At half past one, as she did every Tuesday, a woman came in with her three young children. It was the first time Jecca had seen the woman who had broken Reede’s heart seven years before. Laura was a pretty woman but not one you’d look at twice. In the last weeks, Jecca had begun to think that Laura probably knew Reede a lot better than he knew himself. It was quite possible that she’d done Reede a favor. From the way she patiently dealt with her rambunctious children, she seemed to be doing what she wanted to. Had she realized that Reede had a restless nature hidden inside his small-town exterior? Had she run away from him before his true nature came to the surface and he started trying to get her to go globe hopping with him?
When she saw Reede, Laura had a baby on her hip, one holding onto her leg, and one trying to climb up the window. She halted, cup in hand, and stared at him.
Reede, in the midst of recounting one of his adventures in the Amazon, glanced up at her but didn’t pause in his storytelling. “It was the worst thing I ever tasted in my life,” he was saying, “but I would have insulted the man if I hadn’t drunk it, so I held my breath and—” He broke off and looked up at Laura in recognition.
Jecca and Kim watched Reede’s face to see how he’d react. Oddly, he seemed to be puzzled.
“Reede,” Laura said, “how are you?”
“All right,” he answered. “And you?”
She smiled. “Worn out, but . . . happy. I hear you’re helping with Dr. Tris’s practice for the summer.”
Jecca and Kim held their breaths as they waited for his answer. Just the night before he’d told Tristan he wasn’t staying in town, wasn’t going to help at the office.
Reede leaned back in his chair, and he looked like a man who was deeply relieved. He gave Laura a smile that could melt a woman. “Part-time,” he said. “I lost Jecca here to ol’ Tris and he wants to spend time with her, so I’ll be covering for him. Why don’t you bring your kids in for a checkup? On the house. For old times’ sake.”
“Yes,” Laura said, “I’ll do that. Will I see you in church Sunday?”
“Third row, like always,” he said.
Laura gave another smile, called her son to her, and they left the shop.
Reede kept his eyes straight ahead as he finished his coffee. “Have you two busybodies done what you wanted to?” he asked without looking thoth="1em">Rat either of them.
“I think we have,” Kim said happily. “What about you, Jecca?”
“Exactly what I hoped.”
She and Kim smiled proudly at each other.
“Deliver me from small towns,” Reede muttered as he put cash on the table. “Are we done here?”
Jecca looked at her watch. “Tris is expecting you to relieve him at one-thirty. He and I are going up to the Point.” When Reede gave her a sharp look, she blushed. “To paint,” she added.
“And I believe that,” Reede said.
The three of them got up and Reede put an arm around each woman’s shoulders. “You two interfered in something that was none of your business.” He paused. “But I thank you.” He kissed their cheeks, then dropped his arms. “Now go away and leave me alone. No more fixing my life.”
“Until the next time it needs patching up,” Kim said as she hurried out the door behind Jecca.
Since the fashion show, the two women had spent a lot of time with each other. Twice they’d had dinner together, and Jecca had told Kim the story behind the show, while Kim had talked of her hopes for her jewelry. Kim’s pleasure over the paintings had bonded them even more strongly—but her questions about Tristan had unsettled Jecca.
Now, Jecca looked at Tristan. “What do I do?” she said out loud, and Tristan, his beautiful body wrapped around hers, rolled to the side.
“Do about what?” he asked, his voice deepened by sleep. He pulled her to him and nuzzled her neck.
“Last night Kim asked me what I was going to do now that the fashion show was done and the paintings for the ads are finished.”
&nbs
p; “We could go to Roan’s for a few days and—”
“You have to work.” He was kissing her neck, his hand moving down her body. She could feel exactly what he wanted to do.
“I don’t have to work today,” he said. “Reede’s taking over.”
She pulled back to look at him. “Why?”