Glancing at the grandfather clock sitting near the staircase, she reversed direction and went to the door. She wondered who could be seeking her out at this time. Through the heavy glass, Kelly saw the figure of a man. She opened the door to find Perry Streeter standing there. “I figured if I came in person you couldn’t refuse.”
“I don’t understand. What are you doing here?”
He was impeccably dressed. Even though the temperature in Maryland was several degrees higher than it was in New York, Perry would never allow a drop of sweat to stain his wardrobe or his personality. He was in control, managing everything, refusing to let anyone think he wasn’t the master of his fate.
Kelly knew it was a facade. He’d spent a lifetime hiding behind it. So she didn’t understand why he wanted to see her. She had X-ray vision where he was concerned. And he knew it.
“Aren’t you going to invite me in. I hear they do that in the South.”
Kelly stood back. “Of course, come in.”
She led him to her office. Just as she went through the door, she saw Jace enter the hall. Perry closed the door and turned to her.
“Why are you here?” she asked for the second time.
“No ulterior motive. I wanted to see you. It’s nearly lunchtime. I thought you’d go out with me.”
“Why?”
“You have to eat.”
“I mean why would I go anywhere with you? There’s nothing for you to gain by being with me. You told me that.”
He winched at her words. “I was wrong. Why don’t we run out to a local restaurant and have something to eat. You can spare an hour or two for an old friend, can’t you?”
He wasn’t a friend. That had ended when he told her he wanted to end their relationship, that he had found someone else.
Still, Kelly wanted to know his real reason for coming to see her and she wanted to hear about the agency. What was going on there now? She still had friends at the firm. She’d neglected them in the past few months due to the overwhelming changes she’d been working on at the Kendall.
And there was Jace. He’d taken up a lot of her thoughts.
“We don’t have New York–style restaurants here. The food is simple and good.”
He spread his hands as if accepting his fate.
Kelly grabbed her purse and they went back to the front door. Outside, in the circular driveway gleamed a Mercedes sports car, a two-seater, fire-engine red. It looked like Perry could have driven it off the showroom floor only moments ago.
He opened the door and helped her inside. The interior was plush with all the bells and whistles deserving of a mover and shaker in the advertising business.
“New?” she asked.
“Had it a month.” He accelerated around the circle and sped down the driveway toward the road.
Kelly directed him to the diner on the main street. It was the kind of place where you seat yourself. The tablecloths were white and covered with a solid piece of clear glass. In the center was a bud vase with a plastic flower in it. The menus were already on the table, being held up by the condiments collection. Perry led her to a table next to a big window. Outside sat his car. Kelly wondered if he trusted the citizens of Windsor Heights not to dent his doors.
She lifted the menu, although she knew what she was going to have.
“What’s good here?”
“Everything,” she said. She looked directly at him. “I can recommend the fried chicken. I know you don’t usually eat anything fried, but it’s to die for. Barring that, the liver and onions are good.
“I hate liver,” he said. “Do they have any fish?”
“This is Maryland,” Kelly said. “The crab cakes are excellent. They alone are reason enough to drive this far.”
Perry frowned.
“There’s the meatloaf. It’s not only good, it’ll sustain you for your trip back to New York. Or are you planning to visit the area?”
“I came only to see you. I’ll be leaving right after lunch.”
Kelly’s eyes opened wider.
“Why are you looking like that?” he asked.
“We’ve already said our last words. I find it surprising that you came all the way here to have lunch with me. You must want something. What is it?”
“I promise I only wanted to see you.”
The waitress came over and Kelly ordered the cheeseburger plate. Perry opted for the Maryland Crab Cakes.
“This is a surprising turn,” Perry said after the waitress left them.
“What do you mean?”
“I thought you lived on salads and bottled water.”
“I get more exercise here. I still love salads and water, but I get to have all my favorites now, too.”
“You really like living here?” Perry sounded as if he couldn’t fathom a person preferring the quiet farm life compared to the fast-paced, nonstop existence of a throbbing city.
“You don’t think there’s much going on out here, right?”
He glanced around. The restaurant had several tables with people at them. Most were dressed as if they worked on farms.
“Is there?”
“This is horse country,” she defended.
The waitress returned and set their plates in front of them. She smiled and left.
“Service is fast,” Perry said.
Kelly knew he was thinking the food couldn’t be good if it didn’t take a long period of time to prepare. Her plate held a thick cheeseburger that was high with lettuce, tomato and fried onions. The rest of the plate was covered with curly French fries. Kelly dug into it as if she hadn’t had anything to eat in years. Perry took a tentative bite of his crab cakes. Kelly watched him close his eyes and savor the deliciousness of the food.
“Like them?” she asked.
“They’re wonderful. Who would have thought food like this would come out of a place like this.”
“Careful, Perry. Your snobbery is showing.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.”
Kelly let his apology go. She was more interested in what else he surely wanted to say.
“Okay, Perry, I have my food now. I want to know what you want.” He started to speak, but Kelly interrupted him. “Don’t say you only came for lunch, because we both know you’d rather go to a four-star restaurant where people recognize you, than be in a homespun town where horseflesh is the stock in trade.”
He set his fork down and folded his arms in front of him. Kelly hated this gesture. He was either gathering courage to dictate something or buying time. To her it seemed cowardly.
“I want you to give up this farm business and come back to work.”
“I already have a job,” she told him.
“You can’t want to continue here. You’re too good. And what happens when you finish the place? There’ll be no job waiting for you. You’ll fail.”
“Fail,” she said. “You think I’m going to fail?”
“Of course not. I think you’d be so much better at what you do best.”
“Perry, you have no comparison for what I do best. How do you know my work at the Kendall isn’t better than me selling toothpaste or cupcakes or the newest shade of lipstick?”
“Because I know you.”
“Even if that’s true, I get more satisfaction from working at the Kendall than I ever got working on the Crawford or Grissom accounts.” The Crawford account brought in ten million dollars. It was her job to get consumers to buy their food products, specifically peanut butter and a variety of canned goods.
“What about us?” he asked.
Kelly nearly dropped her cheeseburger. “What us?”
“You know we were the best team at the agency.”
Kelly understood what was happening. They weren’t a team. Perry was a user. He’d used her, but she had been too blind to see what he was doing until he’d dumped her. He’d thought he could do it on his own, and when the time came for him to produce something new that the client would like, he couldn’t do it. And that’s why he was trying to get Kelly to change her mind.
“I have my own team here,” she said. “We work well together and we get the job done.”
“But think about it, Kelly. We were phenomenal. Between the two of us together, we could open our own agency.”
“Perry, you don’t seem to understand that I’m happy here.”
He looked out the window. Kelly glanced out, too. Jace drove into the lot and parked next to the red sports car. She watched as he slid out of the cab and headed for the front door. What now? She couldn’t see Jace and Perry becoming fast friends.
“If you come back, you can have your own team. It would be so much easier for you and you wouldn’t have to handle every detail yourself,” Perry said.
“I don’t handle every detail here,” she said. “All changes require my approval, but I don’t have do them myself. I like doing them. If I don’t do it or can’t, I hire someone.”
“What about that guy?”
“What guy?”
“The one who’s shown up out of the blue.”
The door opened and Jace walked in. “You mean that guy?” She indicated Jace. “He’s helped me out a lot and he’s a friend. Now you can return to New York and put your own team together. Thanks for lunch, but I see I have a ride back to the farm.” She intentionally used the word farm.