Gathering String (17 page)

“Damn it, Augie, I’m not canning that story.” Jack grabbed Tess’s arm, and they all started toward the door. “I’d be running a pretty poor paper if I didn’t run something the whole town is already talking about.”

“That’s just it, it’s just gossip.”

“The hell it is. It’s public record.”

Almost to the door, he stopped abruptly, pulling Tess to one side and saying softly, “Sorry about all this. Can you wait till I get back? Stay here, or I’ll meet you down at the diner on Sheridan Street.”

She nodded and asked quietly, “What’s his deal?” inclining her head at the small, unhappy mayor, shuffling toward the pressroom as if he might snatch the plate off the press himself. He reminded her of a round raccoon, scuttling for cover.

“Later,” Jack muttered and then called, “Brace yourself, Augie. It’ll post to the website shortly too.” He pulled the door open. “Any ideas for a quick picture?”

“Try to get the butcher working; slicing deli meat, waiting on customers. Not posed, just being a butcher.” Jack smiled his thanks, and called over her head, “Hey, Thelma?” The crabby woman stuck her head out of her office. “This is Tess. Get her a soda, or something. And explain to her where the diner is, OK?” He leaned down to barely brush her lips, and then ran down the stairs, the luckless Laramie hurrying after.

For a moment Tess stood staring, nonplussed at the closed door. She could have offered to go along, but she’d have felt silly watching, and even worse if she’d tried to help. Jack was embarrassed enough as it was. Then she caught Thelma’s jaundiced eye and floated a polite smile. The woman smirked and called to the back, “Bob? You’re not doing anything with the press stopped. Grab a coke and bring it out here. Jack’s left another of his girls behind.”

Another of his girls
? Suddenly Tess was tempted to just go out the door and head for home. But she could see Thelma was waiting for her reaction, and she swallowed the resentment to call, “Don’t bother, Bob. I’m fine.” Turning away, she said, “I’ll just check in with work.”

She sat at the roll-top desk and called the office, making sure they didn’t have any questions for her. It was obviously Jack’s desk, and she smiled as she looked at the neatly docketed slots with his precise, smooth handwriting. While she talked, Thelma bustled over and began removing some of the papers spread across the shiny surface, giving Tess a glare, as if she’d caught her snooping, even as she listened to every word Tess was saying. Wrapping up quickly, Tess touched end-call and said, “No need to clean up. I won’t touch anything.” She picked up a copy of yesterday’s paper, “I’ll just take a look through this.”

“Suit yourself.” Thelma tucked the papers firmly under her arm, as if placing them in a vault. “So, you’re Jack’s new girlfriend?” Tess kept her eyes on the paper and didn’t answer. Thelma pursed her lips, leaning over Tess’s shoulder and shutting down Jack’s computer. “Keep in mind that those of us who work in the main office would like to head home in awhile. Some of us have been here since 7 a.m.”

Tess lowered the paper, and gave the hag a long stare. “Please don’t let me keep you. I’ll be fine here with the production folks in the back.”

Thelma sniffed. “Jack has friends,” she elongated the word “friends” suggestively, “in and out all the time. But I never leave them out here alone. There’s just too much sensitive stuff around. But you can stay until I have to leave.”

“No.” Tess stood up, determined now to walk out even if she had to go sit in the public library. “Why don’t you just tell me where the diner is?”

“Two blocks south, and a half block east,” Thelma was obviously pleased. “It’s in a converted church and is called the Sanctuary. I wonder that Jack wants to meet you there though, since that’s where Shelly works. But then, if you’re seeing him, he must have told you all about her.”

Tess raised her eyebrows, stepped around the older woman, and went out without looking back.

Jack came through the door of the diner. She was sitting at a back table with a tall glass of iced tea, staring into her laptop screen, fiddling with a couple of pictures she didn’t really like and knew she would soon delete. He tossed the paper to her.

“Better?” He smiled as she looked down to see a close-up of a gapped-tooth little girl opening wide to bite down on a foot-long hot dog.

“Much. You didn’t pose her, did you?” she looked up at him slyly.

“No, but I was tempted. The owner sells dogs right in the place, and they really did smell great. The kid kept whining for it, but mom thought it was too close to dinner. I felt like a pervert, lurking around her until the mom finally gave in. But it saved my ass. Thanks for the ideas. The paper was still an hour late getting out.” He frowned at that, and she shrugged. “Thel said you didn’t stay very long. She was disappointed not to get the chance to show you around.”

“Yeah right,” Tess snorted. “That old bat did everything but shove me out the door. She was not your best ambassador, Westphal.”

“Really?” He looked down at his paper absently, reading through a lead again, and frowning. “This was not our best work. It was a tough day.”

“The raccoon? Oh, Augie,” he laughed. “Yeah, I guess that is about what he looks like. Well, Augie is Lindsborg’s mayor, and the council just approved the local car dealership’s bid on a new police car. The only problem is that the dealership is owned by his cousin … ”

The waitress came up, interrupting with a flippant “Hi Jackie! It’s been awhile. Where you been keeping yourself?”

“At work.” He smiled up at her, and she handed him a menu without looking at Tess, who already had one. “Can I get an iced tea too? It looks like a lifesaver.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty hot out, isn’t it?” She smiled down at him with unmistakable fondness. “Sugar and lemon, right?” He nodded.

With a frown, Tess began packing her laptop away, and Jack flipped a page of the
Journal
, glancing down over it quickly and saying, “The hot roast beef sandwich is good here.”

As she straightened, Tess knew her temper was slipping. It had been a long drive in a hot car, and after a morning of looking forward to seeing him, she’d been left with Thelma and a long wait alone in a small cafe. Now she was taking a back seat to a paper he’d surely already read and a very cute waitress. Worse yet, she doubted now that it was going to happen between them tonight, and she had the uncomfortable feeling that it hadn’t even occurred to him that it might.

“Jessie? And would Jessie be another one of
your girls
?”

He sat back, a little startled. “What is this about?”

“Thelma couldn’t wait to fill me in on your love life. Thought I should know that Shelly might be here. Of course, she assumed that I already knew all about her. But Jessie seems to know you pretty well too.”

Jack frowned. “We went to high school together. Jessie’s been married for years.”

“And that’s a problem? Because Thelma implied that you pretty much have them lined up in the newsroom every evening, waiting for you. Bambi, Shelly, Jessie …”

His frown deepened. “OK, Bambi was way back, and we already talked about her. And like I said, Jessie’s an old friend. Of course it matters that she’s married. There are rules about that.”

“Hey, I’ve seen you drive. Breaking the law doesn’t worry you much.”

“Well, breaking vows does.” His tone was sharp as he looked back down at the paper, then shook his head, folding it up, obviously irritated. “Jessie’d laugh her ass off if she heard this ridiculous conversation. I was a groomsman at their wedding. And by the way, Thelma doesn’t know a hell of a lot about my love life.” His stern face across the table was warning enough, but after her time with Sam, Tess didn’t back down easily.

“So who is Shelly?”

Jessie brought the iced tea, looking from one serious face to another, and asked, “You guys still deciding?” Jack nodded. “OK then.” She stepped away with a discrete glance back.

Finally Jack leaned forward and said softly. “Shelly’s mom is one of Thel’s friends. I suppose they were playing matchmaker a little. So Shelly and I went out a few times. It was a pretty long time ago.”

“Was it serious?”

“No. Not for me.”

Her eyes narrowed. “So, is that the way it always goes, Jack? Go out for a little while, not long, nothing serious, and then on to the next?”

He cocked his head to one side, the frown lines deep between his eyes as he looked at her. “What the hell is this, Tess?”

“I’m just trying to get a feel for what to expect. I can handle a casual thing. But I’d like to know going in that's what it would be. I can take my place on a long line if I have to.” His mouth tightened into a thin, tense line as she added, “Although to be honest, I’ve already had to share a man, and I’m not really up for it again.”

He stood up, tossed a five onto the table, and then reached down to pick up her computer bag, saying only, “Let’s go.” Usually so polite, he turned and walked away, letting her follow out to her car. Opening the back door, he put the bag in. When he turned to her, he sighed and said, “I was really looking forward to seeing you today. But I think we should call it a night.”

She felt her chest go tight. “You can’t fault me for asking, Jack.”

“Oh, I think I can. Maybe Thel was pretty hard on you. I wouldn’t put it past her. But there’s really no reason for me to take this from you. We’ve both had a few single years, and I’m not about to explain every one of mine. I can’t pretend there hasn’t been anyone since the ‘blond named Bambi.’ But I’ve always tried to be a gentleman, so I never discuss one lady with another.” He pulled open the driver’s side door, indicating she should get in.

“Fine. But when that battle-ax you harbor makes it sound like I’m just the new one for the evening, and then I have to sit and watch sweet little Jessie come flirting …”

His voice dropped in deep, icy anger. “Jessie got engaged to my brother Matt about a month before he died. So if you noticed a little familiarity, maybe it’s because we spent time grieving the same people.”

For one appalled second she stood staring, and then she said softly as she sat down in the car, "I'm sorry."

His voice was a hoarse whisper, “No dice. I shouldn’t have had to explain that. There have been some women in my life, Tess, for one reason or another. But, frankly, not one of them is any of your damn business.”

“Jack …”

He wouldn’t let her go on. “I don’t think in terms of having you take a place in a line.” He popped the door shut with a sudden, abrupt push and leaned down to the open window. “And whichever guy you had to share, well, he’s the man you’ve got a problem with, not me. Frankly, I don’t want to hear one word about the son of a bitch. You’re right. Getting laid is always easy. And maybe, at one time that was enough for me. But …”

When he hesitated, she pushed, “What? That’s all I want to know. What do you want?”

He dropped to one knee so he could see through the window more easily. “For a long time all I wanted, all I really needed, was work. It was sort of a therapy, I think. Then you came along, and for the first time I could see how …” He leaned in a little more, brushing the curls back from her forehead, “… how lonely I’d become. Of course I want to sleep with you, Tess. I’d be crazy if I didn’t. But if that happens, I want it to be between just you and me. I don't want anything from the past mixing in.”

He didn’t wait for her to reply, standing up and brushing the dirt from his jeans. “Go on now. Go home and think about letting some things go. When you’re ready, I’m hoping you’ll call.”

She drew a breath to say something, but he turned and walked away. Miserably, she watched him go. And then she flipped the ignition and started back toward the city.

Jack didn’t call. For three days Tess didn’t either. But every time she turned onto her block, she found herself looking for his Jeep, hoping that he’d decided to “take a shot.” On the Friday morning after the disastrous visit she was finally certain it was up to her, but still she hesitated. She’d insulted him, and she doubted apologizing would undo that. She cringed at the thought of hearing his voice brushing her off. It was almost noon before she screwed up her courage and called from work.

“Lindsborg
Journal
.”

She hung up the phone and thought about calling Jack on his cell, remembering that the last time he’d gone to Ames, he’d come down to the city to take her to Marino’s. Maybe he was already on his way. With her hand on the phone, she jumped when it rang.

“Ms. Benedict?” It was a woman’s voice, one she didn’t recognize. “We have a mutual friend, Jack Westphal. He suggested I call.”

She had been thinking of Jack, but she’d expected a work call, and all Tess could think to say was, “Yes?”

“I should explain. My name is Dolly Timm, and I’ve been on the art faculty at Iowa State for about the last hundred years.” Tess couldn’t keep from smiling at the robust laugh that followed. “In fact, I just saw Jack at my retirement brunch at the art department this morning. You could have knocked me down with a feather.”