Between Friends (30 page)

“PMS?” Dallas suggested. Valerie laughed. “I promise you the next time Megan and I decide at the very last moment that we’re going to do something fun, we’ll let you know.”

“Did I sound bitchy?” Valerie asked, slightly mollified by Dallas’s offer.

“Yes.”

“You have my permission to get even.”

Dallas smiled. “Don’t be surprised when I take you up on that offer. I gotta go. I’ll talk to you later.”

When Dallas got off the phone, she continued to sit for a moment thinking about the call. As much as she’d tried to convince Valerie that she hadn’t missed a thing, Dallas was very aware that she’d not told Valerie everything. For one thing, it had been wonderful to find out more about Alex without the distraction of Valerie, who most certainly would have demanded his undivided attention. For another, Dallas had a sense that the things Alex had told her he had not told Valerie.

After the exhibit they’d all gone out for something to eat. McDonald’s, keeping in mind the limitations of a twelve-year-old’s food likes. And they’d stopped by Alex’s place near Manhattan Beach to drop off equipment. He’d invited them in for the ten minutes it had taken, and Dallas had used the time to get a better sense of who the adult Alex Marco was.

He was settled. He had a place that looked like a home, unlike that grim apartment fifteen years ago. It was definitely a male domain, but orderly and comfortable. Dallas had especially liked the stack of
Aqua Corp
and
Northeast Dive
journals, right next to copies of
New York
magazine. There were even a few houseplants. A little scraggly, but their presence was reassuring.

There were photos of Alex in obvious military settings, dressed in weighty dive gear, or handsome in a uniform. He caught her examining the photos and whispered in passing, “Not very impressive, is it? Not like being a lawyer or something like that.”

She’d smiled at him. “I have no complaints.”

But the more Dallas thought about it, the more she felt somewhat dissatisfied with the designation of being Alex’s friend. It made her feel like the second banana. The also ran. The bridesmaid. But what were the alternatives?

Dallas looked at her watch. She had to get to Peggy’s office. She located a pad and pen for notes and got up from her desk. Just then the phone rang again, and Dallas hesitated, debating the wisdom of answering. On the other hand, it could be one of a half-dozen different sources she’d been trying to reach for interviews or comments. With another quick look at the time she leaned back to lift the receiver from the phone.

“Hello, Dallas Oliver.”

“Hi. Is this
the
Dallas Oliver? The one who writes the column ‘My Word’ in
Soul
magazine?”

A rush of surprise coursed through her, making her sit down abruptly again. “Alex?”

He chuckled. “Nobody answers their phone anymore. I thought I’d get your machine or something. Is this a bad time to be calling?”

Dallas was still too unprepared to respond naturally. She realized that she was struggling to settle down and not be so pleased to hear from him. “No … I … No, but …”

“I know I caught you off guard, right?”

Again Dallas tried to find the appropriate reaction. Finally, she gave up and went for the truth. “Yes. You did.”

“I’ve been meaning to.”

“So you got up this morning and decided you were going to call me today?”

“That’s pretty much it. Look, I know you have to go. Probably have a meeting or something …”

Dallas laughed. “As a matter of fact, I do. You’re right. I normally would have let the answering machine pick up the call.”

“Hey, then this was meant to be. We have to take advantage of it. I have to be in your neck of the woods this afternoon. Any chance we can meet for lunch or something?”

Dallas sat still and silently repeated the question to herself. The conversation with Valerie was fresh in her mind, and Dallas wondered if it would be a betrayal to accept. “Well …”

“I know I should have called you sooner, but … I guess I was afraid you’d say no.”

Another surprise. “You were? I don’t understand why you would think that. I mean, I wouldn’t have,” she answered, even though she knew that she might very well have because of Valerie.

“Do you have time today?”

No, she didn’t. She hadn’t counted on
anything
like this. “Sure. Today is fine.”

“Great. Where should I meet you?”

The warning bells did not stop when Dallas got off the phone. She made the short walk to the meeting with Peggy feeling squeamish. But the moment Dallas walked into Peggy’s office, she had to pull herself together. No more time to indulge in speculation. Nona was there, too.

Dallas looked back and forth between the two women, knowing instinctively that they’d been discussing her before her arrival. Peggy had that “enough said” look, while Nona was looking rather pleased with herself.

“Sorry. I guess I’m still a few minutes early,” she said to cover the awkward moment.

“No, you’re on time,” Peggy said, beckoning Dallas into her office. “I asked Nona to be here for a few moments. Sit down.”

Dallas took the second of the two chairs positioned in front of Peggy’s desk. She glanced surreptitiously at Nona, trying to figure out what was going on. She couldn’t, so she decided to take the offensive.

“Let me guess,” Dallas began. “It was either the piece about hair extensions and fake fingernails, or the one I did about black fatherless children.”

Nona slowly turned toward her, focusing a stare meant to make her wither. But Dallas was not intimidated. She’d come too far for that.

“I didn’t like either one of them,” Nona said honestly. “I wish you’d pick something else to criticize besides black styles and fashion.”

“It wasn’t a value judgment. It was observation.”

“That’s not what this is about,” Peggy interjected, not taking sides but quickly attempting damage control. “If we only wrote what people liked to read all the time, Nona, we’d be no different from a dozen other publications on the newsstand. I don’t think I have to play the First Amendment card to make my point.

“I’ll make this brief. Dallas, I’ve decided to let Nona cover that film forum event at NYU tomorrow. You’re off the hook.”

“That’s not how I looked at it,” Dallas responded. She ignored the satisfaction on Nona’s face. “Can I ask why?”

Nona crossed her legs, calm in her victory. “Because I asked Peggy to let me cover the program. Because I’m the entertainment editor. I don’t write what you do, and you can’t write what I do.”

Peggy nodded. “I think Nona’s right, Dallas. Not about you not being able to do a straight piece, but she does have the background and I’d like that particular angle.”

Dallas met the editor’s gaze straight on. As always, it was hard to read her expression. She didn’t doubt Peggy’s reasoning at all, but she also wondered about this turnabout.

“Fine with me.”

Peggy handed a business-size envelope to Nona.

“Here are the passes for the program. That’s it for now.”

Dallas watched as Nona stood up, accepting the information. After final instructions from the editor she left the office.

“I hope you don’t take my thinking on this personally, Dallas,” Peggy began, calmly looking through several pages of letters and phone messages on her desk. She looked at one in particular and placed it in front of her, reading it through again. “Quite honestly, looking at the assignment on balance I decided that changing your voice to do a piece that was just straight reporting was not what I wanted.” Peggy looked up, her broad, stern features those of a person who had to make the hard decisions. “You know you have a certain reputation as one of our writers.”

Dallas nodded, feeling her stomach starting to knot with apprehension. Was she going to be fired?

“You know, I’m sure, that you sometimes cut a little too close to the bone. And I’m sure you know that you tend to open up a lot of cultural wounds that keep scabbing over but never really heal. You take a lot of heat for that. As far as I can see, you handle being on the hot seat well enough. That’s why I’m going to ask you to think about doing a piece on being biracial.”

Dallas stared at her editor. Throughout her entire career at
Soul of the City
she had been controversial, but she had never written about something so personal. Peggy’s request struck Dallas now as being asked to cut open a vein. She was being asked to write not what she thought, but how she felt.

“What makes you think I should do that?” she asked.

Peggy merely smiled. “What makes you think you shouldn’t? I’m not going to tell you how to write it, of course. But I bet you’ve given it some thought. You certainly have shown that you’re not unwilling to go toe to toe with other sensitive topics.”

“No, I haven’t been afraid,” Dallas conceded cautiously. “But I’ve also paid the price.”

Peggy shrugged, not particularly sympathetic. “That’s what happens when you ask hard questions and expect people to think. That’s why you’re a journalist.”

Dallas couldn’t tell if Peggy actually supported the idea or was simply making an editorial decision. But if nothing else, Dallas always sensed that Peggy was fair. She nodded in consent. “I’ll work up an outline …”

“I don’t need one. Just do it,” Peggy said, indicating that the subject was over and she wanted to move on. “Now,” she said, still holding the single sheet of paper and looking at Dallas. “No good deed goes unpunished or unrewarded. However you choose to look at things. You’ve been on the firing line on more than one occasion, and people have been taking notice. Some people might have trouble with you, but lots of others, apparently, admire what you do. That means opportunities for you.”

Dallas frowned. This was sounding too much like a buildup to being given
very
bad news. “You … you don’t think I fit in here? Am I being asked to find another publication to write for?”

Peggy chuckled, and her dimples appeared briefly. “I just asked you to write a very up-front article. Why would I then turn around and let you go? Don’t worry. Your job is safe. This is a letter of intent, Dallas, from an editor who contacted me a month ago. He’d like you to write a book. I’m not asking for your resignation. You’re being offered a book contract.”

Alex had two thoughts as he watched Dallas walk toward the restaurant where he stood waiting for her. One was that he was glad she’d shown up. Two … was the unexpected observation that his mother would like her.

Every time he saw Dallas, Alex realized, he felt not only comfortable but a certain rightness. It felt natural to him, like family or close friends he’d grown up with. He didn’t have to pretend to have qualities far beyond the reach of mortal man. Unlike with Valerie, he didn’t have to be anyone but who he was.

Dallas suddenly saw him. For a moment Alex could detect the uncertainty that made her blink, and then look down at the ground to hide her expression. He’d never thought of Dallas as shy, but that’s what it was. That, and an awkwardness based on what they still did not know about each other. When she looked up again, Alex waved briefly and smiled and was rewarded with a smile in return. She slowed her steps several feet from him.

“Hi. I, uh, I’m sorry if I kept you waiting.”

He glanced at his watch. “You’re five minutes early. I think you’re the first woman in history to ever make a date on time.”

She grinned. “I’m used to working under deadlines.”

Alex pulled open the door to the restaurant and held it for her. “This isn’t a business lunch, so forget about deadlines.”

They entered and were seated at a tiny square table. Their knees were pressed together beneath it, but neither of them bothered to move their chair back to make more room. Dallas ordered the soup and salad lunch combo while Alex went for the traditional burger with all the trimmings. With that out of the way, they faced each other. Alex felt uneasy, and he noticed that Dallas also seemed so. But she spoke first.

“I want to thank you for Sunday afternoon. It was real nice. Megan had a ball.”

Alex smiled. “I feel like I should thank you. It was going to be a
very
long day. You were better company than Ross and a lot better-looking.”

Dallas arched a brow. “That doesn’t sound like much of a compliment.”

“Well, if it helps, Ross thought so, too.” Alex sat back as the waiter put down place settings with napkins and glasses of water. “Did you, uh, hear from Valerie?”

Dallas slid the napkin from beneath the flatware and spread it over her lap. The action allowed her to keep her head lowered so that he couldn’t see her face.

“Yes, I did. I never thought to invite her to meet us. I guess I should have. She missed all the fun.”

Alex listened to the carefully worded explanation. It made him want to smile because it was typical of what he’d come to know about Dallas; she was protecting someone else’s feelings. “What you really want to say is that she was pissed off, and took it personally.” Dallas stared at him. “I’m sorry if she gave you a hard time.”

“I’m used to Valerie. Sometimes I think she’s really insecure, and she hides it behind wanting everyone’s undivided attention.”

“You seem to understand her well,” Alex said with a nod.

“She and I go back a long way. We’ve been through a lot together. I guess I know her a little better than most people. She can probably say the same about me.”

Alex placed his elbows on the table and leaned across the space toward Dallas. “And do you tell her everything?” He was fascinated to see the slight flush that colored her cheeks. She knew what he was talking about.

“No. Not everything. But then, Val has secrets, too. Even Lillian and Vin had secrets, remember?” She found that he was studying her very closely.

Alex lowered his gaze and nodded. He knew some of Dallas’s secrets. He was not at liberty to talk about Val’s. He was not prepared to talk about his.

“I was surprised when I got your call. Was there … any special reason?” she asked.

“How about, I just wanted to see you. I said I would call, and I usually keep my word.”