After All These Years (14 page)

An understanding pierced her like a flash of lightning. Of course he didn't deserve forgiveness, but then neither did she,
and yet Christ offered it. She lived in that grace every single day of her life.

No! Use somebody else, Lord!

Isabel resisted the impression that she knew came from God. She knew it came from Him because it involved letting go of her so-called rights and caring for someone else who had so obviously been plunked down in the middle of her path. She also knew that resisting would leave her even more miserable.

All right! I give up! Jesus, let me see him through Your eyes, not mine.

At last she raised her face and met the blue eyes boring into hers. Tony was just a man. Lost in his crusty world of exposé journalism, he was a field waiting to be harvested.

“All right, Tony,” her voice shook, “live down the street from me. But your microscope works both ways. And my job…my job is to make sure you know Jesus loves you.”

The Olafssons certainly know how to throw an engagement party,
Lia thought as she wound her way carefully through the crowded dining room, protecting a plate piled high with scrumptious-looking food.

It was a warm evening. Nodding to acquaintances, she drifted through open French doors onto the patio. Strands of tiny white lights crisscrossed the area like a thousand stars. Designer perfume floated on the permeating fragrance of dry cornfields. People chatted to a background of humming insects.

Earlier she had visited with the newly engaged couple. She wondered why Gina's parents weren't there.

“Brady didn't want my dad talking me out of it.”

Brady laughed. “Not true!”

Gina grinned. “Well, you proposed while they were halfway around the world!” She turned back to Lia. “He actually tracked them down in a hotel in Venice—I think it was the middle of the night here—and asked my dad for my hand in marriage.”

“How sweet!”

“But strange. They knew before I did what he was planning to do at the Faire.”

“What are your parents doing in Venice?”

“Reports indicate they're falling in love all over again. It's a sort of second honeymoon after hitting a bumpy spot in the road. It seems to be working. Mother has called three times just to giggle.”

Lia spotted the engaged couple now. Gina and Brady stood hand in hand, talking with Isabel and Tony. They were a striking couple. Actually, they were both striking couples. Tony was quite a few inches shorter than Brady, as was petite Isabel compared to Gina. The engaged couple resembled solid Olympic athletes, even though Gina walked with a slight limp.

Isabel and Tony were less defined. There was a casual and yet intense air about them, as if they belonged, like two peas in a pod. They both gestured now, almost flamboyantly, both talking at the same time. Lia wondered how either got a word in edgewise. She couldn't imagine these high-energy personalities sitting still together. Maybe they were more jumping beans than peas in a pod.

Tony reminded her of guys she had known growing up in the Chicago area. His heritage was written in his boyish good looks, in the sport jacket that hung just so, in his confident and polite manner. He would have lived nearer than she to Lake Michigan's shoreline.

It struck Lia that Isabel's background was quite different from Tony's. Her friend had been born in Mexico, the fourth of seven children. The large family had moved to East Rockville when she was four. Her growing up years were full of noisy love and little money. Isabel looked especially pretty tonight. Her autumn-colored floral print dress reflected her personality and set off the copper highlights in her hair.

The crowd parted and Lia noticed Tammy in a corner of the patio, seated alone beside a glass-topped table. She hurried over.

“Hello, Tammy. I don't know if you remember me. I'm Lia. Mind if I join—”

“Cal's sitting there.”

“Oh.” She halted, the plate inches above the table, her knees bent at a half-sitting angle. She grinned and straightened up. “Didn't see him.”

The blonde batted her eyelashes. She had amazingly long eyelashes that appeared to be the ones she'd been born with.

“Tammy, I'm sorry you couldn't make it to dinner last week. I've been hoping to get to know you.”

“Well, I'm pretty busy. I don't live in
Valley Oaks
.” There was a hint of condescension in her voice.

“But you grew up here, right? Your mother told me you're a preschool teacher.”

Tammy made a noise with her mouth shut. It was probably a sound she made when annoyed with a three-year-old toddler.

Lia plowed ahead anyway. “I'm so grateful she didn't want to leave when the Bentleys sold the pharmacy. I don't know what I'd do without her.”

“Lia!” It was Cal's voice booming above the crowd's.

She turned and saw him approach, carrying two plates. “Hi, Cal.”

“Have a seat.”

Tammy protested, “There's no chair.”

“There's one right there.” He pointed an elbow at the one Tammy had saved for him. “I don't mind standing. Here, Tam.” He set down a plate of lettuce and fruit. “Sure you don't want any roast beef?”

She made that noise of exasperation again.

“Sit, Lia. Please.”

“Well, thank you.” She unwrapped silver from a linen napkin and speared a forkful of pasta salad. Lunch was a distant memory.

Cal stood over them and bowed his head for a moment while Tammy daintily tore apart a piece of lettuce.

Lia studied them. Cal the teddy bear, Tammy the Barbie doll. What was the connection that made them a couple?

Cal wolfed down a bite and dug into his back pocket. “Here, Lia, before I forget again.” He handed her a piece of
paper. “Cell, pager, and home numbers. In case you need me when I'm not on duty.”

“Thanks. I didn't have any phone calls or letters this week. Maybe it's as you said, just kids.”

Tammy swung her crossed leg. “What's going on?”

Cal caught Lia's eye over his raised fork. He was leaving it up to her. She wondered how much to reveal. After all, Tammy was Dot's daughter. Whatever she said tonight, Dot would hear tomorrow. But then again, Chloe's safety might depend on the whole town knowing. She cleared her throat. “I'm getting hang-up phone calls, and I've been concerned that it's Chloe's father. He doesn't have visitation rights, but he may try to take her.”

Tammy contorted her face in dismay. “She can't see her own dad?”

“It's a long, complicated story. He has a wife and kids. Chloe's never been part of his world.”

“Hmm.” She chewed her lettuce.

Cal said, “I made some calls this week. Nelson Greene is still employed, still a vice president at the software company whose name you gave me. Nothing unusual going on as far as fellow employees, no vacations planned. Evanston cops don't have any recent record of him, none since the accident.”

Lia smiled in relief. “Thanks, Cal. That makes me feel so much better.”

Again Tammy emitted a quiet sound of vexation and then wiggled out of her chair. “Cal's my super sheriff, aren't you?” She caressed his forearm.

“Yeah, right. Oops, careful.” His plate wobbled.

“Are you
still
eating? I want to go talk to Jimmy.”

“Go right ahead. I'm going to sit down and finish. This is great stuff. Mrs. Olafsson has been one of my favorite cooks since I was 12.” He slid into her chair, shoved aside her plate, and smiled up at her. “I'll catch up.”

Tammy pouted her lips, which were shaded a nice coral that matched her slinky dress. “Oh, you.” She leaned over and kissed his forehead. “Goodbye, Lee.”

Lia smiled. “Goodbye, Tammy.”

“Tam, her name's Lia.”

Lia thought she heard her breathe “
Whatever
” as she walked away.

Well, “walked” wasn't quite the right word. The tall slender blonde waltzed. Amazing how some women moved as if their bones were composed of fluid. Tammy was an extremely attractive woman and Cal was a good-looking, hunky sort of guy, but the phrase “striking couple” did not come to mind.

“Lia, I've got your coffee mug and pie plate in my truck.”

“No hurry.” She grinned. “You can return them when you come in to buy toothpaste some time.”

He laughed.

They finished their buffet dinner, conversing as easily as they had the week before in her apartment. Lia half expected Cal to apologize for his girlfriend's thinly concealed cold shoulder, but he didn't mention her at all. She respected him for that. Tammy was obviously insecure and naturally felt left out when Cal gave his attention elsewhere. Well, she'd just have to invite them both over for dinner again and wear down her defenses with hospitality. She could include Dot. Maybe that would get Tammy there. Then she'd have to invite Dot's husband, too. That was it! A staff party with spouses!

Lia laughed at herself. Her parents would say she was a bit desperate to win friends and influence people, albeit her livelihood did depend somewhat on those people.

“Life just got in the way, Izzy.”

“What?” Walking toward her house, she looked over her shoulder. He stood as if rooted to the sidewalk, a few strides behind her. She stopped. “What are you talking about?”

Tony studied her in the dim light cast from distant stars and street lamps. Whether it was her tears earlier or their twosome-like proximity at the party, he didn't know, but she had grown familiar tonight. Just now, as she had breezed ahead of him, that familiarity had mesmerized him. “Us. Life just got in the way of us. I'm sorry I never said goodbye. I'm sorry I ignored you when my parents and that girl came for graduation.”

She turned and went to the door.

He followed. “I did call. Once. I remember calling your home. A kid answered, probably a brother? He said you were in Mexico.”

She shrugged, rummaging in her purse. “I went to my grandmother's that summer.”

“Did I promise you anything? Did I mention marriage?”

“Tony, you know you didn't. Neither of us were ready for anything that resembled a permanent relationship.”

“Even though we lived together?”

A painful expression crossed her face before she turned and thrust a key into the door. “Thank you for the ride.”

“Izzy.” He clasped her wrist. “I asked: Even though we lived together? Please. I need an answer.”

“Everybody lived together. I was just your flavor of the month.”

“Three months. And I never
lived
with anyone else, before or since.”

“Tony.” Her tone chastised, her brown eyes narrowed. What had he called that brown with its tinge of lightness?

“Honest, I didn't. Did you? Not that it's any of my business—”

“No.”

“What does that say for us?”

She pulled open the screened door, pushed the inside door wide and flicked a switch, illuminating the front room. “I forgot to leave the light on.”

He persisted. “What it says, Izzy, is that we had something special going.”

“So? Life got in the way.”

“Life got in the way. You went back to the dorm because my parents came for graduation, I went home, they took me to Australia as a surprise gift, you went to Mexico, the
Trib
called.”

“Goodnight.” She went inside the house.

“Wait.” He grabbed the screen door and held it open.

“Tony.” She faced him. “What do you want me to say?”

“Nothing. It's what I want to say.” His eyes stung. “I stood beside you tonight, talking to others. Your eyes sparkled, their raw sienna—that's what I called them—that incandescent brown dancing under those little lights. I saw how that wildly colored dress defined your heart, so bright and creative and generous. We finished each other's sentences. We laughed.” He paused. “And now I remember. I remember that before I knew you, I never saw colors. I never laughed before or since as much as I did in our months together. More than any professor, you made me believe I could write. Oh, Izzy, you were so easy to love.”

She stared at him.

He wanted to take her in his arms, but he held back. Her distrust of him ran deep, and he couldn't blame her. He gave her a tiny smile.

Isabel blinked, nodded, and shut the door. But just before it completely latched, she reopened it and leaned outside. She planted a soft kiss on his cheek; then she quickly backed away and closed the door.

The pharmacy was bright with sunshine, and balloons and streamers were floating everywhere, just the way they did during her grand opening celebration in August. But where were the customers? The doorbell rang. People were coming! Lia raced frantically up and down the aisles. Where was the front door? The doorbell rang incessantly. Doorbell! Oh! They were using the alley door, pushing the new doorbell!