"If it was only one quick bead-"
"Our insurance is void if he doesn't have an extinguisher handy. Why are you defending him?" The press of bodies drove up the temperature. Sterling opened his jacket to cool off.
"I don't want you firing staff without discussing it with me."
"Fine. We're discussing it. If he steps out of line again, I'm going to fire him."
"You're supposed to be taking sales calls. You're overstepping, son."
Sterling considered resigning. Right now. Yeah, that'd reassure everyone that things were tickety-boo down at Roy Furnishing. Son of a bitch.
Cliff Cedric turned from the bar with a beer in his hand, saw Sterling, and gave him a sheepish look. "I got your message. I'll have it towed in the morning and get you a courtesy car."
Sterling let Cliff draw him out of the line, away from the temptation to tell his dad what he could do with his job, into a quieter corner occupied by his father's cronies.
"I don't want to buy right now anyway," Sterling told Cliff. "What can you give me on a short term lease, so I won't have to unload it when I leave?"
All the men went quiet, glancing at each other, then looked to his father when Walter arrived from the bar with a glass of bourbon in his hand.
Bill smoothed his hand down his banker's tie. "We understood Sterling was staying on, Walt."
"Where'd you get that idea?" Sterling asked, scanning for his mother and not finding her. "No, I'm just helping out for a few weeks, through the transition."
"But the loan you applied for," Bill said.
"It came through?" Sterling asked.
"Not a problem if it didn't," his father said. "We don't really need it."
"Except for that growth we talked about," Sterling said in the same off-hand tone.
His father glared at him.
"Growth is good, Walt," Sid said. "Once you're behind the mayor's desk, you'll see how important it is to the town."
"People can't buy beds and make car payments without jobs," Cliff agreed.
"But I don't understand who'll be spearheading this growth if Sterling's only in town a few weeks. Grady's daughter?" Bill asked with a disbelieving look across the room. He began to sweat on behalf of the bank.
"Paige is just staying long enough to audit and let Dad buy her out," Sterling said, growing tired of saying all this.
Paige stood up, dress shimmying. Admiration worked through him. A strangely possessive kind. He wondered where she was going, then reminded himself they weren't on a date.
"Why is she auditing? Is there a problem?" Bill asked.
"She's just being thorough." Sterling forced his gaze back to the men.
"She's trying to drive up the price on the sale," his father muttered.
"So she's leaving, too?" Bill's face flushed. "Who am I loaning money to?"
"Perhaps we should talk about this at the office," Sterling suggested.
"We're all friends here," Cliff said. "And everything's fine at the factory, isn't it, Walt?"
His father swirled his drink. "With Grady gone, I'm needed there."
"You can't back out of running for Mayor," Sid said. "I can't be Mayor and run for Senator. Damn it, I know you have reservations about running, Walt, but we're counting on you."
"I can't leave the bank," Bill said, jowls shaking with panic.
"It's just one term, Walt, ‘til my son is ready to take over the car lot," Cliff assured him. "Think about that granola-eating Anders getting in if you don't."
"Christ, he'd have City Hall turned into a yoga palace inside of a week," Sid said, rubbing his face, then adding toward Sterling, "Anders doesn't support business at all. Likes the union s, pinko commie."
Beside Sterling, his father said, "Shit," and drained his glass.
Privately, Sterling echoed the sentiment. Small town politics were small, but very personal. Very quick to have a ripple effect across the community.
"If you won't be running Roy's while your father's in office, who will?" Bill asked Sterling.
"I have head-hunters on it."
Their eyes all narrowed in mistrust.
"The company will be in good hands," Sterling assured them, but his tie began to chafe like a noose.
He was starting to think the only thing that would save him from being pressured into staying would be getting kicked out of town again.
Where was Paige?
~ * ~
It was trickier than she'd expected, reassuring Liebe Falls's business community. The people sitting with the Becks were nice enough, but they weren't shy. She found herself wishing Sterling would come back as she fielded questions on everything from whether Roy's would provide a Career Day opportunity for the high school to how likely it was they would hire local contractors for all the upgrades Sterling was planning.
Paige surprised herself by providing knowledgeable answers, even took a certain pride in describing some of the changes that had already been made that were showing immediate results, but the seat got a little too hot when Mrs. Beck questioned her.
"Paige, it sounds as though you're assuming more responsibility than simply auditing the books, which is exactly what that company needs. Didn't I say that last night, Gunner?" She placed her ebony hand on her husband's sleeve. "After I saw you at Olinda's," she added.
Mr. Beck nodded. "She did, and I agree. You and Sterling both have the kind of youthful energy that gives that factory a future. The whole town is feeling optimistic, seeing you two take over. Why don't you consider holding onto Grady's share and staying active in the company?"
Paige cleared her throat. "Gosh it's nice to hear you two treating me like one of your own daughters. Don't hold back. Tell me exactly what you think I should do."
Everyone chuckled, but the Becks didn't back down. They waited for her rebuttal.
Paige vowed to be more sympathetic the next time Britta vented about her mother's strong opinions.
"I guess the main reason is that I don't want to live here. Permanently," she added. "I love to visit, but my home is Seattle now." Not that it had ever truly felt like it. She used it more as an escape, really. Even her ex-husband had seen that.
"That's a pity," Mrs. Beck said.
"It is," Mr. Beck agreed, draping his arm along the back of his wife's chair.
Paige watched all the light-hearted expressions at the table dim and felt awful, like she was letting them down. Not exactly spreading the good cheer Sterling had had in mind when he'd roped her into attending this dinner.
She invented a need for the ladies room and, while crossing the room and smiling at old friends, she contemplated how it might look if she stayed in Liebe Falls. One of the reasons she lived in Seattle was because she had felt blamed for Sterling's departure all these years. Tonight was making her feel appreciated, though. Shoot, she thought, if she wouldn't face censure every day, maybe she could brave living here again.
Then, as she entered the ladies' room, Sterling's mother came out of a stall.
They both checked. Evelyn's gaze went to the floor, kind of guilty like, and for a second Paige thought she was going to duck back into the stall. Then Evelyn straightened her Jackie-O double-breasted suit jacket and moved to the sink, filling the silence with the rush of water from gold-tinted taps.
Paige's desire to tinkle dried up. She considered hiding in a stall anyway, but reminded herself she had as much right to be here as Evelyn did. Exactly as much right. She was this woman's husband's partner, wasn't she? With people in this town wanting her to stay in that position.
Standing next to Evelyn at the mirror, Paige went to reapply her lipstick, then reconsidered. Sterling didn't like the taste. Ha. What do you think of that, Mrs. Roy?
Paige dug in her purse for her eye drops instead, but her fingers wouldn't cooperate with that cloud of disapproving judgment rolling across the counter toward her. The tiny bottle slipped from Paige's nerveless fingers and dropped to the floor, landing by Evelyn's shoe.
Paige bent to retrieve the bottle, got tapped in the face by her father's ring as it swung forward. She stood, flushed and flustered, so it took her a second to realize she had caught a whiff of Virginia Slims off of Evelyn's skirt.
Sterling's mother was a closet smoker? Huh. But what could she say? Any chance you were in my father's office earlier this week, Mrs. Roy?
Paige studied her in the mirror, realized she was being studied as well. Evelyn was giving her cleavage a disapproving scowl.
"Whatever you think might happen with Sterling won't," she said coldly.
Censure. Every. Single. Day.
Paige had toyed with the fantasy of returning to live here for all of three seconds and now abandoned it.
"Really? Because I was under the impression he wanted to use me for sex then cut me loose. Are you saying his intentions are honorable?"