When You Dance With The Devil (Dafina Contemporary Romance) (12 page)

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Authors: Gwynne Forster

BOOK: When You Dance With The Devil (Dafina Contemporary Romance)
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Jolene’s hands went to her hips. It didn’t take much to exasperate her with Fannie. “He didn’t pay much attention to me all those years when my mama treated me as if I were her personal slave, so how was I to know he’d suddenly started worrying about my well-being? I’m not a mind reader.”
Fannie looked toward the ceiling. “Lord, give me strength. He was probably trying to guide your mother.”
“No he wasn’t. For six years, she was bedridden, unable to go out of the house. Except to bring communion every three months, he didn’t go into her house until I sent for him a couple of weeks before she died. I don’t know what he wants from me.”
“Philip is a good man, a man of God, and you be careful how you speak of him.”
“Yes, ma’am. Excuse me, but I have to leave now or I’ll miss my bus to Salisbury.”
She reached the bus stop as the driver was closing the door. “Come on. Get in. You know I don’t wait for anybody. I have to keep my schedule.”
She thanked him, paid her fare, and sat down to read her book. “What are you always reading?” he asked, and she realized that he watched her through the rear view mirror.”
“A book. No point in wasting a good hour when I could be reading.”
“I’d like to know what’s in those books that keeps your nose stuck to them like a fly to flypaper. I’m beginning to wonder if I’m losing my touch.”
Losing his touch?
She closed the book and focused on him. A big guy. Over six feet tall, she surmised—although she had only seen him standing once—lean and muscular. And young! He couldn’t be a day older than she. Hmmm, she’d have to pay more attention to him.
Vida Boney, a hairdresser at the shop in which she worked, asked Jolene, “Want to stop by, meet my family, and have a cup of coffee or tea before you go home? It’s walking distance from here.”
Jolene thought for a minute. Vida was always nice to her. If she went, maybe they could become friends, and she would have someone with whom to talk and ask questions about the things she read in her books. Yet she hesitated.
“I take my dinner where I live, and the landlady won’t like it if I’m late.”
“Tell her you were with a friend and forgot the time. At least, stay for a few minutes. I promise to get you back to the bus stop in time.”
Friend? Did Vida regard her as a friend? She didn’t see how that was possible. Still . . . “Okay. I’ll stop by for a few minutes.”
Vida’s three-year-old twin daughters greeted Jolene with laughs and giggles, took her hand, and led her to their private sanctum, where they insisted that she play with their toys and games and read to them from their books. She’d had no experience with small children and was impressed that they seemed captivated with her. When she remembered to look at her watch, she saw that she had less than twenty minutes to get to the bus stop.
“I’ll come back again,” she assured the twins, who were loathe to see her leave. She ran most of the way and reached the bus as the driver was about to close the door.
“What’re you up to?” the bus driver asked her. “Lately, you come close to missing me every evening. You were late this morning, too.”
So he’d been watching her! “You knew I’d be here,” she said and took the front seat across from him. “What’re
you
up to?” Too bad you couldn’t tell by looking at a man whether he would be affectionate and treat you as if you were the most precious person on earth. She’d had sex with Jim and hadn’t felt anything. She hadn’t wanted to do anything with Bob, because she feared he would tell his brother, Joe, and Percy made her feel like trash. Gregory hadn’t bothered to bring up the subject.
“What’s your name?” she asked the bus driver.
“Harper Masterson. He glanced toward her, a grin displaying his even white teeth. “Any particular reason why you wanted to know?”
“It’s easier to talk to a person if you know his or her name.”
“Don’t you plan to tell me yours, or is this some kind of game?”
She told him her name and added, “And you keep it to yourself.”
His chuckle surprised her, because she had meant that he shouldn’t yell out her name when she boarded or left the bus. “Are you on the lam or something? You sure don’t look the type. People say the river that runs silent runs deep, and I bet that applies to you.” He pulled up to a stop, opened the door and let two women board. “What do you do on Sundays? That’s my day off.”
This time, she was going to let the man worry a little bit. She folded her arms and leaned back, her mind spinning with ways to inveigle him into getting involved with her. “I know what I’ll do,” she said to herself, “and I’ll test it tomorrow morning.” To him, she said, “I go to church in the mornings, but you know the Baptists; mornings last till two in the afternoon.”
“You playing hard to get? You must do something after church, so what about doing it with me?”
“Let me get to know you first. Then we’ll see.”
He brought the bus to a stop at a red light, turned and looked at her. “I’ve got the patience of Job, baby, and when I decide I want something, I get it.”
Remembering her decision moments earlier to let him work for what he got from her, she quelled the excitement that raced through her. “I’m planning to go to school evenings, so I won’t have a lot of free time.”
The light changed, and he drove on. “That’s got nothing to do with how you spend your Sunday afternoons. Don’t try to dangle me, Jolene. I don’t dance to anybody’s tune but my own. If you’re not interested, say so right now. It definitely won’t cause a tidal wave.” He reached Bay Avenue in Pike Hill and brought the bus to a halt. “Last stop,” he called out to the four remaining passengers.
“I’ll see you in the morning,” she said, rushing to get off the bus.
“And be on time, because I’m not allowed to wait one minute. By then you should be ready to answer my question, though I’ve found that when a woman doesn’t come right out and say no, she’s eventually going to say yes. See you in the morning.”
The next morning Jolene stepped on the bus three minutes before the scheduled departure time. “Hi. I see I’m the first one on this morning.” She opened her pocketbook to look for the fare.
“Yeah. Couldn’t wait to see me.” His grin made it impossible for her to know whether he intended it as a joke.
“I . . . uh . . . I think I left my billfold home.” She looked at her watch and allowed an expression of panic to settle on her face. “I haven’t got a penny.”
“All right. Sit right over there.” He pointed to the seat she occupied the previous evening. “And you had definitely better be on time this evening, unless you want to walk from Salisbury to Pike Hill.”
She sat down. That had been much easier than she had imagined. She had the money for her fare, but she needed to know whether he cared about her. “I don’t know how to thank you. My boss is not an understanding person.”
The engine roared into action, and he drove off. “Forget it,” he said. “You’d do the same for me.” She kept a solemn face. This one would be easy. He was already planning to let her ride home free.
 
 
“We’re getting a new boarder,” Fannie sang out to Richard and Judd as they left the breakfast table. “Thank the Lord, and she’s an upstanding, churchgoing, law abiding citizen.”
“I hope she’s not sanctimonious,” Richard said under his breath. “One of them in this place is more than enough.”
“Could be worse,” Judd said. “Better that than one of these young floozies.”
Richard stared at Judd. “A what?”
“I guess that’s what you young people call a femme fatale, a woman who’s always drawing attention to her breasts and behind. Heck, if they’re worth looking at, a woman doesn’t have to wave a flag; I’ll see ’em.” They sat facing each other in their favorite chairs in the lounge and, as if summoned by mental telepathy, Rodger appeared with coffee for two.
Richard stretched out his long legs, relaxed and aware of it. “I was hoping the time would come when the sight of high breasts and a well sloped behind wouldn’t start my libido roaring.”
The gurgles in Judd’s throat spilled out of him in the form of laughter. “You’ve got a lot to learn, son. It never stops. Your half-hearted libido tells you to go after something, and then Johnny-one-note down there tells you
don’t even think it
. Be thankful that, incompetent though Johnny may be, he’s still got sense enough to know that and won’t start what he can’t finish.”
“I’m not there yet,” Richard said. He saw Fannie post a note on the bulletin board and went over to read it. “Jellyfish in the bay this morning, so it isn’t a good idea to swim unless you don’t mind those stings.”
“When is the new boarder coming?” he asked Fannie.
“She should be here any minute.” In that case, he would remain in the lounge with Judd and see what she was like.
About twenty minutes later, Rodger walked into the foyer, rested three suitcases by the door and literally strutted into the lounge followed by a woman who Richard assumed to be the new boarder. He stood as the woman approached. She had an infectious smile, and he watched her intently, captivated.
“You must be the new boarder,” he heard Judd say. “M’ name’s Judd Walker and this here is Richard Peterson. We both live here.”
“Happy to meet you,” Richard said, arousing himself from his momentary stupor. He told himself that it wasn’t her looks, but her persona, her commanding presence that reminded him of Estelle.
“I’m glad to meet both of you. I’m Francine Spaldwood, and I just had quite a scare when an eighteen-wheeler nearly ran me off the highway.”
“Let me get you a cold drink,” Judd said. “I don’t drive any longer, but I remember how nervous driving can make you.” He went to the soft drink dispenser and got a bottle of ginger ale. Judd thought colas ruined your teeth and didn’t believe in drinking them.
“Have a seat, Ms. Spaldwood,” Richard heard himself say. He had expected someone like the women who lived in the house, not a fashionable career type who was both good looking and self-confident.
“Thank you.”
She sat down, crossed her knees and leaned back, sipping the cold drink and as comfortable as if she’d lived there for years.
This woman knows her way around
, he said to himself.
I’ll bet she gives all of us a surprise.
“Thanks for the drink and the company,” she said after a few minutes. “I want to see my room and unpack. I hope I have a good view.”
“You have a wonderful view, ma’am,” Rodger said, picking up her bags and heading up the stairs with her.
“So that’s the new boarder. Ought to liven things up around here,” Judd said. “She’s really something to look at, but I see you’re aware of that.”
He hated it when he let others divine his private reactions and especially his responses to women. “Yeah. She’s good looking, all right, and she’s also a no-nonsense person. Pity the poor bloke who hits on her thinking she’s just another pretty dame.”
“I noticed she got your attention.”
Richard jerked his left shoulder in a quick, dismissive shrug. “Oh, I knew she was there. I appreciate an occasional reminder that women are the greatest source of pleasure on the Lord’s good earth. But man, not at breakfast every morning.”
Judd’s laughter carried a cynical ring. “I have a feeling that you’re not ready for this one. She’ll be good for you, though. It’s time you got your nose out of the air and settled down here with the rest of us.”
Among the crowd in which he’d traveled all of his professional life, his behavior was more or less standard for a man in his position, but these people probably saw him as standoffish and smug. “Look, Judd, I’m not arrogant.”
“Not quite as much as you were when you came here, but you still need to loosen up some.”
Richard changed the subject. He had yet to influence Judd’s opinion about anything. “What do you think of Percy Lucas?”
“Percy? Humph! A weak man with practically nothing going for him.”
“I used to think of such men as weak and feckless,” Richard said, “but for some reason, I pity Lucas.”
Leaning forward with his hands bracing his knees, Judd shook his head as if perplexed. Then, he sat back in his chair and closed his eyes. “Maybe you feel sorry for him because you have everything that he doesn’t have. You may yet develop into a humanitarian. I wonder what Jolene saw in him.”
“Jolene?”
So his guess had been right. “Something happen between Percy and Jolene?”
Judd ran his fingers through his few remaining strands of hair. “The way I figure it, Percy’s problem is that nothing happened. But you never can tell.”
The picture of Jolene standing a foot from Percy and making up to him floated through Richard’s mind’s eye. He didn’t want to develop a hard crust about women who left men hanging, for his bad luck with Estelle was his own doing. He knew that his empathy for Percy sprang from his own experience with the pain of rejection. He had to work at dispelling that pain, ridding himself of his constant loneliness and finding another focus before his need for Estelle became an affliction.

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