A Place Called Home (46 page)

Mitch leaned on the mop handle. “So they really liked your ideas.”

“Yep. I wasn’t expecting to hear one way or the other after we pitched them the ads.” She dropped some of the big shards in the dustpan, careful to keep her robe hem out of the coffee. “I thought I’d get some sense of their interest, maybe hear something in a week or two if we were lucky. They got us at JFK before we boarded and said they’d made their decision. Hank and I were working out the details all the way back. The rest of the Blue Team got stupid in business class.” Thea stood, emptied the dustpan in the trash under the sink and waved Mitch into action. “It was showing Carver what we could do with Shine and Shield that clinched it for us. They loved the product overlap. The car manufacturers get to show off their hot models and Carver shines them up. Shared advertising costs. A little back scratching. Everyone wins. Everyone’s happy.”

Mitch spun the mop around, gave it a little Fred Astaire flourish, and sang, “Shine and Shield is the power I wield. I will never yield my Shine and Shield.”

“Give it up, Baker. We’re not using it. Even the new stuff.”

He shrugged. “Your loss.” He carried the mop over to the sink, wrung it out, then took the dustpan from Thea and returned both to the garage. When he got back to the table Thea had a fresh cup of coffee waiting for him.

Thea opened her mouth to say something but snapped it shut when she heard footsteps pounding on the stairs. The sound was so loud, so deliberate, that there was no mistaking Gina meant to be noticed. Thea’s eyes flew to Mitch’s. “She heard us!” she whispered, tugging on his sleeve.

It was easy for Mitch to remain unfazed when Thea was flushed from her neckline all the way to the roots of her hair. “She heard you,” he said. “I didn’t knock over the coffee cup or go off like a siren.”

“I didn’t kn—” she began indignantly, and stopped because she saw he was trying to get a rise out of her. “Ooooh!”

“Careful. She’ll think we’re at it again.” Chuckling, he swept his coffee cup off the table and pulled it close to his chest before she decided to upend it on his crotch. “Come on down, Gina!” He called back toward the hallway. “Coast’s clear.”

Thea gave him a look of mock disgust, but the kick in the shin was real enough. She danced out of his reach before Gina entered the kitchen. “Coffee?” she asked. “Or I can make tea.”

“Coffee’s fine.” Gina was wearing a silky emerald green robe. On Thea it would have been fingertip length. On Gina the hem brushed her knees and the sleeves had to be rolled up three turns. “I found this on a hook in the guest bathroom. I hope you don’t mind.”

“No. I put it there for you. I don’t think I’ve ever worn it.”

Mitch gave Gina an appreciative once-over, then looked pointedly at Thea’s ratty chenille robe. He just shook his head.

“What?” Thea said. “That was a Christmas present from Mother three years ago and it’s not at all my thing.”

“Did I say a word?” asked Mitch. He looked at Gina for support. “Did you hear me say a word?”

Gina held up her hands. The silky sleeves pooled around her elbows. “I
know
I’m not getting in this.” She nudged a chair out with her bare foot and sat down. “Mornin’, Mitch.”

He smiled. “Good morning. How are you feeling?”

“Not too bad.” She no sooner said it than she blanched as her stomach did a twist and heave. “Thea? Do you have some soda crackers?”

“They might be stale.”

Mitch looked at Gina’s pale face. “I don’t think her stomach cares about stale.”

Thea found the crackers in the pantry and put them on the table, along with Gina’s coffee. “You should think about decaf,” she said.

“I do think about it,” Gina said. “I just won’t drink it. I am a one-cup-in-the-morning girl now. Do you have cream?”

“Sure do.” Thea pulled the carton out of the refrigerator while Gina opened a stack of crackers. “Here. Use lots of it.”

Gina nibbled on a cracker with one hand and poured with the other. She set the carton down and looked at Mitch. “I suppose Thea’s told you why I’m here.”

It was Thea who answered. “You know, I’m not certain I ever did get that far.”

Mitch lifted his coffee cup. “She didn’t,” he told Gina dryly. “Apparently Thea had a little confusion about paternity.”

Gina looked from Mitch to Thea, her eyes widening. “What?”

Thea shrugged. “You never really said who the father was. I thought it was Mitch.”

“Mitch!” Gina’s jaw actually went slack. “You’re kidding.”

“Oh, no, she’s not,” Mitch said.

“Well,” Thea began defensively, “how was I supposed to know?”

Gina shook her head, her mouth pulling in a wry twist. “Because Mitch
never
forgets to wear a condom.”

Mitch nearly blew a mouthful of coffee across the table. Thea stepped behind him and pounded his back—hard.

“You okay, Mitch?” asked Gina. “Your face is red.”

He made a strangled noise, part cough, part wheeze. Thea gave him another hearty slap between his shoulder blades. “He’ll be fine,” she assured Gina. “I think the coffee just went down the wrong pipe. Isn’t that right, Mitch?”

He didn’t try to talk this time. He simply nodded.

“See? He’s fine.” Thea turned away, retrieved her half-eaten cereal from the counter, and sat down at the table. “Can I get you anything?”

Gina nibbled on her cracker. “This is fine. I might be able to eat in an hour or so.” She regarded Thea consideringly. “You do know who the father is, don’t you?”

She nodded. “I figured that out as soon as I realized it wasn’t Mitch. There wouldn’t have been a mistake at all if someone had told me you were seeing Joel.”

That gave Gina pause. “Joel never told you?”

Thea shook her head. “He was pretty secretive about the woman he was seeing.” She saw Gina’s shoulders slump and her eyes well with tears before she ducked her head. “Oh no, don’t misunderstand,” she said quickly. “The relationship was very special to him. I think it made him uncomfortable to talk about it casually.”

“Yeah,” Gina said mockingly, “right. He’s ashamed by what he feels and embarrassed to be seen with me.”

Mitch cocked an eyebrow, patently skeptical. “The Joel Strahern I met was
not
embarrassed by your attentions, Gina. Quite the opposite. He was flattered. In a big way.”

“Oh, come off it, Mitch.” She swiped her eyes with the sleeve of her robe. “I was dressed hot that night. The Pope would have given me a second look.”

“She’s right about that,” Thea said. “She was pretty hot.”

“Thank you,” said Gina.

“I don’t get it,” Mitch said. “He was engaged to you, Thea. And Gina’s only ten years younger.”

Gina bit off another corner of her cracker. “Nine. I’m twenty-three now. Anyway, Thea’s a lot older than her birth certificate. No offense, Thea.”

“None taken.”

“You know what I mean, Mitch?”

“Oh no,” he said, shaking his head. “You’re not going to get me to say anything like that.”

Thea smiled to herself and took another bite of soggy cereal. “You know, Gina, you were wrong about some things you said last night. I didn’t really question them because I thought you were talking about Mitch, but since you weren’t, you need to know you’re dead wrong. Joel is my friend and I think he genuinely cares about my happiness, but there’s no special sense of obligation on his part. No need to protect me. I know he knows that. He doesn’t have feelings for me beyond friendship.”

“How can you know that?”

“Because I know what it feels like to be loved. And it’s nothing like what Joel felt for me.”

Gina’s eyes darted between Thea and Mitch. A smiled edged the corners of her mouth upward. “Okay. Well, that’s good.”

“Yes,” Thea said, sliding Mitch a glance, “it is.” She watched the tips of his ears start to redden, and he looked as if he wanted to be magically transported to a duck blind with five camouflaged buddies, sucking back beers and loading a really big gun. Thea patted his forearm lightly and turned back to Gina. “I know what Joel said about the woman he was seeing, and I know what it meant. He told me it was like it had been with Nancy—only better. He loves you, Gina. I have no doubt about that. The issue here isn’t entirely about your age. It’s about the baby. Joel was clear with me that he didn’t want children and that suited me back then. It’s probably true that if Gabe and Kathy hadn’t been killed, Joel and I would be married—” Thea looked over her shoulder at the calendar on the refrigerator. “Today, actually. How about that? We would be going through the ceremony, not entirely happy, but probably not realizing it. Each of us settling for what we had. We would have been comfortable. Stable. Easy with each other. And bored.”

Thea’s eyes narrowed as she studied Gina’s still features. “You better be damn sure you love him, Regina, because I’m thinking Joel is a whole lot less certain of you than he is of himself.”

Gina nodded slowly. “I do know it, Thea. I do.”

Thea said nothing for moment. Gina wasn’t wearing her heart on her sleeve. It was in her eyes. “All right,” she said finally. “I’ll talk to Joel.”

Mitch, who had been tipped back on the chair again, dropped it hard to the floor. “Whoa. That’s what you wanted, Gina? For Thea to talk to him?”

“Yes. Why? Is there a problem?”

“Problem? Not yet. Right now you have a situation, not a problem. Once she talks to him, then you’ll have a problem. You don’t want Thea in there.”

Both of Thea’s brows shot up. “Oh? You have another idea?”

“Yeah. This should be between Gina and Joel.”

The cracker in Gina’s hand snapped. “He won’t listen to me, Mitch. I need to get his attention.”

“Fine. Then let me beat the shit out of him.”

Gina and Thea exchanged glances. “I don’t know,” Gina said. “What do you think?”

“Could work,” said Thea. “Sure, why not?” She turned to Mitch. “Okay. You can beat the shit out of him.”

“Ha-ha.” He took a swallow of coffee. “I should—just to show you how it works—but I’ll give diplomacy a shot first.”

“Oh, goodie,” Thea said dryly.

Gina was more enthusiastic. “Really? You’d do that for me? But what will you tell him? Do you know what to say?”

“I know what not to say,” Mitch said. “I’m
not,
for instance, going to tell him that Thea thought I might be the father of your baby.” He regarded his companions pointedly. “Unless you ladies don’t mind if he beats the shit out of me.”

Chapter 15

Mitch had no difficulty spotting Joel Strahern in the booth at the back of the downtown tavern. He would have preferred sitting at the bar himself. A good bar fight never started in a booth. The tables were secured to the floor and the wall, for one thing. No one could tip them over. Mitch allowed the place was a little too upscale for a fight anyway, which was probably why Thea had suggested it. He didn’t know if she didn’t trust him or Joel. She made noises on the phone earlier that morning about being in touch with a bail bondsman. Ha-ha, he had said.

Mitch arranged the meeting himself. He refused offers from Gina and Thea to set it up. It didn’t have to be so complicated, he told them. This was just two guys getting together for a beer. They had rolled their eyes. Apparently neither one of them thought of Joel as a guy. A lot they knew. Every man was just a guy at heart. Joel Strahern dressed better, was all.

Mitch slipped into the booth and extended his hand on his way down. “Strahern.”

Joel accepted it and shook it briefly and firmly. “Baker.”

Mitch grinned. “That’s about the extent of my macho posturing. Call me Mitch.”

“Joel.”

“Good. You order yet?”

“No, I just arrived. I didn’t know this place existed.”

“You’re on the other side of town. They have some good deli sandwiches. The Reubens are terrific.” Mitch waved to the waitress and asked Joel, “What’ll you have to drink?”

“Heineken.”

“Okay.” He held up two fingers to the waitress. “Heinekens.” She nodded, gave them both menus, and left. Mitch flipped his open but he didn’t look at it. “Look, Joel, you might as well know that I had this idea of just beating the shit out of you. Thea and Gina talked me out of it.”

Joel Strahern hadn’t gotten where he was by being moved by threats. He didn’t so much as blink. “Lucky for you,” he said without inflection.

One of Mitch’s brows lifted ever so slightly. “Good one.”

“I wasn’t kidding.”

“Yeah? Well, neither was I.” They stared each other down across a table that Superman would have had a hard time tossing. Luckily the waitress brought their beers and distracted them. Mitch took a swallow. “How much time do you have?”

“As much as I need. You?”

“I turned my stuff in to my editor this morning. I’m free.”

“I’ve seen today’s cartoon. I take it you’re not happy with the Supreme Court’s latest ruling on gun control.”

“Automatic weapons specifically,” Mitch clarified. “Those were assault rifles the justices were packing.”

Joel nodded thoughtfully and took a drink of his beer. The waitress reappeared asking for their orders. He got the turkey club. Mitch had the Reuben. “So,” he said after the waitress left, “you weren’t clear on the phone about why we should have lunch together.”

“But you came anyway.”

“Don’t flatter yourself. I was curious.”

“Whatever works,” Mitch said, shrugging. He lifted his bottle, took another swallow. “It’s about Gina.”

Joel nodded, expecting it. “Regina told you that we’ve been seeing each other.”

Mitch cocked an eyebrow. “She told me a little more than that. She says you have not practiced responsible birth control and that just won’t do. I know you grew up thinking women would handle that, but the times, Joel, they have a-changed.”

“I’d rather you beat the shit out of me,” he said dryly, “than murder Dylan again.”

“Deal.” Mitch gave Joel a small salute with his beer bottle, then he became serious again, getting to the heart of the matter. “Look, I don’t know you at all, and I don’t know what you’re thinking or feeling about what’s happened. Personally, I think it’s between you and Gina to work out, but she says she can’t get your attention. She thinks that maybe you’re still feeling something for Thea.”