A Soft Place to Fall (31 page)

There was no denying that they were a couple
now. Claudia remained pleasant but distant, as if Annie's feelings
for Sam somehow diminished her love for the woman who had opened
her heart to her all those years ago. Nothing could have been
further from the truth but each time Annie tried to broach the
topic, Claudia found another chore that needed doing or suddenly
remembered a meeting she had to attend. Annie was more than a
daughter-in-law but not quite a daughter by blood and the thought
that loving Sam might mean she lost the woman who had mothered her
for over twenty-two years made her terribly sad.

"Pay no attention to her," Warren had said
when she dropped off the latest batch of typed manuscript for him.
"She's worked herself into a snit. She'll work herself out of it
sooner or later."

Annie wasn't so sure about that. Claudia
seemed to spend most of her free time poring over piles of
documents connected to her Adam Winters seminars and when she
wasn't reading, she was entering numbers into the computer then
saving them to a floppy disk that went everywhere with her. Under
normal circumstances, Annie wouldn't have hesitated to ask her what
was going on but these days they were walking on eggshells around
each other and Annie wasn't about to make the situation between
them any more uncomfortable than it already was.

Even Susan's attitude toward Annie had
changed. Oh, she still was the master of lighthearted banter but
there was an awkwardness between them that had never been there
before.

"You're so busy all the time," Susan said to
her one afternoon in early October. She had stopped in at the shop
to pick up an arrangement for a client's housewarming. "The kids
keep asking when they're going to see their Aunt Annie."

"Aunt Annie's right here," she said as she
draped moss over the wire frame of a harvest cornucopia. "Tell them
they can drop in anytime."

"You know what I'm talking about."

"No," said Annie as she reached for some
broad and glossy ivy leaves, "I don't. I'm here, Susie, every
single day of the week and when I'm not here I'm over at Warren's
working on a project."

"Or you're with Sam."

"So that's what this is about."

"Yes – I mean, no – oh, hell, I don't know
what I mean."

Annie wiped her hands along the sides of her
jeans. "Why don't I brew some tea?" she suggested, glancing at the
clock. "Claudia's off at her seminar today and the crew from the
co-op are at Bar Harbor setting up for a sidewalk show this
weekend."

"I really shouldn't," Susan said. "I'm at the
front desk this afternoon."

"Ten minutes," Annie urged. "It's been too
long, Susie." She flipped the sign on the door to read
Closed.
"Now how can you refuse me?"

They fell together into the old rhythms of
friendship. Annie took down the red tea pot she had found years ago
at a yard sale and broke out the loose tea.

"Fancy-shmancy," Susan remarked as she
ferreted out a box of Oreos in the narrow cupboard off the
workroom. "Will you read my tea leaves?"

"I don't have to," Annie said as she poured
the boiling water into the pot. "I know we're all in for clear
sailing."

"Speak for yourself," Susan said as she
separated the two layers of cookie and exposed the filling. "I
think I see a few storm clouds on the horizon."

"Anything you want to tell me about?"

"I don't know . . . I mean, it's all – damn
it, Annie, I'm jealous as hell."

Annie started to laugh. "You're kidding,
aren't you? You have everything I ever wanted." A husband, kids, a
beautiful house, a job, a big family all of whom loved her
unconditionally.

To her astonishment, Susan's dark brown eyes
filled with tears. "You're so happy these days. Everyone's noticed
it. The two of you actually light up a room when you walk in. If I
could feel that way again for just ten seconds I –" She caught
herself. "Don't mind me. I'm premenopausal."

"You're jealous of Sam and me?" She couldn't
believe she was even saying those words.

"Yes," Susan said as the tears spilled down
her cheeks, "and if you want to hear something really sick, I was
jealous of you and Kevin too."

"I don't know what to say."

Susan laughed raggedly and dabbed at her eyes
with the edge of a paper towel. "You and Kevin were the most
romantic couple I'd ever known. We were all wildly jealous of you
two in high school and then when you got married – hell, it was
better than the romance novels we were reading under the covers at
night. Do you know what we called you two?"

Annie shook her head. She was beginning to
think she knew very little at all.

"The Orphan and the Penniless Poet."

Annie started to laugh.

"I know, I know, it sounds funny now but back
then we thought it was the most thrilling and romantic thing in the
world."

"Even when Kevin and I were working double
shifts at McDonald's to make ends meet?"

"What's more romantic than poverty when
you're young?"

Oh, Susan, if you only knew . . . .

Annie poured tea for both of them then
settled back down opposite her friend. "I know you and Jack are
happy," she said. "Knowing you, I can't believe you'd still be with
him if you weren't."

"We're happy," Susan admitted, "but sometimes
I find myself wondering what else might be out there." She fiddled
with her spoon. "I'm forty-two, Annie, and I can't believe this is
as good as it's going to get."

"Isn't that what Sweeney said when she left
husband number six?"

"I'm not saying I want six husbands," Susan
said with a mock groan, "but sometimes I see a man and next thing
you know I'm having him stripped and brought to my tent." She
laughed at the look on Annie's face. "Figuratively speaking, of
course."

"I thought I was the only one who did
that."

It was Susan's turn to look shocked. "You?
You're kidding!"

"All the time," Annie said. "You wouldn't
believe what I did with the new attendant at the gas station last
spring."

Susan started to laugh and then before you
knew it Annie was laughing too, huge loud belly laughs that left no
room for jealousy or anger.

"When I was pregnant with my last one, I
actually started fantasizing about Hall in the delivery room,"
Susan admitted.

"Did you know Roberta Morgan spritzes herself
with Shalimar before every visit?"

The two of them convulsed in laughter again,
falling across the table in helpless mirth.

"Now where did you hear something like that?"
Susan demanded when she could finally speak again.

"I heard it right here," Annie said. "She and
Claudia were talking about gyno visits and Roberta piped up with
that revelation."

"I would've given anything to see my mother's
face when she heard that."

Annie poured them some more tea and broke
into a new bag of cookies.

"You know I was disappointed that it didn't
work out for you and Hall," Susan said.

"I figured as much." Annie sipped her tea.
"He's a good man," she said, "but there's just no chemistry
there."

"Maybe there could be if you gave him a
chance."

Annie shook her head. "You can't force
chemistry, Susie. It's either there or it isn't."

"Now you sound like Jack."

"Your husband's a smart man."

"I know," said Susan.

"And he loves you."

"I know that too."

"That's more than most of us get in one
lifetime."

Susan broke apart another Oreo. "Did you love
Kevin?" she asked suddenly.

"What kind of question is that?" Annie
bristled. "Of course I loved him."

"Were you happy?"

Why didn't she ask how many angels could
dance on the head of a pin?

"I think you've had too much orange
pekoe."

"No, no," Susan said. "Don't push me away
with a joke, Annie. I want to know if you and my brother were happy
together."

"Is this a test?" Annie asked lightly. "Miss
one question and I'm drummed out of the Galloway clan."

It was Susan's turn to bristle. "You looked
happy. You sounded happy. But lately I've found myself wondering
what happiness is all about."

"You're married," Annie said, choosing her
words with great care. "You know it isn't always a matter of being
happy or unhappy."

"He adored you."

Annie couldn't deny it. "He wasn't the most
practical of men."

"He was a poet," Susan said. "A poet dropped
in the middle of a bunch of bean counters. Mother was the only one
who really understood him."

"It isn't always easy living with a poet."
We almost lost the house, Susie. Strange men used to show up at
our door in the middle of the night. Our poet had a terrible
problem . . . .

"Is Sam a poet?"

Annie shook her head. "Only when he's working
on one of Warren's boats. He seems to understand them from the
inside out."

"Is that what he does for a living, repair
boats?"

She couldn't help smiling. "Would you believe
he's some kind of bean counter."

"You're happy, aren't you?"

"Very."

"And you're being careful. It's a different
world out there from when we were young and dating. The rules have
all changed."

"He's a good man."
Remember how I fell
apart when my parents died, Susie? Sam lost his parents too when he
was about the same age, but he didn't fall apart. He did what he
had to do to keep his family together. I would never have been able
to do that.
"I've never known anyone like him."

"He'd better be good," Susan said fiercely,
"or he'll have to answer to me."

"He saved my life."

"Very funny."

"I'm not joking, Susie. He saved my life the
night I moved into the new house." She told her the whole story,
from the bottle of cheap bubbly on an empty stomach to setting fire
to her beautiful green robe to waking up in bed with him the next
morning.

"Ohmigod," Susan breathed, wide-eyed.
"Ohmigod!"

"And as if that's not enough," Annie said,
"he brought over a bag of DeeDee's donuts."

Susan pretended to fall across the table in a
swoon. "You're trying to kill me, aren't you? First you tell me the
guy is a bona fide hero, then you tell me he wooed you with
DeeDee's donuts."

"Afraid so," Annie said. "I didn't stand a
chance. He's as close to perfect as a man can get."

"The donuts alone would have done it for me,"
Susan admitted.

They talked about other things too, touching
on subjects near and dear to their hearts in a way they hadn't for
far too long. Family and friends and the latest gossip making the
rounds about town. "You're the number one topic these days," Susan
said as Annie washed the cups and teapot.

Annie handed Susan a wet cup and a dry
dishtowel "What are they saying?"

"Mostly that you never looked so good. Ceil
at Yankee Shopper thinks you're doing tae bo."

Annie burst out laughing. She wanted to tell
her friend how wonderful it felt to have a secure roof over her
head, to no longer worry about strangers on her doorstep or late
night phone calls. She might not have much but what she had
belonged to her free and clear and the sense of freedom and
independence that gave her was exhilarating. And then to have
someone like Sam walk into her life at that very moment—well, it
was enough to make a woman believe she just might have been born
under a lucky star after all.

Chapter Sixteen

Hall
looked up from his computer to find Ellen standing in the doorway
to his office. She was holding a newspaper clipping in her right
hand.

"I found this is in the fax machine," she
said. "Nice picture of Annie Galloway and Sam Butler, isn't
it?"

"Thanks," he said. "I was wondering what
happened to it."

"You have to check the machine now and again,
Hall." She walked over and dropped the clipping on his keyboard.
"One day you might leave something incriminating behind."

He leaned back in his chair and looked up at
her. "If you have something to say, why don't you just say it."

"I am saying it." She leaned against the edge
of his desk and crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm just not sure
you're listening."

"I faxed a copy of a newspaper story to a
friend. Is that a crime?"

"That picture goes back to Labor Day. How
long are you going to hang onto it?"

"It's not what you think."

"Yeah," she said. "Sure it isn't."

"Annie's in love with the guy. I know that."
There were times when he even believed it.

"So what are you doing hanging onto this
stupid picture?"

"A hunch," he said.. "A reminder." He shoved
away from his desk and stood up. "Hell, Markowitz, I don't know why
but I'm glad I did."

She looked weary and more than a little bit
irritable. "You still think he looks familiar, don't you?"

"More than ever. What can it hurt to check
him out with a few sources."

"You mean, apart from the fact that it's none
of your business?"

"I've known Annie since we were kids," he
said, not quite sure why he wanted her to understand. "She's been
through a lot in her life. I don't want to see her go through
anything else."

"Never knew you were such a Boy Scout."

"You're not acting like yourself today,
Markowitz. What's going on?"

"Forget it," she said. "If you can't figure
it out for yourself, it's hopeless."

She slammed the door behind her so hard the
certificates on his wall rattled. No matter what Ellen though, he
hadn't been trying to duck her question. Right from the beginning
he'd had the feeling he knew Sam. There was something familiar
about him, something he couldn't quite put his finger on and it was
driving him crazy.