Page 119 of Shame the Devil

“No, you don’t. Put him on. I need to talk to him. Now.”

He heard Jennifer saying, “Harlan wants to talk to you.”

A second, then, “Yeah? What do you want?”

Yep. That was the quarterback, all right. “You’re out of line,” Harlan informed him.“Wayout of line.”

“Yeah,” Orbison said. “Dakota just told me that.”

“And you thought your best next move would be to find Jennifer in the ladies’ room?”

“Privacy,” Orbison pointed out.

“Privacy, hell.” Harlan was always cool. He wasfamouslycool. He wasn’t cool now. “Get out of there.She’sthe one who gets privacy. If you want to talk to her, you take her to the … lobby. To a coffee shop. To a conference room. Wherever. You don’t get to talk to her in the ladies’ room!”

He heard Jennifer saying, “I can fight my own battles.” He’d bet she was reaching for the phone, too.

He told Blake, “Tell her that I still have something to say,” and waited while Orbison did it. The sound got less echo-y, which hopefully meant that they were out of the friggingbathroom. “You ready to hear it?” he asked.

Orbison sounded resigned. “Guess I asked for it.”

“You bet you did. Jennifer looks beautiful today. I know, because she showed me. She looks beautiful, and she looks professional. What the hell are you giving her shit about it for? Don’t you know how nervous she is? Do you have any idea how many hours she’s spent studying all your crap so she’ll be prepared for today? Do you have a singlecluehow much she fights for confidence?”

“I know it a whole hell of a lot better than you know it,” Orbison said. “Since she’s worked for me for three years. I know for sure that she doesn’t need somebody pushing her into some kind of kinky sex that she’s not ready for! Especially not when she’s pregnant!”

A squawk from Jennifer, and Harlan had to breathe a couple times. “You aren’t this big of an idiot,” he said. “Back right the hell off. Tell her you were wrong, too, or I’m telling her to quit.”

“Yeah,” Orbison said. “Because you get to do that. How about if you let her make her own decisions?”

“How about if I stick up for the woman I love?”

He didn’t even realize it was out there until a second had passed. Then he said, “And the mother of my child. Our relationship is none of your goddamned business, but for the record: I’m not doing one single thing with her that she doesn’t want. I’m buying her clothes because she’s pregnant, and because, yeah, I want to. If I want to buy her something nicer than she’s used to, I’ve got the money to do it, and I’m enjoying it. If you aren’t doing that foryourwife, why the hell not?”

Orbison didn’t seem to have anything to say to that, so Harlan said, “Yeah. I thought so. Put Jennifer back on.”

Orbison said, “You realize I’m …” After that, though, he didn’t seem to know how to go on.

Harlan said, “Yep. You’re nothing but wrong, that’s what I realize. You’re going to have to say it, or I predict she’s going to be walking on out of there. The woman’s a redhead.”

49

A Little Tenderness

His doorbell rangat six that evening. When he went to answer it, it was Jennifer. Still dressed in her work clothes, with those purple shadows under her eyes.

“Hey,” he said. “You don’t have to ring the doorbell.” After that, he bent down and gave her a soft kiss on the mouth, and held her a little while, too, just because she looked so fragile. He could feel her hauling in her breath against his shoulder, and he held on a little tighter.

She stood back, finally, came inside, and said, “Of course I have to ring the doorbell. It’s not my house. I came over to check on Dyma, and to see about cooking dinner. I bought stuff for a casserole, and I told you, I’m a whiz at family dinner. I’ve decided that can be my contribution. On days when you want that, of course. When you need a break, you can send the girls over to me.” Going for some more of that brisk and efficient and capable.

“That’s a no,” he said. “What, your first day at your new job? Not happening. It’s the offseason. I’ve got it. I already planned it, in fact. Dyma and Annabelle are watching a movie, I think, because I smelled popcorn. Having some downtime after rearranging my cabinets this afternoon, once the tutor left. Cooking could be an adventure, since I don’t know where anything is anymore. They had everything pulled out of there. I thought we’d be living in squalor for days, but nope. Dyma’s pretty much a human dynamo. How’d you name her that well? Did you wait until she was two, or what?”

She smiled, but it still looked tired. “I don’t know. Magical foreknowledge? She brings a lot of energy to the room. That’s one way of putting it.”

He brushed a hand over her cheek. “Here’s an idea. Why don’t you go get changed, or better yet—bring your stuff over and have a swim, some gym time, whatever, while I make dinner? That’d be relaxing, right?”

“Well, the way I swim, it would be,” she said, getting some spark back. “Not the way you do it, like you’re in the Olympics. Although I don’t know where the gym is. Do I have to take the elevator, or what?”

He laughed. “I’ll give you the tour.” After that, he kissed her again and said, “Go get changed. I’ve got this.”