G-Men: The Series (28 page)

“That’s nice, honey,” I replied, genuinely pleased. “I’m really glad that you’re getting out. You’ve been so busy with work and now trying to mother me, you need to have some fun.”

“Yeah, I’m actually comfortable with him. I can hardly wait for you to meet him. Do you need anything else, Mom? I’d kind of like to wash my hair and do my nails.”

“You go right ahead, sweetie. I’m going to finish my tea, read, and then go to sleep.”

“Okay,” she said, leaning over to give me a kiss on the cheek. “See you at breakfast?”

“Absolutely.”

She left me alone in my private refuge where I’d been for the past two days, wallowing in self-pity. I needed to snap out of this funk.

Becky was right. If it was meant to be, then Slate wouldn’t have left. I needed to get on with life and see how things unfolded with all of Jack’s shenanigans. Lindsey would most likely have a lot to face in the near future. Hopefully, her budding relationship with Eric would cushion the blow for her. I still worried about what all of this would do to her once it all came to light.

I finished my tea then took a shower and got into a summer nightgown. I opened the window, letting the cool night breeze filter in. I was sleepy now. The tea had done its magic for calming and relaxing me.

I curled up underneath my cool sheets and started to doze off when I felt a flutter in my womb. Our baby was moving; the baby that Slate and I had made was moving. It gave me comfort and sadness at the same time. I placed my hand on my abdomen and fell asleep feeling the fluttery movement that felt like butterflies spreading their wings.

^{chapter 34}

~ LINDSEY ~

I was really looking forward to the end of my shift at Banion Pharmaceuticals. I’d washed my hair and done a manicure and pedicure last night in my room. I was so looking forward to going to the movie tonight with Eric.

His invitation had caught me a bit off-guard. I wasn’t sure that he’d regarded me as dating material. I was only going into my sophomore year of college. He was at least six or seven years older, by my estimation. I based that on all of the time he’d spent in college changing majors.

I loved talking to Eric. He seemed to know a little about almost everything, and a lot about certain things. I’d almost come to regard him as a big brother type, only hotter. He was definitely hot!

Maybe the older thing was where it was at. I’d certainly struck out with my high school boyfriend, as well as Matt, the guy that I’d been seeing briefly at Cornell. Matt had been too much of a partier and a player on top of it all. After catching him in his hundredth lie, I made the decision to tell him to ‘fuck off.’

Eric swung by the lab after he clocked out for the day. He crept up quietly behind me as I was signing off on some scrapped raw material.

“Are we still on for this evening, Lindsey?”

I jumped, totally caught off-guard by his presence.

“God!”

I heard his sexy laugh. “Hey, I’m sorry. I didn’t do that on purpose.”

“Yes,” I laughed, my heartbeat returning to almost normal. “We’re still on. You have the address, right?”

“Absolutely. What do you have there?” He asked, looking at the scrapped material that was bagged up.

“Oh, it’s just some expired raw material that I was told to tag out. It will be written off the inventory and disposed of with all of the other expired stuff, I guess.”

I affixed the red label with the chemical identification, batch number, and date of disposal to the container.

“So, I’ll be by around sevenish to pick you up, Miss Lindsey.”

“Don’t keep me waiting, Eric. My parents are looking forward to meeting you,” I replied with a wink.

He rolled his eyes as he turned to leave. “Yeah, that’s always been my
favorite
part,” he mumbled.

“You’ll do fine,” I called out after him. “My father will love you for going into pharmaceutical science…period.”

“Later, Lindsey.”

I sighed after he left. What a sweet, although a bit serious and uptight, guy. It was no big deal. We were just friends . . . for now.

Once I clocked out, I hurried home in my VW Bug to get ready for this evening. I’d already decided what I was going to wear. I’d bought a cute pair of khaki capri pants. I’d also purchased a peach-colored, cotton v-neck tee. My new heeled sandals would look great with the ensemble. I mentally reminded myself to accessorize with a light gold chain and bracelet.

I took a quick shower when I got home and declined dinner with the folks. Mom balked at that a bit, but I was too busy trying to look great for Eric.

There I went again, presuming this was going to lead to a romance. I wouldn’t even see him after I returned to Cornell. Still, there was something to be said for a summer fling. I blushed at the thought.

^{chapter 35}

It was quarter to seven, and I was just finishing up in the kitchen. I brushed a stray wisp of hair back from my face. I’d put my hair into a ponytail as the day had heated up. Even with the air conditioning going full blast, I seemed to have issues with my bodily thermostat these days.

Lindsey had been in and out of the kitchen at least a half dozen times wanting my opinion on this or that for her movie date. Every time I referred to it as a ‘date’ she got pissed.

“It’s not a date, Mom. We’re co-workers, barely friends. He doesn’t know anyone around here, that’s all.”

Yeah, yeah, yeah - right!

For all of her denial, she’d certainly been fussing at Jack and me to make sure we looked presentable for ‘Eric the friend.’

“Mom, you’re going to change your top, right?”

“Bermuda shorts, Daddy? Really?”

I’d changed into a summer dress and sandals, putting some blush and mascara on; dabbing a bit of color on my lips. Working in the yard had given me a light tan, so this was as good as it was going to get. Lindsey had finally nagged Jack into putting on a pair of summer Dockers and a polo shirt.

I heard the doorbell ring. Jack called out that he had it. Lindsey came down for one last nod of approval from me. As she walked down the hallway toward the entry, I caught a glimpse of Eric from behind. He was tall, had dark hair that was neatly cut and was dressed eerily like Jack.

In that split second I hoped to God that Lindsey wasn’t looking for someone like ‘dear old dad’.

Jack was introducing himself, shaking his hand as they heard us approach. He turned to us, with his fake, congenial smile.

“Here are my girls,” he said, giving Eric a dazzling grin. “Of course, Lindsey, you already know. This is my wife, Sammie.”

“Samantha,” I corrected, smiling, holding out my hand as Eric turned to face me.

I felt my smile freeze.

Those incredibly blue eyes took only a nanosecond to register recognition and then they froze up like blue ice. His smile never faltered.

“Glad to meet you, Mrs. Dennison,” he said. “I’m Eric.”

His hand captured mine and, for a moment, I felt the brutal squeeze as he let me know that he’d made the connection, as if I couldn’t already tell that by his arctic glare.

“Eric,” I repeated, as if in a daze. He still hadn’t released my hand, even though I was attempting to pull back. In a couple of seconds, it was going to be obvious to Jack and Lindsey.

“I didn’t catch your last name, Eric.”

“I’m sorry, ma’am.”

Did he just refer to me as a ‘ma’am’?

“Slater,” he said. “Eric Slater.”

I was finally able to pull my hand from his grasp. Instinctively, I crossed my arms in front of my belly, anxious for his eyes to move on to anything or anyone but me. They didn’t though.

I saw his gaze lower to my rounded little baby bump. It registered as his eyes returned to mine. Ever so slightly, his right eyebrow cocked questioningly. I hurried to break our gaze.

“Eric, Lindsey tells us you attend Purdue? Are you from that area?” Jack had blessedly forced Slate’s attention from me.

“No sir,” he answered politely. “I actually grew up in Virginia. I came to Indiana for college.”

“I see,” Jack replied. “Well, since tomorrow is the 4th, please come by for a cookout, won’t you?”

I could see Lindsey beam at the idea. I wanted to puke.

Eric/Slate gave one of his slow, lazy smiles to Jack. “Thank you, sir. I’d love to.”

He turned his attention to Lindsey.

“You look great, Lindsey. Ready?” he said to her in his slow, sexy voice that I thought had only been for me.

“Yep,” she replied smiling up at him. “Good night Daddy. Good night Mom.”

“You kids have fun,” Jack called after them as they crossed over the threshold. I wanted to strangle him with my bare hands.

I noticed Slate had his hand on the small of Lindsey’s back as he escorted her outside to his waiting vehicle, the pick-up truck, no doubt. At that point, I wanted to strangle him with my bare hands as well.

“He seems like a nice enough fellow,” Jack commented after they’d gone.

“Hmmph,” I said rolling my eyes. “A little too old and worldly for Lindsey at this stage in her life.”

“How can you tell that by the thirty seconds you were around him, Sammie?”

“Call it mother’s intuition.”

I didn’t care to discuss it any further with the mannequin, so I retreated to my bedroom downstairs. I immediately phoned Becky.

“‘Sup girlfriend?” she giggled.

Becky had obviously been starting her July 4th celebrating a day early.

“How many margaritas have you had, Bec?”

“I don’t know, two…maybe three, why?”

“That’s not nearly enough for you to handle what I’m about to tell you. Guess who’s coming to dinner tomorrow with Lindsey?”

^{chapter 36}

I played it over and over again in my mind as I made the potato salad the following morning, and the deviled eggs, and the baked beans. I continued to play it over and over again as I filled a Jell-O mold of the American flag using red, white and blue Jell-O.

What in the hell was Slate doing? Was this some sort of twisted revenge? Had he played me all along? If so, why?

Lindsey finally sauntered into the kitchen around 11:00 a.m. She was still in her summer pajamas.

“Can I help you with anything, Mom?”

“I’ve got everything pretty much done, sweetie. As soon as the brownies come out of the oven, I’ll give them a dusting of confectioner’s sugar and that should be it. You were out kind of late last night, weren’t you?”

She poured herself a glass of orange juice from the fridge. “Gee, I don’t know, Mom. I don’t think 11:30 is all that late.”

“It was more like 11:45,” I replied.

“Were you waiting up for me?” she asked, with a smile crossing her face. “I’m almost nineteen you know.”

“I know how old you are, Lindsey. I was there, remember?”

“Just sayin’.”

“Did you have a nice time?”

“Sure did. Eric’s nice and so funny, too.”

I wondered if Slate had suddenly acquired a sense of humor after parting with his long locks.

“What do you mean, funny?” I asked.

“He said that you and I look more like sisters than mother and daughter. Isn’t that a hoot?”