There were many things I wanted to say. I longed to tell him that I understood why he’d decided to try again with Janice. And—more than that—how much I loved him and Cody, how desperately I missed them both. But I didn’t. “I got a note from Cody.”
“What? When?” He sounded shocked, distressed—and hopeful—all at once.
“I found it this morning.” I looked down for fear of what he’d read in my eyes. “He wanted to know if he could talk to me sometime.”
“He misses you,” Brad murmured.
“I miss him, too.” And I missed Cody’s father, but I didn’t mention that. “I know this is hard on him and I…I don’t want to confuse Cody or upset Janice, so if you think it’s best if I don’t call him, I’ll understand.”
Brad’s eyes held mine. “I appreciate that.”
My heart felt like it was about to break. “You don’t want me to talk to Cody?” My disappointment obviously showed, because Brad quickly shook his head.
“If Cody wants to talk to you and you’re willing, then I can’t see that it would do any harm.”
“Thank you,” I whispered, overwhelmed and grateful. “Please recognize that I want Cody to have his family intact. When you first came to me, I was angry and hurt, but I’m over that now—over you.” This seemed to be my day for exaggeration. I was far from over Brad, but I had to pretend otherwise.
He hesitated, as if he didn’t know what to say.
“I’m dating again and…well, the two of us ignoring each other like this is silly.” The dating part was an outright lie. I was nowhere near ready for a new relationship.
“Anyone I know?” Brad asked.
I shook my head, unwilling to lie further. I’m not very good at it—and it’s not really a skill I hope to develop. I knew that if he questioned Margaret she’d cover for me, but I doubted he’d approach her; she’d been curt with him ever since our breakup. “If Cody wants to phone, please let him.”
This time, Brad didn’t meet my eyes. “He’s been asking to, but I wasn’t sure…”
“Like I said, I don’t want to make Janice uncomfortable.”
“I doubt she’ll mind.”
I gave him a slight, though genuine, smile. Being separated from Cody had been so hard, and the opportunity to at least speak to him lightened my heart. “I’ll look forward to hearing from him, then,” I said, as if we were no more than business acquaintances. That was all we ever would be, now that Janice was back in his life.
“Have a good day,” he said automatically—as if I were just like any other customer.
“Thanks,” I whispered, returning to the safety of my yarn store. Not until I turned the lock and retreated to my office did I realize how badly my hands shook.
This had been an eventful Monday for me. I’d received a bank loan, helped my sister and lied to the man I loved.
CHAPTER 26
ELISE BEAUMONT
Elise had never learned to drive. A driver’s license was good for ID purposes, but hardly necessary. Seattle had perfectly good public transportation. The bus generally got her wherever she needed to go, and on rare occasions, Aurora would drive her or she’d take a taxi.
That all changed with Maverick’s arrival. He was more than willing to drive her anywhere she wanted. Then he’d wait for her with limitless patience. For the past two weeks, he’d sat outside the yarn store while she attended her knitting class. She spoke so often about Bethanne, Courtney and Lydia that he knew almost as much about her friends as she did. She shared her concerns about Bethanne’s job and her hopes that Courtney’s senior year would be a good one. She’d also told him about Jacqueline, with whom she’d now attended two Birthday Club lunches.
“Let’s go for a ride,” he suggested Friday afternoon when they’d finished lunch.
Aurora, David and the boys were on a rare family outing to the Woodland Park Zoo. It was just the two of them, Maverick and Elise.
“A ride where?” she asked. No longer did she avoid his company and, in fact, she often sought him out. No longer did she instinctively distrust him—although she never forgot that he was a gambler. She didn’t like it, feared he wouldn’t be able to keep his promise, but decided to enjoy whatever time she had with him before he gave in to his compulsion again.
She did love to hear his stories, though. While she didn’t approve of gambling, she had to admit the tales of his exploits intrigued her. He’d been all over the world, to Europe, to Australia, to the Caribbean. He’d gambled in many of those places, but he’d also experienced real adventures—a boat trip down the Nile, driving through the Australian Outback, being briefly—and erroneously—arrested in Paris. He’d met famous people and told her anecdotes about them. Elise found she could listen to him for hours. She envied, just a little, his emotional extravagance. Unlike Maverick, Elise had always been cautious and frugal, with her money and her life.
The ideal way to live, she thought, was probably a combination of his approach and hers….
“I was thinking it might be nice to take a drive to the mountains,” Maverick said. “It’s been years since I went up to Mount Rainier.”
Elise frowned. “It’s a little late in the day for that, don’t you think?”
“Nah. Come on, Elise, aren’t you bored sitting around the house knitting?”
She bristled. “I happen to enjoy my knitting, thank you very much.”