The point is, Kate, your secret’s out. I’m going to tell Jack all about this little revenge list of yours, which you’ve been crossing off since the day you hit town.”
Kate shook her head. “You’re wrong. I care about Jack.”
She smirked. “Won’t matter. Jack doesn’t care about you. You’ve been about one thing to him from the very beginning. He doesn’t love you. Winfields don’t marry trashy Tremaine women who own sex shops or work as maids. He won’t marry you any more than my father married your mother.”
Kate’s anger made her reply so quickly her mind barely registered the ringing of the bell over the front door. “Thanks to your mother.” At Angela’s puzzled look, Kate said, “She made sure of it. Trapping him into marriage with a fake pregnancy just to get him away from my mother, who was his girlfriend throughout high school! That’s probably just what you did to Darren, only he didn’t stick around like your father did after he found out. So don’t talk to me about families being hurt. If anyone deserves some payback, it’s the Winfields.”
Angela had grown pale and looked utterly shocked. Kate regretted the words as soon as she said them, angry with herself for letting the woman goad her so. Kate regretted them even more when she realized who had walked into the store.
Seeing the late-afternoon sunlight shining through the front windows onto a familiar—and very dear—blond head, she felt the blood drain from her face. “Jack.”
“Do I even want to know what’s going on here?” Jack forced a note of calmness in his voice as he walked across the store to the counter, where Kate and his sister both stood. They looked equally as disturbed by his appearance.
“This is a misunderstanding…”
“She came here for one reason. To get revenge,” Angela said at the same time. His sister thrust a small book in his hand, obviously a diary. “She’s been plotting it for years. Against me and Darren—we were both totally humiliated by her gay friend the other night. But she’s not satisfied yet, she’s out to get the whole town, including you.”
He didn’t look at his sister, focusing all his attention on Kate. “Angela, would you please leave?”
He thought she’d argue, but she didn’t. Looking confused and upset, more than angry, Angela grabbed her purse and hurried out of the store. As soon as they were alone, Jack put the diary back on the counter.
“It’s not like she said…”
“I know about your revenge list, remember?” he interrupted softly. “You don’t have to explain it to me.”
She looked relieved. For a moment, anyway.
He continued. “I once asked you if it would be bad for me to see the list. When you said yes, I figured it mentioned Angela. Was she right? Was there more to it than that?”
Kate took a slow, deep breath, then nodded.
“You knew about my father and Edie.”
She crossed her arms tightly. “I found out on prom night.”
He absorbed her words and said a silent curse. Both Kate and his sister had learned as teenagers of their parents’ affair. He again kicked himself for leaving town, for not being around when he might have been needed.
“When did you find out?” she asked softly.
“The night I met you,” he admitted. “After I left you at the theater. I had absolutely no idea who you were until then. I didn’t even know your last name, remember?”
She glanced away, her face growing even paler.
As a heavy, uncomfortable silence fell between them, Jack mentally replayed what he’d heard of the conversation. He still had trouble believing it. Not that Kate had written a revenge list, he’d known about it before, after all. He just hadn’t known his entire family was part of the plot. Somehow, it had been easy to imagine she’d gotten over any high school hurts, so he’d accepted her assurances that she really wasn’t opening her store for revenge. Now, however, he had to wonder.
“I have to know,” he finally said, “was your list on your mind when you came back here? When we got involved?”
She stared at him, not answering.
“Tell me, Kate. When you decided to come back to Pleasantville, did you think about a little payback? Getting involved with me, then breaking my heart, like you thought my dad did to your mom?”
She countered with a question of her own. “You tell me something, Jack. The night we met, when you found out who I was, that Edie Tremaine was my mother…is that the reason you never called? The reason you decided we couldn’t get involved?”
He answered easily. “Of course.”
She stiffened, as if offended by his honesty, though he didn’t know why. He opened his mouth to elaborate, to tell her how hurt he’d been for Edie, how he’d wanted to make it up to her and not take advantage of Kate.
Before he could say a word, however, she picked up her purse and keys. “Thanks for being honest. Now, you want the truth? Here it is. I came back here with every intention of seducing J. J. Winfield.” Stepping around the counter, she met his stare steadily with her own. “I planned to get him to go crazy over me, then stomp his heart into the dust with the heels of my six-inch-tall slut-puppy boots.”
Without another word, she turned and walked out of her own store.