Heart in the Field (22 page)

           
He saw Pascal first and stopped to
greet him. Pascal began to purr when he remembered Nick. The cat’s reaction
brightened Nick up. If her cat liked him, then eventually she might like him as
well.

           
He rapped on her sunroom door and
saw the shadow of her walk through the jungle of plant life to open the door
for him.

           
The sight of her in black leather
made his entire insides throb. There was a different attitude about her today
as she moistened her lips.

           
“Hi,” she said.

           
Their eyes met and stayed locked
together. “Hi. Did you have to wear that outfit?” She was undoing him.

           
She glanced down at herself and ran
her palms innocently, but with a lure to entice, down her thighs. “This?”

           
She didn’t flirt very often. Her
tongue popped from her between her lips for a second and then she twisted
around and wriggled. “Do you like them? They’re new.”

           
He couldn’t help but reach for her.
He pulled her into the nest of his thighs. “Yes. I like them.”

           
“They do things to you, don’t they?”
Her voice quivered.

           
“They do a great deal to me.” His
own voice sounded as if he’d been running hard. He tucked his arms around her
waist and kissed the back of her neck, then buried his face in her mass of
golden hair. “We feel so good together.”

           
She cleared her throat. “We do.”

           
He moved his hands over her stomach,
his fingers tracing her feminine shape through the supple leather. She didn’t
stop him, and he felt the pressure inside him increase.

           
But she gave a little moan and then
tugged out of his embrace. “Nick, why didn’t you acknowledge what happened in
the elevator?”

           
He shook his head. “Because it
wasn’t what I wanted to happen.” His voice broke.

           
“Me neither. But what if I say yes
to an affair, then?” She let her arms rise and then fall to her sides. “Damn
the consequences.”

           
“I’m not sure now. I thought it
would be easy. At first it might have been. But now,” He rubbed his jaw. “It’s
different now. We’re involved. We know one another better.”

           
“
Which is probably
why I feel ready for you.
”

           
She’s ready for you, fool. Take what
she offers.

           
“Please, Nick. I’m going crazy,
Nick.
Really crazy.
I have to go for it. I really do.
If I go another weekend, I’ll go around the bend. I really will.”

           
He took her into his arms and he
held her. After a while he felt her arms entwine around his neck and her
fingers slide into his hair. He knew he couldn’t walk away from her offer
without hurting her or hurting himself.

           
His lips remained against her hair.
“When?”

           
“After we’ve seen
Angela.
We can go to a hotel.”

           
“All right.
We’ll do that.”

           
She disentangled herself from him.
“I’ll go get Pascal in.”

           
Serena passed him, walked out of the
sunroom on to the deck and began calling Pascal. After a few moments the cat
came to her and she scooped him into her arms. She brought him indoors and
closed the door and locked it. Nick thought she seemed to have that fragile,
nervy way about her she’d had the night of the soirée. It reminded him that
he’d need to be so careful with her. There wasn’t going to be any turning back
when this was started.

           
Serena picked up a soft briefcase
that Nick suspected held a laptop computer. When she saw the van she said, “Why
did you bring a van?”

           
“My car needed some engine
adjustments.” She irritated him when she broke the moods between them. “It’s
not a social visit anyway. It’s business. You’re a journalist. Be truthful. Go
in your right colors.
It’s
better we go as legitimate
news people. Why put another face on the visit?”

           
“Because Angela
doesn’t know.”

           
“You didn’t tell her why you were
visiting her?”

           
“No. I let her think it was social.”

           
Nick sighed. “Then we’ll park and
walk. Get in.” He reached for her briefcase to hold it for her so she could
climb into the van.

           
“You’re angry at me?”

           
“Yes. I am. I believe in
professional honesty. I don’t believe in pretending I’m something I’m not just
for the sake of a story.”

           
“That wasn’t my plan. I’m just not
very sure how to go about this entire story.”

           
“That’s why I’m with you.
To help you.
All you need is a push in the right direction.
You’ve got what it takes. The way you hounded that politician about municipally
funded food banks was admirable.
The best part of
City Streets
.”

           
She smiled.
“One
minute you seem to be brow-beating me, the next complimenting me.”

           
“
I’m just wanting
you to be the best. Now tuck yourself in.”

           
Nick closed the door and went to sit
beside her. He fastened his seatbelt, started the van and drove out of her
driveway. He turned on the radio and they moved away from her house amid the
haunting strains of a love song that might as well have been written for them.
It was all about taking chances.

           
Serena turned to Nick. “You know,
you’re right about me. I’m having a hard time making myself realize I have to
go after my own stories that they aren’t going to be presented to me over the
wire to read.”

           
He let out a breath. “I don’t want
to undermine you, sweetie, but I could see that you weren’t quite sure what
course to take. You’ve got a lot of potential you don’t always use.”

           
“I know.” She laughed and told him
about her happy endings.

           
“We’d all like happy endings,
wouldn’t we? But happy endings don’t work unless there is a great deal of drama
leading up to them. Take this story, for instance.
If you
reported Lawson Thomson going to prison, then that’s fine.
But now you
want to go further. You need Angela’s story. You have to scrape the
superficial. That’s what it’s all about, Serena.”

           
Serena heard emotion in Nick’s voice
and remembered Barbara’s words about how his love for his work showed through.
That’s how Serena wanted to know Nick. She wanted to know all of him.
   

           
She wanted to know his thoughts and
hear about the parents he barely mentioned. She wanted to know why he’d been
away for ten years without returning until last April, and why he would have
been here again, with or without Don’s offer. Why he was so attached to his
work but not to any woman? Why did he need short affairs that didn’t touch his
heart? If she knew all that she could be the woman to break him down, change
him, make him stay. But she knew she might never get that far. She’d go for
today, or tonight, or whatever it took.

           
They left the country roads to take
the freeway west that would lead them to the Niagara Peninsula.
Serena tried to relax next to Nick, but all she felt beneath the black leather
was a burning desire to be with him in bed.

           
The landscape was flat close to the
shores of Lake Erie and against the brilliant
blue sky Serena spotted the small single story house with white siding that
Angela had described. On one side was a fruit farm, on the other a vineyard.

           
“That’s it,” she told Nick. “Don’t
go any further. Go back to that last bend and park there.”

           
He reversed the van, drove around
the bend, and parked off the road on some flat grass. “It’s going to be a hike
from here,” he said. “And the wind is cold.”

           
Serena drew a small leather purse
from her briefcase. “I don’t care. Whatever your opinion of journalistic
honesty, I’m not taking anything with me. No notebooks. No voice recorder. No
nothing. If she decides she’ll go for it, we come back to the van for
everything.”

           
“Fine.
We’ll
do it your way.”

           
At least he was being cooperative,
Serena thought as she slipped from the van and Nick came to her side. There
might be a definite sexual tension between them, but Nick was no longer
distant. They had something secret between them to share later.

           
Angela was on the front porch
waiting for them. Her friend was thinner than Serena remembered. Her jeans and
sweater hung on her tall, slim body. However, her black hair was thick and
shiny, and her features just as classical as always. Serena thought her
friend’s smile was guarded. But she stepped forward to hug Serena.

           
“It’s good to see you again.” Angela
grinned. “Dig the black leather gear. You look great.”

           
“It’s good to see you again as well,
Angela. This is Nick.”

           
Nick held out his hand. “It’s a
pleasure, Angela. Serena has told me you were in university together.”

           
“Yes. We were. I’m pleased to meet
you. Come on in.”

           
There was no foyer. They walked
straight into the living room. The beige sofa and armchairs were brightened
with cushions with blue and cream flowers. A TV screen was on the wall opposite
the sofa and there was a circular coffee table in the middle scattered with
some magazines, as if they’d been placed there for show.

           
Coffee was also set out on a table.

           
Serena sat down on the sofa. Angela
sat down to one side. Nick on the other armchair. All the chairs were
positioned to be tugged around to watch the television set.

           
“Help yourself to the coffee. I’m
not really sure what to say, or why you wanted to see me.”

           
“As a friend,
Angela.”

           
“Stop it, Serena. I saw you guys
park the van up the road behind the trees. I’ve seen Nick on the news. You
forget I took journalism. It was one of my dreams as well.”

           
“What happened?” Nick asked.

           
“Financial problems made me drop out
and I went to work in an office. Serena is the success story. Although, you
mentioned on the phone Rita was doing well.”

           
“She says the real estate market is
busy.” Hoping to dilute a tense atmosphere, Serena described the way Rita had
been last Friday, and they talked about some of the things they used to do when
they had roomed together.

           
Serena noticed that Nick remained
silent. Whether his silence was in respect for her past alliance with her
friend that he had nothing to do with, or because he was observing Angela, she
wasn’t sure.

           
“How long have you been married?”
Serena asked.

           
Angela twisted her thin wedding
band.
“A year.”

           
“Then you’re a newlywed.” Nick’s
voice sounded very husky and male after the patter of higher pitched female
chatter.

           
Angela glanced at him. “Yes. I
suppose you could say that, but we knew one another a long time.”

           
“Was it anyone I knew?” Serena
asked.

           
“I married Lawson Thomson when he
got out.”

           
Serena put down her coffee cup
rather hard. Angela’s words were a shock. Yet excitement stirred in her veins.
This was more than she’d expected.
Or hoped for.
Aware
of her friend observing her, she cleared her throat. “I didn’t know. But Lawson
is the reason I’m here. Not because you married him. Nick and I are co-hosts
for a new show called
Neon Nights
and I wanted to do a program on you.”