Seems Like Old Times (37 page)

Suddenly, her phone began to ring. She stared at it,
scarcely believing what she was hearing. By the second ring, she lunged for it.
The caller ID showed only “California.”

"Hello?" Her voice was breathless, excited,
hopeful
.

"Hello. This is Vic Santos."

Vic! Her stomach knotted. "Is everything all
right?"

"Not so hot. That's why I call you."

"Tony and Ben are all right, aren't they?"

"Yeah, they're okay. Except Tony...sometimes he
don't
listen to me. He's stubborn."

"What's wrong, Vic?" Lee asked. This man hadn't
called her just to chat. Something had to be terribly wrong for him to contact
her.

"He's gone. I'm
stayin
’ at
his house.
Keepin
’ it up for him."

She felt as if her heart stopped. "Gone? What do you
mean? Where is he?"

"I tried to talk to him."

Her voice was hushed as she asked firmly, "What
happened?"

She could all but hear Vic's struggle over talking to her,
and bit her tongue, forcing herself to be patient. "He wants to get a job as
a coach on some major league team. He thinks he might be able to get Ben back
if he does. He thinks he'll have more money, more prestige. And that might help
him win his custody appeal."

A coach?
Her mind raced with the
possibilities--and there were few. "He's been away from baseball so long.
I suspect lots of players want to coach, especially in the majors. The
competition has to be horrible."

"I know, but he won't listen. He's
playin
’ winter ball,
tryin
’ to
get back his skill,
hopin
’ the scouts will see him.
Then he'll go out and try to find a
coachin
’
job."

A chill touched her. "But what if he can't do it?
What if he's not good enough?"

"That's why I called you, Lisa. I worry. It’s his
birthday today."

"I know."

"Yeah, I
shoulda
guessed
you would. So, maybe you can talk some sense into him?"

"Me?"

"
There's
only three things
my boy ever really loved-- baseball, his son...and you. And now, he don't have
none
of them."

Her throat tightened.
"You, too,
Vic.
He loves you very much."

"That's not enough for a man."

She took a deep breath. "Where is he?"

"The Dominican Republic."

"The
Dominican "

"That's where winter ball is."

She shut her eyes. "You know, don't you, that he told
me he never wanted to see me again?"

"Tony's got a temper. He usually keeps it under tight
control, ‘
specially
around you. But when he loses it,
he says things he
don't
really mean. He's stubborn,
too, so sometimes he don't back off."

She held the phone with both hands, like a lifeline.
"I'll do what I can, but I can't force him or even push him to a decision
that he's not happy with."

"That might be enough."

"Thank you for telling me."

"It's okay, girl. I'm glad, too. I think you changed
some.
For the better."

She smiled. She guessed she'd always be some troublesome
"girl" to Vic. "How's Ben?"

He sighed. "He's got nice clothes. Goes to a school
costs a few thousand dollars each month.
Got
lotsa
toys."

"Is he getting used to being there?"

"His mother treats him well. He's strong. He didn't
want to go, though. Tony had to push him away when that Catherine came to get
him. It was hard for Tony...hard for both of them."

Her heart lurched. She couldn't imagine...she shook her
head, trying to dispel the wretched scene Vic's words brought to mind.

"Did Ben spend Christmas with you?"

"He stayed with Tony in the Dominican for a few
days."

She
nodded,
her throat tight.
"I'm glad they could be together."

o0o

After hanging up the phone, she sat on the sofa, vacantly
staring at the wall. How worried Vic must have been to open his heart to her,
of all people.

She walked to the windows, rubbing the chill from her
arms. The moon was full over Manhattan tonight. Vic had said that Tony had to
push away the small child who loved him. Her eyes filled with tears for him.
She didn't know where he’d found the strength.

Lee sat in her office, sipping her second cup of coffee.
She was groggy from having stayed awake so late last night trying to figure out
what to do about Vic's call. She wasn’t sure why she told him she would try to
talk to Tony. It wasn’t her place to call him and have a heart-to-heart about
his future. Vic had made it sound as if Tony wasn't himself, and hadn't been,
since he’d lost Ben. There had to be some way to help.

Max Hobbs, the news director, opened her office door and
then knocked on it, his head already peering at her. "Lee, thank God
you're here!" Hobbs was a sixties liberal who had become part of the
establishment and now spent his time trying to show how concerned and caring he
still was. Right now he looked concerned and panicked.

"Good morning, Max. I was just finishing my coffee,
then
I'm off to interview Senator Lofton."

"It can wait."

"Not hardly
. It's taken me
two weeks to line it up. I need the senator for One Hour Report."

"And I can't put Archer on the show tonight! He said
something unkind about the Rainbow Coalition and now Jesse Jackson is in
a
uproar! I need you to handle Archer's slot as well as your
own. I’ll get someone on with you, but you'll be carrying the ball."

"You've got other anchors, Max."

He put his hands on her desk and stared at her with
puppy-dog eyes. "But none as good as you are. I need you to bail me out of
this one. I’ll owe you, Lee."

"You already owe me. My own show needs the senator's interview."

Max lifted his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose
a few times. "Okay. After the interview, rush back here as fast as you can
and I’ll have the staff ready to brief you on the news pieces we're lining up.

Xantha
, Lee's secretary, put her
head in the doorway. "It's time to go, Miss Reynolds, so you won't be
late."

"Be right there,
Xantha
."
Lee picked up her purse and soft leather briefcase.

"Can I count on you, then?"
Max
asked, stepping to her side, his pudgy hands clasped together, a woe-is-me
expression and a sly twinkle in his eyes.

"This will cost big-time, Max." Lee left him
standing in her office.

She wasn't late, but the senator was by over forty five
minutes. She rushed from that interview back to the station, was briefed on the
day’s news, got made up, and went on the air.

When the show was over, she went into the engineers' room
where Max was finishing up instructions for the late night broadcast.

"Sissy Springfield is having a big party
tonight," Max said. "I know you’re invited. We can’t be late."

Lee collapsed into a chair. "We can’t be late?"
She had run around all day and the man had a party on his mind?

"The show was terrific with you anchoring! Don’t
worry about anything else," Max dashed about, writing notes and barking orders
to his staff. "I’m really looking forward to Sissy’s spread. She serves
the best of everything. I even skipped lunch."

"I suppose everyone's going to be there," Lee
said.

"Everyone who's anyone, as they
say.
Oh, before I forget, try to make it here early tomorrow. The
Egyptian ambassador will be giving a talk at the Plaza, and he's agreed to let
us interview him afterward. Because of the stink with Archer, I don’t want to
send anyone but our best interviewer to see him. That's you. Okay?"

Mentally juggling her schedule, Lee stood. "And
what's Archer doing?"

"He's miffed about the way he's being treated. He'll
be back next week."

"So I run around and fill in for him while he
sulks?"

"You’re the greatest, Lee."

"Since I’ll be doing that, you can do something for
me."

"Anything."

"Take the Lofton interview I did today and set it up
for my show tomorrow night."

"Tomorrow?
There isn’t
time."

"Sure there is. You’ve got all night. Also, you know
how fussy the senator is. Make sure you don’t let anything go on the air that
will upset him--but at the same time, Jake wants controversy. You get to please
them both. Heaven forbid either
complain
. I would have
done it myself, but no time now." She breezed out the door. "I’ll
give my best to Sissy for you."

o0o

The following week, Lee watched Rick Archer come back to
work like the prodigal son.

"I saw your interview with the Egyptian
ambassador," Archer told her as they passed in the hallway.

"Oh?"

"You really shouldn't let them have you do grunt work
like that, Lee. It lessens the value of the anchor position. I'd never allow
myself to be used that way."

 The world flashed red before her, but she kept her
poised reserve. "Thank you for that observation, Rick. I'll be sure to let
my friends, Jane Pauley and Katie Couric, know that Rick Archer advises them to
stop their interviews. I'm sure they'll appreciate it."

His face turned a bright purple, then he turned and
duck-waddled away.

She returned to her office, sat at her desk and looked at
the pile of papers around her. Turning toward the window, she spent a moment
just looking outside, even though her main view was of the fifth, sixth and
seventh floor offices of the high rise next door. Just then her phone buzzed.
She jumped at the sound.

"Yes?"

"It’s a Mr. Abdullah
Ibn
Akbar,"
Xantha
said.

"You’re kidding. Thanks."

Xantha
clicked the phone to the
caller. "Hello, Mr. Ambassador," Lee said. "How’s Egypt?"

The man chuckled.
"Much better than
I, Miss Reynolds.
I’m sitting here with an extra ticket to the New York
Philharmonic program tomorrow night, an all Stravinsky program. I was wondering
if you would do me the honor of accompanying
me?
"

Lee hesitated. He was a handsome, wealthy, powerful man,
intelligent, sophisticated and single. She had no romantic feelings toward the
man, but why not
go
with him? She loved Stravinsky. An
evening out would be fun--and she deserved some fun.

"That sounds quite lovely."

It snowed on her birthday, February 9. Miriam called
before Lee left for work to wish her a happy birthday. They had a cake for her
at work, and after the news show, she went out to dinner with the weatherman.
They had dated three times now. He was a gentle, kind, intelligent man, and she
liked him. Everyone said he was a wonderful weatherman, attractive in a
meteorological sort of way. Unfortunately, his precipitation didn’t supply the
chemical reaction she wanted in a lover, so they were friends and nothing more.

After dinner, he brought her home. She gave him a friendly
kiss and didn't invite him into her apartment.

Alone, she showered and put on a warm, fluffy robe, and
made herself a cup of coffee. The thick slice of birthday cake she hadn't eaten
earlier now sat on a plate, and she planned to enjoy it.

Three weeks had gone by since Vic told her Tony needed her
help, but she still hadn’t come up with a way to approach him. Maybe she never
would. Tony wouldn't want her to interfere anyway, she was sure.

It was probably safest to do nothing, because if she did
get involved with Tony again, she didn't want any holding back or reservations
between them although, in truth, she didn’t know what that meant with her here
and him there.

Damn, but she wished Vic hadn’t called her. She wanted
Tony out of her mind, but instead, Vic’s words made her dwell on him, and
worry, and wonder how he was doing.

The telephone rang. She saw the
called
I.D. and her heart nearly stopped. "Hello."

There was a pause, then, "Happy birthday, Lisa."

She was breathless. "Tony." Silence hung a
moment before she said, "A belated happy birthday to you, too."

"Thanks for remembering! Listen, I want to apologize
for what I said the last time--”

“No need, Tony. Please, don’t! Don’t…” She couldn’t go on.

He hesitated,
then
asked, “How
are you doing? I've watched your new show. You're terrific on it.
Better than ever."
His words came quickly, nervously,
as if he half-expected her to hang up on him.

"Thank you. I enjoy it a lot. I really do."

"That's great."
A pause,
again.

"Where are you?" she asked.

"Tucson. I, uh, I was offered a job as a scout for a
Double A team."

"You were? Congratulations. Tell me all about it. Did
you accept the job?"

"I’m thinking about it! Baseball is my life. You know
that."

"I know it once was." Her voice dropped. "I
thought ranching was your life now."

His voice, too, grew softer, his words more from the
heart. "Yeah, well...it got kind of quiet after Ben left. What can I say?
Anyway, this job has potential for big money. It’s not as much as a player
makes, but if I do okay, and can move up to Triple A, or particularly if I can
scout or coach in the majors I...I might even be able to get Ben back
sometime."

"All of this...it must be so hard for you."