Of course she invited him in. That was the only polite thing to do. After making coffee they sat and chatted on her sofa. Knowing that Sam might annoy him, she had even had the foresight to put the cat in her bedroom and close the door.
Larry had made several suggestions during the evening of other things they might enjoy doing together, so she knew he planned to see her again. Jennifer could see nothing wrong when he leaned over and kissed her. He wasn't pushy, nor did he make her feel this was the first step to a well-planned seduction. It was a get acquainted sort of kiss and Jennifer responded appropriately.
"Don't forget what I told you, Sunshine. Be careful."
Jennifer's mind suddenly snapped back into awareness from the floating bliss Larry's kiss had provided. How dare Chad interrupt her at this point in the evening! He'd never done anything like it before.
She forced herself to concentrate on the words, Go away, Chad. He was always so good at reading her thoughts. Surely he'd get that message.
Larry must have felt her stiffen in his arms because he drew back slightly.
"I've enjoyed this evening so much, Jennifer. Thank you for spending it with me."
"I've enjoyed myself very much, Larry."
"I don't want to overstay my welcome," he said with a charming smile. "May I call you?"
"Of course."
She walked him to the door. He stood there looking down at her for a moment. "You are so beautiful. I can't understand how you've managed to stay single."
Jennifer laughed. He sounded sincere enough, but since she looked in the mirror every day, she knew what she looked like. Perhaps he did have a way of exaggerating things.
Larry slowly pulled her into his arms and kissed her. She relaxed against him.
"Has he mentioned his wife and three children yet?"
Jennifer's eyes flew open and she gasped. That was a low blow. Even Chad couldn't stoop to such a thing.
"What's wrong?" Larry asked, puzzled when she jerked away from him/
"Do you have a wife and three children?" she blurted out suddenly.
He looked a little taken aback at the timing of her question. "As a matter of fact, I do, but I'm not sure why you should bring them up at this time."
She stared at him in disbelief. The same charming smile, the flashing eyes, the black curls tumbling across his forehead. He didn't even seem concerned that she had asked. For a moment, too many thoughts were racing through her head for her to say a thing,
"I wasn't trying to keep them a secret or anything. I assumed that C. W. told you I was married."
"No, he didn't."
"Oh. I take it that makes a difference to you."
"It certainly does. I'm sure that it makes a difference to your wife, too.''
"My wife and I understand each other very well. There's no problem where she's concerned."
"Well, I'm very much afraid that there's a problem where I'm concerned." She opened the door. "Good night, Mr. Donahue."
He shook his head, puzzled at the abrupt change in her behavior, and walked out the door.
After carefully closing the door behind him, she slumped against it. What a letdown to what had been a beautiful evening.
"He was right, you know. You really are a beautiful woman-inside and out, Sunshine. "
Jennifer straightened and wished that Chad was standing in front of her. She would dearly have loved to throw something at him.
"Why would you want to throw something at me? What did I do?"
"As if you didn't know. You ruined a beautiful evening for me."
"How could I ruin it?"
"You know very well what you did. Every time he kissed me, you made some sort of a comment."
"Oh, did I? How rude of me. I'm really very sorry."
"Sure you are. You knew exactly what you were doing!"
"Well, not exactly. But whenever your thoughts go a little hazy and syrupy I know something is going on."
Jennifer stormed into her bedroom and was greeted by Sam, who protested his recent incarceration.
"And I don't want to hear anything from you, either!" she exclaimed, reaching around and unzipping her dress. When Sam continued to bemoan her unfair treatment of him she eventually sat down on the bed and scooped him up in her lap, stroking his long coat and wishing she could think of something to put Chad in his place.
"Hey, Sunshine, I really am sorry if I upset you. That wasn't what I meant to do."
"Wasn't it? It seems to me that ever since I first met you, you've been telling me what to do, how to do it, when to do it and what not to do. Frankly, I'm sick of it."
There was no response.
"And that's another thing. There's no way I can argue with you. Whenever I try you just clam up and disappear and Ican't reach you."
"You always reach me, Sunshine. Sometimes I just don't choose to answer."
"That's what I mean. I can't argue with myself."
"Good point. Think about it."
Jumping to her feet, Jennifer dropped Sam on the bed. "I am sick of you, do you understand that? I wish you would just go away and leave me alone!"
"Do you really mean that?"
"I wouldn't have said it if I didn't mean it." She waited for a reply but there was nothing more. After a few minutes she said, "Chad?" There was no answer.
So he had taken her at her word. She was glad. She wasn't a child anymore and didn't need a guardian angel or whoever he thought he was being.
Now Jennifer stood in Tony's office, looking out the window. Chad had never contacted her again. Not until last night. She had missed him. Missed his sense of humor, his teasing and tantalizing, missed his caring about what happened to her.
Now she had a chance to meet him and she wasn't going to let the opportunity slip by. She grinned at the thought. He was obviously a captive. There was nothing he could do but stay where he was until they came to get him. She could hardly wait to see his face when she walked in.
Over the years, Jennifer had speculated on Chad's looks. He would give her no help at all. It was amusing, really, how her image of him had changed through the years. As a child she pictured him as old, with white hair and kind-looking eyes. By the time she was a teenager he began to get younger in her eyes. After all, some of their discussions had been very open and frank. Somehow she couldn't see a kindly looking, white-haired gentleman telling her some of the things Chad had told her.
And now, she found herself treating him as a contemporary and an equal. Of course she loved him. How could she not love him? He had been so many things in her life. He'd been there for her, no matter what. But she had to admit that she felt a little peculiar about finally meeting him face-to-face after all this time.
She was glad that Tony was going to be along.
The office door opened and she turned around. Tony stood in the doorway. "You ready to go?"
She nodded.
"I borrowed a pickup. It won't be the smoothest riding vehicle, but we'll need the four-wheel drive once we get up into the mountains."
Jennifer followed him out of the room.
"I forgot to ask if you've eaten," he said as she passed.
"Yes."
"I think we'd better stop off at a convenience store somewhere and pick up something to take with us. There's not a whole lot between here and where we're going if we should get hungry or thirsty."
Poor Chad. She could imagine how he must be feeling, stranded out in the middle of nowhere, recovering from a head wound, without food. He hadn't said anything about water. She wondered about that.
They didn't waste any time at the store and were soon on the road. For the first several miles they were quiet, each lost in his and her own thoughts. Eventually Tony said, "I'm sorry we had to meet this way, Jennifer, but I'm glad that we finally have a chance to get acquainted after all this time. I'll admit I didn't recognize you from the first time I saw you."
She looked at him in surprise. As far as she knew, she had never seen this man in her life. "When did you ever see me?"
He glanced around briefly, then returned his eyes to the highway. "The same time Tiger did, when you were in the car wreck."
"The car wreck! Mother said I was only five when that happened."
"I know you were just a little thing. I felt so sorry for you."
"You and Chad were there?"
"Yes. We had been down in San Diego that day, just a couple of kids, really. I'd borrowed my dad's car and we'd gone down to see who we could impress, you know the kind things guys will do." She smiled. "Not really, but it makes sense."
"We'd decided to stop and eat in Oceanside-Tiger knew a girl that lived somewhere around there and he was trying to figure out which house she lived in, so we were driving up and down the streets when we saw the car that came barreling around a corner and plowed into the one you and your family were in. God, it was awful.. . as I'm sure you remember."