DAC_II_GenVers_Sept2013 (7 page)

“Are you interested in this older woman? Have you talked to your father about this?”

“No. I don’t want to discuss Jane at all. . .not with you or Dad. Why are you calling?”

“Walter, I’m being very serious here. Whatever you do, DO NOT talk to Harrison about her. He will tell you his crazy theories and just make things worse. Please promise me, Walter. Promise me that you won’t confess your crush to Harrison.”

“Mother—please stop worrying. Now tell me the point of your call?” Walter demanded, irritation in his tone as he interrupted her pleading.

There was momentary silence, but Walter could tell April Graham was gearing up for the next lecture. He fought valiantly not to sigh loudly in her ear. Any show of impatience would only make her feel slighted and the lecture would be worse. There was a rustling of papers before she came back full force in his ear.

“You know your father and I appreciate that you do charity work, but really Walter, posing for a beefcake calendar? What were you thinking? My friends in Falls Church are buying it like crazy, but did you have to be on the cover too? I mean, at least you kept your clothes on—which I appreciate—but that undressing pose was a little over the top, don’t you think, Mr. March?”

“What are you talking about? I didn’t pose for the fire station calendar.” Walter yelled the denial. Then he looked at Amanda who winced and shrugged. “Are you sure it’s me in the pictures? All I did was help the photographer set up for the shoot. The rest of the time I was moving equipment around.”

There was another short silence, abruptly ending with a frustrated female sigh.

“Why are you lying about this, Walter? I can’t believe you’re going to pretend you know nothing about the calendar when it’s obviously you in the photos. I actually had someone ask me how it felt to be the mother of ‘Mr. March’. It was embarrassing, Walter. And just what do you expect me to tell your father about this? He’s repeatedly asked you not to make a public spectacle of us. You know scandalous publicity distresses him.”

Taking the phone away from his ear, Walter held it in front of him. Because he didn’t know what else to do, he pushed the button and hung up. That act would cost him later, but first things first.

Amanda’s snicker pulled his attention to the door of the office.

“Here,” he said, handing the office phone back to her.

“I can’t believe you did that. Did you really just hang up on your mother?” Amanda asked.

“Yes. Now mind the shop,” Walter said, heading to the front door at a run faster than Jane’s. “I have to go by the fire station.”

“Got an emergency?” Amanda asked.

“Yes,” Walter said, as he thought about several ways to kill a lying photographer.

***

“When I told Ames all the guys at the station had signed a release, I was talking about all the guys that posed. I wasn’t thinking about you goofing off beforehand. But what’s the big deal, Walter? It’s for charity. Why would you mind?”

“I want my photo pulled, Chief. I didn’t sign any release,” Walter said.

“Sure we can do that, but even if we pull the calendar off the press right now, there are twenty thousand already in print that have been sold. Those calendars paid for themselves, and they helped buy a new engine last year without costing the taxpayers one red cent. And think about this Walter, the publicity could garner you some media coverage for your eco experiments at North Winds.”

Walter shook his head. “There are reasons I didn’t put my name in the pot. My mother’s friends are buying the calendar. You can’t believe the grief I’m getting from just her alone.”

“Great! We want everyone to buy it,” the chief said. “More is better.”

“Not really,” Walter insisted, rubbing his forehead. His headache was getting worse.

“What’s up with you, son? I would have thought a young guy like you would appreciate the side benefits of being the man on the cover. And you’re fully dressed, for pity’s sakes. The only questionable photo of you is
Mr. March
. You have a wicked smile that goes great with your shirt up, Walter. My wife says it’s sexier than the bare-chested ones.”

“Don’t make things worse for me,” Walter ordered. His chief made no secret of how sexy he found his wife, or how interested his wife was in men in general.

Walter shook his head as the chief kept laughing at his anxiety.

“Before the print run, we found out Garrett’s wife was pregnant and apparently feeling a tad insecure. He decided the limelight was a bad idea at the moment. Have you ever dealt with a hormonal woman?” the chief asked.

“Only in my dreams,” Walter exclaimed. He was miserable with worry over what Jane would think. “The woman I like isn’t going to take this well either.”

He watched the chief rub his chin, but still didn’t think the older man cared one bit that Jane was never going to trust his feelings for her.

“Sorry if we’ve caused you grief, Walter. I didn’t know you had a woman. You haven’t brought her around for a tour. How was I to know?”

“I haven’t brought her because I don’t
have
her yet. And I might never get her after
this
mess,” Walter said, throwing up his hands. “She thinks I’m a kid as it is. Now she’s going to think I’m out to. . .hell, who knows what she’ll think?”

“Maybe she’ll understand. Some women love that stuff. They pass naked photos of guys to each other in email. Don’t ask me how I know. That’s in the TMI category and my wife would kill me for sharing.”

Walter snorted and stood. “I give up.”

“I can only apologize so many times, Walter. What do you want me to do? Pull it or don’t pull your photo from the next run? They want to go back for a reprint tomorrow. Have you even seen it? We’re selling them as fast as they can come off the press.”

Walter shook his head. Twenty thousand or two hundred thousand. One was all it would to take for Jane to write him off. He wished like hell that he had kissed her senseless today instead of playing it so cool. He was going to die of frustration if he didn’t get his hands on her soon.

“Sure would be nice to buy another shiny new fire engine, don’t you think?” the chief asked.

Walter swore. “Fine. Don’t pull the photo. I know I didn’t undress, so what the hell. It’s not like it’s the first time I made my parents mad over something concerning the firehouse.”

“You’ve been making decisions on your own for years. Your parents need to realize that you’re all grown up now. And if your woman is the right woman for you, she’ll have a sense of humor and understand why you would do this. Of course, you might have to convince her that her attention is the female attention you need. . .if you get what I’m saying.”

Blowing out an exasperated breath at his chief’s suggestion, Walter got up and left.

It was going to be hard to convince a woman who ran every time he touched her that she was the only woman he wanted or needed.

***

“Laugh all you want, just don’t have a stroke. I need you alive so you can convince Mom and Dad that I didn’t do this to embarrass them,” Walter said.

“I want to see the photo. I bet you look great. Where’s your copy?” Harrison demanded, grinning at Walter’s angry face.

“I didn’t get one. I haven’t seen it. And I don’t want to,” Walter declared, feeling like a two year old throwing a tantrum. Suddenly, he had more sympathy for JD’s desire to escape his confining life. Between his parents’ concerns and Harrison’s health, his decisions were constantly hindered.

“Nonsense, boy. That calendar is free publicity. I think you should go on local shows and pimp the calendar for good measure. Then pimp yourself and your work in the same breath. It’s just good business, Walter,” Harrison advised, noting his grandson’s deepening frown with pleasure. Sometimes it was good for a man to become desperate. It forced him to act.

“What do you think a smart woman like Jane is going to think about me on the cover of the calendar?” Walter demanded. “Do you think she’s going to think it’s
good business
?”

Harrison grinned. “No. I think Jane’s going to think it’s the equivalent of taking out a personal ad. All the booty a man like you could ever ask for will be lining up to take their turn with the calendar cover model.”

“Great. Just great, Harrison. That’s ten times worse than anything I’d come up with,” Walter complained, swiping a hand through his hair. “I’m on call tonight and sleeping at the station. Here’s the number of the emergency caregiver I’ve arranged for you. Don’t give her a hard time. She’s the last one on Jane’s list willing to deal with you after hours.”

Harrison swiped a trembling hand over his heart and crossed it in the other direction. Damn heart medicine gave him the shakes.

Hugging Harrison quickly, Walter snorted in disbelief of the promise as he went out the door.

***

Harrison smiled after Walter left, wondering how best to get a copy of the calendar into Jane’s hands. Grinning, he picked up the phone.

“Hey, Morrison Fox. Yes, it certainly has been a while. How’s Lydia? Good. Good. You’ll never believe why I’m calling you. Walter got goat-roped into posing for a nudie calendar. No, a man’s nudie calendar, dummy. Some charity thing they do at the firehouse. At least I think that’s what it was. He wouldn’t give me a copy so I could check.”

Harrison paused, laughing softly at Morrison’s streaming questions.

“
Proud?
No, I think Walter’s totally embarrassed. His mother got him all upset about it too. Think you can get one for me? I want to know how bad it is in case I have to help with damage control. Yeah, I knew you’d understand. Sure. I’ll wait.”

Harrison heard commotion and a vivid discussion taking place on the other end of the line. He heard Lydia laughing and it made him smile. Morrison Fox. That damn Morrison Fox did that for her. He was never going to get over it.

“Yeah, bring a couple copies over to me if you can find where they’re selling it. Bring Lydia by with you when you come. I’d love to see you both. Keep her happy, old man. Okay. Bye.”

Harrison hung up the phone and grinned.

Alexa and Regina’s heads were together as they turned the pages of the calendar and ‘oohed’ and ‘aahed’.

“Would you look at Mr. October’s pecs?” Alexa said. They had started with Mr. December and were working their way to the front.

“None of them look better than Ben,” Regina said.

Lauren snorted and patted her belly. “I didn’t bring that here to watch you two drool over men half your ages. I brought it to shock you. Close it and look at the cover.”

Alexa flipped the calendar closed and laughed. “Oh look at how cute he is. His shirt is dirty and there’s a smear on his cheek. His mother is going to die when she sees this. If April and Leland had their way, the boy would never be out of a suit.”

“No one seeing this will be looking at the dirt, Alexa. Look at the size of his. . . giant fire axe,” Regina said finally, giggling harder when Alexa and Lauren laughed. “Walter has a killer smile like Ben and is a very fine looking man. Too bad he isn’t one of the guys on the inside. Or is he?”

Lauren grinned when Alexa and Regina both looked at her expectantly. “Check out
Mr. March
,” she ordered.

Alexa flipped pages slowly until they saw the second photo of Walter. “Damn, that’s appealing. Makes you want to help him rip that dirty shirt the rest of the way off, doesn’t it?” She ran a manicured fingernail over the picture. “Nope, just not as good as the real thing.”

“Sparks the libido though,” Regina said wistfully. “I’m ready to go home to Ben now.”

Alexa sobered from momentary Walter lust first, remembering the older woman who had a sincere longing for the younger man in the picture. “Wonder what Jane thinks about Walter being a pin-up model? Did she and Walter ever work out, Lauren?”

“Mother says Walter is still chasing, and Jane is still running,” Lauren reported.

“Jane should have stopped running when she had the chance. Walter is going to get a lot of hungry females hitting on him because of this calendar. Going to be hard for Jane to believe he could want her more than them,” Alexa said.

Regina nodded solemnly. “I wish we could help her see what Walter sees when he looks at her.”

Lauren’s eyebrows rose. “Want me to talk her into making an appointment to see you? I don’t think I know her that well, Regina.”

Regina laughed. “No, but you know her well enough to ask her to dinner next Thursday. Lydia told me Jane’s girlfriends all live out of town. Maybe she needs some new friends, especially notorious ones.”

Alexa and Lauren looked at each other and grinned.

***

“Where is Dad tonight?” Jane asked, climbing up to seat herself in one of the massive chocolate leather bar stools.

“He’s visiting your Aunt Rachel. She’s thinking about moving out of her house and into your father’s condo.”

Jane nodded. “That would be a good thing for her. She needs a change.”

The hamburger Lydia slid in front of her smelled divine. Jane was afraid to think about the calories in the pasta salad filling the rest of the plate. She was going to have to put in some extra time at the gym this week.

“Lydia, I think I gained three pounds just looking at this,” she grumbled, sighing at the older woman’s laugh. “I’m surprised some rich guy didn’t marry you just for your cooking. Add in the fact you look young, are in great shape, and have a dream car. . .you’re a prize.”

“Cooking skills, eh? Maybe that was what I was missing all those years. Truth is, I never cooked at all until your father taught me,” Lydia said, sliding her own plate onto the bar top before taking the seat next to Jane. “Eat now. Don’t let it get cold. Nothing worse than a cold hamburger.”

Jane picked it up, took a giant bite, only to become appalled when tears slid down her face. She put the burger back down and picked up her napkin. “Wonderful. I’m glad I wore the waterproof mascara today.”

Frowning, Lydia slid from her seat to fetch a box of tissues. She climbed back up on the bar stool and busied herself with a bite of pasta while Jane blew her nose.