Bayview Heights Trilogy (40 page)

“Because of the baby?”

“Partly. And because of Mitch.”

Lacey quelled the spurt of envy she felt. “He
seems very nice.”

Cassie nodded. “I was surprised when he told
me you were on the task force.”

“I’m surprised I’m on it, too.”

“How did it happen?”

After Lacey filled Cassie in on Seth’s
maneuvering, Cassie laughed and shook her head. “That sounds so
much like Seth. He’ll win you over yet.”

A vision of Kevin in prison gray assaulted
Lacey. She must have frowned, because Cassie asked, “What is
it?”

“Nothing. Tell me about what happened last
winter.”

Though Cassie regaled her with interesting
stories, Lacey had to struggle to concentrate on her friend’s
anecdotes. Conflicting images of Taylor distracted her. She forced
herself to focus on Cassie in time to hear, “But he’s so protective
of me and this baby, it’s driving me nuts.”

“It isn’t like you to put up with someone
telling you what to do. I wondered about it the other day at the
school.”

Shadows crossed Cassie’s face. “I know it
isn’t like me. But I tolerate it for him.” At Lacey’s questioning
look, Cassie continued, “Mitch didn’t give his heart easily, Lace.
He’d been through hell in Vietnam. He lost a lot. I couldn’t bear
for him to lose any more, to be hurt again. I’ll give up anything
to prevent that, even my independent streak—for a while
anyway.”

The moisture in Cassie’s eyes moved Lacey. “I
think you’re doing the right thing, then.”

Shaking off the tears, Cassie rolled her
eyes. “Even if it kills me. He wouldn’t let me drive here tonight.
He heard it might snow. He dropped me off, then he’s going over to
play volleyball.”

“Where do they play?”

“At Hotshots. You know—that old warehouse
they converted to a bar. Can we order now? I’m starved.” Cassie’s
eyes lit up. “Still like jumbo pizza, thick crust with everything
on it?”

“I haven’t had that in years. Let’s go for
it.”

After they ordered, Cassie told her how she’d
played volleyball until she’d become pregnant. Her eyes misted
again when she confided in Lacey about the first time Mitch had
kissed her, after a game. “Listen to me, I’m such a sap over him.
Sorry.”

“No, Cass, I think it’s great.”

“I’m a sap over everything these days. I’ll
probably bawl my way through Thanksgiving and Christmas.”

The holidays. Lacey was dreading the first
holidays with Kevin in prison.

“What’s wrong?” Cassie asked.

Lacey started to deny anything was wrong, but
suddenly she knew she had to share what she was feeling with
someone or explode. “It’s the upcoming holidays. With Kevin in
jail, I’m not sure I can deal with them.”

“Talk to me about it.”

“It’s so awful, Cass. Barker Island is new
and only medium security, but it’s a horrible place. Sometimes I
can’t even bear to think about it.” For the next half hour, Lacey
poured out all her worries over Kevin, her grandfather, and even
some of her feelings about the paper. Cassie listened and commented
appropriately. The catharsis felt good, but Lacey was exhausted
when she’d finished. “Thanks for listening. Let’s change the
subject, though. I’m drained.”

Just as the pizza arrived, Christmas music
filled the restaurant. It came from behind Lacey. “A little early
for this, isn’t it?” she asked.

Choosing a large, cheese-dripping piece of
pizza, Cassie told her, “It’s a new cable channel.” She indicated
with her eyes the wall-mounted television set behind Lacey. “They
started running Christmas movies right after Halloween.” She stared
up at the screen. “This one is my all-time favorite.”

Turning, Lacey caught a glimpse of Jimmy
Stewart and Donna Reed in
It’s a Wonderful Life
. “A great
movie.”

Neither spoke much as they devoured the
pizza. Cassie stared at the screen intently as she ate. Then she
said, “That’s it! I’ve found it.”

“What?”

Cassie’s look was wary. “Um, nothing, just an
idea I’d been looking for.”

“Something for school?”

“Sort of.”

“What do you mean? And why are you
squirming?”

“Pregnant women can’t sit still too
long.”

“Cass, you’re no better now at lying than you
were in high school.”

Cassie smiled. “It’s about Seth Taylor.” Her
face became serious. “You don’t want to hear it.”

Lacey’s gut clenched—she
did
want to
hear it. “Tell me.”

Cassie shrugged. “If you’re sure.” At Lacey’s
nod, she continued, “This is Seth’s twenty-fifth year at Bayview
Heights. We’re having a party to celebrate it. At first he had a
fit, but when I told him it would only be a few close friends and
family, he agreed.”

“Sounds nice.

“There’s more. Seth’s been in a funk lately.
I think it’s a midlife crisis, teacher burnout combination. I want
to do something special for him, something to show all the good
he’s done at the high school.” She reached over and squeezed
Lacey’s hand. “I know you think he hurt your family, but he’s done
so much for the school, for kids.”

I know, I just read about it
, Lacey
thought.

Cassie glanced up at the TV. “This would be a
perfect thing to do.” She nodded to the screen. “If we could get
some of his old students to come to the dinner, show him how he’d
affected their lives…”

In spite of the topic, Lacey smiled. “Like
George Bailey. If he hadn’t been there, what would have
happened?”

“Exactly.” Cassie frowned. “It’ll be a bitch
getting that information, though.”

“When’s the party?”

“December twentieth. Some of the people he
helped are probably still in Bayview, and some might be coming home
for Christmas.”

“Probably.”

“I really want to do this. I’ll find a way to
get this information. Maybe some back issues of the paper would
help me.”

“Could be.” Lacey’s tone was
noncommittal.

After they finished their meal, Cassie
yawned. “Damn, if I just wasn’t so tired all the time.”

Lacey smiled. “When is Mitch picking you
up?”

She glanced at the door. “Right now. Here he
is. Oh, God, Lacey, I’m sorry. I had no idea…”

Puzzled, Lacey turned to look at the door.
Through it came Mitch Lansing, handsome and sexy in a forest green
sweat suit and wind-whipped hair. Behind him, in his navy nylon
sweat suit, his hair mussed, too, was Seth Taylor—looking just as
handsome and just as sexy as Mitch.

o0o

SETH SWALLOWED HARD as he watched Lacey
Cartwright slide out of the booth and stand. He knew Cassie was
having dinner here with her and he’d followed Mitch over because he
wanted to talk to Lacey about tonight’s paper. What he hadn’t
planned on was a vision of her in jeans that showed off her long
legs to perfection. He thought she’d looked sexy in running shorts,
but the soft denim encasing those legs...He forced himself to look
away.

“Hi guys,” Cassie said as she tried to get
out of the booth. “Anybody want to help free Willy out of
here?”

Mitch threw back his head and laughed. “You
don’t look like a whale, love.” He gave her his hand and grunted as
she stood. “Well, maybe a little one.”

Cassie donned her jacket and then hugged
Lacey. “Let’s do it again soon.”

“Very soon.”

After the Lansings said their goodbyes and
left, Lacey shrugged into her coat. She eyed Seth’s sweat suit.
“You were playing volleyball?”

“Yeah. I let Mitch talk me into joining the
team a few weeks ago.”

“Oh. Good.” She gave him a half smile. “I’ll
be on my way.’

With a nod of his head, he indicated the bar
at the front of the restaurant. “Want to have a beer with me?”

The torn look on her face made him feel bad
for asking. He knew they had no business socializing.

“Um, no, I don’t think so.”

Seth had forgotten what the sting of
rejection felt like. “Oh, okay. Come on, I’ll walk you to your
car.”

“It’s at the office.”

“Well, that’s not too far.”

“I can walk back by myself.”

“I know. But I’d like to walk with you. I
want to talk a minute.’’

She looked as if she was going to refuse, but
she didn’t. “All right.”

Outside, a crisp November wind whirled around
them. Night had fallen, but street lamps illuminated the sidewalks
as they passed the older homes that lined the city streets.

“It’s getting colder,” Seth said as he zipped
up his jacket.

“Yes. Mitch told Cassie it might snow.”

Seth chuckled. “Mitch would say anything to
keep her under wraps.”

“I think it’s sweet.” Seth could hear the
longing in her voice. She coughed to clear it.

“What? Having a baby or having a man hover
over you?”

“The first mostly. But the second, too.” She
was quiet, then asked, “So, what did you want to talk about?”

“Tonight’s paper.”

Lacey’s step faltered. “What did you
think?”

“I think the editorial was fair, if not as
positive as I’d like to see it.” He smiled.

Lacey stopped walking. “I was objective.”

“Yes, you were.”

“And?’’

“And I particularly liked the piece on the
Good Deeds Project.” He reached out and squeezed her arm, leaving
his hand on her for a moment. “I appreciate even more that it’s
going to be a weekly column.”

“I thought the kids would like it.”

“They’ll love it.”

“Good.”

They started to walk again. Finally, Lacey
asked, “Was volleyball fun?”

“Fun? He stuck his hands in his pockets as he
shuffled alongside her. “Yeah, it was. That’s something that seems
to be missing in my life these days.”

“Really? Mine, too.”

“Being back here must be rough for you.”

Lacey shook her head, and some golden strands
of hair caught in her collar. Seth resisted the urge to untangle
them. “That’s not it. Fun was missing in California, too.”

Seth nodded. “You know what I’d like?”

“What?”

“Some
kid
kind of fun.”

Lacey smiled as if she knew what he meant.
“Running just doesn’t do it, does it?”

“No, running is a need for me.”

“For me, too. What did you do for fun as a
kid?” she asked.

He thought for a minute. “I loved to
read.”

“What?”

“The Hardy Boys. Treasure Island.” He gave
her a quick sideways glance. “Superhero comics, of course.”

“What else did you do?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Climb trees. Eat warm
cherries right off the branches. Jump in the leaves. How about
you?”

She smiled. “I used to love to
ice-skate.”

He bet those legs were an asset there.

“Being an adult is a drag sometimes,” she
said.

“I know. And yet kids want to grow up so
fast.” He could hear the wistfulness in his own voice. “If there’s
one thing I could teach every student, it would be to enjoy being a
kid. It’s gone all too soon.”

They fell into a companionable silence. As
they passed the town library, Seth stopped. He looked out over the
massive lawn. In the center of it were several piles of leaves,
recently raked. It was unusual for the leaves to fall this late,
even for downstate New York, but these were the last of the season.
Seth angled his chin at them. “Now, if we were kids, we’d go over
there and jump in.”

“Yeah, but if we got caught, we’d have to
answer to the cops.”

“And the poor groundskeeper who raked them
would have to do it again tomorrow.”

Lacey laughed. “Listen to us. We sound like a
couple of old fogies.”

“Old fogies? I resent that. You have to be at
least sixty to be a fogy.”

She arched a mischievous eyebrow. “Yeah,
well, I don’t see you tackling that pile.”

Catching her mood, he said, “That big one,
right there in the middle?”

“Uh-huh.”

Still, he didn’t move.

“Scared?”

He struggled against the grin. “Me?
Never?”

“Prove it.”

His eyes narrowed on her. The teasing made
her look young and cute. He wanted to keep her looking that way for
a while. “Okay.”

She started to cross her arms over her chest,
waiting for him to take the dare.

“Oh no you don’t.” Before she could object,
he grabbed her hand and began to pull her across the yard. It took
her a minute to realize what he was doing, then she matched his
stride. Hand in hand, they loped to the leaves. Together, they
dived into the middle pile. Once in it, like any ten-year-old boy,
Seth picked up a huge handful and threw it on top of her. She
sputtered and spit, then bent down, picked up her own pile and
tossed it at him. They were on their third round when they heard,
“Hey, you kids, get out of there.”

Both froze.

“Caught,” Seth whispered.

“Never.” She reached over and grabbed his
hand this time. “We weren’t track stars for nothing.”

They took off down the street before whoever
had yelled started toward them. Sprinting at first, then slowing to
a jog, they ran the few blocks to the paper. They weren’t even
breathing hard when they reached the
Herald
. But they
collapsed, giggling, onto a bench in front of the building.

“That was close,” Lacey managed to get
out.

“Yeah.” Seth looked over at her sprawled on
the seat. Underneath the streetlight, her eyes sparkled and her
cheeks were pink. Slowly, he reached out.

All mirth drained from her face as his hand
came closer. “You’ve got leaves in your hair.” He picked one, two,
three big ones out of the blond strands. Then he took the ends of a
lock and ran it through his fingers. “You’ll have to wash this
tonight.” He stared at her hair and a gut-punching image of how
this beautiful wavy mass would look spread across his chest almost
took his breath away. Her coat had fallen open and he could see the
full outline of her breasts beneath her sweatshirt.