No Hiding Behind the Potted Palms! A Dance with Danger Mystery #7 (46 page)

Chapter Two --

“Let’s see the bedrooms,” Ned
demanded.

“Does that mean yes?”

“Don’t get your hopes
up.”

I opened the door to the smaller of
the two bedrooms. Just over ten feet square, it was painted deep
purple, with carpet to match. Its only saving grace was the fact
that it actually had a pair of decent-sized closets. That’s because
the previous owner had chopped off square footage in favor of
storage space.

“It’ll do,” Ned decided. “What’s the
master like?”

We stepped back out into the hall
and I opened the next door. Bigger, with a window overlooking the
backyard, the royal blue master bedroom also had an old, step-down
sun porch attached, currently used as a walk-in closet.

“Well, it’s not horrible, Suze. It’s
got some potential. Is this porch winterized or do we have to
insulate?”

“Insulate, but at the same time, we
could add some shelving along the exterior walls and build it out a
bit, to offer more storage, so it’s a true walk-in closet. The
windows are new enough. It’s unheated, but I thought we might be
able to add a small radiator. Or we could build up from the current
floor, which would allow us to some radiant floor heating if we go
with tile.”

“I’d rather turn it back into a sun
porch. Let’s do a wall-length closet in the bedroom. We lose three
feet from the master, but we regain some decent storage space. I’d
like to install a set of French doors that lead to the porch. Can
it be accessed from the kitchen, too? That would be
useful.”

We spent another half hour going
through the house. Ned decided that we could do some improvements
in the basement, too, since it was dry and offered room for storage
and laundry. I could tell he was already imagining himself in that
reno blog. My lips curled up as I realized my big brother was about
to open up that Fort Knox of a wallet of his.

“Tell you what,” he said. “Let’s buy
this place and then we’ll sit down and hammer out what gets done
first. I might be willing to put a little more money into the place
after we get Sid Lowame to inspect it.”

“Great,” I grinned.

By five in the afternoon, we had
sent over an offer for the property and it was just a matter of
waiting until we heard back.

“Want to hit the Low Down for a
drink?” Ned asked.

“Rain check?” I glanced at my watch.
What I really needed was a three-mile run through the
park.

“Suit yourself. But I hope you’re
not trying to run into Jasper, because that’s really
needy.”

“No, smarty pants. I need some
exercise.”

“I’m just saying you shouldn’t throw
yourself at the guy. He’s already rejected you, so tuck your tail
between your legs and move on.”

“Gee, thanks. Whatever would I do
without you, Dear Abby?”

“I’ll call you when I hear back from
the listing agent,” he shouted after me. I waved in response,
already in my little silver streak. Throwing the 2000 Mazda Miata
in reverse, I gunned the engine a little more enthusiastically than
was good for it. Ned still had the knack of getting under my skin
when he gave unsolicited advice on love.

I took a left down Windsong
Boulevard, shifting gears and feeling a faint shudder in the gear
box. It might be time for a transmission check. I hated the thought
of giving up my convertible. There was nothing sweeter than the
wind in my hair as I zipped along the open road. Hopefully, I could
keep the silver streak going, given its sentimental value. It had
been my Declaration of Independence. I bought the car six years
ago, right after Jay moved out of the apartment, two weeks shy of
our wedding. The memory caused me to sigh. What was it with me and
men? I could catch them, but I couldn’t keep them. This was
starting to irritate the life and love out of me.

I paused at the traffic light, foot
lightly resting on the brake, before I turned right and I drove the
mile to West Avenue, turning down the wide lane and traveling
another half a mile to number 16. I parked my Miata in front of the
house, in the shade of the beech tree. I took the stairs two at a
time to the third floor of the Victorian, unlocked my door, and
dumped my purse on the sofa on the way to my bedroom. In less than
five minutes, I had changed into a pair of red running shorts and a
black tank top, thrown my brown shoulder-length hair into a
ponytail, and pulled on my Asics over a pair of red ankle socks.
Grabbing my phone, I went down the stairs as quickly as I could, my
feet flying. Once on the sidewalk, I stepped into a quick walking
pace for half a block before breaking into a trot. At the stoplight
on the corner, I waited for an old farm truck to make the turn
before I trotted across the road and into Plover Park. From there,
I picked up speed as I followed the gravel path through the pines
and up the hill. Even as I put my feet down and picked them up in
the runner’s rhythm, soothed by the beat of my pacing, I cursed
Ned. He had to go and spoil it all by mentioning Jasper.

The truth is I’ve had a crush on him
since high school. He was the guy that got away. Even Jay, a senior
engineer for Frameless Friction, a machine manufacturing company,
was never a match for Jasper.

I thought about that day Jay moved
out of the apartment we had shared for almost two years. My altered
wedding dress was hanging from my closet door, enclosed in its
protective case. My rhinestone-encrusted heels were sitting in
their shoe box on the closet shelf. I had bought my lace bustier
and matching panties. There was even a slip of a white silk
nightgown hanging on a satin hanger, ready for the trip to Grand
Cayman Island. Everything was ready for the big day, except
Jay.

“Suzanne, we have to talk.” Those
were ominous words. I remembered putting down my pen and looking up
from the seating chart at the bespectacled bridegroom as he stood
in the dining corner of the apartment.

“Sure,” I said. “What’s
up?”

“There’s no good way to tell you
this.”

“What? You lost your job?” I thought
I was being funny when I made the comment. The look on his face
said otherwise. “What? You met someone else?”

“I’m really, really sorry,” he
started to say. I interrupted him, feeling a sense of panic filling
my chest.

“You met someone else?”

“Really sorry,” he said
again.

“Who?” This time I waited. Jay’s
face went red. He slowly pulled out the chair opposite me and sat
at the table. He smoothed the tablecloth, clearly searching his
mind for the words he needed to express.

“I...I can’t marry you.” There was a
long pause as I tapped my foot under the table, wondering why,
barely able to contain my anxiety. “I’m going to be a
father.”

“A father?” I repeated the words
numbly. “But how? I’m not pregnant.”

“Meghan.”

“The girl from your office?” Our
eyes locked and I knew in that instant just how badly I had been
betrayed. “Isn’t she the one you had to meet at the office every
weekend to work on projects?”

Incredulous, I stared at the man who
was dumping me and gasped as the full impact hit me. All the late
nights and the constant phone calls suddenly made sense.

“You’ve been cheating on me ever
since you asked me to marry you! What a bastard!”

“Suzanne, I’m so, so, so sorry. I
didn’t mean for it to happen. She told me last night.”

“How stinking
convenient!”

“I had every intention of marrying
you. I really did. But it wouldn’t be right, not if I’m going to be
a father.”

“It would have been okay if she
wasn’t pregnant?”

“Well, yeah.” Jay was surprised at
my reaction.

“You would have continued the
relationship with her even after we were married.
Unbelievable!”

“I didn’t mean for you to find out
this way.”

“You didn’t mean for me to find out
any way!” The tears burned as they splashed down my cheeks. “Get
the hell out of my house!”

“I’ve packed my things,” said the
apologetic Jay. I gazed from him to the three suitcases by the
door. He had already prepared to leave me. It was a done deal. “And
again, I’m so sorry.”

“Save it. I don’t want to hear it.”
I got up from the table, looked down at his bowed head as he
studied his folded hands, and resisted the temptation to say more.
I wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he cut
me through the heart. I wasn’t going to let him make me crazy. The
idea that this stiff, awkward engineer with the personality of a
flounder had been boinking the office girl was a shocker. He was
the epitome of Mr. Safe Guy, the man who never strayed off the
right path because he was oblivious to the scenery. I never knew he
had it in him. All this time, I believed him when he said I brought
out the best in him. Apparently Meghan brought out the worst,
because he waited until the day before we planned to pick up the
marriage license to make his big announcement.

I brought myself back to my run,
focusing on the present. I wanted to leave the past behind. There
were few people around, despite the fine weather. I had finished
the first third of my loop. Still no sign of Jasper. Perhaps I had
missed him again. I pulled out my phone and checked the time. Along
about now, I sometimes caught a glimpse of him on the hill behind
the pavilion. One of these days, my timing would be right, and I
would be able to casually pass him on my run. A friendly hello
would be a start. I was looking for an opportunity. I needed an
opening.

At the moment, a large group of
enthusiastic adults was playing badminton on the playing field,
hooting and hollering at missed shots. Children were on the swings
and in the sand box. No familiar dark-headed runner.

Disappointment wrapped around me
like a damp towel in a heat wave, weighing me down as I headed up
the hill and along the cemetery wall. I let my mind take its own
path, and that brought me back to Jay and the broken engagement.
Ned never knew the reason Jay and I broke up. I was damned if I was
going to let everyone think the unimaginative jerk dumped me. I let
my big brother believe that I had changed my mind. I even fed the
myth that I had cold feet, letting Ned go through the motions of
trying to get us back together. He snagged Jay for a man-to-man
conversation that went nowhere. Jay didn’t dare make a peep, not
after I told him I would make sure there wasn’t a citizen of our
small town who wouldn’t know that he dumped me at the altar for his
pregnant bimbo. Three weeks later, he and Meghan eloped. As soon as
they got back from their honeymoon on Grand Cayman, she announced
she lost the baby. Tearful, Jay came to me one night, begging me to
take him back, claiming it had all been a huge mistake. By then, I
had changed the locks, especially the one I installed on my heart
the day he left. There was no way Jay was ever setting foot in my
home again.

Jasper Wintonberry, on the other
hand, was welcome to visit me at any time, day or night. The image
of him knocking on my door made me smirk as I thought of the things
I wanted to share with him, starting with my hungry
lips.

I had run into him at the Low Down
about four weeks ago when I was there for a business meeting. It
was the first time I had seen him in about a decade. Putting on my
most dazzling smile, I boldly walked up to him with a friendly
greeting, to welcome him back to Glendale after all these years. As
if I were the unofficial ambassador of the town. As if I were
irresistible. But he did resist me. In fact, he simply nodded, said
my name dismissively, and turned back to the group of guys at his
table. With my heart pounding inside my chest, I pretended not to
be crestfallen. I simply walked away with that big, phony smile
plastered on my face, dazed and confused about the obvious rebuff.
If there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s getting an arctic blast in
response to my sunny overtures. It makes me wonder what was wrong
about my approach, especially when I had never been anything but
friendly to Jasper Wintonberry. That’s when I decided I would
figure out a way to melt that frozen attitude. Since then, I had
run into him three more times, and each time he seemed to thaw a
little more.

I followed the treeless ridge along
the hill, sun in my eyes, and crossed the drainage ditch that cut
through the trail at the pines. That’s when I felt a sharp sting on
my ankle. My running shoes slid across stony surface, still wet
from the brief afternoon shower, as I tried to keep my
balance.

“Crap!” I felt like a bobble-headed
doll on roller skates as I careened down the hill, losing my
traction. Pitching forward, I stumbled and skidded, bounced and
bumped, finally unable to stay upright. From there, it was just
pure physics in action as my feet flew out from underneath me and I
went tumbling the rest of the way. Arms outstretched, I sledded for
several yards on my stomach before coming to a clumsy stop at the
bottom.

It took me a moment to right myself
and recover what little dignity I had left. Wiping the dirt and
grass stains off my hands, grateful to have the foresight to be
wearing black shorts, I considered my next move. If I wanted to
stick to the familiar trail, I would have to climb back up the hill
and I wasn’t sure I had the strength to do it. The fastest way was
through the woods, but the path was uneven and the sunlight was
fading fast. As I dithered, looking up at the way I had come and
across at the unfamiliar, I felt a throbbing in my left knee. Soon
I would be stiff and sore. Suddenly, the quickest route seemed the
best choice. With a shrug, I surrendered to my fate and hobbled
into the forest. Following the faint glow of the setting sun, I
made my way along the leaf-strewn track. By the time I reached the
edge of the woods, I had added a slew of mosquito bites to my
injuries list. Filthy, frustrated, and frazzled, I considered the
long walk home. Surely I looked a complete mess. A long soak in the
tub would do me some good. Perhaps this was the night to call
Shanghai Palace for some shrimp with cashews, instead of cooking.
Reaching the curb, I waited for the crosswalk signal to change. So
intent on having as much time as possible to limp across the
street, I didn’t notice the Lexus until it was right beside me and
the electric window was sliding silently down.