Fatty Patty (A James Bay Novel) (41 page)

A patrol car with flashing lights pulled up behind Irene’s car. Rose’s spirits sank as she caught sight of an unfamiliar face behind the wheel. Just her luck. The officer couldn’t be more than twenty one years old. A rookie on the force with something to prove.

“Got a little problem here?” The policeman strode from the patrol car with a curt nod for her and an easy smile for the fireman.

“Hi, Jerry. Guess you could say we had a little run-in.”

“Looks like it. Say, isn’t that your new truck? What happened?”

Her stomach fluttered. Definitely worse than she’d thought. The two of them sounded like friends.

“Not much to tell.” The fireman cleared his throat. “I stopped. She didn’t.”

“I can’t tell you how many people have blown through that stop sign since they put it up a couple months ago.” The officer reached for his pen.

Rose rubbed her forehead with the heel of her hand. Guaranteed this would be one ticket she wouldn’t talk her way out of. Especially once they found out she was a lawyer. Law enforcement personnel were always gunning for attorneys running afoul of the law. The last thing she needed was another traffic ticket, especially since she’d been stopped for speeding last fall. If she racked up any more points, she might be taking the bus to work.

A sleek white Cadillac slowed on the street, then cruised to a halt, pulling up behind the police cruiser. Rose groaned and steeled her nerves as their next-door neighbor and old family friend emerged from his car and joined them on the sidewalk. The Judge no longer presided from the bench, but that didn’t stop him from speaking his mind. Hopefully His Honor wouldn’t make matters worse or she’d definitely be doomed to using public transportation.

“Irene? Are you all right?” The Judge’s voice rumbled with concern as he caught her fingers with a little shake. A thundercloud frown was reserved for the rest of them. “What’s going on here?”

“We’re all fine, Harvey,” Irene replied. “No one is hurt… except my car, that is.” She clucked her tongue in disgust.

“They had a little fender bender, Judge.” The officer’s hand tightened around the ticket book. “From what I understand, this young lady ran the new stop sign and—”

“That’s not how it happened,” Rose started. “I will admit I hit his truck, but that stop sign wasn’t—”

“Cecilia Rose, I will handle this.” The Judge silenced her with a firm voice that broached no rebuke. “Officer, have you already written the ticket?”

The baby-faced officer cleared his throat. “Not yet, Your Honor.”

“Fine. I’m sure we can work things out, especially as my client has admitted responsibility.” His black eyes zeroed in on the fireman. “Do you have a problem with that, young man?”

“My truck seems okay,” he said with an easy shrug. “Besides, this town isn’t that big. I suppose I can find her if I need something.”

Rose pushed forward. “If you think for one minute that I’m paying for extra—”

“What?” The fireman smiled. Turquoise-blue eyes looked intently at her. “Or maybe you want to save me some time and grief and give me your name and address now?”

Irene clutched Rose’s arm and pulled her aside. “I think we should let the Judge take it from here. He’ll work things out.”

Rose sputtered. That wasn’t the way things worked in her world. She was no longer five years old and she didn’t need the Judge, or anyone else, fighting her battles. She handled matters for her clients. She could handle matters for herself. “I think—”

The strength in her mother’s hand came as a surprise.

“Let the Judge take care of it,” Irene repeated.

Ten minutes later, Rose was still wondering how he had managed to pull it off. No ticket, no points, no public transportation. Merely a warning and the tow truck bill. A small price to pay for an act of carelessness. No harm done, save to her mother’s car and a few dings to the fireman’s trailer hitch.

Plus a few dings to her own stubborn pride.

“I’ll drop you and Cecilia Rose off at the hospital, but I have a mediation scheduled for this afternoon,” the Judge said as they stood watching the tow truck leave with Irene’s car. “Why don’t you call Lil and see if she can give you a ride home?”

“Good luck with your surgery, ma’am.”

Rose frowned as the fireman headed for his truck with a backward wave. He was leaving? But she didn’t even know his name.

And then he was gone.

“My, but he was cute,” Irene said as Rose helped her settle in the front seat of the Judge’s sedan. “Didn’t you think so, sweetheart?”

“Mmmm,” she said with a vague shrug. Perhaps her mother should consult a dictionary. Cute didn’t come close to describing that fireman. After their little encounter this morning, she herself could of a few choice phrases without much thought. Conceited. Clever. Charming.

Quite the combustible combination.

The hospital was newly remodeled in that quaint up-north style, just like a good part of the downtown. James Bay, under the guise of progress with a capital P, was suffocating. People, drawn by the area’s sparkling blue waters, clean pine air, and the lure of escaping the crowd, moved here every day… never realizing they brought the crowd north straight up the highway with them.

Rose shifted in the hard plastic chair. Any hope of finding a comfortable spot had disappeared, along with her patience. Someone had set the air conditioner on arctic blast. She would need to bring along a sweater tomorrow. They had scheduled the surgery for early morning. Who knew how long it would take? They could be waiting for hours. She rubbed down the goose bumps popping up on her arms and started a fresh mental list of things to remember.

“Don’t you sit there worrying about your mama,” Lil said with a firm shake of her exquisitely coiffed head. “She’s a strong woman. She’ll come through the surgery fine… especially now you’re here.”

With anyone else, Rose’s ear would be fine-tuned for the slightest hint of disapproval, but not when it came to Lillian Gillespie. Her mother’s best friend Lil—just like the Judge—had been one of the family since Rose could remember.

“Of course I had to come home. I couldn’t let Mom go through this alone.”

Lil’s emerald-green eyes filled with  understanding as she leaned in for a hug. “She misses you, honey,” she whispered. “She might not say it, but I know she wishes you lived a little closer.”

The older woman’s words tugged at Rose’s heart as the familiar rush of perfume flooded her senses. Crushed in Lil’s embrace, Rose felt reduced to all of eight years old again. She closed her eyes and shut out the sterile surroundings. If only she could shut out the guilt as well. James Bay was a three-hour drive up the freeway from Grand Rapids, her adopted city for the past three years, and she didn’t make the trip back often.

But James Bay wasn’t home anymore.

No place was.

Lil drew back and settled in her chair. Her eyes settled with military precision upon Rose. “Are you eating enough? You look tired, Cecilia Rose. You need to take better care of yourself. Are you getting enough sleep?”

Rose couldn’t hold back an ironic smile. No need for Lil to be so polite. She was well aware of how bad she looked. No amount of makeup could hide the dark smudges under her blue eyes. Her clothes hung on her lately, loose and unfashionable. She hadn’t dared weigh herself in a month, afraid of the number she would see on the scale. But who had time to eat? Meals were caught on the run or eaten at her desk. There weren’t enough hours in the day to accommodate the demands of a busy law practice, let alone deal with the stress of daily life. She was shrinking inside herself and she couldn’t stop the process. Taking care of yourself meant making time for yourself. Time was a luxury she could ill afford.

“I’ll sleep and eat more now that I’m home,” Rose promised.

Lil lifted an eyebrow. “As I remember, you never were much of a cook.”

“I’m home for the next six weeks. That should be time enough for me to learn.” She had managed to avoid it for twenty-seven years, but there wouldn’t be much else to do around the house besides playing chauffeur and nursemaid. Who knew? Cooking might actually be fun. Not that she believed it for a minute.

“I’ll be over every night,” Lil said.

“To do what? Help me?” Rose smiled. “You’re a worse cook than I am.” Lil’s idea of a good meal at home was anything that arrived courtesy of a fast delivery service.

“Seems like you have talents we didn’t know about. When did you teach your purse how to dance?” Lil pointed at the small clutch pulsating atop a woefully thin stack of magazines on the glass table before them.

Her cell phone. Last night’s string of phone calls had interrupted their dinner and prompted more than one questioning glance from her mother. After the fourth call, Rose had set it on vibrate. Hear no evil, see no evil, answer no evil. But with her mother still busy being poked and prodded, the coast was clear and she’d turned it on. Rose snatched her purse, drew out her smart phone, and checked the identity of the incoming caller.

“Hi, Andy. Hold on a minute, will you?” She stood up. “Sorry, Lil, but I have to take this. It’s important.”

“Don’t mind me, honey.” She waved Rose away with an encouraging smile. “Go ahead and talk with your young man.”

Rose merely smiled and slipped into the hallway outside the waiting room. Andy Sabatini was under thirty and definitely male, but that didn’t mean he qualified as her young man. Not that Andy was about to let that stop him from actively pursuing the role. He’d already left two messages this morning. Apparently he intended to win her over with the same dogged persistence he practiced in following up with clients. “Okay, Andy, I haven’t got much time. What’s up?”

“You’re killing me, Rose. How long do you plan to keep me waiting?”

Her former colleague had never been good at small talk. His brain was wired in one direction: winning. Rose knew he had targeted her as his next conquest. “Andy, I’m sorry. I don’t have an answer yet.”

“Rose, you know—”

“I can’t talk about this right now. We’re at the hospital.”

“I thought the surgery wasn’t until tomorrow.”

“Mom is having some tests. An EKG, chest x-rays. They want to make sure everything is okay.”

“What about you?” His voice slowed, softening. “You doing okay?”

“I’m fine,” Rose said with a bravado she didn’t feel. The hospital smelled faintly of lemon disinfectant and fear, and she would give anything to bolt out the door and hit the highway. But there was no going back. She was in it for the long haul. Six weeks of long haul.

“Rose, I hate to put the pressure on you but I need some kind of answer soon.” Andy’s voice was back up to warp speed. “They’re breathing down my neck and I’m holding out for you. I want you with me, Rose. We make a great team.”

How could she forget? They had been hired by the same firm from the same group of law-school graduates. But three years with the firm had proved enough for Andy. He had his eye on the bigger picture and he’d moved onward and upward to Washington D.C. with a cushy job working with the Department of Labor. Leave it to Andy to work his magic and come up with a job for her.

But he couldn’t wave a magic wand and wish her into Washington. It was nearly one thousand miles away—five times the distance already separating her from home. Which, according to the world of Irene, was already two hundred miles too far.

“Think about it, Rose. Do you really want to spend any more time grinding out research memos or drafting pleadings for some partner who’s going to end up taking the credit for your work? Trust me on this. Come out here with me and you’ll have the chance to call your own shots.”

It wasn’t a matter of trust. She missed Andy. She missed having him directly across the hall in the cramped little office identical to her own. Rose shifted on her feet, closed her eyes and allowed herself a brief indulgence. From the get-go, his offer had sounded too good to be true. No more kowtowing to the firm. No more inane weekly meetings that wasted precious time. No more working her butt off trying to make partner.

“I know you, Rose. You would love it out here. It’s just what you’re looking for.” His voice lowered. “And I miss you.”

“Andy, that can’t be the reason that I—”

“I know, I know.” He cut her off. “Just think about it, okay?”

She swallowed down a fresh wave of guilt. Enticing as his offer might be, it definitely came with strings attached and she wasn’t about to lead him on just to land a job. She’d rather be stuck researching case law and writing briefs for the rest of her life than give Andy false hope. He wasn’t the man for her.

No one was. Not anymore. That part of her life was over. Dead and buried.

“I’ll wait to hear from you. Don’t forget, Rose, you’re the one that I want.”

Lil’s emerald eyes gleamed with interest as Rose slipped back into the room and her chair. “Something serious?”

“Andy’s just a friend,” she said in a lighthearted tone that she didn’t feel.

“Isn’t it funny how some friends have a way of becoming much more than that? Especially friends of the opposite sex,” Lil purred. “So, tell me. What’s he like? Is he good-looking? Tall, dark and handsome?”

“Very handsome,” Rose agreed, smothering a smile. Two out of three wasn’t bad. Andy, blessed with smooth Mediterranean looks courtesy of his Italian ancestors, barely met her nose to nose.

“He treats you well?”

“The best,” she affirmed.

“Then I say go for it!” Lil sat back triumphantly. “Obviously he’s attracted or he wouldn’t be calling. What’s stopping you?”

One thousand miles and a heart that wasn’t interested. “It’s rather complicated. We worked together…”

“Ahh, an office romance.”

“He’s no longer with the firm. He lives in Washington D.C.”

Lil nodded sagely. “A long-distance romance.”

“It’s not like that. Andy is… well, he’s…”

“He’s…?” Lil prompted.

Rose reluctantly nodded, hesitant to fill in the blank.

He’s not Jeff. He never will be. No one will.

“Say no more. I understand.” Lil cocked her head in tacit understanding. “He’s gay, am I right?”