“Peggy, what did I tell you?”
“Ryder’s right for her, Barbara. I can feel it. Right here.” She stabbed a stiff thumb into the middle of her chest. “It’s the same feeling I had with Jeff. We have to give this thing a chance.”
“What thing? This is of your own invention.”
“Good afternoon, ladies. Mighty fine afternoon, isn’t it?”
Both women whipped around to see Ted Granger coming up the driveway. As usual he was dressed in boots, jeans and the same brown Stetson he’d been wearing for the past ten years. The poor hat was way past the retirement stage but would the man get rid of it? He was so attached to the thing, if he’d had a wife she’d be jealous of the relationship.
“Hey, Ted,” Peggy and Barbara said in unison then Peggy slid her hands into the back pocket of her jeans and straightened. “What brings you by?” She gave him a suspicious look, not quite a glare, but she knew Ted like the back of her hand. After so many decades of living in the same town with him she knew that the wider he smiled the more careful you’d better be around him. And, for some reason, today’s grin looked mighty suspicious.
“Oh, not a whole lot.” By this time he’d reached close enough for them to get a whiff of his cologne. Old Spice. As always. “I just came by to see if you’d heard about the surprise birthday supper they’re having for old Ezekiel. Are you going?” He slid both hands into the back pockets of his jeans, mimicking Peggy’s stance.
She frowned. “Of course I’m going. It was my idea to throw him a surprise party.”
“Oh? I didn’t know that.” He’d raised his eyebrows in surprise but then he smiled. “But I should have guessed, shouldn’t I? So, you want me to come get you tomorrow?”
“No.” Her answer was quick and brutal. “I know where Ezekiel lives. I can get there by myself.”
Barbara cleared her throat and then she threw Peggy a cutting glare but, to her credit, she didn’t say a word.
Still, the look had the effect Barbara intended. Peggy felt suitably chastised. She’d given a biting response to a simple question and that had been uncalled for. She’d been touchy with Ted but lately he just seemed to rub her the wrong way. She sighed. Time to be nice. “I’ll probably have to make a stop on the way to Ezekiel’s,” she explained. “I’ll see you at the party.”
“No problem,” he said with a shrug. “Maybe we can take a walk another time.” He glanced across at Barbara who sat watching from her seat on the bench. He gave her a bow then tipped his hat. “Enjoy the rest of the afternoon, ladies,” he said then turned and sauntered off, back down the pathway and around to the front gate, whistling as he went.
“He likes you, Peggy. A whole lot. But I’m sure you already know that.”
“Excuse me?” Peggy turned from how she’d been standing, staring after Ted, and glared down at her friend. “What in the dickens are you talking about?”
“I’m talking romance. Love. It’s in the air.” Barbara had a glint in her eye and a satisfied smirk on her lips.
“Not in the air around me, it’s not.”
“Well, it’s in the air around Ted. He’s smitten. Can’t you see that?”
“Not by me,” was Peggy’s sharp retort. “I’ve known Ted all my life and from day one he’s been nothing but a troublemaker.”
Barbara rolled her eyes. “Just because he stole a kiss when you were five years old. That was over five decades years ago. Get over it.”
“He’s done lots more over the years-”
“And all because he likes you. Why don't you give him a chance? He might be the one to stir those old embers of yours.”
“Who? That messy old coot?”
“Oh, you be quiet. He’s all of six months older than you are.”
“Old enough for me to call him an old coot. Forget about him.” She waved a dismissive hand. “It’s those kids I want to talk about. Blake and Ryder make such a handsome couple.” She took two steps to the bench and dropped back down onto it beside Barbara then leaned toward her friend.
“I’m going to make Blake happy,” she said, her voice vibrating with determination, “if it’s the last thing I do.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
“To what do I owe the pleasure?”
Jerome Slater had the slimiest of smirks on his lips as he leaned back in his chair. He hadn’t even shown the courtesy of getting to his feet when Blake entered the office. In fact, as she stood there in the middle of the room glaring across at him, he lifted his arms and, as casual as you please, he folded them behind his head and raised his feet to prop them on the edge of his desk.
“This is no pleasure.” Teeth clenched, she could hardly get the words out, she was so enraged. “I never had any intention of setting foot in this place ever again, not after what you did to me. I thought you’d done your worst but I was wrong. I would never have believed anyone would sink so low, not even you.”
Jerome chuckled and shook his head, making strands of his blond hair fall across his forehead. It gave him a boyish look, that same damned look that had been her downfall. That innocent image, it was the ruse he used to draw women in. She knew that only too well. “Blake, Blake, Blake.” He said her name with every shake of his head. “Why so harsh? I was only telling the truth.”
“The truth? You go to the press with a story that I stole from the company and you call that the truth? You piece of slime, it’s a stinking lie and you know it.”
Instead of wilting in shame, Jerome’s smile grew even wider. “Stole from the company? But I didn’t say that at all.”
“No, but you implied it. You knew exactly what you were doing when you said those things about me,” she grated, her fists clenched at her sides. He didn’t know how close she was to slapping that self-satisfied grin off his face. “You made sure you made statements too vague for me to quote you and haul you off to court but you did your damage all the same.” She gave a snort of disgust. “So you didn’t think you hurt me enough? You weaseled your way into my life and then you betrayed me. You used me for your own ends. I walked away. I let you have it all. Wasn’t that enough?”
There was an almost imperceptible change in the smug look in his eyes, making Blake wonder if she’d finally gotten through to his conscience but then it disappeared and his lips tightened. “You ran away from me, Blake. I asked you to marry me and as soon as we got to a slight bump in the road you dropped me like a piece of hot coal and skipped town.”