Page 116 of Shame the Devil

It was so hard to stand back. “Yep. Want to have breakfast tomorrow?”

She smiled, then, getting that spark of sultry mischief back, that peek at the bad girl only he got to see. “Only if you buy me something really good.”

“I will buy you,” he promised, “anything you want.”

What she wanted, of course, turned out to be restrained. Nothing like strawberry crepes with mascarpone cheese, which had been on the menu, and which he could tell she wanted. Instead, she went for a veggie omelet. Her inner hedonist was taking its own sweet time to emerge, but then, it had been locked down for a long, long time.

He went with her afterwards to supervise the movers, and waited while she said goodbye to her grandfather, too, which was a predictably short visit.

“You’re not going to China,” he said. “I’m not going to die the minute you leave, either. Stop worrying about me and go.”

“I’m going to miss you, though,” she persisted. The tears were close to the surface, and she held her grandfather’s spotted, wrinkled hand like she wanted to memorize it. “I’ve spent my whole life with you. What am I going to do when I need somebody to yell at me?”

He barked out a laugh. “Call me up, of course. Or make this guy send you up to visit me on that jet he’s always flying around on.”

“I’ll do that,” Harlan said. “Say the word, Jennifer.”

That earned him some beetling-browed stare. “Don’t thinkyouget to yell at her. Or that just because I’m old, I can’t kick your ass.”

Jennifer said, “Grandpa. Youcan’tkick his ass.”

“Sure he can,” Harlan said. “And I know it. Don’t worry, sir. I’ll take care of her.”

“Make sure you do,” he answered. “Because I know where you live. Now go on and go. Make sure you take those vitamins, though, Jennifer, and don’t be driving after dark in that city traffic. It takes longer to brake in the rain, remember.”

She gave him one last hug, and Harlan let her look away on the drive to the airport, because he’d seen her throat moving, had known she wanted to cry. Finally, though, when they’d climbed on board the jet and she was still looking out the window, he said, “I meant that, you know. If you need to come visit, say the word.”

She nodded, gulped, and grabbed at her napkin to dry the tears that were leaking out. “I know it’s silly. And you’re not responsible for me, or for getting me back here, whatever Grandpa said. It’s just … I’ve always lived here, you know? I’ve always been with him, and when my mom … and now she … and he’s …”

“Hey.” He wanted to hold her, but they were taxiing, so he had to settle for taking her hand. “Hey, now. I know.”

She tried to laugh. “Of course you do. What am I saying? Your mom … how much worse is that? How hard is it feeling like youcan’tgo back?”

“I don’t think it’s a contest,” he said. “It’s all pain, and pain hurts.”

* * *

Now,she was clearly thinking about pain, because she was looking at him in that squinty-eyed way that always made him want to laugh and saying, “When you say, ‘Go for a walk,’ do you mean, go for awalk,or do some extreme activity that I’m going to hate? I’m pregnant, you know. I’mfragile.Well, not fragile. Maybe I’d liketo be fragile, though, at least in your mind.”

Whoa. That had come dangerously close to asking for something. Asking him to treat her like she was special, like she was precious, at least he thought that was it. He was going with that.

“I mean,” he said, “we go for a walk at the Japanese Garden, just because it’s peaceful, and I hold your hand, and then maybe we head down to 23rdAvenue so we can look in store windows and you can tell me that some dress is pretty, or that you love rose-scented bath products, which means we have to go inside and check them out. There’s a Lush store down there that women seem to like, and some clothes stores, too. Levi’s store, I know that, because I’ve shopped in that one, but I think we can do better for you. There are also all kinds of restaurants, which means we could go out to dinner afterwards, celebrate you getting here, and let these two order a pizza and use the theater and make a mess.”

“Harlan,” Annabelle protested, “we’re notnine.We’re not going to make a mess.”

“You’re killing my casual, spontaneous vibe,” he told her. “Stop it.”

“Mom’s not going to let you buy her clothes,” Dyma said. “Do you know her atall?”

“That can’t be your idea of a fun time,” Jennifer said. A pretty weak effort, if you asked him.

“That’s where you’re wrong,” he said. “I want you to like it here, and if it makes you happy, you bet it’s going to be a fun time for me. Also, I’m going to be hungry soon, and so are you. So come on.” He tugged her up by the hand. “We’re supposed to be dating. That was the agreement. So let’s go have a date.”

48

Exactly That Edgy

Jennifer walkedinto the reception area of Blake’s headquarters and tried to calm her racing heart.