Passions of Chelsea Kane Part 14

"You're always up there."

"I would have been with you in Newport on the Fourth."

"You should have spoken up before I made plans."

"If I hadn't been afraid of being turned down, I would have." Stalemated, they stared at each -other. She finally let out a breath and turned apologetic eyes to Judd. "Im sorry," she murmured. "I didn't mean this to happen." "Obviously," Judd said. He was still trying to absorb the fact that she'd been born in the Notch. It was the missing link all right. The fact that he'd had to learn it from Kevin, rather than Chelsea, made him livid. "You're angry," she said a while later. She was shaken. Not only had the dinner with Kevin ended badly, but the drive back to the condo with Judd had been made in utter silence. She felt as though all she had feared and tried to avoid were about to come true. He tossed his blazer to a chair. "d.a.m.n right I'm 312 'be P89WOns Of Chcisea Kme Why didn't you tell me?" au se I didn't think it was relevant." @k:.'.'Wou didn't?" He hooked his hands on his hips er w an ncredulous stare. It was what @!--,.Al*jpught you to the Notch."

nown about Plum Granite if "Plum Gruaindinte't bhraovueghkt me there."

wo hadn't been nosing around the Notch, and you have been nosing around the Notch if you been born there. How much more relevant anything be?"

He was right, he was right, but that was only half didn't story. Trying to stay calm, she said, "I ' it was relevant to our relations.h.i.+p. My biologihistory is a private thing." d what we do isn't?" He straightened, actually his back as though the added distance from might help him see things more clearly. "You're me at night, totally naked, totally open, totally t In your s.e.xuality-and you are that, Chelsea. -s one of the things that turns me on. So am I miss- something here? Is all that just an animal nse to a chemical attraction? I thought we'd .4. C beyond that. I thought were friends"

".e are," she cried. Hearing him talk about their ations.h.i.+p, about it being more than just s.e.x, to the urgency she felt. She had to make him 3 v., erstand. "But we didn't start off that way. At the ning it was all physical. Somewhere it changed. Aon't know where it did, but it did. Suddenly we friends, and you didn't know something basic bar '*Wes ut me, and I didn't know how to tell you." I You're as articulate as any woman I've ever Aill -But this was different!" she argued. "Telling you 313 Barbwa Demnsky about it would have been telling you that I hadn't been completely honest, and I didn't know how you'd respond to that. I was afraid you'd be angry. It looks like I was right." "I'm not angry. I'm hurt. I thought you trusted me."

"I do."

"Not enough to tell me something very important about yourself." "I do," she said more quietly, and felt a twisting inside. "I do trust you." She held her breath, then let it out slowly. "It's just that I don't want things to change."

"Why would your being born in the Notch change anything?" His eyes were dark, begrudging. "It sure as h.e.l.l won't ease the ache I get in my gut every time I look at you."

"Something else might," she whispered. She swallowed, buried her hands under her arms for the comfort of it, then forced -the words out because she felt she owed him that. "I'm pregnant, Judd. It happened at the beginning of May, the one time I was ever with Carl. By the time I knew it for sure and went to tell him, he and Hailey had decided to get married. She was already pregnant."

"Pregnant?" The word echoed. "You're pregnant? r" Dumbly he looked at her stomach. She felt a touch of hysteria. "I didn't plan for us to happen. I didn't expect it at all. I didn't think pregnant women were capable of feeling the things you make me feel." His eyes met hers. "You're pregnant?" Her heart was in her throat. She tried to swallow it down, but it stayed right there. So she simply nodded. 314 Me Pa.s.sions of OWSea Kmw that from me, too?" His deep voice was th disbelief. "Didn't feel it was relevant D-id you think it'd just go away?" e it sound so absurd that she felt doubly :,for not telling him sooner. expect us to last. What we had was just By the time it was more, I was feeling like a nt to tell you. I kept telling myself to do voice shrank. "I'd have told you soon. I have had any choice."

!shed still, he looked at her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, then Then he pushed a hand through his hair away. "s.h.i.+t." ' affect you, Judd," she said quickly.

"If thinks it's yours, I'll set them straight." e to the window and looked out over the @@ralsed her voice to carry across the room. doesn't know. I don't know how to tell him but putting a wedge between Hailey and him. ,,@,Ifather doesn't know, either. He wanted me to ',ty Carl.

He'll be disappointed. Then. he'll tell and then Carl's parents. It'll be a mess." e hadn't planned to say all that. Judd wouldn't any answers.

He barely knew the people and besides, it wasn't his problem. ut she didn't know what to do. She needed help. e continued to stand at the window with his s on his hips and his back to her. She could see Aension in his shoulders and wanted to cry. ' time, she tried to reach him.

e best thing seemed to be to leave Baltimore, : was Norwich Notch, just waiting. The tim- rfect. I was sure that meant something. So ked up and moved. No one knew me there. It 315 Barbara Delfilmw was like a haven. I found the farmhouse and bought the Pathfinder. I met you and Donna and Hunter. I figured that I could give birth to my baby and find out who my birth parents were, and then decide what to do and where to go at the end of the year." Her voice crinkled and shrank. "I never meant to deceive you. I didn't tell you the first time, because I wanted you so badly. Maybe I was wrong. But I'm not sorry. I'm sorry you're hurt, but I'm not sorry for the time we've had. I'd do it again, Judd.

I'd do it again in a minute, if that was the only way to have what we've had. It's been good." Her voice caught. Afraid she would burst into tears, she left him alone in the living room, which was where he spent the night. He was silent through the return trip to Norwich Notch, dropped her at Boulderbrook, then went on home. At least, she a.s.sumed he went on home. She didn't know for sure. He didn't come to her that night or the next, and he didn't stop by the office in between. Then the weekend came. It was endlessly lonely. By Monday morning she was beginning to regret she'd ever set eyes on Judd Streeter. 316 HELSEA KNEW HIS FOOTSTEPS. SHE HAD HEARD coming toward her in the dark of night over planked floor of her bedroom often enough to ize their sound on the spiral stairs. Stay cool, told herself. Still, her senses came alive.

[email protected],.'Uh-huh," she said into the telephone. "That's t. It's t6p-quality white granite, and yes, we can uc. e the amount you need."

Judd's dark head e first, then broad, chambray-covered shoul- 1.6m, a lean torso, hips and legs gloved in denim. ' don't you come up and take a look? We're ng an open house on the weekend of September nth, but the quarries are operational six days a You're more than welcome to come whenevshe held up a finger to Judd. Her eyes lingered [email protected] his tall frame when he went to the far window. "If Ow'd like specifics, I'll have our foreman give you a Wh don't you give me your number." She jot- y It down, wrote "Judd" at the top, and underlined P., ce. "Alex Lappin is a fine developer. I'm flat- ed by his recommendation." Judd tucked his ds in the back of his jeans. She wasn't sure what Barbara Delhzsky The Pa.s.sions of Cbelsen Kane that meant. "The pleasure is mine." Her own palms were damp. "I'll look forward to it." She hung up the phone, flattened her hands on her middle, and sat back on the chair. When Judd didn't turn, she said, "That was a man named Phillip Bundy. He's an architect from Hartford. He's been hired to design the first of a series of megabanks, the rebirth of several failed banks now merged into one.

He's interested in the white from Haskins Peak. He'll be giving you a call." Judd hung his head. She wasn't sure what that meant, either.

Anxious for him to know that she wasn't angry, that she could understand if he didn't want to touch her again, that what had happened between them wouldn't affect the business, she said as brightly as she could, "I also heard from the Roskins Group. They want prices for a resort they're putting up on Cape Elizabeth." "Why a resort in this economy*" Judd asked in the kind of impa.s.sive voice that she'd first known him for-which meant that they were back to square one in their relations.h.i.+p.

She deserved it, she knew. Still, her heart fell. Needing greater effort to produce that bright voice, she said, "People want to travel, just not as far as they used to. Cape Elizabeth is accessible. The facility is also being designed for conventions. Accessibility is a draw there, too."

"Who's Alex Lappin?"

"A friend. I worked for him after I graduated from college. When it was clear that I wanted to draw, he hooked me up with an architectural firm. I worked as a draftsman there before I went to design school." 318 ed for him to say something more. She his direction, some hint of his thoughts. What do you think?" she asked.

"Will an open wo [email protected] e rk?" He was silent. Then, "Never been done before.' "But do you think it will work?" -K. wgz,@-, Again he was silent. Then, "Depends on who es. 7:: She sighed. Unable to help herself, she said, *Ahhh. We're in our Norwich Notch mode of speech ..., %[email protected],[email protected] I can understand why tradition is so big It would require such an effort to produce the s to express something new that by the time words were out, the idea would be pa.s.s6." More ly she said, "Talk to me, Judd." e made a strangled sound and shook his head. w about to take that as a refusal when he niutred a bewildered, "Why didn't I see it? Your ts are full. So's your waist."

"Many women have full b.r.e.a.s.t.s and not-so-nar. waists. You didn't know me before. You had no basis for comparison." He shook his head again. "I should have seen it."

my ou w ere too close."

"You never had a period. I should have ques-- #oned that."

"We haven't been together every night. Last time ..,:Iwas in Baltimore, I was gone for three nights. For all you knew, I had my period there." He turned then, an imposing figure silhouetted by the window, and in a tight voice said, "Were you planning to tell me it was Carl's?"

"Of course! The problem was telling you I was regnan t at all, not that it was Carl's. I'm not hamed of what Carl and I did. We were trying to V. 319 Barbwn Deffnmw make something work, with the absolute best of intentions. All things considered, I had more business being with Carl than I had being with you." His gaze was relentless, his eyes hard as stone. "You could have let me think it was mine.- "I'd have gotten too fat too fast. The baby is due at the beginning of February.

You'd have known."

"Babies have been known to be born prematurely." She followed his thinking and shook her head, appalled. "I would never have led you on that way. I'm not looking for a father for my child. I don't want one. I don't need one. I have the time and means to raise a child.

I also have the desire." She gave a short laugh and grew momentarily introspective., "That was the biggest surprise, I think. All these years I haven't wanted to have children. Then the doctor said I was pregnant, and suddenly the idea that I would have something alive, my own flesh and blood for the very first time in my life, was so ... comforting ... that I knew that even if the baby came out with all sorts of congenital problems, I'd want it." . opens a whole other can of worms," Judd announced, and came toward her reeking of anger. "What gives you the right to come up here saying you're one thing and being another? Why the games? Have you gotten your kicks pulling a fast one on us? Does it tell you you're smarter than we are? Or better?" She held his gaze. "No. All it says is that I want to know who I am and where I'm from, but that I don't know how to go about learning all that."

"Why don't you just ask?"

"Who? I was born here thirty-seven years ago and given up for adoption.

That's no easy thing for a 320 The Paswons of Chelsea Apme her to do."

She opened her hand on her storn- I can't even feel this baby moving yet, but if I re to carry it to term, give birth to it, and then er see it again, I'd be crushed." Tile thought e brought tears to her eyes.

"People don't give flesh of their flesh because they want to. They do they have to, and there's almost always -N involved." ow do you know?" he demanded. 11 ow because I've read nearly everything that's n written on the subject," she said, feeling sudly stronger. No one could accuse her of not Ing h r homework or, worse, halfheartedly Al using the cause. "What I don't know is why my h mother had to give me up and what kind of she suffered in the process. I don't know if she single or married, young or old, rich or poor. I is, Know if she was hidden away in the Corner, her baby in secret, then squirreled it off with no .4.w the wiser-or if she was tarred and feathered, : a pariah, like Hunter's mother-or if she a Farr, Jamieson, or Plum who conceived out of lock, spent her pregnancy in a bedroom in one the houses overlooking the green, then had me sked off because I was an embarra.s.sment to the ily."

,.'J.-Barely allowing for a breath, she said, "Where ld you have me start asking? People don't hand private information unless they trust you, and Notchers aren't quick to trust. I've been waiting ,.:people to warm to me, but that isn't happening. re aren't any records of my birth, my father saw -that. The local lawyer who handled the adoption ead, and the midwife was paid to be silent. All I she said, s.p.a.cing the words in frustration, 321 Nwham Dehnshy "is that I was born in Norwich Notch.

The only material thing that I have of my birth parents is a silver key that was sent to my mother years ago. There was no note, and there's been no contact since. What would you have me do, hang that key on a string around my neck and wait for someone to claim it?"

"At the rate you're going," Judd said, folding his arms over his chest, "you could hang the queen's jewels on a string around your neck and no one will notice. The only thing they'll see is that belly of yours once it starts to swell. Do you have any idea what it'll be like to be an unwed mother in Norwich Notch? It'd be one thing if you were from the Corner. People expect girls from the Corner to get knocked up. But here on the green?

No way." Chelsea rose slowly to face him. If he wouldn't understand, then he was no better than the townsfolk. She would fight them all, if she had to. "What will they do," she asked, "stone me? Set me up on a scaffold in the center of town with a scarlet letter on my breast? That won't happen. I may have been born a n.o.body here and sent away for it, but I'm not a n.o.body coming back. This town needs me right now. Its fate lies with the granite company, and the granite company's fate lies with me. If I'm treated poorly because I'm pregnant, I'll turn around and leave."

"And take a major loss on your investment?" Judd barked out a humorless laugh. "Come off it."

"You don't understand me at all, do you?" she asked, disappointed but not surprised. As intimate as they'd been physically, they had never shared hopes and dreams, loves and hates, highs and lows. "My driving force in life is not to make money.

If it 322 The Pa.s.sions of Chatsm K=w rd devote full time to managing my portfolio, er than spending endless hours at a drafting I draw because I love to draw. I love the chalof creating a building. When I make financial tments, it's for the challenge of it, too. I don't the money.

I never have. Call that arrogant, if '. Call it wasteful, or decadent. But if I were iturn my back on Norwich Notch today and lose penny I've put into this project, I could live the results. Can the same be said for the peol . who live here?" ..ZYA-fr' -They didn't ask for your money." 4",,"No. But without it, without the granite company, 9d be in dire straits.' ";You're the local savior, then?"

"o. I'm just the one with the money. That gives a certain amount of power." She took a breath, Ispered, "G.o.d, I hate that word," and went on. t it ent.i.tles me to do things other people might do. Ofiver, Emery, and George monopolize the ber shop every morning, and lio one says boo. nter bombs around on the Kawasaki without ng picked up for disturbing the peace.

Jamieson Is win the Miss. Norwich Notch contest every even though other entrants may be prettier more talented. So Chelsea Kane is pregnant. ' her right. Anyone who chooses to punish her -it better be prepared for the consequences."

"'He stared at her for the longest time. She stared t back but saw no softening in him. ,.,.,Gonna announce that in church?"

he finally impa.s.sive of voice, derisive of meaning. he stood taller. "If need be." *That'll really win ' over." I'm not here to win ' over.

I'm here to find out 323 Barbara Deffn9ky who I am, to make something of the granite company, ajgd to have my baby in peace."

"You can't buy people's love." "Who said anything about wanting anyone's love?"

"That's what you want all right. You want to buy your way in here, make yourself into a local hero people adore, then tell them to screw themselvesall because some nameless, faceless woman dared to give you up for adoption years ago."

"That's not what I want at all!" He made a scornful sound, turned on his heel, and left her wondering whether the depth of his' hurt made him think so little of her or whether what he said was true.

Donna knew something was wrong. She'd been sensing it in Chelsea for a week. On those days when they didn't see each other at aerobics, Chelsea dropped by the store midmorning to say h.e.l.lo. Ostensibly she came for a bottle of Snapple Pa.s.sion Supreme, but she always stayed to talk. Donna enjoyed those talks. She felt honored to be Chelsea's friend. But friends.h.i.+p implied a responsibility, and increasingly Donna felt she was s.h.i.+rking hers. Something had happened in Baltimore. Chelsea hadn't been as lighthearted since her return, and Donna couldn't believe it had to do with the September open house she was planning. So, by week's end, when Chelsea hadn't said anything but seemed as burdened as ever, Donna broached the subject herself. "Something's bothering you," she typed into the 324 MW FASWons of Cjwmw Kmw Uter after she'd gestured Chelsea into the back ,-office. atthew was out front and wouldn't be ed, but Matthew was never pleased with what she did, so she had little to lose.

"What is it?" .1 have to decide between a clambake and a bar-,'@@becuev" Chelsea, typed back. "I don't know which -one to do. Donna waved a hand in dismissal. "Something else is wrong," she typed. "Is it your father?" Chelsea shook her head. "Will he come in September?"

"Probably not." Donna studied her face as it frowned at the computer screen. Kevin had been a problem for months. "@But the preoccupied look Donna saw was new. "Then it's Judd," she dared type. Chelsea's eyes flew to hers. For a minute she looked indecisive, as though -not sure whether to admit to anything. Then, quietly, she said, "How did you know about Judd?" With a sad smile Donna typed, "Norwich Notch is a small town. People see cars going places at night. Word spreads."

"It was Hunter. Hunter talked." But Donna shook her head. "Hunter isn't a gossip, but dozens of others are. Someone must have seen Judd turning in at Boulderbrook late on a night when he paid a sitter to stay with Leo 'til morning." At Chelsea's look of distress, she typed, "It's not so awful. Judd's single. So are you. You're a beautiful pair." Chelsea's expression was suddenly so stricken that Donna felt a sharp fear. "What is it?" she asked aloud, not caring how bad her voice sounded. The stricken look remained. Ater a minute 325 BREbwa Demmsky Chelsea turned to the keyboard and began to type. By the time she stopped, she had filled the screen three full times. Donna looked at Chelsea's stomach.

She couldn't imagine a baby there, Chelsea was so slim. But her clothes wouldn't tell a thing. She always wore loose dresses or large tops over leggings or shorts. Then there was the other, actually the more amazing fact of the two. "You were born here?" She couldn't imagine it, either.

Chelsea seemed too refined to be of Norwich Notch stock. "Thirty-seven years ago," Chelsea said, looking exposed and frightened, "but the records have all been destroyed. I don't know how to begin the search.

Norwich Notch is a small town. There can't be many babies born and relinquished, but It's a touchy subject." She paused, looked even more unsure. "You don't remember anything, do you?" Donna shook her head fast. Her hands. .h.i.t the keys with deliberate strokes. "I was too young when you were born. You'd have to speak with someone older." She put a long line of dashes on the screen to separate what was already there from what was coming. "Was Judd really angry?" She looked up to see Chelsea say, "Furious. He feels that I deceived him, that I'm deceiving the whole town. He's insulted. He's convinced that I'm ambitious and manipulative. I acknowledge that I haven't made the best decisions, but the last few , have been difficult. What with my life in Baltimore coming apart, then my involvement with Judd, which I did not plan, then trying to juggle the work in two separate offices, getting Boulderbrook finished, and the phone calls-" She threw a hand in the air and looked away. "Too much." 326 Ift Pa.s.sIOns of Owlsen KMW .,"Donna touched her arm, then the keyboard. at phone calls?"

"They come late at night. Two or three in a row. rst silence, then the muted sound of children's someone had a tape recorder in the hall ices, like tside the school cafeteria during lunch." "How often?" Donna asked aloud. "Several times a week. I try to ignore them, but 11 -they keep coming. Someone is trying to spook me, and that someone is very persistent. It's the persistence that makes me uneasy." Donna could understand it. "Does Nolan know?" she asked. Chelsea made a face. "They're only phone calls.

I hate to make a big thing of them. I'm sure that's exactly what whoever is making them wants."

"Nolan should know."

"They're not dangerous. Just annoying." But Donna felt strongly about it. Turning to the computer, she typed, "Nolan is a good man. He's able, and he's discreet. He stops by here a lot. Would you mind if I tell him?"

"But what can he do?"

"He can keep an eye on Boulderbrook. He can keep an ear out for word of someone who might resent your being here." Chelsea tossed a sad glance toward the ceiling. "Half of Norwich Notch resents my being here." Donna put an arm around her. "Not true," she said. in a way that even she knew was emphatic. "They're envious of you." She looked at Chelsea's stomach again. "So am I. I loved being pregnant." Chelsea brightened at that.

"Did you have an easy pregnancy?" Donna nodded and turned to the computer. 327 "Joshle was wonderful from the minute he wwaa.s.s born. I'd have had others if things were different."

"Your hearing?"

"My husband."

She immediately backs.p.a.ced to erase the last and typed, "Are you planning to have the baby here?"

"Yes. At home. With a midwife in attendance." Chelsea looked as startled by the words as Donna was. She suddenly laughed. "I hadn't thought about that before, but it's what I want."

"it doesn't scare you?"

"It terrifies me, but just think of how rewarding it'll be!" Donna was always slightly in awe of Chelsea when she said things like that. She had a sense of adventure, a sense of daring. Some of it was a byproduct of self-confidence, some of sophistication. Now Donna understood that some also came from rootlessness. Not knowing who she was made Chelsea unfettered and free.

Donna knew just who she was. She was a Farr, and a Plum before that, and she was getting tired telling herself how wonderful It was. She wanted some of the freedom Chelsea had-not that she would ever leave the Notch, because Jos.h.i.+e was here and he was the light of her life, but she wanted to go out to lunch sometimes, or down to Boston, or over to Portland.

She wanted to have her friends to the house occasionally without being made miserable. She wanted to color the gray strands out of her hair without being told she should be proud of her age. She wanted to run with Chelsea. Mostly she wanted to be able to climb Into bed at night without being mauled. She wished she were half as brave as Chelsea 328 1hc F*Wiozw Of CJMMMB Kme Then again, maybe not. Given bravery, plus a of foolhardiness, she might well do something . would shock the Notch far more than Chelsea "s baby.. That thought lingered with her long after Chelsea .. Donna wasn't out to shock anyone. But it struck her that she had a golden opportunity. Chelsea was her friend, and her friend needed help. If that meant Donna's working closely with the police or running with Chelsea so that she wouldn't be alone and exposed on the roads, so be it. Bravery wasn't an all or nothing affair.

She had a little. Taking that little and the fifteen minutes that Matthew allowed her for lunch, when the noon bells pealed in the church belfry, she marched down the street to see Nolan. A week later Oliver and Emery stood at Zee's window. They held hot cups filled with coffee that had gone tepid, but neither seemed to notice. Their eyes were on the two women who stood talking on the front porch of Farr's General Store, diagonally across the green. "Don't like what Donna's doin'," Emery warned Oliver in a low voice. "Neither does my boy. She's different with that woman here. Matt says she goes running through the streets in the mornings now. You got to tell her to stop that."

"I'm not tellin' her a thing," Oliver said. "You're her father."

"And he's her husband. Let him tell her. Me, I don't have a problem with running."

"She's not your wife." "That's what I said." 329 Alarbara oky "Fact is," came a loud voice from the barber's chair, "it doesn't matter whose wife she Is or isn't. She spends too much time with Chelsea Kane.

No or f. good'll come of it, I tell you. The woman's c rupting this town." Oliver slid a dry look at the reclining figure being serviced by Zee. "Don't hear you complainin' about her money, George."

"Nope. Her money's good. That's about all."

"it ain't all," Oliver argued. "She's getting work. already had to take on more men. Ain't that so, udd?"

Judd, who was leaning against the wall nursing his own tepid coffee, said, "Yup."

"More men hired means more money deposited in your bank," Oliver called back to George, "and more money spent in your store," he reminded Emery, "so you both better keep your mouths shut." Emery snorted. "That's what we done, and look where It got us. She's got our women lettin' their hair curl and wearin' sundresses '@teada pants and skinny exercise things loud enough to turn you blind, and that's not to mention Labor Day. Hear what she's done to Labor Day?"

"Messed it all up," shouted George. Emery straightened his gla.s.ses, muttering, "Open house. Who needs an open house? You give her permission to have an open house, Ollie?"

"Permission ain't mine to give. She's the one puttin, it on."

"Well, we need an amendment to the social practices code," Emery declared. "No one puts on an open house without first checking with the selectmen. D'you know she had the gall to hire Bibi to do a chicken barbecue with apple brown betty for 330 The Fa.s.sions of Cbelsm Kom so now Bibi won't do apple brown betty for JAbor Day Dessert? We always have apple brown 3,tty for Labor Day Dessert"

".er Indian pudding's better," put in Judd. If Chelsea had asked him, he'd have told her the same ,-.tmng. But she hadn't asked him. She hadn't had the :,chance.

Since that Monday morning, he was steering clear of her. If their paths crossed at the office, their Oaths crossed. He wasn't going out of his way to see her, and he sure as h.e.l.l wasn't seeing her at night. He was still too angry to feel any desire for her. I ' him about the inn," George called in a voice m.u.f.fled by Zee's damp towel. Emery said, "She's booked every room in the inn, and a pack in Stotterville, too. Don't know what well do if any of us have visitors that weekend. Nothin's left. I'm tellin' you, Ollie, we're gonna be overrun here." Judd amended what he'd just thought. He did want her. All he had to do was think of her and the wanting began, which was doubly infuriating. He had known she was trouble. He should have listened to -himself. ' him about the firehouse," George told Emery. Emery said, "She told Hunter she needed her yard cleaned up before her open house, so he hired the guys who woulda been painting the firehouse, There's our cheap labor"-he snapped his fingers- "gone. It's like she's directing a movie, only we got no parts." Not betrayed, Judd thought. Left out. She and her baby had their own little secret, and they hadn't bothered to clue him in. He wasn't part of it. He was excluded. Irrational, perhaps, but that was how he felt 331 AUwbnm Dehnshy "I don't like It, Ollie," Emery went on.

"You got to get rid of her."

"I'm doin' my best. I'm keepin' ahead of the work. Come June, she'll be gone."

"June's too long. Get rid of her now." Oliver's voice jumped half an octave. "How'm I s'posed to do that?" With the creak of old leather, George rose from the barber's chair and said, "Open your mouth and tell her."

"Tell her what?" He wiped his face as he joined the others at the window. "Tell her to leave."

"Can't do that. She's my partner." He narrowed his eyes in a way that lengthened his forehead, making his spiky gray hair look even spikier. "You like her."

"I do not like her," Oliver barked, "but she's doing what she said she would. She's bringing in work."

"She can do that from Baltimore. Fact is, she doesn't belong here. Look at her." He stared in the direction of Farr's a bit lecherously, Judd thought.

"Still wearing those dresses that don't even hit her knees. Know what they're saying at the bar at the inn? They're saying she's got moren one man pus.h.i.+n' it down so's he don't show it at work, and I believe it. Any woman who shows off like that isn't out for a handshake."