Sparring Partners (35 page)

"Are you sure that's not just you being your
own worst hyper-critical-enemy? You know you have a habit of doing
that when you're unsure of where you stand."

"I do not." Reed countered, standing.

"Do too, candy-ass."

Reed felt her shoulders slump and suddenly
Shay's sweaty arm wrapped around her, bolstering them up. "There's
no reason for you to second guess why Jordon married you. Every
single man I know, and even some married ones, would marry you
given half a chance, myself included. Not many of them could handle
you though, present company excepted, but never doubt your worth to
the male of the species."

She could have hit him. She could have made
light of his declaration. She told him the truth instead.

"I'm glad you're here, Shay."

"Me too." He said seriously. Then that
happy-wanna-see-my-leprechaun-gold smile was firmly back in place.
It slipped only a little with his next topic. "I'm going to see
Irma this afternoon. She still hasn't come out of her coma. Wanna
come with?"

Reed felt her first real smile since
mistakenly entering William's study last night. "Absolutely."

...

"Things didn't go so well last night with
your wife." William said, looking up from his morning paper, one of
about five he still got in print format, the other ten or so he
read online.

"She'll be fine. She didn't know enough not
to contradict Mr. Takahara. Reed thinks everyone she meets is her
equal." Jordon absently flipped through value-line reports of
various stocks more out of habit than interest. Funny, in the time
he'd been at Potters Woods, he hadn't found the time or the desire
to pull it up on his computer, he hadn't even bothered with
The
Wall Street Journal
.

Lily entered the kitchen, and whatever
William may have said to that was lost. Jordon caught a glimpse of
desire that flashed across William's face before he could hide it
and his eyes narrowed. He knew the two of them had been spending a
lot of time together, but it never dawned on Jordon that William's
interest in Lily was anything other than brotherly, until this
moment.

"Is there some reason Reed shouldn't assume
everyone in the room is equal to her?" Lily asked, kissing the top
of his head as she took a seat next to William. William seemed
surprised that she sat right next to him when there were nine other
empty seats at the table, but he quickly hid that look too.

"That's not what I meant, mom."

Thorson poured a cup of tea for Lily, left
the pot, and disappeared. He didn't serve or even acknowledge
William or Jordon. "Thank you, Thorson." Lily said, her smile
lighting up the room. Thorson winked at her and bowed in response,
leaving the room as silently as he appeared.

Lily took a sip of her tea. "What did you
mean dear?"

Jordon knew that tone, perfectly pleasant,
way too pleasant, and that cock of his mother's head. Since he'd
been born, every lesson he learned from his mother started out this
exact same way. Seemingly polite inquiry and subtle misconstruing
of his deeds or words by his oh-so-understanding mother led to him
feeling like shit.

"Thorson already gave me the third degree,
mother, although I'm not sure where he wanted me to go with his
Shakespeare analogy. You're wasting your time, Reed doesn't need
you to stick up for her, she's perfectly capable of defending
herself."

"Umm. She is, isn't she. Seems strange to me
how that courageous girl bit her tongue all through dinner. It was
as if she'd been told to shut up and smile."

Jordon's face flamed. He hadn't used those
exact words.

"I didn't tell her to shut up."

"I'm sure you didn't dear. That would have
been like telling her she's not worthy to be your wife. That she
wasn't equal to the other people in the room." Lily turned to
William. "No offense to Mr. Takahara, William, but I'm not sure
he
is Reed's equal. He's polite and important, but he didn't
treat my daughter-in-law with the respect she deserves."

Jordon should have felt better that William
was being dressed down as badly as he was, but he didn't,
especially when he saw the way his mother's hand covered William's
as she stood.

"Now, if you gentlemen–" she managed to
imbue the word with sarcasm without changing her sweet-mother tone,
"– will excuse me, our guests are starting to arrive. I trust the
two of you will treat them all with equal dignity."

Ouch
.

Jordon felt exactly like he did in fourth
grade after pulling Jenny Johnson's hair when she tried to kiss
him. His mother didn't yell, she just slew his soul with her
disappointment. Of course she made him apologize too which was
equally painful, embarrassing and shame inducing.

Damn it. He didn't have anything to
apologize for. There was no reason he should feel like a
recalcitrant nine year old. His coffee turned to acid in his
stomach for the second time that morning and he suddenly wanted to
hide from his wife.

Sometimes loving the women in his life
really sucked.

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

Reed missed the luncheon that Lily hired
Wolfgang Puck to cater in her honor.

She also missed the afternoon sailing,
volley-ball by the beach and impromptu polo match where Jordon
knocked Giles off his horse.

He probably shouldn't have done that in
front of the man's wife, but the competitive burst of adrenalin
coursing through Jordon's veins made it so easy. Giles was good
about it though. Jumped right to his feet. Most people didn't even
notice his slight limp. Six months ago Jordon would have seen that
as a minor victory and taken pleasure in it. Six weeks ago he would
have allowed himself a smile at Giles's tossing.

Today, he just felt empty and slightly
ashamed of himself for getting all worked up over a game.

Where the hell is Reed?

When she didn't make an appearance during
cocktail hour, when guests are invited to mingle and sit for
dinner, Jordon was no longer angry, he was starting to get worried.
Especially after the way they left things last night and the
Shakespeare lecture he'd received this morning.

Jordon tried her cell for the third time. It
went directly to voice mail. Again.

"Problems in paradise?" Giselle's sultry
voice made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. What did
he ever see in her? She was like a coral snake. Beautiful, deadly,
if only to his soul, but in the end, still a snake.

She wrapped her arm around his at the bar
and pulled him in.

Yeah, just like a snake. Or a leach.

Jordon was about to pull away when Reed
walked through the front door, down the steps and toward the
outdoor bar set up for the evening. She made eye contact with him
briefly before turning to smile at William, as he took her arm and
began introducing her to the new arrivals.

The uncertainty and self-doubt he saw flash
across Reed's pixie face in the millisecond when she made eye
contact turned his stomach. Had he put it there? The thought left
him feeling mean and heavy, like his heart just turned to a fifty
pound free weight in his chest, threatening to fall and decimate
all of his lower organs before it landed at his feet.

"She looks almost presentable without that
wild mass of hair around her face." Giselle purred in his ear, her
grip tightening ever so slightly.

For the first time Jordon looked directly at
her and smiled. It wasn't a pleasant smile, although to anyone who
didn't know him, it would have appeared that way. It was the smile
he always smiled when he sealed a deal, all Damascus steel, the
kind of blade that hit bone before the enemy felt the cut.

Jordon leaned into Giselle whispering softly
as he twisted the blade. "If you don't smile and back away from me
right now I will make the kind of scene that ensures you never
hobnob with anyone who's primary aspiration isn't to drink bad beer
and clerk at McDonalds ever again.

"Look." Jordon said, pointing to the garden
area where his mother had tables set before a string quartet.
"Isn't that the head of Warner Brothers studios? One word from me,
Giselle, and you won't get hired to do toothpaste ads. I hear
there's money in porn though."

Giselle let go of his arm, stepping away
with a smile that split her lovely face painfully and real fear in
her eyes. That satisfied him. Giselle was no idiot, she knew enough
about him to know he'd squash her like a mosquito, and feel about
as much remorse as he'd give the parasite while he did it. She
waived one delicate hand, like the actress she wanted to be, and
left with more grace than he'd thought she was capable of, but
then, self-preservation dictated her every move.

"She's a bitch." Jesse said, taking the seat
Giselle vacated.

Jordon laughed, pulling the kid in for a
quick hug. "You do a disservice to female dogs everywhere." Jordon
looked around for Reed, saw her shaking yet another hand, that
polite and infinitely gracious smile plastered on her face. In that
instant she reminded him of Lily, elegant, full of grace and wit, a
real lady.

Who was studiously avoiding making eye
contact with him, again. Jordon looked away.

"She looks beautiful tonight, doesn't
she?"

Jordon didn't pretend not to know who Jesse
was referring to. "She always looks beautiful." Jordon said
matter-of-factly. "Can I buy you a Coke?"

Jesse smiled at him. "You can't buy anything
here. It's all free. I heard some blow hard order some kind of
scotch and then brag that it's two hundred dollars a shot at his
'club'. Jerk managed to go through five of them before I left."

Jordon could hear the disapproval in Jesse's
voice, although the kid went to great lengths to cover it. In
Jesse's world, what one man consumed in scotch at one sitting, a
family of four could eat on for a month. Jordon was beginning to
realize he preferred living in Jesse's world.

"You can't save the world from excess
tonight kid. That's what this shin-dig is all about. That doesn't
mean you can't lay the foundation to change things, if that's what
you want to do." Jordon shrugged. "You can't beat this system. It's
too big. Too powerful. But if you're smart, you can use it to make
life the way you want it to be, at least some of the time."

Jesse's eyes narrowed and Jordon could see
the neurons flashing as his brain made the connections. This kid
with the knowing eyes would change the world some day. Jordon hoped
like hell he was around to see it happen.

"Now can I buy you a Coke?"

"No." Jesse smiled, and the teenager was
back. "But I'd love a Mountain Dew."

Jordon gestured to the bartender with a
simple nod. "Make it two. Just to be daring, I'll take mine
straight up. The kid needs ice."

...

If Reed needed to smile, nod and be polite
one minute longer, not only was her face going to crack, she was
seriously thinking of booming out a chorus of Ozzy Ozbourne's
Crazy Train
. Then her in-laws and the assembled who's-who
masses would get to know the real Reed, 'right here - right now' as
her grandmother used to say. That probably wouldn't bode too well
for her budding marriage, but as the minutes began to move like
concrete in the wind, her tolerance for polite bullshit waned in
equal measure.

William snagged a glass of champagne from a
passing tray and handed it to her. "I prefer scotch to get me
through the last tenth of a crowd who come to see me. That, or a
giant root-beer float, but champagne will do. Keep your lovely
smile dear. It's almost over and you've yet to knock anyone
out."

A compliment, advice on carrying herself in
a dignified manner, and a slam all in one breath. "Damn, you're
good." Reed said, before draining the contents of her flute in one
long swallow.

"So are you. More than good enough to hold
your head high for the rest of the evening. Don't swear in
public."

That stiffened her back and loosened her
smile more than anything else he could have said. "Have you been
speaking to my Sensei?"

"Once or twice. He's quite colorful and
generous when he speaks of his students, especially you, but he's
more prone to Zen and some kind of panda quotes. It's Thorson who
regales with Shakespeare."

"Is that supposed to make sense to the
plebeians in the crowd, or only to those in your tax bracket?"

William laughed, drawing the attention of
the more attentive guests, and pulled her in to kiss her cheek. "My
tax bracket is lower than yours, which is a crime I'm trying to
fix, but we'll talk more about that and how you can help later. But
for now, smile and employ that regal nod of yours. Only five more
tables to go."

Reed snagged another glass of champagne and
slapped an artfully painted plastic smile on her face as she tried
to ignore the ten-thousand bobby pins plastering her curls to her
head in a classically elegant, pain in the noggin, twist from down
under.

She would have thought 'ass' and 'hell', but
William didn't want her to swear in public.

"Your Sensei, Thorson and Charlie are
sipping vintage Bordeaux, arguing the merits of Marlowe,
Shakespeare and Humphrey Bogart." William held up a hand staying
her questions. "They're engrossed in some Japanese game with
pebbles. They'll wait. Dinner won't. After dinner you can sneak
away to them. I think your friend Shannon O'Shay is planning on
joining them after dinner as well."

William stopped and turned to her, growing
serious. "One should always have an oasis when in the desert.
Friends among family, so to speak." Then the smile was firmly back
in place and William was once again king of his domain, introducing
the dutiful princess.

Not so dutiful, and not much for royalty,
especially the tight-ass clothes and attitudes. Give her a Goo-Goo
Dolls t-shirt and a good pair of tennis shoes any day.