Special Delivery (6 page)

I'm sure you're being modest about the films, Amanda laughed, and then told him how much she liked the store. It's beautiful, Jack. I'll have to come back one afternoon to go shopping. She liked what she had seen there, and much to her surprise, she liked him too. He was intelligent and interesting and fun to be with. The evening had gone very quickly. And as they left the restaurant, he promised her that he would talk to Paul about going to a specialist with Jan.

He may not appreciate my talking to him about it, but I'll give it a try.

I'd really appreciate that, she said gratefully as they got back into the limo.

I'll let you know how it works out, he promised. Just think, if we play our cards right, we might be grandparents again by this time next year. Now, there's a thought. I'm turning sixty right after Christmas. That's bad enough without adding more grandchildren ' for a man like me, that could absolutely destroy my reputation. She liked the way he made light of it, and she couldn't help laughing about it with him, and then for a serious moment, he talked to her again about Dori, how much she had meant to him, and the fact that he had never wanted to be seriously involved with anyone again since then. It's just too painful, he said honestly. I don't want to care that much again about anyone but my children. When the women in my life leave, I want to wave good-bye and forget them. Not cry for two years and remember them for the rest of my life with sorrow. I can't bring myself to do that.

Maybe the right person hasn't come along again, Jack, she said quietly, thinking of Matthew. She couldn't imagine loving anyone again either, and she said so.

It's different for you, he said sensibly, you were married for twenty-six years. You haven't been using up your tickets all over the place the way I have. I've just been having fun, and that's all I want. You should have a life with someone else, if that's what you want, after you've looked around for a while, he said gently. You haven't been out here in a long time. You may find you actually enjoy it.

I doubt that, she said honestly. I can't even imagine dating again, Jack. Not after all these years. I think I'm past that.

You never know what will happen in life, or who'll come along. Somehow life gives us gifts when we least expect them or a good kick in the behind. Either one. But it's never what you were expecting.

She nodded, smiling at what he had said, there was a certain truth to it, and then she looked at Jack with a question. What was Paul's mother like? She had met her briefly at the wedding, but it had been hard to tell, there had been so much going on, so many guests, so many important details.

Barbara? He looked surprised at the question. She was a monster. Actually, she was the one who cured me from ever wanting to be married, and I'm sure she would tell you the same thing about me, if you asked her. Except of course that she was foolish enough to remarry. I can hardly remember being married to her anymore, fortunately. She left me nineteen years ago. Next year, I'm planning to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of my independence. They were both laughing as he said it.

Jack Watson, you are awful and irreverent. I bet if the right woman came along you'd marry her in a minute. You're just too busy chasing starlets and models to find her.

How would you know? he asked, feigning innocence, but convincing no one, certainly not Amanda.

I read the papers, she said smugly, and he had the grace to look embarrassed for an instant.

Well, however that may be, I can assure you that if I met Mrs. Right or Miss Right, I would head for the tallest building and leap to the street immediately. I've learned my lesson. I'm being honest with you, Amanda. I couldn't do it.

That's how I feel now, although for different reasons. Oh well, it's not a problem I have to face for the moment, she said with a small sigh as they reached her front door and she turned to thank him. I had a lovely time, Jack, thank you for taking such good care of me, and taking me to dinner to talk about the children. He looked a little startled when she said it, and then he smiled and nodded.

I'll call and tell you what Paul says, he reiterated, and she thanked him again, unlocked her door, went inside, and closed it behind her. She heard the limo drive away as she turned on the light, and was surprised to realize how wrong she had been about him. He was a womanizer certainly, and he made no secret of it, and yet there was far more to him than that. There was something oddly endearing about him, like a young boy gone wild, but with a look in his eyes that made you want to hug him.

For an instant, it almost made warning bells go off in her head. Men like Jack were dangerous, even for fifty-year-old widows, and yet she knew she had nothing to fear from him. He had his chorus line of women, and all they really had in common was their children. But as Jack rode back to Rodeo Drive to check that the store had been properly put to bed, he sat back against the seat and closed his eyes, and all he could see in his mind's eye was Amanda.

Amanda didn't hear from Jan for the next few days, and Jack called her a week after the party. He said he had something to tell her, and invited her to come to the store, and have lunch with him in his office. And she accepted without any hesitation. She knew full well that his only motive in calling her was to talk about their children.

He was waiting for her downstairs when she arrived and ushered her upstairs to his private office, where lunch had been set up for them with a starched white tablecloth and napkins on the conference room table. They were left alone, and ate lobster salad and caviar and drank Champagne. It was a very elegant little luncheon.

Do you do this every day? she asked, teasing him, and he said only when he wanted to impress someone. Then consider me impressed, because I am. I eat yogurt every day out of the container.

Well, it seems to work. You have an incredible figure, Amanda. She blushed at what he said, and then they moved on to talk about their children. He said he had had lunch with Paul, and had brought the subject up casually, as casually as one could bring up a subject like that one. He had inquired about why they hadn't gotten around to having children, and Jack said that Paul had been pretty candid about it, and told him much the same thing as Amanda. He had also admitted that he really didn't want to go to a doctor about it. Paul thought it was embarrassing, and he felt as though his manhood and virility were being questioned. But after a lengthy conversation with his father, he had finally agreed to do something about it, even though he didn't want to. He had promised to go to the doctor with Jan right after Christmas. Apparently, her doctor was on vacation until then.

So I would say, our mission has been accomplished. The first stage of it anyway. Operation Grandchild is in its early stages.

Amanda was impressed with how good the results had been, and the fact that he had cared enough to do it, and she sat back in her chair and smiled at him in amazement. Jack Watson, you are terrific. I can't believe it. Poor Jan has been begging him to go with her for the last year, and he wouldn't do it.

He's probably just afraid of me. I told him I'd disinherit him if he didn't. He smiled at her, pleased by her reaction. She was so obviously grateful to him.

Seriously, Jack, thank you. Poor Jan wants a baby so badly.

What do you suppose will happen if they can't? He looked worried as he asked her, and she looked concerned too, since Jan had told her that Paul was not in favor of adoption.

I guess they'll have to face this thing one step at a time. They can always adopt if they don't conceive, but it's hard to believe that in this day and age, with all the fancy methods they use to resolve infertility, they couldn't help them. I'm sure something good will come from all this, with a little patience.

Things are so damn complicated now, aren't they? In my day, if you were really lucky, it took you six months to get some girl in the back of your dad's car at the drive-in movie, and if you so much as shook hands with her, she got pregnant. Now everyone is being treated for infertility and having babies made in a petri dish, it sure takes the fun out of dating. Amanda couldn't help laughing at what he said. It was true, even in her marriage to Matt, she had frequently worried about getting pregnant. She just hoped that Paul and Jan got lucky now, and managed to have a baby. I'll keep you posted if I hear anything further, Jack promised.

So will I, Amanda assured him, and then he offered to walk around the store with her. She couldn't resist trying a few things, and he finally left her with the manager of the store and the best of their sales force, and she showed up in his office to thank him again two hours later.

Did you have fun? he asked her, as he stood up at his desk when she walked in the room. She looked happy and relaxed and she had had a great time shopping at Julie's.

I had a ball, and I bought everything in sight, including half a dozen really great bathing suits for next summer from your cruise line. She had also bought several beautiful nightgowns, a new dress, and a sensational black alligator handbag. I bought everything in sight, she said again, with a degree of embarrassment. I haven't been this extravagant ever in my life, but I have to admit I enjoyed it. She laughed as she confessed, and he found himself staring at how beautiful she was, and wondering how he could get her to have dinner with him.

Do you like Thai food? he suddenly asked her out of nowhere.

Why, do you sell that too? Is there a department I missed? A deli? She was laughing at him, and she looked sensual and young and happy.

Yes, actually, I'll show you where it is, he said convincingly. But it's at our other store, and you have to come in my car to get there.

Oh, you're a terrible liar, Jack Watson. You're trying to kidnap me and hold me for ransom, I just know it

What a good idea, he said, laughing with her. What are my chances?

Now? Tonight? It was already five-thirty, but the store was open till nine so their customers could shop for Christmas. You gave me lunch today, you don't have to feed me tonight too. I have another idea. Why don't you come out to the house a little later on, and I'll cook you dinner. Nothing fancy, just whatever I find in the fridge, more or less. I owe you one, a big one, for getting Paul to go to the doctor.

I'd love it. He accepted her invitation instantly, and promised to be there at seven o'clock to help her. And as soon as she left, he picked up the phone and canceled the date that he had set up weeks before for that evening. He claimed to have the flu, and the girl he called just laughed at him. She didn't really care, but she knew him a lot better than he suspected.

What's her name? The girl he had called couldn't resist a little teasing.

What makes you think it's another woman?

Because you're not gay, and you probably haven't had the flu since you were two. You sound fine to me, Jack ' good luck with whoever she is. She was seeing someone else anyway, and he thanked her for being so understanding.

He arrived at Amanda's door at exactly seven o'clock, and she was wearing a pair of gray slacks with a pale blue sweater set and a string of pearls. She looked like a young heiress, but she was wearing an apron.

Very domestic picture, he commented as he came in and set down a bottle of very fancy wine he had bought for her, and she laughed at his comment.

I hope so, after twenty-six years of marriage.

You know, I never thought of you that way before, domestic I mean, Jack confessed as he followed her into the kitchen and she thanked him for the wine. It was an excellent wine, and an impressive vintage. I only thought of you in terms of being a movie star. It's hard to forget who you were before. You even look the same. In fact, in my mind, I always think of you as Amanda Robbins, and not Amanda Kingston.

Matt hated that, she said simply. A lot of people used to say that.

Is that why you never went back? He was curious about her.

Probably. Matt wouldn't have wanted me to anyway. We talked about it a lot before we got married. I hadn't been at it long, but I was ready to give it up ' for something better ' a man I loved and a family.

And was it better? Were you happy? he asked, as he watched her.

I loved being with my kids, and with Matt. It was a good life. She looked pensive for a moment then, as she thought about it. It's hard to believe that it's over. Everything shattered so quickly. One minute he was leaving the house with his tennis racket in his hand, and the next he was gone, just two hours later. It's hard to adjust to.

Jack nodded. It sounds dumb to say it, but at least he didn't suffer.

I guess that's true, but we did. I wasn't prepared at all. He seemed so young. We never even talked about what would happen if one of us died. We never had time to think about it, or say good-bye, or ' Tears filled her eyes and she turned away, and suddenly Jack was behind her, holding her shoulders.

It's okay ' I know ' that's how it was for me with Dori. She had a car accident on the way to meet me. Head-on. She never knew what hit her. But I did. I felt like that goddamn truck had hit me. For a long time, I wished it would have. I kept wanting it to be me, and not her ' I felt so damn guitly.

So did I, Amanda said as she turned to look at him. He had kind eyes, they were a warm brown, and his hair was a sandy blond peppered with gray. He was astonishingly good-looking. For the last year, I kept wishing I had died instead of Matt. But for the last week or two, I'm suddenly glad I didn't. I've been enjoying my kids again, and doing little things' . It's funny how things change just the smallest bit, and it makes a difference. He nodded, and put on one of her aprons over the slacks and black turtleneck sweater he was wearing.

Okay, enough of this serious stuff, madam. What's for dinner? Do you want me to chop, grate, or puree, or would you rather just watch me get quietly drunk in your kitchen? I can do either. She laughed at him as he looked at her with amusement. It was so easy to be with him.

Why don't you sit and relax. Everything is pretty much done already. She poured him a glass of wine, did a few things in the kitchen, and half an hour later, they had steak, baked potatoes, and salad. She was a good cook, and they talked for hours, sitting at her kitchen table, and afterward they walked into the living room and he glanced at some of the pictures. They were a handsome family, though Matt always looked stiff to him, but Amanda looked lovely in every picture.