Shed delivered Wills baby. Now he, by golly, could deliver her into the arms of an unmarried man.
WILL WAS AFRAID HED MISSED his calling. He should have been a military strategist. While Cecily was hardly the enemy, his diversionary tactics had gotten her onto the LBJ going in the wrong direction, and the freeway was packed. Now that they were on it, theyd be here a while.
Which suited Will just fine because hed be sitting beside Cecily, charming the pants off her, he hoped. It had been a long time since anybody had called him dull. In fact, from the time hed left home for Exeter, hed been amazed at the number of girlsnow womenwho wanted to go out with him. In those years away from Muffy hed discovered he could be himself, not Muffys stuffy twin brother, Will.
Cecily didnt know hed ever been Muffys stuffy brother. So why, when hed tried to kiss her, had she run like a bunny out into a violent electrical storm?
It hadnt boosted his ego any. Hed eventually gotten over the ego part, so why hadnt he completely gotten over Cecily?
We should be looking for the Glen Oaks exit. Which was actually where theyd gotten on the freeway. A full loop of Dallas in heavy traffic ought to give him time to have her eating out of his hand. Figuring it was time to set the scene for intimate conversation, he punched up a CD, turned the surround sound down low and searched for a conversation starter. So, you came back for the wedding. Brilliant, Will, just brilliant.
Under duress. The fine line of cheekbone and jaw tightened.
You and Sally were friends somewhere along the way? I mean, obviously you were.
When we were too young to know better.
So, you lived in Dallas and then you moved away? It was as if cracking a crab getting anything out of her. But that explained why he didnt know her. By junior high their group had been pretty tight, a clique that grew out of sharing a neighborhood, school and country club. Some of them didnt even like each other, but those things and family tiestheir parents friendships or business relationshipsbound them together. Sally and Muffy, for example, were always at each others throats, and yet Sally had asked Muffy to be her matron of honor.
To his surprise, Cecily suddenly got chatty. My fathers a professor of economics. I was born here while he was at SMU. Weve moved numerous times. Hes at New York University now. But my mother keeps up with Elaine Shipley. We lived next door to the Shipleys in Dallas. I dont know why Sally asked me to be maid of honor. Will, this traffic is impossible, she wailed. Well never make it to the hospital.
Muffyll understand. She knows what the freeway is like. Get back to you and me. Cecily had fallen silent. It was up to him again. This is going to be a really big wedding. That was a good one. As far as I can tell, everybody in Dallas will be there.
Thats what my mother told me, Cecily said. Except she said the most important people in Dallas.
Yep, everybody from the mayor to the Dallas Grand Opera director. Oh, and Congressman Galloway and both senators. You keep up with local politics?
No.
So there was no point in pursuing that tack any further. Will cleared his throat. Wheres your practice?
It was a simple question, but it seemed to jar her a little. Blue Hill, Vermont.
Why Vermont?
This time she hesitated even longer. Maybe it was just because the traffic had started to move. Its where the big bucks are in my field.
Yeah, you have to think about things like that. In spite of himself, he was getting interested. You have a specialty?
Im in general medicine, butbut Ive gotten pretty good at high-risk deliveries.
No kidding? What a coincidence for you to be right there in Sallys wedding party just when Muffy needed you. He considered what shed said. Im surprised, though. I would have thought the big bucks would be in New York, Chicagoa big city full of career women who dont have kids until theyre getting close to forty.
Yes, but Vermonts such a beautiful place, she said, and the pace is slower. No place is perfect, of course.
Whats the downside?
It gets lonely sometimes. The traffic really was moving now, not quickly but steadily, and she seemed to be concentrating on it.
You have your patients. He gazed at her, increasingly curious about how she lived her life.
Yes, but
You dont like socializing with them?
A corner of her mouth quirked. A tic, probably, brought on by the car that had cut so sharply in front of them it made even him nervous. Im very fond of my patients, she said, but I have to admit they have certain limitations. Not big readers. Not particularly exciting to talk to. Very little interest in theater or movies or concerts. Unsophisticated tastes in food.
Damn. She was a snob. Didnt mind treating the mountain men or delivering their womens babies but looked down on them socially and intellectually. Too bad. Just looking at her, he wouldnt have thought shed feel that way.
What about you? What did you grow up to be?
A CPA. But Im good to my mother.
She gave him an odd look. Most people, when he told them what he did, immediately told him their favorite accountant joke, which tended to illustrate the cold humorless nature of people who chose the profession. When she didnt say anything at all, he added immodestly, I have a law degree, too. Im with Helpern and Ridley in Houston. Im Guss tax man.
Ah. But you know Sally, too?
Sallys my cousin.
All in the family. She actually took her eyes off the road and gave him a smile. If she hadnt, he might have gone back to worrying about Guss reported income.
You can trust family, he said, hoping it was true.
You like your work?
He loved his work. Its a living. He patted the dashboard of the Audi. Buys the toys. How about you? You like being a doctor?
She hesitated briefly, then said, Too much, apparently.
Meaning?
She sighed, then took a deep breath and seemed to be gearing up to say something important. With no social life to speak of, Ive really let myself go. Just look at my dress. And my hair. Im a mess. I didnt realize it until I walked on to the rehearsal scene. This wedding is a fashion show!
He didnt think she was a mess at all. She looked fresh and wholesome, and he liked it. You look just fine to me, and I dont think patients notice what the doctor is wearing.
Mine are more undiscriminating than most. It came out like a groan. It doesnt bother me there, but here, with Sally and all her gorgeous bridesmaidsI mean, whod choose me unless I She came to a halt. Will, she said, may I ask you an extremely personal question?
He sat up a little straighter. He hoped the extremely personal question would turn out to be really personal. Whose person? he said. Mine or yours?
Mine.
Sure.
Her head swiveled. What can I do to myself in the next couple of hours to make a man want to have sex with me?
He jolted upright. His sunglasses flew off his head. The car swerved. Cecily shrieked. Will grabbed the steering wheel. He put one foot down hard on the floor of the car to keep his balance. The crunch told him thats where his sunglasses had fallen.
It was his signal to get new sunglasses.
After hed taken this woman to bed.
NOW THAT THE CAR WAS GOING straight again and Cecilys were the only hands on the steering wheel, she had time to realize the enormity of the mistake shed made. Earlier, when shed had her epiphany while driving the endless highway toward the peculiarly distant hospital, shed realized she needed help if she were to find a man to release the pressure inside her. Seeing Will again had caused the problem, but Will was married. He couldnt provide the solution.
Still, for a moment shed let herself imagine Will as The Man, imagine him looking at her. Her clotheslimp, frumpy, with no logos anywhere. Her hairjust the way God made it, somewhere between blond and brown and tied back so she wouldnt have to look at it.
Even if henot Will, of course, because it couldnt be Willwere undiscriminating enough, horny enough, to get to the undressing stage with her, how would he react to her severe cotton bra, her enormous white cotton panties? They werent even snowy white. The water in Blue Hill was very hard and tended to turn white things gray.
Hed said she looked fine, but what would you expect a man to say? Truth was, she was cleanor had been that morning, which seemed like a lifetime agowith the possible exception of her toenails and allowing for the grayness of her lingerie. It was the only positive thing she could say about herself. As for metamorphosing into the kind of woman one of the other mennot Willwould be interested in, she didnt have a clue. Eyelash batting, even with mascara added, was not enough.
It required the proper external trappings, the area in which she was most clueless, always had been. While shed lived at home, her mother had functioned as her personal dresser, bringing home trendy outfits appropriate for every occasion, dragging her to beauty salons. Shed been thrilled to be out on her own, away from all that fussing. And look what had happened to her.
But Will fit in with these friends of Sallys, looked like them, dressed like them. Hed know. And since he was married and they werent total strangers, shed decided she wouldnt feel too embarrassed about consulting him. If she couldnt have him, she could pick his brains, because she wanted to look like the kind of woman Will would fall hard forif he werent married with a new baby. But shed said it all wrong and shed scared the dickens out of him.
Her face went hot with mortification. Hed thought she was asking him to have sex with her. Hed settled back into his seat, pantingfrom fear, undoubtedlysimply tossing the shards of his sunglasses from one hand to the other. Most men would have yelled at her for swerving like that. She thought he was probably too unnerved to yell.
Sorry I jumped, he said suddenly. You surprised me, thats all.
Im the one whos sorry, she said, feeling miserable. Thats another downside to being Shed come close to saying, being with cows. Shed have to tell him eventually that she was a vet. When the time was right. being so isolated. You forget how to express yourself. I said what I said very badly.
You didnt say it badly. It was just that
Youre being polite. In fact, I made you think I was asking you to have sex with me, when nothing could have been further from my mind.
She was puzzled by his long silence, until he said, Really.
She forged ahead. Of course not. That would be terrible of me. What I meant wasWell, let me start at the beginning.
Okay.
Her skin prickled when she felt his fixed gaze on her cheek. Its just that I havent had sex in a while. Not by choice, she added hastily. She still wasnt saying it right. She didnt want to sound sad and deprived. She wanted to sound bright and brassy, lusty and lascivious, to keep her tone breezy and confident. Most of all, she wanted to sound as if shed planned all along to turn the wedding weekend into a sexual marathon. What matters to me is my career. Sex is something I decided to handle with one-night stands now and then. You know, nothing serious. No strings.
Just casual sex.
Thats me, your typical slut-puppy. Sure I am. But Ive hit this little snag. There arent a lot of men available for casual sex in Blue Hill. Like none, and if I did find someone, the whole town would be talking about it the next morning. So I thought this weekend would be a good time to catch up, but now that I see my competition, I can tell I dont have the
The steelo to tap anybody? Hed grown very still.
Have the what?
Never mind. Go ahead.
Anyway, I need to do an instant makeover, head to toe, inside and out. And since you were an old friend and married with a new baby and all that, I felt comfortable asking you where to start. She gave him a sidelong glance.
Will froze with his mouth hanging open. She thought he and Muffy were married? That he was the father of Muffys baby? It was such a chilling thought that every atom in his body wanted to shout, No! Its not true!
Except for that one atom that whispered, Maybe its the only reason having sex with you is the furthest thing from her mind. Because hed felt a connection, felt a spark between them. So if he told her he wasnt married to Muffy, wasnt the father of the baby
He couldnt tell her now. He didnt want to end this up-close-and-personal conversation. But when the right time came, he definitely wanted Cecily to know he was single. Then hed find out if that was her only reason for rejecting himagain. Now he wanted to get to the hospital as fast as possible. As bad as her sense of direction seemed to be, shed never figure out she was making a U-turn and going right back in the direction theyd come from. The hospital was in fact about six blocks from the church. Start moving to the right, he said abruptly. Theres the Preston Road exit. I know a shortcut to the hospital.
What? Cecily yelled, then sped up and began demonically shifting lanes. Will closed his eyes, seeing his life pass before him as she shot in front of a sixteen-wheeler going eighty, honking furiously and flashing its lights. And then she had them flying down the exit ramp and coasting onto the access road without looking to see if anyone was coming.
His eyes were still closed when the car came to a stop. Left or right on Preston Road? Cecily said in a voice as calm as an angels. Will, I said left or right? Which way to the hospital? Oh, for Gods sake, Will, have you fainted again?