Her Lifelong Dream (17 page)

Deanna looked at Leedy's shocked face and then at the
doorway to the house. "It isn't what you think, Leedy," she
whispered. "That woman is one of Uncle Terry's students.
She drops by sometimes for help with ..."

"It's okay," Leedy said, pasting a smile on her face.
"Your uncle has no ties to me. And I know Krissy. She's
in the class. She's a lovely person." It was all she could do
to choke the words out, but somehow she managed to keep
her face frozen in a tense smile.

To her horror, she realized that Terry and Krissy were
watching them as Deanna climbed out of her car. Leedy
smiled and waved, all the while pretending her heart had
not just been broken.

Krissy slid her arm around Terry's waist and pulled him
to her, smiling at Leedy with perfect pink lips. "Hi y'all!" she chimed, leaning in and whispering something in his ear.
There was a victorious expression on her face that made
Leedy think of words she never said in mixed company.
But, somehow, she managed to keep smiling.

"Leedy, wait!" Terry called, pulling away from Krissy's
tight grip.

"I can't," Leedy shouted through the open car door. "I
have to get to work! Thanks for the shopping trip, Deanna."

"Same time next week?" the girl asked, holding onto the
car door.

"Sure thing," Leedy said. She realized she was smiling
like a lunatic, but she didn't dare stop grinning. Deanna
hesitated, but finally shut the car door. Leedy waved one
last time before she stomped down hard on the gas pedal.
She didn't mean for it to happen, but the tires on her Jeep
squealed angrily as she drove away from the house.

She looked into the rearview mirror and saw Krissy and
Deanna standing in the front yard, watching the Jeep as it
laid a patch of rubber. Terry was there too, but he was
standing on the sidewalk, waving for Leedy to come back.

it was the last night of class. Leedy's weekend had gone
by in a blur of work and wishing the phone would ring.
When it did ring, she refused to answer it. When she returned home late at night and saw that the little red light
of her answering machine was flashing, she refused to listen
to her messages. It had been the longest four days of her
life. She had considered skipping the last class but somehow the suggestion made her angry. Why should she not
get her money's worth out of a class that had proven itself
to be beneficial to her career? Why should she let a tryst
between Krissy Montgomery and Terry Foster deter her
from receiving a quality education?

Terry called. Repeatedly. She knew because she was
there when the calls came in. He left messages on her machine, asking her to call him. But Leedy decided not to.
She wasn't ready to talk to him. Not then, anyway. She
was afraid of what he would say.

She worked a double shift every day until Monday af ternoon when Brittany had angrily ordered her out of Mr.
Hobo's. Once, she spotted Terry sitting by himself in the
dining room. Leedy hid out in the kitchen while Brittany
told him she wasn't there.

But it was now Tuesday and her resolve was all gone.
She missed him terribly and it was the last day of class.
Leedy greeted the day with mixed emotions. She knew she
had to face him sooner or later, but the thought of seeing
him again made her feel queasy. She couldn't get the image
of Krissy standing in Terry's doorway, gently tugging on
his arm, out of her mind. None of that mattered any more,
Leedy told herself. The day of the last class had finally
come and she had no intention of missing it, Krissy Montgomery or not.

She sat at her desk and grimly opened her notebook,
flipping through the pages and pages of notes she had taken
over the past six weeks. She had played her tape recordings
of the lectures over and over again, as much to hear the
sound of Terry's voice as to pretend to study. Leedy sighed.
She wished she had taken the class before she had applied
for the bank loan. These notes would have come in handy
back then. And maybe, with a different beginning for them,
her first meeting with him might have gone better. Maybe
things would have been different now.

Terry walked into the classroom, a determined swing to
his walk. He gently pushed past the gaggle of students in
the front of the room. He was looking for her, Leedy realized when she saw his eyes go straight to her desk. When
he saw her, his face filled with relief. "Leedy," he called,
but the students were already closing in on him, slapping
him on the back and making jokes. Included in the crowd
was Miss Perfect Blond, herself. This time she was wearing a pair of red hip-hugging denim bell-bottom pants and a
clingy black knit sweater.

Leedy grimaced and dug in her bag for her pencil case,
pretending she hadn't seen him. But she couldn't help but
watch him as he stood in the front of the room while Krissy
fawned over him. Was it her imagination or were Krissy's
outfits getting tighter and more daring with each class? He
was nodding at Krissy, but his eyes were on Leedy. He was
listening to something she was saying, all the while nodding impatiently. Leedy wished Krissy was not leaning so
close to him, and wished even more that she was not blocking his path to her desk.

Terry looked fleetingly across the room at her. Suddenly,
he took Krissy's hand off his arm and whispered something
to her. His face stern and resolute as he pressed past her.
"Leedy," he called when he saw she was watching him.
She quickly looked away. She started to count to one hundred, but only made it to seven before she looked back up
again. He was standing in front of her desk, looking down
at her. There was a look in his eye, as if they were the only
two people in the room. His expression was hopeful and
determined. His eyes met hers and he smiled. She returned
the gaze, almost hesitantly, and found herself returning the
smile. One look at him and her difficult weekend was all
but forgotten and she was melting under his gaze.

"I need to see you after class," he said firmly, not caring
about the women in the front of the classroom who were
watching him.

"I don't know ... I ..." she stammered.

"Yes," he said, almost commanding her. "Please ... We
need to talk."

"All right," she agreed, helpless to refuse him.

He smiled, his face awash with relief. "I can't wait," he
said, quietly, so that only she could hear him. Then he
returned to the front of the room and stood in front of the
class. Again, his eyes found hers, as if he couldn't look
away.

"Okay, everyone," he said finally, when he realized the
class was waiting. "Please, sit down. We need to begin."
Krissy reluctantly took her seat, but she was watching him
as intently as he was watching Leedy.

"I know this is our last day of class," he said. "But we
still have a lot of ground to cover. So, let's get started."

Just then, Jo Anne darted into the room, mumbling apologies to Terry. Leedy smiled at her as she dropped her
books on her desk. "Late, as usual," she whispered, her
cheeks a bright shade of pink. "Ryan's football practice ran
longer than I expected." She brushed a loose curl out of
her eyes and leaned over toward Leedy. "Can we get together for coffee after class?" she asked. "I have an important business proposition I would like to discuss with
you."

"Um ... well. Terry said he needed to speak with me
after class," Leedy whispered.

"He's coming too," Jo Anne said. "I called him this
morning. He said he would tell you. I would have called
you earlier, but you haven't been answering the phone
lately. I left you three messages yesterday. Is your machine
on the fritz?"

"Yes," Leedy lied. Had Jo Anne called? She couldn't
remember. The only thing she remembered was Terry's
voice when she finally played his messages, over and over
again.

Her heart sank. Maybe Terry didn't want to talk to her at all. Maybe he was just passing on the message that Jo
Anne wanted to meet for coffee after class. But his face
had been so earnest, his whisper so insistent. "I can't wait,"
he had said. What did that mean?

The rest of the class passed quickly and Leedy barely
heard a word Terry said. She was too busy watching his
expressive and handsome face and wondering what it
would be like to feel his strong arms around her and taste
his mouth on hers. Twice she caught him look in her direction. Both times, when he saw she was watching him,
he looked as if he wanted to call out to her. And there was
that expression again, if only for an almost imperceptible
second. She did sense that he was attracted to her, she admitted-or maybe it was only wishful thinking on her part.
Or maybe he was a player who juggled women for fun.
But that didn't seem right either.

"Are you ready?" Jo Anne asked.

"Huh?" she said, lost in her troubled thoughts.

"Earth to Leedy," Jo Anne said, laughing. "Class is over,
sweetie. We can go now."

"Oh ... I'm sorry," Leedy said, embarrassed. It didn't
seem possible two hours had gone by so quickly-and so
tortuously slow, all at the same time.

She gathered up her things. The problem, she decided,
was that she didn't know where she stood with Terry. And
she didn't know where he stood with Krissy Montgomery.
"It's about time I found out," she told herself as she stuffed
her books into her bag. "Once and for all."

"Did you say something?" Jo Anne asked.

"Oh ... um ... no," Leedy shrugged, nodding in the direction of Terry's desk. "He seems to be busy. I just wonder if we should meet him there."

"Terry might need a minute to escape his fan club," Jo
Anne said in agreement. "But we can wait."

Leedy reminded herself, for the hundredth time, that
Terry was single ... and gorgeous ... and those women
were only human. So am I, she wanted to shout out loud.
So am I!

Krissy was standing next to Terry, her hand, once again,
was lightly touching his elbow. She looked in Leedy's direction and saw that she was watching. Krissy pursed her
lips into a sneer and slipped her hand onto his back.

"That Krissy," Jo Anne said indignantly, shaking her
head. "Could she be more of a floozy? I'm surprised she
had the nerve to even show her face here tonight after what
she did last week!"

"What do you mean?" Leedy asked, confused.

"Didn't you hear?" Jo Anne asked. "You gotta start
checking the messages on your answering machine more
often, sweetie. I told you. I've been trying to call you for
days!"

"I worked double shifts all weekend," Leedy apologized.
"What happened?"

"Well, you know how Krissy has been throwing herself
at Terry since the first day of class?" Jo Anne said, her
voice low and her eyes darting toward the front of the
room.

"I suppose," Leedy said. "But Terry's a big boy. He can
take care of himself."

"True," Jo Anne said. "But I don't think you know the
whole story. But take my word for it, Miss Diplomat,
Krissy Montgomery hasn't been exactly forthright in her
ongoing efforts to ... become better acquainted with our
class instructor. It's been the talk of the coffee machine. I'm surprised you didn't know. Ever since the first day of
class, she has been requesting extra help with her 'homework,' if you know what I mean. She wanted to talk with
him about accounting or banking or whatever after class,
at her place, of course."

"Well," Leedy asked, sticking her chin out. "Terry is a
bachelor and a red-blooded, healthy young man, and Krissy
is an attractive young ... woman. They're both consenting
adults, Jo Anne. They can do whatever they want."

Jo Anne snorted. "Oh, Krissy's pretty enough, I suppose.
If you like the high-dollar tramp look. And she certainly
makes the most of her assets. But it's not her looks that
are the problem."

"I don't understand."

Jo Anne leaned in, almost whispering in Leedy's ear.
"Krissy cornered Terry one day and told him she wanted a
list of his clients."

"Why would Krissy want that?" Leedy asked, confused.
Jo Anne looked at Leedy's blank expression and sighed.

"You're such a sweet little apple dumpling, aren't you?"
Jo Anne said, shaking her head. "You have no idea how
the Krissy Montgomerys of the world do business, do
you?"

"I'm sorry, Jo Anne," Leedy said. "But I don't have any
idea what you're talking about."

"I will spell it out for you then," Jo Anne said. "Krissy
asked Terry for a list of his clients, along with a favorable
letter of reference."

"That's a bit forward of her," Leedy admitted.

"That's not all," Jo Anne said. She glanced up at the
front of the room again and saw that the flock of students
vying for Terry's attention was thinning out. "Krissy told him she was willing to do `almost anything' to get a favorable recommendation from Madison's favorite banker."
Jo Anne added the word `almost' reluctantly.

"Recommendation for what?"

"Krissy wants to be the financial planner for all the movers and shakers in town. Of course, no one in their right
mind would turn their investments over to her, after that
sticky business with the very rich and very old Mr. Hancock. Naturally, Terry saw through her right away. He's no
fool. He thought he was safe after the first time she finished
his class, but she just enrolled in the class again. And again.
So far, he's managed to keep his distance from her. At
least, up until last week."