Argosy Junction (12 page)

Patience raced to the restrooms shouting her intentions as she went. Matt jumped to his feet to follow. He held out his hand to Lane as he did. “Come on. You don’t want her in there alone.”

Lane took his hand and let him pull her to her feet again. She looked exhausted. Matt suspected that her internal clock was still on Montana time, and an early bedtime at that. Additionally, she probably wasn’t accustomed to driving so much or through large cities with intensive traffic. If only he could drive the rest of the way for her.

Matt didn’t release her hand until they reached the entrance to the bathroom. “I’ll be right here.”

As Lane disappeared into the concrete restrooms, Matt stared at his hand. He hadn’t intended to hold it all the way across the lawn. He’d seen Lane was tired and just naturally offered to help her to her feet again. Once he had her hand though, he hadn’t wanted to let it go.

Sounds of splashing water and Lane’s admonition to Patience to dry her hands echoed in the restrooms and drifted outside. Patience’s chatter was less discernible. He caught something about the dandelions and how much longer it’d be until they got “home.”

As they reached their cars, Matt sighed. “If this was my car, I’d risk leaving it here and drive you in, but it’s my dad’s and I can’t. I’ll go slow and make sure I give you plenty of time to follow. You’ll be in bed in no time.”

Matt led the way through the countryside, onto the Rockland loop, off the freeway, and into the city streets. It drove him crazy that he was missing Patience’s first impressions with his town and that he couldn’t show Lane places that were important or interesting to him. He told himself, “all in good time,” but it seemed like an urgent thing—as though he had to share it all as fast as possible or they’d never know.

The Rockland Towers stood adjacent to the RAC Convention Annex. Though Matt had suggested a less expensive alternative, Warren Argosy liked staying where he didn’t have to drive through town to get to the convention. It was convenient, and since Warren would arrive in a couple of days, Lane and Patience stayed in the room adjoining the one Warren, and possibly Tad, would eventually occupy.

Matt tried to help with their luggage, but a porter had placed it on a luggage rack and in the elevator almost before Matt knew what was happening. “Shall I go park your car?” Matt’s car was sitting next to a meter in the street, but Lane had driven under the porte-cochere and handed the keys to the porter as she entered the elevator.

“That’s okay; the porter will let the valet take care of it. Daddy said to leave it all to them. I don’t think he wants me wandering around parking garages, trying to remember where I left my car.”

~*~*~*~

Late that night, Matt rolled over and kicked the blankets off him again. He couldn’t sleep. Lane was less than five miles from his house, and she and Patience would be wandering the streets of Rockland in just a few hours. Would Patience remember to stay with Lane? Would both of them remember to watch for traffic as they crossed streets and hold onto their purses? Would they know to stay out of the seedier areas when he wasn’t with them?

He made up his mind. Matt hadn’t called in sick but a handful of times in the ten years he’d worked for Rockland Metal Works, and never had he lied about it. He was calling in sick tomorrow, though, and he’d deal with the fallout later.

~*~*~*~

“Brad? This is Matt. I’m not coming in today.” Matt listened to a few choice words fly out of his boss’ lips and continued. “How many hours of sick leave do I have on the books?”

Brad punched keys on his computer and with a few clicks of the mouse came back with, “Looks like two fifty-four.”

“I’m taking a sick day today.”

Something in Matt’s tone told his boss that this was important enough for Matt to call in well. “Sick of work?”

A relieved chuckle escaped Matt’s half-held breath. “Something like that. I’ve got guests from out of town, and I want to spend the day with them.”

Silence hung on the line for a few moments, and then Brad cleared his throat. “I’ve got you off until Tuesday. Look, you gotta work Wednesday to avoid a doctor’s excuse, but Wednesday night I’ll put you in for Thursday and Friday if they’ll be here that long.”

Shocked at Brad’s understanding, Matt murmured his thanks and hung up the phone. He dressed quickly and then went to fix a bowl of cereal. His mom stumbled from her room just as he rinsed his bowl. Her eyes grew wide.

“You’ve missed your train! You’re gonna be late.”

“I’m not going in. Brad gave me a few sick days off.”

Her eyes bugged out even farther. “You lied?”

“No, Mom. I told him I wanted to use some of the sick days on the books. He approved the use for visiting with friends, so I’m going to go down and show Lane and Patience around downtown.”

He grabbed his wallet, subway pass, and keys. “I don’t know when I’ll be home.”

His mother waited until he got to the sidewalk before she called down from their window, “Make sure you invite them over for Saturday. I wanna meet your girl.”

Matt threw a half-wave in his mother’s direction and sauntered toward the subway station a few blocks away, trying to ignore the rising sense of embarrassment. The subway let him off around the corner from Lane’s hotel and as he entered the lobby, the realization that his Lane and Patience were just a few floors above him, slammed into his consciousness. This was really happening!

He glanced at his watch and groaned; surely, they were still sleeping. He mentally kicked himself for not arranging something the night before and then went to the registration desk. Maybe they could help.

A perky blonde tossed her hair and smiled welcomingly at him. “Welcome to Rockland Towers.”

“Is there a way to tell if a guest is awake without calling their room? Friends just got in late last night and I don’t want to wake them up, so I didn’t call, but I don’t want to sit in the lobby all day—”

She hesitated before beginning the standard response to similar questions. “I’m sorry, but the privacy of our guests is of utmost importance to us at the Towers. I’m afraid I cannot help you with that information. I hope you understand.”

Matt shuffled awkwardly. Of course, they couldn’t hand out random information about guests. He wouldn’t want her to let someone else know if the Argosys were in their room or not. “I’m sorry. You’re right; I just didn’t think. I’ll wait over there. If they come to the desk and you remember, can you tell them Matt is here?”

The young woman hesitated and something changed in her expression. “Oh well, what room? Maybe they’ve requested room service or something this morning and that’d show up on their account.”

Matt gave her the room number and watched as her fingers flew effortless across the keyboard as she eyed the screen intently. “Well there isn’t any room service requested, but the key was swiped about three minutes ago, so someone has been in and out of the room.” She looked up at him once more and whispered, “Please don’t tell anyone I did that. I could get fired for it.”

“Of course I won’t.” He pointed to a lobby phone. “Can I call the room from—never mind. Thanks.”

Matt crossed the lobby quickly and stood behind Lane and Patience as they waited for a table in the Breakfast Room. The hostess smiled at the group and said, “Table for three?”

Lane and Patience hardly glanced behind themselves shaking their heads no, but Matt just nodded with a look of amusement on his face. “Yes. Thank you. Three.”

Patience whirled and hugged him. “Matt! I thought you had to work today!”

He steered the bouncing little girl ahead of him as they followed the hostess to their table. “My boss let me use a few of my sick days while you’re here.”

Patience’s eyes grew wide with surprise and dismay. “You
lied!”

“At my work, if the boss says it’s okay, you can use sick days as personal days. I’ll have to work Wednesday, though. So what is on the agenda for this morning? I don’t want to take over your day or anything, but I wanted to be available if you needed a navigator.”

Eyes twinkling, Lane winked at Patience and said, “Well we have to go shopping first. We only have ranch clothes, and they’re not exactly appropriate for the big city.” Lane steered Matt’s attention to Patience’s calico jumper with her eyes.

They debated store options over breakfast until Matt finally suggested that he go try to call someone for recommendations. Even as he said it, he realized he didn’t have anyone
to
call. Shrugging his shoulders, he excused himself and went to ask the young woman at the registration desk.

“Did you find your party, sir?” The perky blonde’s tag identified her as Marci.

“Yes, thank you for your help. I have another question. My friends need to do some clothes shopping, and I don’t know where to suggest that they go. They’re from Montana and—” He pointed to their table across the lobby. “Well, see that cute little girl in the restaurant with the dark brown braids wearing the purple dress? They’re looking for something that won’t stick out quite so much.”

Marci nodded eagerly. “I know what they need. I’ll write down a few stores and the streets they’re on. I don’t know addresses, but I can give you an approximate cross street, and a cab might be able to find it.”

“I can find it. Anything you can suggest will help. I really appreciate it.”

While she wrote, Matt debated whether he should try to tip her for her assistance or not. He knew about bellhops and housekeeping, but wasn’t sure about the rest of the hotel staff. As she slid the paper across the desk, he decided to ask directly.

“Um, can I—” He fumbled for his wallet, but Marci shook her head.

“It’s very kind of you, but it isn’t necessary. I’m happy to help any time. If your friends need anything at all, tell them to ask for me, and have a nice day.”

She flashed him a genuine smile and turned to shuffle a few papers. Matt realized she was giving him an opportunity to leave without further awkwardness and wished, not for the first time in his life, that he was loaded with disposable cash. He’d love to send her a bouquet of some kind of exotic flower just for being what his mom called classy.

At the table, he flourished the list of stores like a treasure map. “I scored big time. I have here in my hand a list of stores guaranteed to have something you’ll like!”

They prioritized the list and hit the streets. Matt was designated the official bag carrier, and he filled his role well. By lunchtime, they’d found everything Lane thought she’d need except for a formal gown for the opera.
La Boehme
was playing at the RAC, and Lane, having wanted to attend the opera for most of her life, had purchased two tickets. She had spent the entire morning trying to convince Matt to go with her, but with little success.

After lunch, they tried the children’s stores, but left each empty-handed. At the last store on the list, Matt took the sales clerk aside and tried to explain what they needed. “Patience lives in Montana, on a ranch. She’s like a modern day Laura Ingalls. We’re looking for something that she’ll still feel comfortable wearing, but that isn’t quite so…” he struggled for the right word, “quaint for while she’s here. Probably mostly dresses. At home, she wears overalls too, but as cute as your stuff is, it’s not her.”

The clerk nodded as he spoke. “I know what you need. There’s that Euro-chic store over on Birch and next to that is one of those classic styles places. They’re a little expensive just for wearing on a trip, but they have good sales racks so maybe…”

However, the suggestion was perfect. They managed to get several outfits at each store and called the shopping trip a success. Instead of returning to the hotel, Matt drove them to the City Park and showed them the duck pond, rose gardens, skate parks, and the ice rink that was empty for summer.

“See that valley down there? It was donated to the city with the rest of this park because of that valley. It’s in a flood plain and quite unbuildable as it is, but the city planners are considering creating a lake.”

“Can you make a lake? Really?” Patience couldn’t imagine being able to build a lake and had mental images of a monstrous sized swimming pool.

Matt showed approximately where he thought they’d put the lake and the beach areas and docks for boats. “See that stretch of the loop way over there? When they redid the freeway five years back, they rerouted it farther out in case the lake project went through. It doubled the cost of the project so people were really upset.”

Rockland City Park had a row of shaded porch type swings designed for parents to sit and watch their children as they played on the playground equipment. Matt and Lane sat in one talking about Lane’s trip as Patience raced from swings to slides to a jungle gym. Matt realized something was wrong when Lane’s deep voice slowed to a stop, and she rose from the swing. He followed her gaze and jumped from the bench ready to rush to Patience’s defense.

“Wait. Let her try to handle it.”

“That kid’ll eat her alive.” Matt’s protectiveness erupted in full force.

“It’ll be good for her. Just give it a second.”

Exasperated, he tried again. “Lane, this isn’t Mon—”

“Fine. We’ll go closer, but butt out unless I ask you for help.” Her voice held an annoyed edge that he hadn’t heard since she’d informed him that they had fences to keep idiots like him out of their pasture.

As they grew closer, Matt could hear the exchange and struggled to control himself. The scene was hysterical. Given the right climate, it’d only get funnier.

“I can climb up there if I want to!” Patience’s voice did not suit her name at that moment. “Please get out of my way!”

“She hasn’t lost her manners—yet,” Lane muttered to no one in particular.

“You look like a freak. Go back to the hills, hillbilly.”

Without taking her eyes from the scene, Lane took a step closer and laid a restraining hand on Matt’s arm. “Don’t you dare,” she growled. “If anyone gets him, it’s going to be me.”

Patience seemed to take a couple of deep breaths. What Matt mistook for impending sobs, He soon recognized as Patience’s last attempts at self-control. Any moment, she’d let the kid have it with both barrels.