Читать книгу The Millionaire Next Door - Kara Lennox, Kara Lennox - Страница 11

“I figured we’d throw all the fish back,” Hudson said.

“No, Daddy, you can’t let Shiny go,” Bethany said in a near panic. “He’s my fish.”

“Well, he’s too small to eat,” Amanda said with a laugh.

“Eat!” Bethany’s face reflected horror.

Hudson looked to Amanda for some way out of this dilemma. She smiled and shrugged helplessly. “Do you have a bucket to put the fish in?” she asked mildly.

“No.” Some help she was! “We’re throwing it back in the lake.”

“It’s my fish!” Bethany repeated, her eyes filling with tears.

Amanda’s eyes danced with amusement, tempered with concern. “If I were you, I’d let her keep the fish.”

Hudson gritted his teeth. He gave Amanda a look that said he wasn’t particularly grateful for her suggestion, then turned to his daughter. “Okay, Bethany, here’s the deal. You can keep this one fish. But if we catch any more, we have to throw them back. You know, let them swim free, like Free Willy?”

“Okay,” she said without a fight, nodding eagerly.

“And we can’t take Shiny back to Boston with us. Fish don’t travel well.”

“Unless they’re frozen,” Amanda murmured just loud enough that Hudson could hear.

“Okay,” Bethany said again.

“Then run up to the house and find a big bowl or a pitcher or a bucket to put the fish in.”

She ran off, leaving Hudson holding the fish.

“Maybe you better dip the line in the water,” Amanda suggested. “Shiny’s looking a little peaked.”

Hudson did as instructed. The last thing he needed was for Bethany to return and find that her fish had died under his care.

“And I don’t want to be an alarmist,” Amanda added, “but I think you might have a fish on your line, too.”

Hudson had laid his pole on the dock when he was helping Bethany pull in her fish. He scanned the surface of the lake for the red-and-white bobber and didn’t see it anywhere, but his line was taut. He caught the pole just before it would have been pulled into the water.

“Well, don’t just stand there, help!”

Amanda took his pole and started reeling in the fish. She could tell by the pull that it was a considerably larger catch than Bethany’s. When it finally cleared the water, it turned out to be a huge channel catfish, at least a foot long.

“Wow, beginner’s luck,” Amanda said, admiring the fish. “Got any pliers?”

“What for?”

“You can’t take a catfish off a hook with your bare hands. They sting you with those pointy whiskers.”

Hudson had had no idea fishing could be so hazardous. Maybe he should have read a book on the subject first. “I don’t have any pliers.”

She shook her head as if to say he was hopeless, handed him the pole, then headed up the dock toward her house.

“You’re coming back, right?” he asked, feeling slightly panicky himself.

“I’ve got some pliers in my garage.”

Hudson was much relieved by the return of both his daughter and his neighbor. “Shiny” had a new home in a big soup pot, which he set under a tree in the shade for the time being. And Amanda took off her short-sleeved jacket and showed him how to remove a not-too-friendly catfish from a hook.

Hudson and Bethany caught several more fish in all shapes and sizes as Amanda cheered them on and offered pointers. Apparently, Town Lake fish really liked hot dogs—especially Shiny. Bethany kept feeding him bits of wiener.

“That fish is going to get heart disease if we keep feeding him those fatty hot dogs,” Hudson grumbled. But he was actually enjoying himself. He liked watching his daughter’s eyes light up each time she felt a tug on her line.

And he liked watching Amanda. She’d gotten a snag in her hose and a small spot on her tan linen skirt, but she didn’t seem to mind. She appeared to be having fun coaching Hudson and Bethany in the fine art of bobber fishing, as she called it.

“I’m hungry,” Bethany announced. “Is it time for lunch yet?”

Hudson looked at his watch. “It’s only ten-fifteen.”

Amanda jumped like a spooked rabbit. “It’s what?” She consulted her own watch. “Oh, my God. Oh, my God! How did it get so late?”

“Late?”

“I’ve missed my appointment with Clea Marsden.” She spied her purse, which she’d set down on the dock, and dived into it, producing a cell phone. “Oh, great, I didn’t even have my cell phone on!” She punched in a couple of numbers and waited impatiently for the connection, tapping her foot against the dock.

Bethany watched, fascinated. Hudson confessed to a certain amount of interest himself. His easygoing fishing coach had suddenly turned into a no-nonsense businesswoman.

“Margie? Yes, yes, I’m fine. I just forgot to—no, nothing happened. I lost track of the time. I was…working at home and got involved.” Her eyes flickered toward Hudson, perhaps to see if he would call her on the lie, then skittered away. “I must not have heard the phone. I’m sorry I worried you. I hope Clea Marsden wasn’t too distressed that I—oh. I see.” Her jaw clenched, and a tiny muscle near her eye twitched. “I’ll be there in a few minutes.” She snapped the phone closed. All the color had drained from her face. In fact, she reminded him of how his mother-in-law had looked when Hudson had told her of her daughter’s death.

“Are you all right?” he asked, concerned.

She looked at him as if she was surprised to see him. “No, I’m not all right. I missed an appointment.”

“Is that such a tragedy?” he said, trying to lighten the mood.

“Yes! When I didn’t show, Clea Marsden got a little antsy, and Mary Jo pounced. I lost the listing.” She spoke the words as if it were the worst tragedy to befall Western civilization since the black plague.

“Well, cheer up. Tomorrow’s the first day of a new month. You’ve got all of June to beat Mary Jo.”

She seemed not to hear him. “How could I have been so irresponsible, so downright stupid? Fishing, for God’s sake! I’ve frittered away almost three hours! That’s time I’ll never get back.” She looked at him earnestly. “When you waste time, you never get it back, you know.”

He did know that—all too well. Often he felt there weren’t enough hours in the day to accomplish all he wanted to do. There were always more patients than he had time to operate on. Once, a patient at the hospital—not his, thank God—had died while waiting for a free operating room.

“I’m very aware of how I spend my time,” he said, his good mood deflated. He shouldn’t be here. He should be back in Boston, doing what he was meant to do.

Amanda pulled a towelette from her purse and began rubbing at the small spot on her skirt. “I’ve torn my stockings, I’ve stained my skirt, I probably have a sunburn and I know I smell like fish. What on earth was I thinking? I must be out of my mind.”

“Hey, easy on the self-flagellation. Everybody loses track of the time now and then.”

“Not me. Not when I’ve got bills to pay and people depending on me. I have to think of my future. No one’s going to take care of me when I’m old.”

Good heavens, she was serious.

“I have to go. Thank you again for fixing the bad check. Good luck with your fishing.” She turned and started away.

“Amanda?” Bethany called after her. “Wait.”

Amanda turned back, looking flushed and slightly guilty. “Yes, Bethany, what is it?”

“Could you help me make a place for Shiny to live?”

“Well, I think your dad can probably help you.”

“But he doesn’t even like Shiny.”

“I’m really busy, sweetheart. I…” Amanda looked to Hudson for support, but he refused to give her any. She was the one, after all, who’d insisted Bethany ought to keep the damn fish as a pet. “Well, all right. But later, when I’m done with work, okay?”

“Okay.”

Hudson watched as she picked her way across the uneven ground in her high heels.

“Where does Amanda work?” Bethany asked.

“At the real estate office, remember? She helps people buy and sell and rent houses.”

“Does she get paid money?”

“Yes. For every house she sells or rents, she gets a certain percentage of the price.”

Bethany stared at him quizzically. Okay, so commissions were probably a little much for a four-year-old to comprehend.

“Say a house is a pie,” he tried again. “It’s my pie and I want to sell it. Amanda knows someone who wants to buy a pie, so she introduces the two of us. I sell the pie to this other person—but I give Amanda one slice as her reward for finding the buyer.”

Bethany wrinkled her nose. “So this person buys a pie with a piece gone?”

“Never mind. I’m tired of fishing, how about you?”

She nodded.

Was ten-thirty too early for lunch? Nah. They were still on Boston time, he reminded himself, and they’d had those Pop-Tarts before the sun was up. They gathered up the fishing gear and returned it to the garage. Then Hudson carried Bethany’s fish to the house. The pot seemed awfully small. He really, really didn’t want the fish to die. So he put the stopper in the bathtub, filled it up and transferred Shiny to another new home.

“I guess Shiny needs an aquarium,” Hudson said as he studied the fish swimming around.

Bethany knew what an aquarium was. Apparently they had a big one at her preschool. She talked endlessly about it and drew pictures of the fish. Hell, maybe he had a budding marine biologist on his hands, and he should encourage her interest in fish. But she didn’t respond to his suggestion with the enthusiasm he’d hoped.

“Amanda’s going to help me make a house for Shiny.”

Hudson hoped Bethany didn’t put too much stock in Amanda’s promises. She seemed to be a nice person, and she’d certainly established a rapport with his daughter. But she was obviously far too devoted to her job to want to cater to the whims of a four-year-old neighbor.

Before seeing about lunch, Hudson went into his bedroom and dug out his blood-pressure cuff. He’d been fishing all morning. Surely all that relaxation would have knocked his blood pressure down a few points. He slid his arm into the cuff and pumped it up, feeling optimistic.

“One-fifty-two over one-ten!” That was ridiculous. His blood pressure was higher than it had been in the doctor’s office. It was just a fluke, he told himself. He would take it again when he wasn’t thinking about Amanda.

HUDSON TOOK HIS blood pressure four times that afternoon. The numbers simply wouldn’t go down. He had to face it, he had high blood pressure. Continued hypertension could lead to all sorts of unpleasant things, including making him a candidate for his own brand of medicine. Well, he wasn’t going to turn into one of those people—overweight, unable to walk a flight of stairs without huffing and puffing. He would get his blood pressure down.

He still had all of June to do it. Although he was going to go crazy if he had to stay in this cabin for a month. There was nothing to do!

A shopping trip was in order, he decided. He would buy some books, some games he and Bethany could play, maybe some crafts. He could take up gardening. That was supposed to be relaxing.

What other advice did he give his heart patients? Meditation. Yoga. He doubted he would find any type of class around here, but maybe he could find a book instructing him on the practices. Healthy meals.

He opened the freezer and pondered the contents. Frozen pizza. Battered fish sticks—better not go there. Bethany still didn’t quite get the concept that much of the food they ate used to be walking around or flying or swimming. TV dinners—all of them loaded with fat grams. Even the lunch meat he’d bought was the bad kind—ham, pepperoni, beefstick. Combine them with cheese and mayonnaise, and you had a heart attack sandwich.

A movement outside caught his eye. A car pulled into Amanda’s driveway, but not Amanda’s silver Lincoln. It was a red compact car, a few years old, with numerous dents and scrapes and one badly crumpled fender. A young man got out—a kid, really. The resemblance between him and Amanda was hard to miss—same white-blond hair, same cheekbones. He wore holey jeans and a tank shirt revealing lots of muscles and a prominent tattoo.

The young man walked around the car and opened the passenger door. A statuesque brunette in miniskirt and halter top unfolded herself and climbed out. The way the two touched each other, it was clear they were lovers. The man let himself in the front door with a key, and the couple disappeared inside.

“Is Amanda home from work?” Bethany asked excitedly, apparently seeing her father staring out the window.

“Haven’t seen her yet. You know, honey, Amanda seems pretty busy. I wouldn’t count on her to just drop everything and help you with a home for your fish.”

“Yes, she will help me,” Bethany said with the utter faith only a child could muster.

“Couldn’t I help you?”

“No. You don’t like Shiny. You wanted to eat him.”

“I wanted to throw him back.” Amanda was the one who’d wanted to eat the fish, but Hudson decided not to point that out. “You know, honey, people do eat fish. When you eat fish sticks? Those are fish that used to swim in the ocean.”

Bethany adopted a mutinous expression. “Nuh-uh. Fish sticks are square and they don’t have eyes.”

“An important distinction,” Hudson agreed, giving up. “Hey, I’ve got an idea. Why don’t we go out to dinner?”

“To McDonald’s?” she asked hopefully.

Bethany was addicted to Happy Meals. He really ought to nudge her in a different dietary direction. “Cottonwood doesn’t have a McDonald’s. I thought we could be adventurous. You know, try someplace new.”

“No. I want to stay here and wait for Amanda.”

Hudson was afraid it would be a very long wait.

He made bologna sandwiches for dinner, and they ate them at a picnic table on a small deck in back. Once it had been cleaned, this little cabin really wasn’t so bad, he decided. From here he had a nice view of the woods…and an unobstructed view of Amanda’s house. He saw when her brother—if that’s who it was—left again with the brunette, who looked quite a bit more disheveled than when she’d arrived. He could guess what they’d been up to.

Bethany watched Amanda’s house, too, and the yearning on her face was plain. She was accustomed to female companionship—one or the other of her grandmothers had been in constant attendance since Elaine’s death. Being around her father all the time was a big adjustment. But Hudson was determined that she get used to him—and vice versa.

She resisted going to bed, still wanting to wait for Amanda. “She probably had to work late,” Hudson said, trying to soothe her. “Sometimes grown-ups have to work long hours. She might need the extra money.”

“But you work all the time, and you’re rich.”

Another prickle of guilt. “People work long hours for other reasons besides money. In my case, I work because my patients need me. They need someone to fix their hearts.”

“But maybe my heart needs fixing.”

“I hope not. Not ever.”

“But it hurts sometimes.”

The backs of Hudson’s eyes burned. “Everyone’s heart hurts sometimes. When you feel like yours is hurting, you just call me and I’ll do my best to fix it.”

“It hurts now.”

“Why does it hurt, sweetie?”

“Because Shiny doesn’t have a good house.” And because Amanda had disappointed her. He might not be too experienced with this daddy business, but he could read between the lines.

He took her hand and led her toward the ladder that went to the loft. “Tomorrow we’re gonna build Shiny the best aquarium in all of Texas.”

“Will Amanda help?”

Hudson tamped down his frustration. Bethany barely knew Amanda. Why this sudden attachment? “We’ll ask her. But if she can’t, then just you and me, okay?”

“Okay,” she said grudgingly.

With a bit more coaxing, he got her into bed. Then he sat on the back deck, smoking his last cigarette and watching for Amanda. It really was his last cigarette, he promised himself. Although he wasn’t exactly a heavy smoker—he’d taken a week to get through this last pack—the blood-pressure thing was scaring him. Smoking was one thing he could control.

Since he had time to kill, and he was already in a bad mood, he checked the messages on his cell. It was pretty much as he’d feared.

“Hudson, this is your mother. Call me immediately. I need some investment advice….”

“Hudson, it’s Janey. I need to know for sure whether you’re going to the fund-raiser Friday. Call me.”

“Hudson, it’s your mother. Just what in heaven’s name does that message on your voice mail mean? Unavailable? How do you expect people to get in touch with you?”

“Hudson, it’s Janey. I’m getting a little miffed over your lack of communication. I have to make some decisions, and I can’t without your input. Honestly…”

“Hudson, this is your mother. If you don’t call me in the next thirty minutes, I’m calling the police. I’m afraid some chainsaw serial killer has found you.”

Reluctantly he called his mother. He nearly jumped for joy when he reached her answering machine. “Mother, it’s Hudson. I’m fine, Bethany’s fine. Our vacation is going well. I’ll speak with you when I get back.” He disconnected as quickly as he could, in case she was home and screening her calls.

Janey wouldn’t be so easy. He called her cell, hoping to get her voice mail. But she answered immediately, though it was after eleven Boston time. “Hudson, thank God. Where are you?”

“I’m on vacation with Bethany. Didn’t I tell you…?”

“You know perfectly well you didn’t tell me. If you’d let me know, I could have cleared my schedule and gone with you. Are you at your mother’s place in Martha’s Vineyard? I could join you there in a couple of days.”

“No!” That was all he needed. He would never relax with Janey around managing his social schedule. “I mean, um, I’m doing a little father-daughter bonding.”

“Oh, that’s so sweet! Where are you?”

“Someplace you’ve never heard of, I guarantee.”

“When will you be back?”

“I don’t really know. I’ll call back when my plans are firmed up.”

“Hudson, this is so unlike you. You never do anything impulsive. Now, I want you to tell me where you are.”

He didn’t care for her demanding tone. If he married her, he’d probably hear more of it, he realized. “I have to go, um, the stove’s boiling over.”

“The stove? You’ve never been near a stove in your life!”

“I’ll talk to you later,” he said with mock cheerfulness. “Bye!” He hung up on her sputtered objections, then quickly turned off his phone.

Amanda’s car finally pulled into the drive at ten forty-five. No one worked that late, not even Hudson. It occurred to him that she might have a social life. She might have been enjoying dinner with a date, or happy hour with some girlfriends. But if she’d made plans for after work, she should have told Bethany up-front that she couldn’t help with Shiny’s home today. And if the plans had been spur-of-the-moment, then she’d needlessly broken her word to his daughter.

And he wasn’t going to let that pass without comment.

WHEN AMANDA SAW the mess her house was in, her blood flashed through her veins like heat lightning. For heaven’s sake, couldn’t Mick make even the smallest effort to clean up after himself? Dirty dishes from what looked like breakfast and lunch littered the kitchen. The mail had been strewn about the living room, items of interest opened and left where they fell. Cushions had been pulled off the couch in front of the TV. Dirty clothes carpeted the bathroom floor.

How had she let herself become Mick’s maid? When her father had died three years ago, she’d naturally been sad, but she’d also been relieved to be free of the burden of taking care of him. Especially the last few years, he hadn’t been able to drive or cook or do his own laundry, so she’d done those things for him, recycling the empty beer cans without comment. She’d known that by then it was too late to change him. Back then, Mick had lived with their father, and while he hadn’t exactly helped, he’d been in high school, so she’d let him get away with a lot.

Then they’d sold her dad’s house, which the bank was about to foreclose on anyway, and Mick had moved in with her so he could go to college. But in all this time he’d made little progress toward a degree, and he’d become increasingly irresponsible and decadent. She feared his drinking was to blame, though he at least had the consideration not to drink in front of her.

She wished she had the courage to just leave his messes. How would he like it if the house just turned into a pigsty?