Читать книгу Love at Last - Irene Brand - Страница 11

Reluctant to part with Lorene for the night, Perry drove westward along the Ohio River. He stopped the car at a small park, took Lorene’s hand and they strolled to a shaded wooden bench facing the river and the setting sun.

They sat, bodies touching, and Perry put his arm over her shoulder. She didn’t push him away, and his arm tightened slightly into an impersonal hug. His touch radiated an affection that drew her like a magnet, and it eased the pain in her heart, but she refrained from turning to him to experience again the comfort of his strong embrace.

A cool breeze wafted from the river. Dark clouds hovered in the west, creating a sunset of vivid purple, red and yellow hues. They didn’t speak for a long while, content to bask in closeness, overcome with memories. Words couldn’t have expressed the comfort, the completeness, the rightness of the moment.

Sighing deeply, Perry brushed windblown strands of hair from Lorene’s forehead. His fingers wended their way down the right side of her face as skillfully as a musician would tinkle the keys of a piano. He cupped her chin and slowly turned her face toward his.

“Do you remember the day we met?” he asked, his mouth curved with gentleness.

A hint of moisture lurked in Lorene’s eyes and her intimate smile set his pulse racing. “You always could read my mind. I’ve been thinking about our first meeting all evening.”

“I can still see you,” he reminisced, “running out of the engineering building, with your book bag hanging open, scattering papers all over the steps.”

“I was crying so hard I couldn’t see, missed the last step and tumbled into your arms. You picked up my things, helped me to my car and invited me to join you for a sandwich. If I hadn’t met you that day, I’d have dropped out of college. I’d just come from my adviser, who’d told me I wasn’t going to make it in engineering school.”

Perry pulled her into a closer embrace while she wrestled with that terrible blow to her ego. “I didn’t know how I could possibly tell Dad. Since he didn’t have a son, he’d insisted that I was the one to follow in his steps as an engineer. With your help, I did pass that semester, but by then I knew the adviser was right. Engineering wasn’t for me.”

“But you did great when you enrolled in a media-related curriculum. See where you are today!”

“I couldn’t have done it without your help. You went home with me for moral support when I finally got the courage to tell my parents I’d changed my course of study. Just by being there, you kept Dad from bullying me into doing what he wanted.”

“Your father blamed me for your change of plans, but I didn’t mind. I’m happy I was there to help you. What are friends for, anyway?”

In the silence that followed, Lorene thought it might have been better if they’d continued as friends. But she couldn’t be sorry for those weeks after she and Perry had known it was love rather than friendship that had created the infinite bond between them. His expression grew serious, his eyes wistful, and she wondered if he, too, remembered that evening when one intense kiss had suddenly changed their friendship to love.

It was the night before Easter break, and Perry had walked with her to the apartment. Her roommate had already left for the holidays, and Perry came inside with her. They’d often studied together in the apartment, but while she heated milk for hot chocolate, Perry roamed restlessly around the room picking up items and looking at them as if he hadn’t seen them before.

He leaned against the table where they’d worked, and their eyes met across the snack bar when she poured the steaming cups of chocolate. An undeniable magnetism flared between them, and as Perry’s eyes searched her face and captured her eyes, for the first time she was conscious of Perry as a man. An electric spark couldn’t have startled her more.

Their gazes held as he slowly circled the divider and reached hungry arms for her. His eagerness excited her and she cuddled into the circle of his arms. His mouth caressed hers, gentle as a raindrop, before she sensed the strength of his lips. When Perry released her, his black eyes brightened with pleasure.

“How long has this been here and we’ve overlooked it? How many weeks have we wasted being friends?”

Lorene had rested her head on his shoulder, knowing that they’d just taken a giant leap in their relationship. Even as she’d welcomed the change, she’d slowly mourned the days when they’d been best friends. If she recalled correctly, they never did drink the chocolate.

Pushing memories aside, Lorene wondered if they were embarking now on a third phase of their relationship. Was it possible to go from friends to lovers and back to friends again? After they’d experienced a satisfying, comfortable love, could they ever be content with anything less?

They returned to Riverview Ridge in silence, reliving the emotional toll the years of separation had brought. She invited him to come in, but he refused. He shook hands with her at the door, promising to contact her the next day. Lorene entered the apartment feeling strangely bereft. She consoled herself with the fact that he’d loved her once with all the vigor of youth. She was almost forty, and Perry was two years older, so was it reasonable to expect him to feel the same as he once had?

Still, when she lay down for the night, unbidden memories entered her mind as she recalled the contentment of being held against his strong body. That’s all over, she told herself as she fluffed the pillows and tried to go to sleep. It’s all over! You came here on business, and you’ll have less to regret if you don’t expect too much. Concentrate on your assigned duties, then cut your ties with Woodston and Perry Saunders.

Perry wasn’t as indifferent to Lorene’s physical allure as he seemed. He’d settled for a warm handshake when he’d wanted to gather her in his arms and bury his face in the soft curve of her shoulder. For more than a year they’d been inseparable, except on the few occasions when they’d gone to visit their parents. After twenty years it was inconceivable that he still remembered so much about Lorene.

Why hadn’t she married? His tumultuous thoughts kept him awake most of the night.

In spite of her lack of sleep, Lorene awakened at six o’clock as usual. She pulled back the curtain beside her bed and peered out. Fog hovered over the river valley, and she decided to skip her usual morning run. She’d scout the area today to find a place where she could continue her daily exercise. Dottie could tell her if there was a trail from the house to the river.

The kitchen in the apartment was very small, but it was adequate for her needs. Breakfast was probably the only meal she’d eat here, but she’d have to buy a few groceries today. Dottie had provided an electric pot for heating water, tea bags, packages of decaffeinated coffee and sugar packets. While the water heated, Lorene unwrapped the two bran muffins she’d bought the day before and placed them in the small microwave.

While she ate, she flipped on the portable television conveniently placed on the kitchen counter. The news didn’t pique her interest, and she hurried with her breakfast.

After showering, she dressed in shorts and a knit shirt and set up her laptop on a small desk in the bedroom. She checked the e-mail and answered a few messages that needed immediate attention. She picked up the file she’d gotten from Alma yesterday, but she was too restless to study it. The thought she’d been trying to stifle since she’d awakened finally thrust itself to the forefront of her mind.

Had she and Perry been given a second chance?

There was no use trying to follow her usual routine as if nothing had happened. As if the foundation of the secure life she’d spent years building hadn’t trembled yesterday when Perry had suddenly reentered her life. It had taken years for her to get over Perry. Not that she’d ever forgotten him and the love they’d shared, but she had reached the place when she didn’t think about him first thing when she opened her eyes in the morning. Sometimes several days could pass and she didn’t wonder where he was, and dreams about him had become less and less frequent.

What would their lives be like today if she hadn’t left Perry, or if she’d gone back to him and they’d married? Considering the wonderful man Perry had become, she believed he would have been a fine husband. If they’d gotten married, they could have had children now—children who would be starting college.

Lorene jumped when the phone rang. She leaned over and picked up the phone from the nightstand. Probably her parents checking on her, she thought, but it was Perry.

“Am I calling too early?” he asked.

“I’ve been up a long time. Remember, I’m a working woman—no sleeping in for me.”

“Mr. Kincaid has scheduled the meeting for seven o’clock in the commission’s office at the bank.”

“How many people are on the commission?”

“A dozen or so—usually only five or six show up for the meetings.”

“It’s way too late for me to take on this promotion deal. We should have been working with the commission for at least a year.”

Perry’s laugh was deep and warm. Lorene envisioned his eyes crinkling from mirth and his lips curving with humor. She groaned inwardly, remembering the laughter they’d once shared together.

“Remember you’re in small-town America now. Somebody comes up with a new idea every time we meet, and it was only two months ago that Mr. Kincaid decided to obtain professional promotion to put Woodston on the map. You can expect new ideas right up to the day of the celebration.”

She feigned a groan. “I’ll do the best I can, but I hope no one expects miracles.”

“What are your plans for today? I have some free time this afternoon if you want me to show you around town.”

Lorene hesitated. If she spent a lot of time with Perry, it would be more difficult for her when she left Woodston. She well remembered when she couldn’t get enough of his company and wanted to be with him all the time, but wasn’t she mature enough now to control her emotions? After all, she thought, I’m middle-aged! I certainly won’t be carried away like I was before.

“I’ll study the file Alma gave me this morning and check out the town after lunch. It would be a big help if you came along.”

Perry had noticed her hesitation and understood her reluctance, for he felt the same way. If he saw her frequently—and how could they avoid it when they’d be associated so closely?—they might be tempted to revisit painful emotional paths. But in the long hours of the night, when he’d reviewed the past and contemplated the future, he’d made up his mind that he couldn’t ask anything from Lorene except friendship.

“I’ll pick you up around two o’clock.”

Lorene laid the phone aside wondering how she could concentrate on her work responsibilities if she saw Perry every day. But she hadn’t become successful in the business world without exerting personal discipline, so she picked up the file folder and forced herself to read and study every plan the commission had in mind for Heritage Week—the culmination of Woodston’s celebration the last week in September.

Lorene had learned quite a lot about Woodston from her reading, but as Perry drove through the business district, he gave a running commentary of the town’s history.

“Woodston was founded two hundred years ago this month when western Kentucky was still a frontier. At first there wasn’t anything except a fort and a few outlying farmsteads, but after steamboats revolutionized river transportation, the town became an important shipping center. The Native Americans, the Shawnees, in particular, moved westward and Woodston started to grow. After the Civil War, the economy plummeted for years, but during World War II the town took on new life.”

Lorene held a small tape recorder in her palm and she pushed the off button. “You like it here, don’t you?”

“Very much. My childhood was spent in small towns—we moved several times as a boy. Father was a preacher in Iowa, so big-city life isn’t for me. I love working with the young people at college.” He didn’t add that association with the students eased his pain over the children he’d never had.

He drove out of town to Frontier Park, where a replica of a log fort was under construction. “The park is located on the site of the original fort,” he explained. “During Heritage Week several people will come down the river on flatboats for the opening ceremonies to reenact life in the early 1800s. They’ll live in the fort, wear period clothing and cook as the settlers did. Artisans will give daily demonstrations on making pioneer crafts.”

“Sounds like fun.”

“We want you to make all of this attractive to out-of-state groups, as well as snag the attention of schoolchildren in Kentucky and the adjoining states.”

“I’ll make phone and computer contacts tomorrow and persuade some of our bus-company clients to arrange tours,” Lorene answered, excitement stirring as it always did when she started a new project.

“The park covers thirty acres,” Perry said. He pointed to a shaft on a high point above the river. “Except for that monument, very little has been done to develop the area. The fort will be permanent, available as a tourist attraction after the celebration is over.”

“Is that path along the river suitable for running? I like to jog every day if possible, and I haven’t seen any other likely place.”

Perry’s eyes lit up. “You’re a runner? So am I.”

“I noticed you’re in good shape,” Lorene said, willing her eyes not to sweep hungrily over his muscular physique.

“I spend a lot of time in the office, and if I’m not careful, I put on too much weight. I don’t have opportunity for any other exercise, but I make time for running.”

“Then it’s safe for me to come out here alone.”

“Yes. Many people use the park. But I run here several times a week. You can come when I do.”

She lowered her eyes. “Don’t tempt me, Perry.”

“Why should it be a temptation?” He tilted her chin slightly, but hurriedly removed his hand as if the physical contact disturbed him. “We can’t ignore what happened between us. Why can’t we put it behind us and be friends? I’m happy you’ve entered my life again, and I want to see as much of you as possible.”

“That could be risky.”

“I’m determined that nothing will happen to cause any problem. And I know you feel the same way.”

He sounded so cheerful about their casual acquaintance that Lorene couldn’t help asking in a husky whisper, “Is it all over for you, Perry? Don’t you feel anything at all?”

He placed his hands on her shoulders in a tender caress and his voice echoed her own longings. “I’d thought, after reaching the mellow years, that my youthful yearnings were gone.” His hands tightened possessively. “But yesterday I learned I’d only fooled myself. You’re as winsome and desirable as you were when you were nineteen. I made a promise to you once and I’ve never broken it. During the past twenty-four hours, other things I thought I’d forgotten have deleted all my preconceived ideas about what the future holds.”

“I haven’t forgotten, either,” she murmured.

Perry’s eyes darkened and Lorene thought he was going to kiss her, but he released her and stepped back quickly.

“We’ll have to forget what happened when we were in college and make the right choices this time. Since neither of us is married, there’s no reason we can’t be friends like we used to be.”

The flame in her heart ignited by Perry’s love had burned steadily for years, but his words almost extinguished it. She could never be satisfied with friendship. Maybe this meeting had been God-ordained. Perhaps God was trying to tell them it was time to stop pining for the past. If so, after her work was finished in Woodston, she’d go back to Pittsburgh, knowing at last that the break between them was final.

“Let’s look over the fort and walk around my favorite running trail,” Perry said. “It winds along the river for a mile and then curves through the trees back to the starting point. I’m going with some students to a seminar in Lexington tomorrow, but we can plan to run together on Monday morning.”

She nodded, unable to talk. Perry had shifted gears from the past to the present too rapidly for her. But she obediently followed him into the fort, where workmen were putting the finishing touches on the blockhouse.

“I’ll bring my camera tomorrow and get a few scenes to send out right away. My office staff will take care of distributing short clips to air on national programs. I’m getting excited about the celebration, and I’ve decided I want to stay for this project. I’m glad I didn’t let my temper cause me to leave.”

His eyes caressed her with a tender smile. “That makes two of us.”

Lorene admitted Mr. Kincaid knew how to conduct a business meeting. At the outset, Perry stated that he and Lorene had been friends in college and were pleased to meet again after so many years. His explanation paved the way for them to be on a first-name basis. Perry introduced her to the other commission members and Lorene took particular note of two of them.

Zeb Denney, husband of Perry’s secretary, was Woodston’s chief of police. He was a quiet, broad-shouldered, short man.

The local historian, Reginald Peters, was in his eighties. A mop of gray hair hung untidily around his face, but his dark brown eyes were intelligent and alert. His ancestor had been one of Woodston’s founding fathers, and while it was plain that Kincaid was in charge of the celebration, Peters’s opinions also carried a lot of weight in the decision making.

Heritage Week would begin with a parade on the fourth Saturday in September. In addition to the reenactment at the fort, a steamboat replica, River Queen, would be on hand during the week to take people for rides up and down the Ohio, featuring a dinner cruise each evening. A carnival would be in town. Craft shows had been scheduled.

“Miss Harvey,” Kincaid asked before the meeting adjourned, “do you have any questions?”

“As I understand, my job is to spread the news of the celebration nationwide. We can provide clips for all major television networks and numerous radio stations. But as far as I can determine, no financial arrangements have been made, leading me to the most important question—how much do you expect to spend for this publicity? Television advertising is expensive.”

All eyes turned toward Kincaid. He cleared his throat a time or two and riffled the pages on his desk. “Perhaps you’d better come up with a proposal of what you recommend and how much it will cost.”

“Our representative should have done that and gotten your approval before we even moved on-site, but Mr. Cranston didn’t do what he was supposed to do, so our agency, as well as Woodston, is suffering for it.”

“Can you estimate a price?” Kincaid asked cautiously.

Believing it was a trifle late for caution, Lorene said, “Not right now. But I’ll work this weekend and have an estimate for you on Monday. If you can’t afford us, I’ll move out and there will be no charge to Woodston. To be honest, a smaller company would probably do as much for you as I will.”

Perry’s heart plummeted. If the commission rejected the proposal, Lorene might leave in a few days.

He made it a point to ride down in the elevator with Lorene, and walked with her to the parking lot behind the bank. Zeb Denney and Reginald Peters sauntered along behind them, but when Perry opened the station wagon’s door for Lorene, he said quietly, “If Woodston can’t afford your services and you go away next week, will you leave your telephone number and address?”

Her lips curved into a soft smile. “You already have my telephone number. Circumstances are a lot different now than they were when I knew you before. When I leave Woodston, if it seems best for us to separate permanently, I’ll tell you so. I’ve stopped running.” She paused, and a pensive expression dimmed her eyes. “Or at least, I think I have.”

The board members got into their cars and drove away. Perry’s lips moved over hers, gently at first, then more insistent. After a few blissful moments she pushed on his chest to break the caress.

“Don’t, Perry,” she murmured. “I can’t handle this.”

“Sorry. I thought a kiss for old times’ sake wouldn’t hurt anything.”

Her hand was still on his chest, and she moved it to monitor his heartbeat, which was as rapid as hers.

“But you found out differently, didn’t you?” She moved away from him and slid into her vehicle. “These next two months will go much more smoothly, Perry, if we maintain a strict business relationship. But if it turns out that we can’t patch up our differences, I’ll not make a mess of things like I did before. I won’t disappear.”

As she drove away, Perry wondered how he’d feel if he knew she was leaving for the last time. But how could he offer her more than friendship? When he’d been at his lowest ebb, mentally and spiritually, he’d promised God that he would give up everything, including Lorene, for full-time Christian service. After he made that vow, warm peace had flooded his heart, and Perry believed he’d made the right choice. Now, remembering the touch of Lorene’s lips, he wasn’t so sure.