A Different Light (16 page)

Now, bring me up-to-date on your life.” Athen poured coffee for Meg at breakfast the next morning and tried to ignore the fact that she still felt the sting of Meg’s comments from the night before. Meg’s ability to cut so cleanly to the heart of the situation left Athen with the unavoidable knowledge that she had some serious questions to ask herself between now and the time her Christmas holiday concluded. “I take it things did not work out with what’s-his-name?”

“That son of a bitch.” Meg scowled. “Remember I told you I thought he was seeing someone else? Well, guess who? Jenny Scott!”

“Your next-door neighbor?”

“The same. Of course, we’re not neighbors anymore.
They moved into a neat little town house on the other side of Tulsa together. Can you believe it?” She put her head back and all but screamed, “I hate men!”

“Until the next one comes along.” Athen laughed.

“Well, of course. That goes without saying.” Meg grinned.

“Where are you off to?” Athen asked Callie, who was pulling on her jacket and hat.

“To Nina’s,” Callie told her. “We’re working on a project at her house.”

“School project?” Meg poured cream into her cup.

“Nope. Something special. A surprise.” Callie kissed them both and headed for the back door. “See ya.”

“Must be a last-minute Christmas present,” Athen explained. “Callie’s into arts and crafts this year.”

“Speaking of last-minute things, I’ve a few items to pick up myself,” Meg said. “Would you have time to drive me into town?”

“I’ve got some baking to do, and I haven’t finished wrapping Callie’s presents.” Athen frowned. “Why don’t you just take the car and run your errands?”

“Good idea. Thanks. I appreciate it.” Meg drained her cup. “Listen, Athen, not that I really mind sharing a room with a ten-year-old for a week—God knows I love Callie like she was my own—but don’t you think it’s time to finish that guest room? I mean, the chances of my beloved brother coming back to hang those last few rolls of paper are not good.”

“I know.” Athen sighed. “I think about it from time to time, but then I get depressed and I put it off.”

“And if you don’t mind my saying so, the hall bath—and the hall, for that matter—are ready to be done over. And maybe it’s time for you to get that bunny paper off
Callie’s walls.”

“I wouldn’t know where to start.” Athen clenched her jaw as she cleaned off the table.

“Start here.” Meg tossed her the phone book, then pulled on her jacket. “The Yellow Pages. Under Paint and Paper.”

“DAMN MEG, ANYWAY,” ATHEN GRUMBLED
as she measured flour into a bowl for the first batch of cookies. “She always has a way of making everyone feel like an idiot.”
You’re nothing more than a figurehead mayor, Athen. How could you be so stupid, Athen? Your daughter isn’t a two-year-old anymore, Athen, nix the bunny paper. …

Athen was miffed, and she took it out on the cookie dough. She was well aware of her shortcomings. She didn’t need Meg to point them out to her. It took four batches for the snit to pass, but by the time the last tray went into the oven, she was over it.

When Meg failed to return by two, Athen began to wonder just how many stops her sister-in-law had to make. At four thirty, she left a note on the table, telling Meg she’d be back by five, and arranged a plate of cookies for her elderly neighbor. By the time she delivered the goodies to Mrs. Sands and walked back across the street, her car was safely in the driveway.

“Where’s Meg?” she asked Callie, who was gleefully raiding the cookie jar.

“She’s in the shower,” a cookie-crammed mouth told her. “She has a date.”

“She has a what?” Athen hung her coat up in the hall closet and stuck her head back into the kitchen.

“A date with a man.” Callie grinned. “Someone she went to college with or something. She’s real excited.”

Athen started dinner, splashing a jar of spaghetti
sauce into a pan and spattering the front of her shirt, wondering who Meg’s mystery man was. When the hum of the hair dryer ceased, she went upstairs to find out.

Meg was in a frenzy, struggling into a short black velvet dress and cursing at the zipper.

“Here, I’ll do it.” Athen laughed and lent a hand.

“I hope you don’t mind, Athen.” Meg leaned over the dresser and attempted to apply eye makeup with shaky hands. “I mean, with me just getting here last night and everything. But I have waited fourteen years for this date and I’d walk through downtown Woodside Heights naked before I’d miss this opportunity.”

“Whoa.” Athen sat down on the bed and laughed. “Tell me, tell me.”

“Well, when I was in college, there was one guy who was so phenomenal, everyone was in love with him. He dated a girl on my floor senior year and we all used to hang out the window when he’d come to pick her up just so we could watch him walk.” Meg groaned as a poorly aimed brush slid eye shadow onto her face. “Anyway, who do I see when I walk into Silver’s Card Shop this afternoon but Buddy. Tall, dark, and incredibly handsome Buddy. I must say the years have been very good to this man. So, of course, I had to go over and see if it was really him, you know? So we started talking, and he suggested we take a stroll through town to see the Christmas displays, and we ended up having coffee over at Lorenzo’s—I didn’t even know that place was still there—and the next thing I knew he was asking me if I’d like to go to a cocktail and dinner party with him tonight. Well, he didn’t have to ask me twice.”

Meg flounced her hair, nervously glancing at the clock on Callie’s desk. “Oh, God, Athen, he’ll be here in
five minutes. What do you think? How do I look?”

“Gorgeous. He’ll fall at your feet,” Athen assured her.

“That’s close enough for starters. Thank God I had the sense to pack my lucky dress.” She grinned. “This little number has never let me down. Oh, shit, where’re my shoes? Oh, God, that’s the doorbell. …”

“Calm down, Meg, I’ll get it.” Athen headed for the landing.

“Talk about miracles of fate.” Meg kept up a nervous patter as Athen took the steps two at a time. “Him coming here from St. Louis, me coming home from Tulsa …”

Athen all but froze in midair.

“What does he do?” she asked cautiously.

“Well, he’s writing a book on the Underground Railroad, the local connections and that sort of thing, but he’s working for his stepfather, too. Athen, will you please get that door?”

Cement feet carried Athen to the front door. Wooden hands opened it. An obviously startled Quentin Forbes stood on the top step.

“I-I think I have the wrong house,” he stuttered. “I was looking for number two thirty-five.”

“You found it. Please come in so I can close the door, ‘Buddy.’” She motioned stiffly for him to enter.

He stepped inside but only enough to push the door closed behind him.

“Meg …?” He cleared his throat awkwardly.

“My sister-in-law.”

“Meg …?” He looked at her blankly.

“Moran.” She finished for him.

“Oh. I hadn’t remembered her last name. Your husband’s …”

“Sister.”

“I see.” He was obviously unaccustomed to such discomfort. Athen found herself enjoying it.

“Buddy, hi.” Meg sauntered down the steps in her short black dress, looking casually gorgeous, and it was then that Athen realized how frumpy she herself looked. Her white sweatshirt was liberally doused with spaghetti sauce. Her shoeless feet were clad in white wool socks, and her jeans were faded, her hair a rumble, half hanging from a knot at the back of her neck.

“Athen, I guess you’ve met …” Meg began to formally introduce them.

“‘Buddy.’” Athen nodded. “Yes, we’ve met.”

“Well,” he said, looking not at Meg but at Athen. “I guess we should …”

“Yes,” she replied. “You certainly should.”

Meg looked at her, questioning, her eyes narrowing slightly, not for a second unaware of the strange undercurrent running between the man of her dreams and her sister-in-law.

“Have a good time.” Athen fairly pushed them out onto the front steps. Closing the door quietly behind them, she wondered why she had a sudden urge to bang her forehead against the oak panels.

Athen was still wide awake when she heard the car doors slam. Callie, having chided her for being such a grump, convinced Athen to take her foul mood to bed before ten.

She heard them in the hallway for a few minutes, their laughter floating up the stairwell into her room. It took all her self-control not to tiptoe to the top of the stairs to eavesdrop. The front door closed quietly several minutes later. Athen closed her eyes and pulled the covers up when she heard Meg tiptoe into her room.

“Don’t you even pretend to be sleeping, Athena Moran. I know you’re not.” Meg poked her.

“How was the party?” Athen dropped the childish ruse and sat.

“It would have been a hell of a lot more fun—not to mention less awkward—if you had told me ahead of time that you’d had something going with my date.” Meg was ready to explode.

“What?” Athen sat up all the way.

“You could have told me that you and Buddy were more than casual acquaintances.”

“Now wait just a minute, Meg. How was I supposed to know that your old college chum ‘Buddy’ was the same man who’s been making my life a living hell for the past three months? And for the record, there is nothing between ‘Buddy’ and me. Except maybe animosity and hostility.”

“Athen, I have known enough men in my life to recognize when a man is dead on his face over another woman.”

“You are out of your mind.” Athen stared blankly at her sister-in-law.

“All he wanted to talk about the entire night was you.”

“I can’t imagine why.”

“Not to mention the fact that there was enough electricity in that little vestibule when I walked downstairs tonight to light half the Christmas trees in Woodside Heights.”

“Meg, you have the most incredible imagination of anyone I have ever met.” Athen shook her head. “Look, you don’t know what this man has done to me. He goes out of his way to publicly humiliate me every chance he gets. He thinks I’m a political slut, he …”

“… is fascinated by you.” Meg kicked high heels across the room and made a spot for herself on the bed.
“I’m telling you, all night long, one question after another.”

“Like what?” Athen eyed her suspiciously.

“Like everything. Everything from how long you and John had been married, to what kind of a deal you made with that ‘scumbag Rossi,’ to …”

“What?!”

“Those were his exact words.” Meg nodded.

“There was no ‘deal,’ Meg. I did this because … because …” Athen was suddenly at a loss. “Because at the time I thought it was the right thing to do. Because I thought I could do something good.”

“That’s exactly what I told him. I told him you were absolutely incapable of anything that even hinted at being underhanded.” Meg paused. “Athen, do you still think that was the right decision?”

“I do, and no vague little innuendoes coming from someone who up until six months ago had never set foot in Woodside Heights is going to change my mind.”

“Buddy thinks Rossi is long on rhetoric and short on accomplishment,” Meg told her. “He also thinks Rossi is into something shady.”

“Rumors, no substance. Who knows where he gets his information, anyway? And I don’t want to hear another word. I already know what he thinks of me, so let’s just can it.”

“I just want to say one more thing. I’m really surprised that you have such a closed mind. Buddy has no motivation to go witch-hunting. What possible reason could he have for going after Rossi if there’s nothing there?”

“Because he … he hates me,” Athen sputtered. “I don’t know why but he does. And because he’s a reporter—
reporters are always suspicious of anyone in politics. It’s a prerequisite for the job. And because he’s trying to impress Brenda Chapman.”

“His stepsister? Why would he care about impressing her?”

“What?” Athen paused.

“Brenda is his stepsister.”

Athen thought it through. “Then Lydia Chapman …”

“… is his mother.” Meg nodded. “She mentioned she’d met you.”

“She and her husband hosted the rally the night Rossi nominated me.” Athen’s face flushed at the memory of the cool reception she’d received from Mrs. Chapman, the amused glances from Brenda, Quentin’s insults. “Quentin Forbes is a … a geeky little butthead.”

Meg hooted. “He’s hardly that, Thena. I think he’s really concerned that …”

“I could care less what he’s concerned about.” Athen pushed Meg off the bed with her foot. “I am going to sleep now. And hopefully, by the time I wake up tomorrow, I’ll have forgiven you for consorting with the enemy and for bringing that man into my home.”

“Okay, okay.” Meg stooped to pick up her shoes. “But I would think you’d want to know if there was something going on in which you could eventually be implicated.”

“There is nothing going on. Nothing. What could be going on?” Athen sat up. “What was he talking about, anyway?”

“He didn’t get into specifics.”

“Forbes is blowing smoke, Meg. I am not the least bit concerned about his gossip, and neither should you be. Now go to bed, please.”

“I’m going.” Meg turned for the door. “But, Athen, maybe you should …”

“Enough, Meg.” Athen turned her face in her pillow, and for the next several hours fitfully battled the mean demons Meg had brought home with her.

THE HOLIDAY PASSED WITHOUT FURTHER
reminder of the shadow that Quentin Forbes had cast over her. Athen pondered his insinuations as she, Meg, and Callie were on their way to see her father on Christmas morning. It annoyed her that even on this day Quentin Forbes managed to get—and stay—under her skin.

Unconsciously, she scanned the parking lot for a little blue car, but it was nowhere in sight.

“Come on, you two,” she commanded her passengers, who were merrily singing carols. Callie insisted on bringing her new iPod and dock to fill her grandfather’s small room with the sounds of the holidays. “Help me, Callie. Meg, you grab that bag.”

Athen and Callie struggled with an enormous red poinsettia. Ari had always filled their house with them at Christmas, and each year on the holiday she would bring the biggest one she could find to add a touch of cheer to his room.