The War Within (25 page)

Bud made another note. Jordan thought she was making a good impression, but she had thought the same thing after her other interviews, too. Hopefully, the results of this one would be different.

Bud stood, signaling the question-and-answer session had come to an end.

“I’ll have my day manager check your references while I take you on a tour of the property. If everything checks out and we decide to hire you, how soon could you start?”

That was promising.

“How does tomorrow sound?”

Bud laughed, making his bulbous belly bob up and down like a Southern Santa Claus. “It sounds like we’d be lucky to have you on board.”

Jordan hoped he wasn’t simply paying her lip service, but she’d find out one way or the other as soon as someone called to tell her she’d gotten the job or let her know she’d been passed over. She owed Tatum a debt of gratitude for setting up the interview. And if she managed to get the job, she’d owe her a lot more than that.

*

Meredith put on sandals, a pair of crisp white linen pants, and a cream-colored linen shirt with a subtle floral print. After she gelled her hair into gentle spikes, she began to apply her makeup. Not too much. Just enough to camouflage a few of the fine lines that seemed to grow deeper each year.

She felt like she was getting ready for prom night. If Natalie showed up wearing a tuxedo, it would complete the mental images dancing in her head. Images of brightly colored taffeta dresses, ill-fitting flannel and wool suits, crudely executed papier-mâché decorations, and fondly remembered songs from yesteryear. When Natalie rang the doorbell, however, she was wearing jeans, boots, and a Western-style shirt.

“You look dashing.” Meredith fingered one of the pearl inlaid snaps on Natalie’s shirt front.

“And you look beautiful.”

“Thank you.” Meredith touched her hand to her hair, feeling more like a schoolgirl than a senior citizen.

“You’re welcome.” Natalie’s voice cracked like a teenage boy on his first date. She cleared her throat in an attempt to mask her apparent nervousness. “Shall we go?”

Meredith held up one hand. “In a minute. I’d like to introduce you to my granddaughter first.”

Natalie followed Meredith into the house. Jordan lay on the couch in the living room, one eye on the Jodie Foster movie flickering across the TV screen and the other on Natalie. Her T-shirt was emblazoned with a political statement that skirted the fine line between wit and vulgarity. Meredith sometimes longed for the days when clothes were meant to be worn for what they were instead of functioning as editorial columns or miniature billboards, but the ever-changing array of slogans emblazoned across Jordan’s chest often served as indicators to her mood. Today’s meant proceed with caution.

Meredith stood behind Jordan and placed her hands on her shoulders. “Natalie, this is Jordan. Jordan, this is—”

“Let me guess.” Jordan muted the movie and swung her long legs off the couch. “You must be the infamous Natalie Robinson. I’ve been hearing about you for two weeks and several hundred miles.” She looked Natalie up and down. “Are you really as much of a badass as Grandma Meredith makes you out to be?”

“Probably not. But for the sake of argument, let’s say I am.” Jordan didn’t laugh or even crack a smile at Natalie’s attempt at humor. “Tough audience,” Natalie said under her breath. She resorted to flattery as she tried to find firmer conversational footing. “My niece said you were beautiful, but I’m afraid she didn’t do you justice.”

“Your niece?” Jordan cocked her head. “I don’t think I’ve met her.”

“Sure you have. Tatum Robinson. You met her yesterday outside her condo. You helped her with her groceries after she dropped her shopping bag in the parking lot.”

“Tatum’s your niece?” The look of recognition on Jordan’s face quickly turned into one of disapproval. “When I asked her about you, she acted like she didn’t know who you were.”

“Tatum has always been a bit standoffish with strangers. Her father—my brother—claims she inherited the trait from me. He’s probably right. It runs in the family, though Paul appears to be immune. I doubt she was trying to mislead you. She was probably being protective.”

“I think I’m the one who needs protecting.”

Jordan wrapped her arms around a throw pillow and hugged it to her chest. Meredith sat next to her and pressed a kiss to her temple before draping an arm around her shoulders.

“I know this is a lot to take in. I’ve given you a great deal to process these past few weeks, and I may be asking too much of you.”

“You think?” Jordan gripped the pillow tighter and stared down at her bare feet. Her toenails were painted black, an appropriate color choice, given her steadily darkening mood.

“But I hope you realize my love for your grandfather hasn’t diminished despite the revelations I’ve made. Neither has my love for you. I’m the same person I was before we began this journey, Jordan. Nothing has changed.”

“You’re wrong, Gran. Everything has.” Jordan gripped the dog tags hanging around her neck and rubbed them with her thumb, a move Meredith found hauntingly familiar. “How can you tell me you loved Papa George in one breath and say you love her in another?”

Meredith glanced at Natalie to judge the effect Jordan’s words had on her, but Natalie’s face didn’t betray what was going on behind her eyes. Meredith’s shoulders slumped as she absorbed Jordan’s pain. “I know how close you were to George and how close you still feel. I’m not asking you to love him any less or to end your allegiance to him.”

“Good. Because that isn’t going to happen.”

“I didn’t expect it to.”

Jordan looked at Natalie. When she spoke, she sounded like George used to each time he met one of Diana’s dates.

“I want to like you. I do. Grandma Meredith made you sound like a wonderful person and I’m sure you are, but I hope you realize you have some big shoes to fill.”

“It’s just dinner, honey,” Meredith said.

“It’s not just dinner, Gran. It’s the beginning you’ve been looking for. Make it count, okay?”

“I’ll try.”

Meredith went to the kitchen to fetch the green bean casserole.

“Have a good night,” Jordan said as Natalie and Meredith made their way to the car. “I’ll leave the light on for you.”

Jordan’s initial reaction to meeting Natalie had knocked some of the wind out of Meredith’s sails and put an all-too-real spin on things. This was no fairy tale with the requisite crowd-pleasing happy ending. There were too many raw, unresolved emotions in the way—Jordan’s, Natalie’s, and hers.

In the Bronco, she sat with the green bean casserole carefully balanced on her lap. A thick potholder protected her legs from the heat of the foil-covered aluminum pan as Natalie began to make the short drive from the Campbells’ house.

“I’m sorry,” Meredith said. “I had no idea Jordan would react that way, though I guess I should have expected it. She’s very protective of her grandfather’s memory.”

“No apologies necessary. With George Moser’s genes in her body, I wouldn’t expect any less. I would like to know, though, why she seems to think I’m here to take George’s place in your life. What exactly did you tell her about Vietnam?”

“I told her about the challenges we faced as soon as we stepped off the plane from Okinawa. I told her about the camaraderie I felt working side-by-side with you at the model hospital in Saigon. I told her about dancing with you at Suzy’s one minute and searching through the rubble of the Regency Hotel for the bodies of our friends the next. I told her about fearing for my life during the shootout in Xom Que. I told her about wanting to kiss you one night in a pool in Long Binh. And I told her about saying good-bye to you in a hotel room in Vũng Tàu.”

“I remember all those things. The series of quiet moments and life-altering events that made my penultimate tour of Vietnam the hardest by far. I remember holding you in my arms and wishing I never had to let you go. I remember fighting my growing feelings for you, knowing they would never be returned. I remember longing for a future I doubted I would ever have. And I remember being treated to a glimpse of that future, only to watch it disappear. When we were in Vũng Tàu, you said you wanted to be with me but you couldn’t.”

Meredith remembered saying the words—and seeing the hurt on Natalie’s face as she heard them.

“I moved on from that moment, but I never truly recovered. I haven’t completely opened my heart to anyone since that day, a preventive measure, I suppose, to safeguard against additional despair. Sometimes, I wonder if I did the right thing or if I’ve failed to live up to the standards I once set for myself.”

“You once said, ‘If I live my life in fear, I’m not really living, am I?’”

“Those words were uttered by a headstrong, cocksure kid with more bravado than brains. I’ve grown older, but I don’t know if I’ve grown wiser. A wise woman wouldn’t be in the position I’m in now. A wise woman, when given a chance to revisit past mistakes, would have kept driving.”

Meredith remembered the despair she’d felt when Natalie drove past her on Stable Road and the hope she’d felt when Natalie hit the brakes and turned around.

“I told Jordan something else, too,” Meredith said, turning to face her. “I told her about loving George but being in love with you. I loved you, Natalie, but I wasn’t ready to admit what I really wanted. Who I really was.”

“And you are now?” Natalie pulled to a stop in front of Beverly and Mary’s house. “Why should I believe you’re ready now? Why should I believe that this time your actions will match your words? Why should I believe you won’t run away again as soon as the summer ends?”

“Because this time, instead of running, I’m ready to make a stand.”

*

Jordan couldn’t believe Tatum had lied to her. Jordan had asked her point-blank if she knew Natalie Robinson and Tatum had said nothing. Not only did she know her, she was related to her, a fact she had conveniently neglected to mention. Jordan was tired of being lied to—and of not knowing who she could trust.

When the phone rang, she started not to answer. She forced herself to reach for it in case it might be good news. She could certainly use some of that.

“Hello?”

“Hey, it’s me. Tatum.”

Hearing Tatum’s voice in her ear stunned Jordan into silence. She didn’t know whether to tell her off or listen to what she had to say. She allowed her temper to make the decision, a move she might live to regret but seemed too good to pass up.

“I’m glad you called. Does the name Natalie Robinson ring a bell with you? It should. She is your aunt, after all.”

Tatum paused. “About that.”

“Don’t bother.”

“You’re not going to give me a chance to explain?”

“If you ask me, you already had your chance. And you blew it.”

“Wait a second. When we ran into each other, I didn’t know you from Eve. Did you actually expect me to share personal information with someone I’d just met just because you looked good in a pair of booty shorts and you helped me pick up some spilled groceries? Sorry. I’m not that trusting and I doubt you are, either. I can tell how protective you are of your grandmother. You would have done the same thing if you were in my position. I’m sorry your grandmother kept part of her personal life secret from you, but it’s not the end of the world. You’re still several calamities short of a country song, Jordan. If your truck breaks down or your dog dies, I’ll put in a call to Nashville for you. In the meantime, suck it up.”

Jordan was taken aback by Tatum’s bluntness. “You really are a Marine, aren’t you?”

“Did you think my fancy wheels were just for show?”

The tense situation might not have called for it, but Jordan laughed nevertheless. Tatum was even better at dishing out tough love than Grandma Meredith.

“Sorry. I already apologized to one Robinson tonight. I might as well add another to the list.”

“Aunt Natalie was at your place tonight?”

“Yeah, she and Grandma Meredith are out on a date.”

“Are you okay with that?”

Jordan thought about how happy Grandma Meredith had looked when she saw Natalie standing on her doorstep. “I’m getting there. I can see how much Grandma Meredith loves her. Hearing about it is one thing. Seeing it is another.”

Grandma Meredith had said people were entitled to one great love in their lives, two if they were lucky. When Papa George died, Grandma Meredith had lost one love. Now she had been lucky enough to find the second. How could Jordan possibly stand in her way?

“I doubt you called to listen to me unload on you. What can I do for you, Tatum?”

“I’m calling to thank you for the five-hundred-dollar referral bonus I’ll earn if you decide to take the job.”

Jordan’s breath caught. “I got it?”

“The position’s yours if you want it. Bud said he already discussed the starting salary with you. Is that right?”

“Yes.”

The salary wasn’t the greatest, but it was competitive for the market and, since it was only a temporary position, Jordan couldn’t complain too loudly about how much—or how little—she’d be getting paid to do it.

“Would you like some time to think it over and get back to me with your response? If so, you can call me, Riley, or anyone in HR.”

“No, that won’t be necessary,” Jordan said quickly. She didn’t want to give Tatum the chance to change her mind. “I accept.”

“In that case, welcome aboard. It says here you’re available to start tomorrow. I’ll order you a uniform tonight. We use a local outfitter, so the order should arrive in one to two business days. Until it does, the dress code for you will be business casual. When you arrive tomorrow afternoon, Riley will provide you with a name tag, a new employee packet, and a user ID and password for the automated time clock. As I’m sure Bud informed you during your interview, your shifts will vary according to work load. We’ll start you off on the two-to-eleven shift so you can get a feel for both the afternoon and evening operations. Riley will be in charge of your training.”

Willow had said Riley’s position with the inn was little more than set decoration because of her relationship with the owner. Tatum was the one who did most of the actual work. Jordan wished Tatum would be the one showing her the ropes. How much could she learn from someone whose only discernible talent appeared to be her ability to suck a golf ball through a garden hose?