Momentary Marriage(13)
The evening seemed to stretch out, Kelsey’s morose thoughts keeping her company. The awards that Jared’s campaign was up for came and went, rival agencies winning. Kelsey couldn’t keep from glancing at Amy frequently, knowing how Doug’s behavior must hurt.
Her sister’s expression was baleful the one time their eyes met. Kelsey couldn’t blame Amy if she wanted to wring her neck.
At various times during the lengthy presentation, several people excused themselves from the table. Kelsey watched Amy leave for the ladies room, her normally vivacious face clouded.
As soon as she could slip away, Kelsey followed her sister, a sense of foreboding gripping her as she thought of Amy’s increasing silence.
***
“I didn’t know you and Kelsey were dating,” Doug said, his lowered voice abrupt.
Watching Kelsey leave, making her way through the banquet tables, Jared said, “Didn’t you?”
“No.” Doug fiddled with an unused fork that hadn’t been removed by the waiters. “I’ve known Kelsey and Amy a long time.”
“Yes,” Jared responded, waiting. He valued Doug as an employee and a friend, but couldn’t see their friendship as a bar to pursuing Kelsey. She and Doug were so obviously wrong for each other.
“They had a rough time of it as kids,” Doug said, hesitating as if unsure what to say next.
“Yes.”
He left off fidgeting with the fork, saying bluntly, “Kelsey’s a good friend of mine. I’d hate to see her get hurt.”
“So would I,” Jared told him, meeting his challenging gaze squarely. “Hurting her is the last thing I have in mind.”
“She dates…a lot,” Doug said with obvious difficulty. “But she’s really…not like that. She’s a sweet, wonderful girl.”
Jared had to smile at the other man’s understatement. From what he’d seen, Kelsey had made dating into an art form, a game in and of itself. A form of self-protection, he suspected. While she flitted from man to man, she never let any guy close enough to hurt her.
“I think she’s sweet, too,” Jared said sincerely. He liked and respected Doug Morton, and he knew the guy had it bad for Kelsey, mooning over her like a sixth grader. Maybe that fact should have given Jared pause, but it didn’t.
The way he saw it, Kelsey was too complicated for Doug. Besides, if anything was going to happen between them, it would have popped years ago.
Doug sat back in his chair, as if he didn’t know what else to say. Appreciating his dilemma, Jared made no further comment. He knew his own agenda.
Kelsey’s defenses precluded the straight-forward dating approach, but Jared knew he excelled in brokering the tough sell. One way or the other, he’d find a way to get her on his own terms.
***
Pushing open the restroom door, Kelsey scanned the outer vanity area and not finding her sister there, went into the echoing tiled room.
“Amy?” Kelsey bent and searched the feet under the stall doors. “Sis, are you in here?”
“Go away,” Amy’s voice quavered from a stall on the left.
“Oh, sweetie,” Kelsey said, her heart contracting with sympathy at the forlorn sound. “Don’t be upset.”
“I-I have every right to be upset,” Amy wailed, her words trailing off into hiccupping sobs.
Kelsey stood by the stall door, leaning her head against the cold surface. “Please don’t cry. Come out and we’ll talk about it.”
“There’s nothing to talk about,” Amy declared in a voice heavy with tearful loathing. “He loves you! Not me.”
The sound of flushing came from the stall next to where Kelsey stood, followed shortly by the opening of the door. A woman in pink silk who Kelsey didn’t recognize came out, sending her a sympathetic smile as she turned toward the sinks.
“Come out and talk to me, Amy,” Kelsey begged.
She heard her sister blow her nose and then felt the door against which she leaned, move inward.
“Oh, sweetie,” Kelsey crooned, taking her sister into her arms. “It’ll be fine. We’ll make it okay.”
Amy stood passively, not responding to her hug. “It won’t be fine. I’m not like you!”
Startled, Kelsey fell back, looking into her sister’s woebegone face. “What do you mean?”
Amy lifted an untidy wad of toilet paper to wipe her wet cheeks, turning away from the stall area. “I mean I not a dating machine. Keep it light and breezy and never really care about any of them. I love Doug!”
“And I don’t care about anyone?” Kelsey questioned, unable to keep the hurt out of her voice.
“You don’t ever let yourself get really involved,” Amy replied as she stood in front of the mirror trying to repair the ravages to her face.