Terri groaned. “You left those sheets for me to put on the bed, didn’t you? Well, I’m not going to do it. It’s your job, not mine.”
Smiling, Nate stepped aside for her to go into the house before him.
* * *
Terri tried to act like it was any other night. Nate found a rugby game on some obscure foreign channel and sat at the end of the couch and watched it. She had an old Josephine Tey murder mystery that she couldn’t seem to get into. She thought Nate was absorbed in his game until the announcers started yelling about some great goal, and he didn’t blink. It looked like his mind was elsewhere.
She kept her eyes on her book. “What was the food like at the brunch?”
Nate turned off the TV, which made Terri put her book down.
“That woman has the ability to take the flavor out of anything. She had some baked egg thing that was crusty hard all the way through. Bob seemed to like it.”
“Bob hasn’t lived all over the world and sampled lamb roasted over an open fire.”
Nate gave a bit of a smile. “I doubt if he’s even tasted Mr. Parnelli’s sausages.”
He was facing the dark screen of the TV, while Terri had her feet on the couch. She extended her leg and nudged him in the hip with her heel. “Talk! You’ve been brooding since you got back, so tell me what’s bothering you.”
“I do not brood.”
Terri stuck her lower lip out, hung her head and deepened her voice. “I’m so down I ate green food.”
Nate chuckled. “I guess that is pretty depressed.” He turned so he was facing her, one foot on the floor, the other stretched out on the couch. Not quite touching her, but almost. “I really hate my new office.”
“So tell Stacy and change it. Get some different furniture.”
“It’s not that. It’s...”
Terri knew what was wrong but she wasn’t going to say it. She’d never seen anyone less suited to sit in an office all day than Nathaniel Taggert.
“Maybe I’m not made for small-town life. Maybe I should return to the Middle East. I’m sure Kit could find something for me to do.”
“Running away would sure solve all your problems. No more of the Hartmans. No more office that you can’t see out of. You think Stacy will want to leave her parents? Didn’t I hear that she’s opening a design business in town?”
Nate rolled his eyes. “I’m trying for some sympathy here. Help me out.”
“Nope. You have to man up and tell Stacy you hate that office. And what about the old Stanton house?”
He groaned. “What are you going to do? I mean, how do you see your future?”
“I’ll stay here,” Terri said. “I can’t imagine not living here. The lake, Dad, even this house. It’s where I belong.”
“Alone?”
Terri started to answer, but changed her mind. “How about some popcorn?”
“Why do we talk so much about me and never about you?”
“I’ve told you some of my most intimate secrets.”
“Like how you’d like to visit the locker room of the rugby players?”
Terri laughed. “You asked me what I thought of the game and I told you what it meant to me. I like men with meat on them.”
“Like Billy Thorndyke,” Nate said.
“What is it with you and Billy?” Her voice was rising. “He and I broke up years ago. Since then I’ve had three boyfriends.”