We Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus (13 page)

“Cole! What are you doing in town? I swear it’s been—what?—ten years?”

It was a short plump brunette. Cole had known her in school, but she’d been downright skinny then. “Hi, Mary-Jean. It’s been at least that long. You still with Ducky?”

“No. We broke up just after graduation, but you were a couple years older than me and were gone by then, I guess. I married his older brother, Clint. We have four kids,” she said proudly. Then she saw Jaclyn and her eyes widened. “Are you two together now?”

“No. I work for Cole,” Jaclyn said, “in Reno.”

Cole could tell Mary-Jean didn’t buy Jaclyn’s denial for a second. She smiled as though she’d been trying to get a peek at someone’s underwear and had just hit pay dirt.

“You’re kidding,” she said. “I heard you moved away, Jackie, but I wouldn’t believe it for the longest time. I couldn’t imagine you and Terry breaking up. You were always the perfect couple. And now look at you! You’ve hooked up with the town bad boy!”

“It’s not what—” Jaclyn started, but Mary-Jean, lowering her voice conspiratorially, cut her off.

“Don’t worry. I don’t blame you. I’d choose looks over money any day.”

“I didn’t leave Terry for Cole,” Jaclyn said, but Mary-Jean’s incredulous smile lingered as she turned to Cole.

“Rochelle know you’re in town?”

If she didn’t, Cole knew she soon would. Mary-Jean’s mind was obviously working at a frantic pace, probably running through the list of people she couldn’t wait to tell that Cole Perrini and Jaclyn Wentworth had come in to the restaurant together. “I don’t think so. We just got in last night.”

“Where did you stay?”

Cole hesitated. Even though they’d had separate rooms, mention of the honeymoon haven known as the Starlight would definitely raise Mary-Jean’s eyebrows. For Jaclyn’s sake, he didn’t want to add any more fodder to the gossip mill. She still had ties to Feld, ties Cole didn’t have.

“A motel here in town,” he said.

Mary-Jean looked as if she might try to pin him down, but a cook barked at her from the kitchen to get some food delivered, and she muttered, “I’m coming. Jeez, give me a freakin’ break,” and turned away. “Good to see you, Jackie,” she said over her shoulder. “I always had a crush on you, Cole Perrini,” she added with a giggle.

Cole managed a polite smile that disappeared the instant she was gone. Then he cleared his throat and looked at Jackie, hoping to get a read on what she was feeling. “I guess it’s my turn to apologize,” he said.

“For what?” She acted calm, poised, but she glanced around the restaurant as though she expected to be accosted again.

“For my reputation. Everyone’s going to think you went over to the dark side.”

She smiled. “Who says it’s the dark side?”

W
AKING TO FIND
he’d fallen asleep over his textbooks again, Rick yawned and rubbed the imprint on his cheek. The other students seemed to spend a fraction of the time
he spent studying, but he wasn’t cut out for book learning, never had been. He hated anything that involved sitting on his ass for too long. But he wasn’t bad at practical applications—at least he’d taught himself quite a bit about accounting while working for Cole—and he wasn’t about to let his past beat him.

He’d already gotten his G.E.D., over the summer. Now he was going to put in a few years at Reno Community College, then transfer to the university and get his degree. Since he’d quit Perrini Homes, he was able to go full time, which meant he could graduate a year after Andrew, if everything went well. And when that happened, he’d move to California and start his career in computers—a little late, perhaps, but better late than never.

He pictured himself breezing into Cole’s office with an invitation to his graduation, anticipated Cole’s surprise. And he imagined, as he always did, that Cole would be proud of him. Finally.

That’s pathetic.

Refusing to think any more about his older brother, refusing to acknowledge how badly he missed him, Rick slammed his books closed. He’d joined a study group that was meeting at the school library this morning. If he didn’t get moving, he’d miss it entirely.

“J
ACKIE
. J
ACKIE
W
ENTWORTH
,
is that you?”

Not again,
Jaclyn thought as she spotted Mrs. Kirby, her old piano teacher, trotting down the street toward them. Five different people had interrupted their breakfast to say hello and catch up. Jaclyn would have been flattered by the attention, except that the conversation always centered on her divorce, and the fact that she and Cole were together. Even Mary-Jean had stopped by their table to say that if Jaclyn
wasn’t
with Cole, she knew plenty of women who’d be happy to have him.

Jaclyn suspected she was talking about herself, despite the husband and four kids.

“Pretend you didn’t hear her,” she told Cole, staring at the ground and starting for the truck.

“Jackie! Wait! It’s me, Mrs. Kirby!” The woman’s voice rang louder in the warm, still air, and Jaclyn paused. She couldn’t do it. Mrs. Kirby was an old busybody, but Jaclyn couldn’t purposely ignore her.

“Too late. She’s got me,” she muttered. “But I’ll try to make it short.”

Cole stopped and turned when she did, only a brief frown telling Jaclyn that he was as tired of providing the town’s entertainment as she was, and waited while Mrs. Kirby caught up.

“Jackie Wentworth. Where have you been? I haven’t seen you for ages.”

Jaclyn felt her eye twitch but managed a smile. “I live in Reno now. I’m just visiting.”

“Really? Do you
like
the big city?”

“I do.”

She wrinkled her nose in distaste. “With all those casinos? I don’t think I could live there.”

Jaclyn took a steadying breath. Maybe she liked Reno because it wasn’t Feld. “Well, it’s not for everyone, I suppose.”

“And who is this?” she asked, eyeing Cole.

“You don’t know Cole Perrini? He used to live here, too, but only for a few years.”

“I guess we’ve never met.”

Thank goodness, Jaclyn thought. At least they’d be spared another mention of Rochelle.

Cole said hello, and Mrs. Kirby dipped her head in his direction before speaking to Jaclyn again. “Are you still playing the piano?”

“No, I’m afraid not lately.”

“What happened? You were one of my best students. You have real talent.”

Talent did her no good without a piano to practice on. “Pianos are expensive instruments. I’ll get one someday.”

“What about that baby grand Terry gave you for Christmas? It was beautiful.”

It was also still at the ranch, along with everything else they’d acquired during their marriage. “Terry has it.”

“I didn’t know he played.”

“He doesn’t.” No one at the ranch knew how to play, but that, of course, didn’t matter.

“Divorce is a terrible thing,” Mrs. Kirby said.

The mourning in her voice made Jaclyn’s smile real. She missed her piano, but Mrs. Kirby was acting as though she’d had to leave a child behind. “I’m afraid we’ve got to go,” she said, “but it was wonderful to see you again.”

“Save up for that piano, now. I don’t want you to forget everything I taught you.”

“I will. It’s at the top of my list.” If she ever made it to her list. She had to take care of the children’s needs first.

Slipping her hand into the crook of Cole’s arm, Jaclyn walked with him to the Navigator. “Can we get out of town?” she asked, when they reached it.

“Where do you want to go?”

“What are our options?”

Cole thought for a moment. “That depends on how much fun you want to have.”

“What if I want to have the time of my life?”

He grinned. “Don’t tempt me,” he said.

“I mean the best time a girl could have with her clothes
on,
” she clarified.

His smile didn’t fade, proof that he’d been teasing her, as he tapped the newspaper he’d carried out of the restaurant. “Leave it to me.”

S
HE WAS GOING TO DIE
!

Jaclyn screamed and squeezed Cole’s arm as he steered the sand rail up the huge mountain of sand. He gave it plenty of gas, and they shot straight to the top, going so fast it made her eyes water. Her stomach lifted as they sailed over the peak and hung suspended for a split second before landing with a solid
thump.
Then they hurtled down the other side.

“My face hurts from smiling,” she complained, wiping the moisture from her eyes when they reached the bottom. A fine layer of dirt covered her shirt, her shorts, her legs, everything, even her teeth, and her hair was completely windblown. But Cole wasn’t any cleaner. He was wearing a pair of jeans and a T-shirt that was no longer white. His ball cap was on backward, and he had a streak of dirt across his forehead and even more clinging to the smile lines of his face.

“You were screaming like a banshee,” he said, laughing.

Jaclyn tried to look indignant. “No, I wasn’t. I was trying to tell you something.”

“What? ‘Let me out’?”

For a second there, right as they’d reached the peak and looked as if they’d roll down the other side, Jaclyn
had
wanted out. Cole had been taking it easy on her before that, letting her get used to the machine he’d just bought secondhand from an ad in the paper. But this last ride was wild and frightening, and the most fun yet. “No, I was saying it’s my turn to drive.”

He nudged her playfully. “Liar. I tried to get you to drive before and you wouldn’t.”

“Well, I’m new at this.”

“I can’t believe Terry never brought you out here.”

Jaclyn’s eye followed a cloud of dust up the mountain. It was a Quadrunner, a low, four-wheeled motorcycle with wide knobby tires. “He did bring me out here. I just wouldn’t take a ride with him.”

“Why not?”

“I was too scared.”

Cole blinked at her in surprise. “So what made you get in with me?”

She wasn’t sure she had a good answer to that question. There was something about Cole that made her feel safe, as if he had everything under control, as if he could do anything. Probably because he’d done so much. When he’d left Feld, he had nothing. Now he was back and could write a check for a couple thousand dollars to buy a used sand rail out of the paper as though he were buying nothing more expensive than a pair of shoes. And when Jaclyn had asked him what he planned to do with it after today, he shrugged and said he’d take it home, like it was no big deal to part with so much money even though he didn’t know if he’d ever use the rail again.

“I guess I felt confident you wouldn’t kill me,” she said. “And I’ve had a blast. I’m glad I trusted you.”

He smiled. “So am I. Did you guys come out here often?”

“Not me. Terry did. It was kind of a guy thing. He’d hang out with his friends or take Alex. And I really didn’t mind.” She sighed. “It was the after-hours stuff that upset me.”

Cole turned off the sand rail to let the engine cool. “Who’d he mess around with, Jackie? Did you know her?”

“You mean
them?
” She leaned her head against the black pad that was supposed to cushion her neck and stared through the metal cage to the clear sky above. “No. They were prostitutes mostly. He and the guys liked to frequent strip joints and whorehouses. He thought he was doing me a favor having sex only with women who were routinely tested for STDs. But he did have a brief affair with someone who worked at the hair salon.” She grimaced. “That was pretty embarrassing. Do you know how much those girls talk?”

“The affair got back to you?”

“In bits and pieces. He’d bought her a necklace, and she was showing it off to everyone who came in.”

“What did you do?”

“I confronted him. He called her a bitch and a liar. By the time it was all over, I actually felt kind of sorry for
her.
”

“Did you ever prove it one way or another?”

“No. I didn’t need to. I’d already found enough souvenirs in his truck to know what was going on. I could smell perfume on him some nights, too.” The memories nearly turned Jaclyn’s stomach, even now. There’d been so many nights when she’d nearly paced a hole in the carpet waiting for Terry to come home, wondering where he was, suspecting the worst. Then there were the times she’d found cigarettes in his truck even though he didn’t smoke, or a
strange brand of chewing gum in his ashtray—or something more telling. To this day she couldn’t smell certain brands of perfume without feeling sick.

Cole turned his hat around to the front, a frown etched in the rugged lines of his face. “He wouldn’t stop?”

Jaclyn closed her eyes against the pictures in her mind—pictures of herself pleading with Terry, summoning enough trust to give him one more chance, coming face-to-face with his failure when he blew it again. “He kept promising he would. We’d get counseling, decide to try again. I didn’t want my children to grow up without a father. I was willing to put up with living at the ranch, even though I didn’t like it. What I couldn’t endure was the constant humiliation. My self-esteem was completely destroyed.”

She tried to brush the sand off her shorts and wished she could brush the past away, as well, but it was no use.

“I’m sorry, Jackie. That must have been hell,” Cole said.

Rochelle’s face flashed in Jaclyn’s mind, but she didn’t say anything. Knowing Cole’s background, it was probably better to avoid fidelity as a topic of conversation. She wasn’t sure what had made her open up to him in the first place. Probably sheer loneliness.

“Let’s not ruin the day by talking about Terry. Let’s talk about something else,” she said.

“Like what?”

She thought for a minute. “Like Margaret Huntley. She’s great, don’t you think? She really knows what she’s doing.”

“She seems to. I’m pretty happy with her so far. You picked a winner, there.”

“She definitely stood out from all the rest. She was warm, friendly, direct and goal-oriented. I think she’s going to sell a lot of houses.”

“She’s already sold four. Did she tell you?”

“Yeah. How many would you like her to sell every week?”

“Five would sell us out in three months. That would be ideal.”

“Then what would we do?”

“Move to the next construction site.”

He seemed to have it all figured out, huge development projects that he ran with ease. Jaclyn wanted to tell everyone in Feld, just so they’d know that they’d been wrong about Cole Perrini. “How did you get your start in the business?” she asked.

“When I left Feld for Reno, I decided I wanted to be in real estate. I didn’t have any schooling. It didn’t require a degree. And it had great upside potential.” He grinned. “A perfect fit. So I talked an old couple into selling me their house and holding the mortgage. They wanted to travel and didn’t really need the money. They’d already bought their motor home, so they went for it. My brothers and me moved in there and fixed up the place. We tore out the kitchen, put in a tile floor, nice oak cabinets, new appliances. We put on a new roof and painted and did a lot to the yard. Then we put it up for sale and made twenty-thousand dollars, which I used as a down payment on my next project. I did that over and over again for the next few years, then started splitting my money between two and three homes. Pretty soon I had some net worth and could get financing, which enabled me to do even bigger projects, and here I am. I owe my soul to the bank, but my business is thriving and I’m enjoying what I do.”

“You make it sound easy.”

“It wasn’t easy, but so far it’s working—providing the market holds. A man named Ed Bly helped me in the early days with short-term loans for the remodeling and other stuff. I wouldn’t have done so well without him.”

“Where did you meet him?”

“At a lumberyard, believe it or not. We struck up a con
versation, I told him what I was doing, he came and looked at a few of my projects, and we went from there.”

“Where is he now?”

“His wife forced him into retirement, and they’re living in Oregon. We call each other occasionally, enough to stay in touch. There will always be a bond there.” He got out of the sand rail. “You ready to eat?”

Jaclyn glanced at her watch. It was nearly three. This morning she’d wondered what they were going to do until six o’clock when they picked up the kids, but the day had gone quickly. By the time they’d bought the sand rail, the food for their picnic and the clothes she’d needed—since she hadn’t brought anything appropriate—it was one o’clock. They’d been riding the sand ever since.

“Yeah, I’m hungry.”

“Let’s go.”

They walked back to the truck, moved it to create some shade—since there wasn’t a tree for miles—and spread out the blanket they’d borrowed from the motel.

“It’s not the most scenic picnic you’ll ever have,” Cole said, gazing around at the barren desert, while Jaclyn dug through their sack of food, “but you get used to the surroundings here, huh?”

She
was
used to Feld. She’d been raised here and had liked it well enough when she was a girl. She hadn’t wanted to get away until after she’d married Terry and the town had become synonymous with the Wentworths and their power. She wondered how she would have liked Feld if she’d married someone else, like Cole.

Then she remembered the rumors about him and Rochelle, and decided she probably wouldn’t have liked it any better.

“It has sort of a stark beauty, don’t you think?” she asked, giving him a soda before getting comfortable on the blanket next to her own plate.

Cole cocked an eyebrow at her. “No. It has a lot of stark memories, maybe.”

She laughed. “Okay, you’ve got me there. But not all my memories are bad. Are yours?”

He seemed to consider the question. “Not my memories of you.”

Jaclyn felt a stab of surprise. She and Cole didn’t have many memories together. They’d never talked much, never gone out. “What do you remember about me?” she asked. “And don’t say anything about prom night. Lula Jenson should have been queen. I just won because I was Terry’s girl.”