Tracie Peterson (16 page)

Deirdre glanced at her watch and grimaced. She had overstayed her time at the casino, but by taking a few side streets a little faster than the posted limit, she knew she could make up the time.

Hitting a red light and seeing no way out but to run it or stop, Deirdre did the sensible thing and stopped. She checked the rearview mirror to see if her hair and makeup looked all right, and finding them so, she returned her attention to the road. But her mind refused to stay on the job at hand, returning instead to her time at the casino.

“I shouldn’t have placed that last bet,” she said aloud, frowning at the reminder that she’d broken her own private pledge to spend nothing more than what she allotted ahead of time. Today, for the
first time, she had hit up the ATM machine for extra money, and because of that mistake, she was down by some three hundred dollars.

Traffic began moving again, but Deirdre couldn’t stop thinking about what she’d done. She had vowed that she would never be like those other poor fools who didn’t know when to quit. People who ended up spending that week’s grocery money for one last chance at the slots or the blackjack table. But now she found herself in the same sort of situation.

But it felt so right
, she argued to herself.
I was sure I would win, and then I’d have all kinds of extra money for Hawaii.
Instead, she was left wondering how she was possibly going to cover her household expenses for the next week. Dave was always generous with money, giving her a healthy allowance to buy pretty much whatever she needed. But lately she’d been spending a lot. Most of it was in preparation for the trip, but there had been other things as well. She’d refurbished part of the living room and bought new china. And the things she’d selected had come from stores with steeper prices than most. Then there was all the money she’d insisted they pour into their landscaping project for the backyard. She sighed and turned onto a side street.

“I’ll just tell him I hit a sale and couldn’t help myself,” Deirdre muttered and wheeled her car into the drive of Morgan’s private school.

Morgan danced out to the car, swinging a book bag in one hand and her sweater in the other. She turned and gave a shy wave to a group of girls sitting on the steps of Heritage School before climbing into the car.

“Hello, sweetie,” Deirdre said, helping to secure the seat belt around her petite daughter’s waist. “How was school today?”

Morgan shrugged. “It was okay. I had to read in a real book. It had hard words and everything.”

“Read? Really?” Deirdre had only spent time working with Morgan on primers that contained a half dozen small words at most. “What was the book about?”

“It was a story about a dog and a cat and how they got lost. I read
it real good, Mommy. Teacher said I might be gifted. What’s gifted mean?”

Deirdre smiled and merged into the busy afternoon traffic. “It means you’re special, which we already knew.”

Morgan continued to give her mother details of the day while Deirdre let her mind wander back to her financial problems. It was only three hundred dollars. She had jewelry worth more than that. Maybe she could just pawn a piece until Dave gave her next week’s allowance. That would work! She could pawn the antique necklace her mother-in-law had given her for Christmas. It was worth at least three hundred dollars. And because it was so ugly, Deirdre never wore it. No one would even miss it.

She pulled into their driveway and stared for a moment at the modest two-story brick house as the garage door opened slowly. She loved her house. Loved the elite neighborhood too. She felt safe here, and in spite of her thoughtless mistake at the casino, she was determined to have a good evening.

Parking the car, she helped Morgan gather her things and headed into the house. “Change out of your uniform before you go off to play,” she admonished her daughter. Morgan had a habit of forgetting and had ruined more than one jumper by climbing one of the flowering redbud trees in the backyard.

“Can we get a dog?” Morgan asked instead of acknowledging her mother’s command.

Deirdre stared at her child for a moment. Huge brown eyes seemed to zero in on her heartstrings. “You know we can’t get a dog right now, Morgan. In a few weeks, Daddy and I are going on a long trip and you are going to stay with Grammy Mitchell. A dog would get too lonely while we were away. Besides, who would feed him while we were gone?”

Morgan seemed to consider this for a moment. “I could take him with me to Grammy’s.”

Deirdre shook her head. “Grammy told me her cat just had kittens. I don’t think she’d like having a dog around. We’ll think
about getting a puppy after we get back.”

“But—”

“Morgan, don’t argue with me,” Deirdre said, trying to sound firm. Truth be told, she wouldn’t mind having a dog around. She’d grown up with all sorts of pets and had always said she’d have a lot of dogs and cats when she had a place of her own. Now, with her daughter looking at her so mournfully, Deirdre felt consumed with nostalgia and guilt. Ever the peacemaker, she smiled. “We’ll work it out. Don’t worry. I promise you one way or another, we’ll get a pet before summer is up.”

Morgan smiled. “Okay, but it has to be a really good one.”

Deirdre nodded and watched her daughter scamper upstairs. “Remember to put your dirty clothes in the hamper.”

With Morgan taken care of, at least momentarily, Deirdre went to the kitchen and began preparations for dinner. Dave was working such crazy hours lately that she never knew exactly what to fix. He liked steak and liked it pretty rare, so that was something she could throw on at the last minute. But as for things to go along with it, well, she’d very nearly given up trying to have anything too elaborate. Sometimes she’d fix one of those boxed rice dishes, then reheat it if Dave came in long after she and Morgan had eaten their meal. Other times, it was just as easy to throw some vegetables in the Crockpot and hope they wouldn’t mush up too much.

Three hundred dollars.

The number popped into her thoughts and she couldn’t believe she’d actually lost that much money. She was used to playing with no more than twenty. Usually she could make five or ten dollars and come out ahead. One time she even managed to hit a jackpot on the slots and win a hundred dollars. Shaking her head, Deirdre tried to reason that in another few weeks she’d be away from the casino for over a month. That was eighty dollars right there that she would save. Of course, she and Dave would be spending over eight hundred dollars a week on their Hawaiian accommodations, so it really didn’t even out at all. But one way or another, she’d work it out. It was just
this one time, after all.

At seven o’clock an exhausted Dave walked in and eyed the dining room table with a sort of suspicious questioning.

“We haven’t eaten, if that’s what you were wondering,” Deirdre announced as she came to greet him. “We really wanted to wait for you.” She saw the weariness in his eyes but nevertheless pressed close to him and kissed his lips lightly. “How was your day?”

“Awful,” he admitted. “The case is dragging on a lot longer than it needed to.”

Deirdre frowned. “It won’t interfere with our plans, will it?”

Dave stiffened. “That’s really all you care about it, isn’t it?”

Deirdre was hurt that he’d taken such a tone with her. She had believed him to be every bit as enthusiastic about this anniversary trip as she was. “I didn’t mean it that way,” she offered. “I’m sorry if it sounded selfish.”

Dave nudged past her. “Don’t worry about it. I’m just out of sorts.”

“Daddy!” Morgan exclaimed, bounding into the room.

Dave actually smiled. “Hello, princess. My, don’t you look pretty.”

“Mommy told me to change my uniform, and I wanted to wear this dress.”

Deirdre looked up to find Morgan in a stylish green plaid play dress. Grammy would probably say it was sinful the way she spent money on Morgan, but Deirdre liked her looking nice. The play dress carried a designer label, but then, so did most everything else in the Woodward home.

“Well, what do you say about you and me going into the living room and reading a storybook until Mommy calls us for dinner?” Dave said. He glanced up over Morgan’s shoulder to flash an apologetic smile to Deirdre.

“I can read to you,” Morgan declared. “I read a book all by myself today at school.”

“Is that true?” Dave said in complete amazement and looked
again to Deirdre.

“That’s what she told me,” Deirdre admitted. “Along with her teacher’s notion that she might be gifted.”

Dave smiled wearily and nodded. “Well, Miss Morgan, I will indeed let you help me with the reading.”

Deirdre relaxed and smiled. All was well again. Dave would combat his fatigue and trials of the day by letting Morgan’s sweetness soothe him.

But for all of Deirdre’s hopes that they might share a peaceful family evening, it was not to be. Not even fifteen minutes after Dave had settled down with Morgan, the telephone rang. Dave took the call in his office and when he returned, he acted sullen, even angry.

“Bad news?” Deirdre questioned as she called the family to dinner.

Dave took his place at the table and refused to even look at his wife. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Deirdre couldn’t imagine what the phone call had been about. Dave was usually so easygoing and capable of handling surprises. If the call were in regard to a case and something had gone wrong, as things sometimes did, Deirdre would have expected him to be concerned, even distracted. But never had she seen him downright angry. It wasn’t like him to take things out on her and Morgan.

The rest of the evening passed in tense silence. Even Morgan seemed to realize that it would be a mistake to misbehave. She didn’t even argue when Deirdre announced it was time for a bath and bed.

Deirdre tried several times to talk to Dave, but to no avail. The first time had been after dinner, but he’d muttered something about needing to distance himself from the office. The next time, she’d asked him if there was anything at all he wanted to discuss. This time he snapped at her to leave him alone, then turned on the television and settled into his favorite chair.

She was at a complete loss as to what to do. Dave had never been like this. Usually he was more than happy to explain the daily traumas
of one case or another. He’d even told her most of the details of the case he was currently on, but that had been in the early days of the trial. It seemed a man had been severely injured in an accident and was suing the car manufacturer for faulty equipment. Dave’s law firm was representing the manufacturer and had felt, at least in the beginning, that the case was pretty much open-and-shut. Apparently that situation had changed.

Deirdre helped Morgan get into her nightgown, then combed out her long hair. This was their nightly routine and Deirdre loved it. “Let’s say our prayers,” she said after laying down the brush.

Morgan popped up on her knees and folded her hands. “Thank you, God, for my nice day. Don’t let me have any bad dreams and please make my daddy happy again. Amen.”

“Amen,” Deirdre murmured before tucking her daughter under the covers.

Downstairs, Deirdre found Dave still spacing out in front of the television. The show that played was something she knew he detested, yet there he sat, absorbed in the soft electric glow of network Technicolor.

“Dave?”

“What?”

“Can we talk?” She hesitated at touching his shoulder, even though she longed to reach out to him.

“There’s nothing to talk about. Now get off my back,” he retorted angrily.

“Look,” she started in, “I’m not on your back. I just wondered if there was some way I could help.”

He slowly turned to eye her. “Stop spending so much money. Stop complaining about my long nights at work, and stop asking me stupid questions. That’s how you can help.”

Deirdre knew the shock must have registered on her face, but she couldn’t hide the emotion she felt. Instead she hurried from the room and sought sanctuary in the kitchen. Leaning against the counter, she bit at her quivering lip. In their six years of marriage,
Dave had never once talked to her in such a manner.

She felt tears well up in her eyes.
Why is he shutting me out?
she asked herself over and over.
Is it because of the money? He said stop spending so much money. Does he know about the ATM today?

Her guilt overcame the desire she felt to make peace with her husband.

Before she could think any further, the telephone rang. Knowing this would be yet another irritant to Dave, she quickly picked it up after the first ring. If it turned out to be someone from his office, Deirdre vowed to herself that she would just tell them Dave was out of the house.

“Hello?” she asked almost breathlessly.

“Hi, it’s Erica.”

“Oh, hello,” Deirdre said, glad for her sister’s call. “How are you?”

“About the same. I’m just so discouraged. I still haven’t heard anything from any of the orchestras back East, and it’s really starting to bug me.”

“Waiting is always the hardest part, especially when everything is out of your control,” Deirdre said. Then she thought about her mistake at the casino. Maybe she could ask Erica for the money—just a short-term loan. She could have the money back to her in a week—two at the most.

“I really enjoyed our time at Grammy’s,” Erica said, moving the conversation along. “I can’t believe it’s been nearly a month since we were there. Seems like just yesterday.”

“You’re still planning to come down with me when I take Morgan, aren’t you?”

“As far as I know. I don’t have to work Memorial Day weekend, so there isn’t any reason at this point why I can’t go. Sean offered to drive us. Do you want me to have him do that?”

Deirdre frowned. “Well, I suppose he could. I hadn’t really thought it would be anyone but us.”

“It doesn’t need to be. I’ll just tell Sean no.”

“I think I’d prefer it that way.”

“I guess I would too. In spite of the way we tend to snip at each other,” Erica said softly, “I wish we could all be together again. It’s sad that it took a funeral to get us all together, but it was so nice to have time with Ashley and Brook and even Connie. Plus, being on the farm just kind of took me back in time. We really had it sweet there. Wish we could have seen that before we all rushed off to start our own lives elsewhere.”