Flirting With Temptation (2 page)

“Oh, don’t worry, child.” She picked up a cloth napkin from the table and used it to fan her flushed face. “I left your little angels in good hands. They’re currently going through the dessert line with their Grandma Olivia.”

Babette hadn’t realized Jeff’s mother was attending the event, but it made sense, since Richard worked as an executive for Eubanks Elegant Apparel. “I didn’t know Olivia was here. I haven’t had a chance to talk to her,” Babette said, gazing toward the dessert line to see if she could spot her niece and nephew, and Jeff’s mother.

“And what, I wonder, would you and Olivia discuss, if you happened to talk to her?” Clarise glanced at Granny Gert before adding, “I mean, after you saw today’s society pages and all.”

Granny’s focus turned from Clarise to Babette. “I wondered if you read it, but you didn’t say anything, and I figured you might not want to talk about him today, on your birthday, and especially at a wedding. Kind of always thought we’d be attending a wedding between you two, you know, instead of him planning one with that uppity society queen. Personally, I think you should call him up, or drive down to see him in Florida, whatever it takes for you two to work things out. He isn’t married yet. I’ve told you about how I hooked your grandfather, haven’t I, the first time I found him alone in his barn?”

Before Babette or Clarise could answer, Granny barreled on. “He was nineteen, I was seventeen, and he had my heart, same way he did the rest of his life, God rest his soul.” She winked. “I had to give him a bit of a push in that barn, but it was worth the effort.”

“And how was it you gave him a push?” Clarise asked, as though she couldn’t recite Granny Gert’s famed story by heart. Babette leaned forward to hear, even though she’d heard it just as many times.

Granny Gert grinned, excited. “I told him I had a mind to kiss him and a mind to marry him. And then I did both.” She turned toward Babette. “I used gumption, and I think you should use some too, with Jeff, if you want to know how I feel about it.”

Babette never had to wonder how Granny Gert felt about anything. Granny never made any bones about telling her, in detail, and quite often. And since they lived next door to each other, with Granny occupying the other half of Babette’s duplex, Granny’s opinion was always readily available.

The band started back up playing
Shout!
and every person on the dance floor shot their hands in the air and chanted the lyrics. Genie, still in her wedding gown, shimmied up to the stage and danced with the lead singer, while her new husband cheered.

Babette took advantage of the increased noise level to ask what she really wanted to know. “Okay, I’ll admit it. I saw the announcement, and I want details.”

Clarise shrugged. “I don’t have any. In fact, we just learned about the engagement this morning. I think Jeff had planned to tell the family in person, but then he learned that the news had leaked to the paper, and he called.”

“And?” Babette asked.

“He said that he was getting married, and he’d tell us all about it when they come home in a few days for Christmas.”

Genie’s voice, horribly off key, suddenly boomed over the microphone as the song reached its climax. “Now,
wai-a-ait a minute
,” she sang, while Richard, and every other guest, burst out laughing.

“Clarise, I’m taking the little darlings out to the foyer to see the big Christmas tree.” Olivia Eubanks’s voice was louder than Babette had ever heard it, with her trying to pitch it over Genie’s shrill singing and over the four-year-olds, both begging to go see the “big tree.”

“That’s fine,” Clarise said, ruffling Little Ethan’s hair as she spoke. “As long as both of you are good for Grandma Olivia.”

They bobbed their heads, while Olivia’s attention moved past her daughter-in-law and to Clarise’s sister. “Babette, I almost didn’t recognize you with the long blond hair. It’s quite stunning, dear.”

“Thanks.” Babette noted the crisp winter white suit that perfectly accented Olivia’s classic creamy white waves. The look was something totally befitting Meryl Streep’s character in
The Devil Wears Prada,
except where Miranda Priestly’s face always held a hint of disdain toward the world in general, Olivia’s shone with kindness.

“Last time I saw you, you had a black bob, didn’t you? Actually, that looked very nice as well,” Olivia said with a smile, while Clarise gave the kids additional instructions on what to touch, or not to touch, when they saw the Christmas tree.

“I thought she looked like Jackie Kennedy then, didn’t you?” Granny Gert asked Olivia.

“Yes, I did,” Olivia agreed. “Oh, Babette, I wanted to compliment you on the work you did for the Fall catalog. Preston went on and on about the photos you took at the last shoot, and when I saw the finished product, I could see why. You really are an excellent photographer.”

“It helps that all of the Eubanks clothes are so incredible,” Babette said.

“Well, I’d agree with you there, though I know that the models help, too. However, I also know it takes a photographer with a good eye to capture the look my husband and his boys want for the business.”

His boys. Ethan and Jeff were thirty-eight, but still “boys” in Olivia’s eyes. Babette mentally willed Olivia to say something about Jeff’s engagement.

Didn’t happen.

“Preston mentioned you’d taken a new job at an assisted living center, but he said you’d still be able to shoot our catalogs,” Olivia said. “If we put out more than two catalogs a year, maybe your work with us could be something more than part time. Anyway, I’m glad to know that you can do both.”

Babette swallowed, nodded. Maybe Olivia wouldn’t ask for details about the new job. Thankfully, Lindy and Little Ethan chose that moment to grab her hands and begin tugging her from the table.

“Come on,” Little Ethan urged.

Olivia laughed, said her goodbyes, then let the twins lead her away, before Babette learned anything at all about Jeff and Kitty Carelle.

She turned back to Granny and Clarise, while the music died to a whisper as the group got to the
“a little bit softer now”
part.

“Oh, honey, you were fired again, weren’t you?” Granny asked, loudly.

Babette prayed that the
“little bit louder”
portion of the song got here soon, before everyone at the reception heard her job woes.

“It just happened yesterday. How did you hear already?” She really hadn’t wanted to discuss yet another job loss on her birthday.

Granny’s mouth curled in a bit, not quite a frown, but not far from it. “Oh, honey, no one told me. I could see it on your face when Olivia mentioned it.”

“I missed it, but I was looking at the kids,” Clarise said. “What happened?”

“Basically, I caused a fight between two guys in wheelchairs, then received a pink slip with yesterday’s paycheck.”

The corners of Granny Gert’s pink glossed lips gave up the fight and tugged all the way down in a full frown. “I don’t get it. You were doing great at the assisted living center. All of my friends there loved you. They said so, all the time. Why, Maud Lovett said just this week that they’d never had more fun with an activities director than with you.”

“So how, exactly, did you cause a wheelchair fight?” Clarise asked, and she had the good manners not to smile or laugh when she said it, quite a feat, when considering the image those words created: silver hair, slinging fists, and wheelchairs. An odd combination, for sure, but one that Babette had seen firsthand. Not pretty.

“Remember how I told you I thought Lambert Wiggins had his eye on one of the ladies from the quilting class?”

Clarise shook her head. “No, I don’t.”

Granny nodded. “You told me, dear, when you were explaining the whole body language thing. And you know, I’m learning to spot some of the signs myself, when I’m at the center and out shopping and all. It does come in handy.”

“ ‘The body language thing?’ ” Clarise asked.

“Babette has been studying up on body language,” Granny said.

Clarise rubbed her eyes, then squinted toward Babette. “Studying up? Oh, Babette, are you going back to school again?”

“Don’t worry, I’m learning about it on my own. I’m done with degrees. Heaven knows I can’t handle any more student loans.”

Clarise sighed. Babette couldn’t blame her; the whole family knew she’d dug herself in deep with all of the debt she owed to three different universities, because she simply couldn’t make up her mind about what she wanted to do. Too bad she didn’t realize she liked trying to figure people out before her job at Shady Pines. Maybe she could’ve gotten a degree in psychology or something like that.

“Babette has a knack for reading folks,” Granny said, her train of thought apparently in line with Babette’s. “Why, she told me after her first day at the center who hung out with who, who despised who, and even who the denture thief was.”

“The denture thief? Someone was actually stealing dentures?” Clarise wrinkled her nose disgustedly, while Babette laughed.

“Not exactly stealing. Borrowing. And that one really didn’t involve any body language. I’d noticed that Ms. Mulhaney was on a soft diet, since she didn’t have teeth. Then I saw her munching on an apple at lunch. Later on, she was all gums again. And in the meantime, the denture thief had stolen Ms. Fenton’s dentures, for about an hour.”

“Long enough to eat an apple,” Clarise said, smothering her laugh.

“Yep.”

Granny Gert wasn’t as subtle with her laughter, and actually snorted. Thankfully, all of the wedding guests at the tables surrounding them seemed involved in their own conversations and didn’t notice. “Poor Ms. Mulhaney.”

“Anyway, at Shady Pines, I started noticing that I’m pretty good at reading people, their body language, even interpreting what they’re really saying when they speak. Most of the time, I’m spot on. And lately, I’ve been reading up on body language and researching it on the Internet, and I’ve bought a few books on intimate behavior, that kind of thing.” She shrugged. “You know me, always wanting to learn something new.”

“And getting bored with the things you already know,” Clarise said, grinning.

“Show Clarise how you do it,” Granny urged. “Why don’t you read Clarise?”

Clarise sat back in her chair and raised her brows speculatively. “Okay, I’m game. Read me, sis.”

“Read you?”

“Sure. What is my body language saying, right now?”

Babette realized that she had, in fact, surveyed Clarise’s actions throughout this conversation and had a good idea exactly what her sister was thinking. “It isn’t all that difficult, once you figure out the signs.”

“Okay, so read me.”

Babette narrowed her eyes a bit, focusing on her sister. “You’re trying to act interested in this conversation, but your hands are busy fiddling with your fork. However, your eyes are still paying attention to me.” She paused, recalling something else noteworthy, then added, “But when Granny mentioned I was studying how to read people, you rubbed your eyes.”

Clarise smirked. “And that tells you, what?”

“The fact that you’re fiddling with the fork but looking at me tells me that you understand what I’m saying is important, but you’ve got half a piece of chocolate cake left and you’re wanting to delve back in. But you don’t want to seem rude.”

Granny Gert laughed, and Clarise joined in. “Okay, I do want more cake, and I’m assuming it’s okay with you for me to have it while you discuss your latest dilemma.”

“Knock yourself out.”

“Is that all you can tell about me now?” Clarise asked, then took a big bite of cake.

“You rubbed your eyes,” Babette repeated. “That means you couldn’t believe what you were hearing. It’s a sign of disbelief, and in this case, I’d say you couldn’t believe that I was possibly going back to school again. Which I’m not, as I said.”

“Not bad,” Clarise said.

“It’s kind of fun, once you start learning how to do it. And I am still learning—certainly not an expert or anything.”

“She got the idea from Dr. Phil,” Granny said. “You know, he talks about body language and such a good bit, and Babette heard him mention it, decided that she might be able to use body language to help her figure out what the folks at the center were thinking, and then she started putting it in action.” Granny sounded quite impressed.

Babette was too, right up until her new technique cost her another job.

“Okay, so what does your learning how to read body language have to do with you getting fired from Shady Pines?” Clarise asked.

“Something to do with Lambert Wiggins and the lady from the quilting class? And I know Lambert, of course, but you’d better fill Clarise in,” Granny said.

“Okay. Lambert Wiggins, an eighty-two-year-old with a sweet smile, signed up for the quilting class. That was odd to begin with, because he was the only male in the class, but he said his mama used to quilt and he’d always had an interest in it. However, he wasn’t just interested in quilting. He was interested in Joslyn Peal, a sixty-nine-year-old lady in the same class. Reading the two of them wasn’t hard at all. They held eye contact a little longer than they needed to, gave those sideways glances, smiled, you know, the easy signs. So I asked Lambert if he’d like me to formally introduce them. Kind of funny that they’re the age they are and still shy, don’t you think?”

“It’s sweet,” Clarise said, while Granny shook her head.

“Oh, child, you didn’t.”

Apparently, Granny knew the story behind the story, but Babette had been clueless. “I did. I talked to both of them, found out they were interested in having a date, and then I brought in all of the necessities for a candlelight dinner, music, good soft food—he has dentures—and everything for a night of elderly romance.”

Clarise grinned. “How sweet! So what went wrong?”

“Joslyn was married, and her husband happened to be Lambert’s canasta partner. The dinner never happened, because Roy Peal found out and took after Lambert in his wheelchair. He had one of those battery-operated state-of-the-art models and nearly put Lambert in the grave when he ran him down. Lambert’s in a wheelchair too, but he’s got the plain old-fashioned type. He didn’t stand a chance against Joslyn’s husband’s motorized chair.”