An Act of Love (26 page)

Randy had known that sooner or later they'd have to talk
about what she'd done, and was relieved that it was finally out in the
open. "Are you very angry that I pretended we'd never met?" she asked.

Luke shook his head. He wasn't paying any attention to his
food, Randy noticed, but then, neither was she. "At first I was, but
not anymore. I
would
like to understand, though."

Randy studied her plate a moment, then pushed it away. She
wasn't going to eat a thing until this was over. "It was
just—I'd made such a bad mistake with Sean, and I was so
guilty about it. I was afraid of doing it again, of getting involved
again. After the way you'd treated me in Maine—sweet half the
time, cruel or arrogant the other half—I was confused about
what I felt for you. And I thought, if only I had more time I could figure it out. Pretending that we'd never met was
actually Lin's idea."

Randy looked him straight in the eye, her heart racing.
"But I'm not confused anymore, Luke. My father was right. I love you
very much. I'm willing to wait until you know what you want. And as far
as my father goes—"

"If your father finds out what happened last night he'll
lynch me, Miranda," Luke interrupted. He looked downright distraught.
"I gave him my word I'd leave you alone. I don't want to hurt you any
more than Bill wants me to hurt you, but I can't be sure I won't. And
I've told you, the presidency of C & D means a hell of a lot to
me."

Randy urgently explained that her father's common sense
would eventually surface, and that her mother had promised to prevent
any attempt by her husband to let his personal feelings interfere with
business. But her arguments failed to sway him.

"It would be impossible for me to function effectively
without your father's support," he pointed out. "I have this scene that
plays through my head all the time. You and I are seeing each other, or
even married, and we have a fight. Your father spends the next week
scowling at me. I just can't—"

"That's ridiculous," Randy broke in. "I'm not going to run
to my father every time we—"

"No, wait. Just hear me out, Miranda. I'm thirty-four
years old and I'm still single. I've never come close to asking a woman
to marry me and it isn't because I haven't met anyone suitable, because
I have. Maybe part of the reason has something to do with my father
walking out on my mother, or with the man my mother eventually
remarried. I think it's scared me off. But it's also true that I've
never wanted to take the time out from my career for personal
relationships, except of course for my sister. I never starved as a
kid, but there were things I never had—lots of
things—and I want them now. Let me tell you something that
I've learned about myself. If I'd become a doctor the way I'd
originally planned to, I wouldn't have practiced selfless family
medicine in some small town somewhere. I would have become a New York
surgeon and made myself a fortune."

His explanation, far from clearing anything up, only
confused Randy more. Was he saying that he didn't want to get involved
with her because that might jeopardize his career? Or that he didn't
want to marry at all? "I just don't understand what you want," she said.

"Neither do I," he admitted. "At first I thought that all
I wanted was to sleep with you. Both of us know that if you started to
take off your clothes I'd be helping you do it inside of ten seconds.
But that isn't getting us anywhere, Miranda."

Randy stifled an exasperated sigh. Obviously Luke was even
more confused than she was. "So what
would
get us
somewhere?" she asked.

"I don't know, but maybe we should let things ride. Okay?"

Randy took a drink of water, thinking, Mom, you were so
right. Luke isn't going to be easy. Then she stood up to leave. "Knock
on my door when you're ready to go, Luke. I
would
like to attend the meetings today." Without another word she briskly
crossed the room and let herself out.

It wasn't easy to sort out the tangle of emotions she
felt, but by the time Luke stopped by half an hour later she'd largely
succeeded. She realized that there was no point in being angry. Luke
wasn't deliberately being difficult. All the things he'd touched
on—how little they really knew each other, the problems with
her father, the feelings left over from his childhood—were
valid concerns of his. In a way, there was no point even being hurt,
except that Randy was human and simply couldn't help it.

She knew that, given Luke's feelings, continuing to force
the issue as she had last night wouldn't accomplish anything. She had
no choice but to get on with her life and give him the time he needed.
She'd "let things ride".

But if you don't do the same, Luke Griffin, she thought as
she grabbed her suitcase, I'm going to give you the tongue-lashing of
your life. If he alternately chased her and put her off she'd go crazy.

Luke seemed surprised when she opened the door with a
friendly smile and asked him to give her thirty seconds. "I'm always
leaving things behind. Just one last check."

She walked back with a pair of pantyhose and saw his
fleeting smile. As they drove back to the store she asked him what he
hoped to accomplish that day, and learned that his primary goal was for
everyone to meet Don Jacoby and start to feel comfortable with him. He
hoped to leave the store's employees with renewed confidence in the
company and an eagerness to repair C & D's slightly tarnished
local image.

Watching Luke in action that morning, Randy decided that
the man could have run for public office. Both he and Don were
well-prepared, encouraging honest and creative answers to their
questions and stimulating an enthusiasm and excitement that Randy
wouldn't have believed possible. She'd planned simply to observe, but
became so involved in the discussions that she made a few well-received
suggestions and comments on her own.

Most of all, however, she was fascinated by how Luke
skillfully manipulated each of the meetings. Initially everyone in the
room would look to him for leadership and guidance. He was the blazing
star of Conover-Dunne and no one could fail to feel it. Yet in meeting
after meeting he somehow managed to shift the spotlight onto Don
Jacoby, so that by mid-afternoon, when everyone gathered together for a
final session, the new manager had taken control of the proceedings and
Luke was able to laze back and watch, more of an observer than even
Randy was.

Since Don drove back to the city with them there was no
opportunity for personal conversation. The two men talked business
almost the whole way, scarcely coming up for air even when Luke stopped
in front of Randy's building. It seemed impossible for her that the man
who opened up the trunk and handed her her suitcase with such a formal
smile could have held her and caressed her all night long—and
not once, but twice— but he had. And no matter what he wanted
to pretend, both of them knew it.

Randy spent the next week and a half filling in for
flu-stricken salespeople in C & D's Manhattan store. For the
first three days she worked a summer white sale that was sheer madness,
but at least it kept her too busy to think about Luke during the day
and left her so tired that she had no energy to lie awake nights.

When the doorbell rang on Friday night she was sitting at
dinner with her parents, eating as much as she could manage to swallow
and trying to act cheerful lest Bill Dunne decide that Luke Griffin had
broken her heart. Her mother knew a little of what had happened in
Philadelphia, but Randy really hadn't felt like talking about it.

"I'll get it." She was relieved to have an excuse to leave
the table. Their visitor had to be someone familiar to the doorman, or
else he would have buzzed the apartment by now.

She opened the door to find her sister and Roger Bennett
standing outside, Linda with a large suitcase and Roger laden down with
three bulging shopping bags. Somehow everything wound up on the hall
floor as Randy embraced first one, then the other.

"Paris was fabulous," Linda said, picking up the suitcase
and striding inside. By now the Dunnes had come into the foyer. "Just
wait till you see the stuff I brought back," Linda told her parents as
she hugged them hello. Then she seemed to remember Roger, who was still
standing near the door with the shopping bags.

"Darling, you remember my parents from the fashion show,"
she said. "Mom, Dad, Roger Bennett."

Roger put down the bags and shook hands with the Dunnes,
saying that it was a pleasure to see them again and adding, "You have a
captivating daughter."

"Two of them," Bill said with a smile.

The older captivating daughter promptly announced that she
was hungry, but fortunately for her stomach her mother could always be
counted on to rustle up a meal to ward off starvation. As for Randy,
between her pleasure in seeing Roger and her sister and her interest in
the details of their trip she forgot that she wasn't hungry and
finished her veal. After dinner everyone went into the living room for
coffee and Linda dumped out the contents of her suitcase and shopping
bags.

Even Bill Dunne was impressed by the treasures she
displayed. There were exquisitely beaded handbags at half the New York
price, handmade lingerie, bulky, hand-knit sweaters, and a group of
clever kitchen gadgets in bright plastic colors that Randy fell in love
with. Linda explained that while Roger was tied up in negotiations with
his temperamental French director, she'd gotten a little restless and
decided to do some traveling. Her notion of "some traveling"
encompassed nearly half a dozen European cities, and each of her
"finds" seemed to come from some posh but out-of-the-way shop that only
the local "in" crowd knew about.

"Just in case you're interested, I did a little
preliminary negotiating on prices," she told her father, taking a
piece of paper out of her purse and handing it to him. "You know how
rotten I am with figures, so I had Roger translate the local currency
into dollars using last week's exchange rates. What do you think?"

Bill glanced down the list of numbers, then handed it to
Emily. "I think that if I don't get you onto my payroll I'm crazy." He
paused, frowning at his own enthusiasm. "You understand," he added
sternly, "that I expect you to take this seriously, Linda."

"Of course I will," Linda answered. "I've finally found my
true calling in life—becoming a professional shopper."

But as the evening wore on the woman that Randy had seen
glimpses of in Cambridge emerged more fully. Not only did Linda seem
serious about a career, she wanted a career in the family business.
Randy knew that when Linda put her mind to something she had an
ambitiousness and an aggressiveness that she herself couldn't match,
but heretofore those qualities had been utilized almost exclusively in
the pursuit of either pleasure or men. Should Linda decide to go to
business school and pursue an executive position at C & D she
would probably give Luke Griffin a real run for his money some day.

When Randy mentioned that C & D was shorthanded
due to a flu epidemic Linda immediately offered to stay in New York and
help out. Working in various departments would give her a chance to
refamiliarize herself with the merchandise, and remaining in New York
for a week or two would give her and her father the opportunity to
discuss the details of her future job. Besides, she admitted with a
wink at Randy, she'd been looking for an excuse to spend more time with
Roger.

Toward the end of the evening Emily reminded everyone,
including her husband, that Thursday was their anniversary, saying that
nothing could please her more than to have the family together at
dinner. The fact that the invitation included Roger Bennett left Randy
jealous of her sister and guilty over the fact. And when Roger and
Linda walked out of the apartment arm-in-arm a little later and Bill
Dunne said exactly nothing about it, Randy couldn't help but resent his
double standard. She didn't bother to hide her feelings when she said
goodnight to him. Several times over the next few days she was sorely
tempted to argue with him over Luke Griffin, but every time she
complained to her mother Emily merely told her to be patient. In the
end Randy held her tongue.

At least having Linda in New York provided partial
compensation for not seeing Luke. She and Roger came over for dinner
most nights and the two sisters met for lunch on workdays. On Monday
they went shopping together for an anniversary present for their
parents, finding a small Persian rug in a store specializing in
oriental imports and chipping in for it. Randy took Linda's word that
even though the rug cost the moon and the stars, it was well worth the
price.

Most other days the weather was so hot and muggy that they
stayed in the building and ate at the store restaurant, talking about
everything from Linda's trip to Paris to the latest difficult customer.
Not surprisingly, however, their primary topic of conversation was
their respective men. Although Linda was now completely serious about
Roger, she was also very cautious. She pointed out to Randy that she
hadn't even met his children yet—they wouldn't be returning
to New York until school began in the fall. She wasn't about to rush
into another marriage where there might be hostile stepchildren to
contend with.

When it came to Luke Griffin Linda had no advice for Randy
beyond the resigned observation that if Bill Dunne would only come to
his senses, things would surely proceed in a satisfactory fashion.

"But it's been over a week," Randy said. "How long am I
supposed to humor him for? Another week? A month? A
year
,
for heaven's sake?"

"Why don't you give it till the end of the week?" Linda
suggested. "And then the three of us can gang up on him and make him
see reason. He has to have noticed that the women in his family all
disagree with him." Linda smiled a little wistfully and laughed softly.
"Do you remember the fit Dad had the first time I stayed out all night?
I suppose I wasn't the easiest daughter to raise, but at least I paved
the way for you."