A Different Light (31 page)

“I hope so.” Athen watched her daughter, who was sharing some whispered secret with her girlfriends.

Timmy joined his father, and Athen couldn’t help
comparing his courteous greeting to Callie’s curt one.

Maybe Quentin is right,
Athen thought.
Maybe it’s just because he’s the first man I’ve gone out with since John died.

“Mom, I have a science test tomorrow.” Callie pointedly ignored the boy’s presence. “Can we please go?”

“Yes, Callie, we can go.” Athen sighed.

“We’re leaving too,” Quentin said. “We’ll walk out with you.”

Callie rolled her eyes to the heavens for the second time in just under ten minutes.

“Do you have a science test tomorrow too?” Athen asked Timmy as they walked through the parking lot. “Aren’t you in Callie’s class?”

Before he could answer, Callie snapped, “No, he is not. He’s in the brainy section.”

“I thought you were in the top section.” Athen fell in step with her daughter as they approached their car.

“I’m in the smart section,” Callie told her with great exasperation. “But Timmy’s
super
smart. He takes classes with the upper grades.”

“Not for everything.” Timmy sounded defensive. “I only take math and science with them. Everything else I take with you, so if I’m a brain, what’s that make you?”

Callie ignored him and leaned against the car door, waiting for her mother to open it.

“How about dinner Friday night?” Quentin whispered. “You think she’ll let you out?” He nodded in Callie’s direction with more good humor than she had any right to expect, considering her daughter’s behavior.

“Let me get back to you on that,” Athen replied and opened the car door.

Quentin waved good-bye to Callie, who stood with
her arms folded across her chest.

“Callie, you really embarrassed me,” Athen told her the minute the car doors were closed.

“Well, you embarrassed me, too,” Callie grumbled.

“How did I embarrass you? Was I rude to your friends? Did I insult anyone?”

“You did not have to go off in a corner with Mr. Forbes,” Callie snapped.

“We were not off in a corner.” Athen negotiated the turn onto the main road.

“You’re my mother.” Callie struggled with her temper. “You know how I feel about Timmy.”

“Callie, what is wrong with Timmy? He’s nice, he’s polite, he’s …”

“Oh, please.” Callie groaned dramatically.

“Then what is it?”

“Timmy is the smartest kid in the entire school. He’s the best at every sport. He gets to ride horses every day ’cause his grandmother owns a lot of them. And he’s rich.” Callie ticked off the litany of Timmy Forbes’s offenses.

“Sounds like jealousy to me.” Athen turned into their driveway and came to a stop.

“I am not jealous!” Callie was out of the car even before Athen turned off the ignition. “He is the perfect kid, Mom. He never gets anything wrong on tests, he never swears.”

“Do you?” Athen interjected.

“Do I get things wrong on tests or do I swear?” Callie turned the outside light on over the back door so that Athen could find the keyhole. “Sometimes I do both.”

Athen pushed open the door, and Hannah, aroused from sleep, barked as she ventured into the kitchen to investigate.

“Mom, Timmy doesn’t talk to anyone or go out of his way to be friends with any of the other kids,” Callie told her.

“How can you make friends with people who make fun of you?” Athen tossed her purse halfway across the room to the counter. “And has it occurred to you or your friends that maybe Timmy is shy? It isn’t easy coming into a new school in the middle of the year, when everyone already knows everyone else. And he’s had a hard time these last few years, Callie. His mother left them.”

“Left them?” Callie’s head shot up from her book bag where she had been searching for her science notes. “What do you mean, she left them?”

“She left them for a job. She lives in Europe now, and she never comes back,” Athen told her softly. “And I’d appreciate it if you kept that to yourself.”

“At least his mother is still alive,” Callie retorted. “At least maybe he’ll be able to see her again someday.”

“Do you think that makes him feel better, when maybe he needs her now?”

“You’re only taking his side because you like his father,” Callie whined.

“I’m taking his side because I think he’s a nice kid who is lonely and who’s had to deal with a great loss in his life, a loss that is every bit as big and every bit as real as yours. Maybe worse, because your father did not choose to die, but his mother chose to leave.” Athen leaned upon the counter. “I don’t think you are being fair to him, and that makes me sad. I don’t think he deserves the treatment he’s gotten, and I’m ashamed to know that you are a party to it, Calliope Moran.”

Callie dropped her eyes, picked up her book bag, and stomped off to the sanctuary of her room.

 20 

Well, there are six different movies playing here tonight.” Quentin took Athen’s elbow as they entered the multiscreen theater on Friday night. “Do you have a preference?

“No.” She shook her head. “You choose.”

She stood slightly to the side while he bought the tickets.

“I hope
Silver Mornings
is to your liking.” He ushered her through the glass doors. “It’s gotten excellent reviews.”

“I haven’t heard anything about it, good or bad, but I’m sure it will be fine.” She took his arm to keep from getting lost in the crowded lobby.

They took seats midway down the aisle as the lights began to dim. The previews of coming attractions began to roll and Quentin decided to go for popcorn. He returned just as the feature was about to begin. He handed her a cup of syrupy soda and placed the enormous box of popcorn between them. The rippling piano notes of the theme song faded as the scene opened onto a moonlit beach, where a woman paced anxiously in the sand, rubbing her hands together in obvious distress. The camera moved in on the woman until the unmistakable, flawless face of Dallas MacGregor filled the entire screen. Athen choked and Quentin patted her on the back.

“You okay?” he whispered. “Got popcorn stuck in your throat?”

Athen nodded dumbly and sank into her seat. She squirmed uncomfortably through the movie, to the extent
that Quentin, assuming her view was obstructed, asked her if she’d like to sit somewhere else.

Yes,
she wanted to reply.
The lobby would do nicely.

She endured what she considered to be sheer torture. As always, the camera was devoted to Dallas, never showing her at a bad angle, if indeed there was such a thing. It lingered on her face so that every expression was viewed up close and personal on the wide screen. Quentin put his arm around her and she was tempted to bury her face in his shoulder to blot out the lavender eyes, the pouting smile, the perfect skin of her late husband’s first love.

An hour and a half later, they emerged, holding hands, Athen grateful that the film had finally ended.

“Great movie,” he commented as they walked to the car.

“Umm-hmm,” she replied from between painfully clenched jaws.

“Where would you like to have dinner?”

“I don’t care.” She shrugged.

“Let’s try Scotties across the street.” He led and she followed quietly.

After they placed their orders for sandwiches, Quentin noted, “You didn’t seem to enjoy the movie very much.”

When she did not reply, he peered across the table, tilting his head to make eye contact with her. “What is it? Were you bored?”

“Let’s just say that Dallas MacGregor is not my favorite actress.” She glanced away, pretending to watch the antics of a group of teenagers, two of whom had shaved heads, and another, purple hair.

“I think she’s terrific,” he told her. “I thought she was great in this film. And she’s certainly one of the most beautiful …”

“Quentin.” Athen couldn’t hold it in any longer. “John was in love with her.”

“Yeah, well, so are ninety-nine percent of the men in the country.” He shrugged. “Including yours truly. So what?”

“No, Quentin, I mean that they were in love with
each other,
” she said meaningfully.

“John actually knew her?” Quentin’s jaw dropped.

“They dated all through college.”

“Wow. Your John must have been some guy to have had the two most beautiful women I ever saw in love with him.”

“Very gallant, Mr. Forbes.”

“Very true, Mrs. Moran,” he told her pointedly. “You are every bit as lovely, every bit as fascinating, and certainly every bit as sexy as Dallas MacGregor. I tip my hat to John Moran, who, besides being a selfless hero, had impeccable taste—and apparently incredible luck—when it came to women.”

Her fingertips tapped on the tabletop.

“Oh, come on, Athen, don’t tell me you’re jealous of her after all these years?”

“A few months ago, I found a box of letters she’d written to him, hidden in the back of John’s closet.”

“Recent letters?” Quentin’s eyebrows rose. A married cop from some small city in northern New Jersey having an affair with one of the world’s most glamorous film stars? Talk about a scoop.

“No. From years ago. Letters she had written after she’d graduated from college and moved to California.”

“I don’t understand the problem.” He shrugged. “Especially if John had stopped seeing her before he started seeing you.”

“I guess I just hadn’t realized what she had meant to
him.” Athen unconsciously began to tear tiny pieces from one end of a paper napkin. “John never talked about her. I knew she’d been his girlfriend, of course, since I was best friends with his sister. But from the time we started dating, I don’t remember him ever mentioning her name.”

“Why should he have? It was obviously a closed subject by then.”

“But he kept her letters all those years.”

“Everyone keeps mementos of their past, Athen. And I would guess that he declined discussing her with you because she was, in fact, the past. You were his present and his future. Besides, only a totally insensitive man would have reminded his wife that his first love had been one of the most celebrated beauties of our generation. From all I’ve heard about John Moran, he was a pretty decent fellow.”

“Yes, he was.” She nodded.

“So why would John, who loved you, want you to harbor any doubts that you are as beautiful, as desirable, as she is, when he knew without question that you are?” His sincerity almost embarrassed her. “I suspect John simply put it behind him when it was over, and went on with his life and probably considered himself the luckiest man on the face of the earth when he married you. Which he was.”

“Thank you,” she said softly. “That’s very sweet.”

“Well, you should know that I am one hell of a sweet guy.”

“I’ve said that very thing about you many times over the past few months.”

“Now I thought we were going to let that dead dog lie?”

He grinned as the waitress passed by the table and handed him the check.

“Well, maybe it wasn’t such a bad picture,” she conceded as they strolled arm in arm to the car.

“And the acting was pretty damned good, wouldn’t you say?”

“Yes,” she replied. “I guess maybe it was.”

When he stopped in her driveway, she hesitated only momentarily before asking, “Would you like to come in for a few minutes?”

“Sure.” He nodded. “It’s still fairly early.”

Athen shushed Hannah, who met them at the door, her tail thumping loudly against the wall. Having decided that Quentin was her friend, Hannah made joyful noises as they attempted to get past her in the foyer.

Athen tossed her jacket onto the back of a chair and motioned Quentin to do the same before following her into the kitchen.

“What can I get you?” she asked. “Coffee, tea, Metaxa …?”

“What was that last one?” He pulled a chair out from the table and sat down.

“Metaxa,” she said with a smile. “It’s Greek. Sort of wine blended with brandy.”

“Sure. I’m game.”

She went into the dining room and returned with a tall thin bottle and two small glasses.

“I used to keep this for my father. Would you like me to water yours down a bit? It’s pretty strong, especially if you’re not accustomed to it.”