Chapter 20

Cal escorted Roxie to the reception room, just as he did for all his clients at the conclusion of an appointment.

“I’ll be in touch with you soon,” he promised.

Roxie turned her head to him and smiled.

“Be sure you do,” she purred back at him.

As she left Cal observed her through the glass door descending the stairs. It wasn’t ogling, he told himself, just observing. He knew Delores was watching him. She would just have to watch.

He fixed his gaze on Roxie and stood motionless until that pair of a-little-bit-too-tight black pants was out of view. That was something that he did not do for all his clients. Then he turned around and went back to his office.

Delores followed him in and set the used coffee cups on a tray and was getting ready to clear them away. She set the tray back down on the desk and waved her hands in front of her face, as if trying to clear a line of sight in a smoky room.

“Whew!” she exclaimed. “I hate the smell of cheap perfume.”

“I hadn’t really noticed,” Cal replied. “Was Roxie wearing perfume?”

Delores rolled her eyes and seated herself in the chair Roxie had been in a few minutes before.

“Don’t play it coy with me, sir,” Delores scolded. “You had to notice it. You couldn’t miss it. I smelled it as soon as she came through the door when she first got here.”

Cal laughed.

“I’m glad she wore the cheap stuff. I wouldn’t know the difference between it and the expensive kind. She would’ve wasted it on me.”

Delores clamped her jaw shut and sucked her lips together, in that way she always did when she about to tell Cal a thing or two. It was the way she got when he would give a late-paying client extra time to pay his bill or when too many chargeable hours were comped off an invoice. She had even tried it out a time or two when she had a lonely bachelorette school teacher on hand who she thought was ready and able to fill Cal’s romantic needs. Cal braced himself.

“There’s only one reason why a woman like her would wear perfume for a visit to her lawyer’s office,” she informed him. “She didn’t come to discuss legal points.”

“Well, if that was true it was too bad for her because there were a number of legal points up for discussion this afternoon.”

“I’d bet she didn’t understand a single one,” Delores retorted. “She probably wasn’t even listening while you were talking to her.”

“Not true!” Cal shot back.

Delores sat up straight and folded her hands on the desk in front of her. That told Cal that his secretary wasn’t going anywhere right away. She took a deep breath and shook her head in the slow, sad way that was the harbinger of motherly advice.

“There’s a reason why that girl’s been tried out and discarded by so many men.”

“Maybe so, Delores,” Cal replied, “but I sure don’t have any idea what it is. Maybe she’s...”

“Let it be her problem,” Delores interrupted. “Let me find someone nice for you; someone more at your level; a nice girl who’s been more...”

Delores scrunched her face, looking for the right word.

“More what?” Cal taunted.

“You know,” she answered.

Cal shook his head.

“More careful with her ... her ... choices,” she blurted out at last. “More refined,” she added.

“I see,” Cal answered.

He sat back in his chair.

“You’re assuming that Roxie and I have something going on. She’s just a client—I’ve got a lot of clients. You don’t know anything but that.”

Delores let out an exasperated sigh. She shook her head again.

“A woman has a way of knowing these things. Even if you can’t see it yet, she has her eye on you,” she pronounced. “We’ll play it your way, if that’s what you want. Let’s just say we were talking on a hypothetical basis.”

“Okay, we’ll call it hypothetical,” Cal agreed.

“But remember this,” she hastened to add, “I could set you up with a lot of suitable dates, if only you’d let me. Lord knows, I’ve tried. I just need the word from you because most of the women in this town think you’re not interested. They’re tired of waiting for you.”

Cal shrugged.

“Maybe I’m not interested,” he admitted, “or I’m not ready—at least right now.”

Delores picked up the tray full of used dishes and left Cal’s office. He felt relieved that she was finished. She was always ready to play matchmaker. On this day she had gone a step further than she ever had. Cal likened it to her filing a claim on his romantic interest, a lien of sorts, which she could cash in at a moment of her choosing.

He didn’t care for that thought, but Delores had been with him since he first opened his practice. She’d always looked after his interests. Surely, she was doing that, just like always. He had to admit to himself that he probably did reveal some interest in Roxie that he hadn’t realized, but Delores noticed. He should have been more careful.

“Besides,” he asked himself as he shook his head, “what judge would ever enforce such a lien?”

Only he, himself, could grant that right, and he told Delores that he wasn’t ready for that big step—and that was true beyond any doubt. At least, he was quite sure it was true.

He couldn’t deny, however, that the interest was there. It would probably go away, he thought, as passing time makes so many fleeting ideas go away. He was unable to define it, or why he was interested in this too-easy-to-capture waitress with the reputation that led to so many snickers. But, the more he was with this young woman—of whom no one approved—the more okay she seemed to be. Life was confusing.

Of course, if he had accepted one of Delores’ prospects he would have been required to make a report and offer excuses if it didn’t work out. Just the acceptance of an introduction would have sent him a step closer to the tux shop and the tape measure on his sleeve would have reminded him of Delores’ investment in the outcome. Roxie didn’t demand that protocol. He could take her out for a few laughs, and if the laughs weren’t there, then no harm done.

At least, that’s how Cal viewed things. He had work to do before closing the office for the day. He could think about the whole thing later. In the meantime, he reminded himself to be more careful about what he allowed people to see.

Cal sat back in his leather office chair and decided to neglect his work for a little while longer. He thought about Roxie and about himself and tried to think of the two concepts in a single thought. It wasn’t easy. When he did, he found it was not altogether so unpleasant. Sure, she’d once been an irritation, but not lately. She’d shown her good side, too. It seemed that she was always connected with Edwin, so maybe he never really disliked her—just her connection.

They would be a Mutt-and-Jeff couple, if they ever got to be a couple. He envied her experience. She was a girl who knew her way around a barroom, the kitchen of a diner or a poolroom as well as Cal knew his way around his office. She knew a lot about a lot of things. It was quite a difference.

“Hell, I was in the Army and never even saw the inside of a whorehouse.”

He’d had his chances, of course, but always resisted.

He tripped to the present. He remembered he was on the hook for a County Fair weekend date. He would have to find a place to take her. A ride to Syracuse and dinner at a place up there might be a good idea. Or, there was a small Italian place called ‘Joe’s’ in Ithaca that he liked.

“Yes, that’s it! We’ll drive over to Ithaca for dinner and then be at the Fair in time for the fireworks.”

So, his plans were set. A trip out of town where they could be seen together and no one would know them. It was away, but not too far and Ithaca was not much bigger than Appleton. It would be a ‘no big deal’ date. It was a good plan. He put his mind back on his work.

Cal spent the rest of the afternoon working on a will he was drafting for a client, and then on setting up a related trust. The time went by fast. He nearly forgot to call Bennett Associates to press for the appraisal. The partner in charge of the job told him that George Lambe had already called and he had promised a preliminary number by the end of the next day.

He heard Delores in the reception room beginning to lock up her things for the night. She hadn’t said a word to him since their talk about Roxie. Cal figured she was pouting.

“I’m leaving now,” she called from her desk.

That confirmed to Cal that she was still out of sorts. She almost always asked ‘if he needed anything before she left’, and he nearly always said ‘no’.

“See you in the morning, Delores,” he called back.

Things would back to normal in the morning. He set about finishing his own cleanup. As he did he thought about his brother.

“He’ll be angry when he finds out that I asked Roxie to go the County Fair.”

He shrugged his shoulders. Edwin had told him a number of times that Roxie was a free agent. Somehow, he didn’t believe that his brother had meant it, and the feeling of competition sent a surge through his spine.

“He’ll be even more burned up when he finds out she accepted.”

It was going to be a nasty surprise for his little brother. Life was full of surprises. Of course, the timing of those surprises could be controlled, so he decided to let Edwin know about it before the fact.

“I’ll take a drive out to his place and have a talk with him.”

He knew that Edwin would be busy in the barn until seven, or a little after. He decided to get something to eat at the Bluebird first, and drive out to his cabin after that.

Roxie wasn’t on duty at the Bluebird, having done the breakfast shift that day. He could see by the number of cars in the lot that business was on the slow side. He figured that his regular booth would be open, which Bonnie was sure to be covering. Cal figured it would give Bonnie a chance to fawn over him as she almost always did.

Most times, Bonnie’s attentions were a vexing distraction. But after his success with Roxie he found himself looking forward to them. So he felt himself pump a little more air into his chest as he strode through the front door of the Bluebird Diner. He sensed possession of a new aura, a comforting swell inside that made him feel confident and deserving. For the first time he understood why Bonnie couldn’t help but flirt at him like a teenager.

As usual, Cal didn’t wait for Millie to show him to his table. She nodded at him as she poured coffee for another table full of customers. He made his way across the dining room. It was nice to feel his new confidence and have a female admirer who couldn’t wait to serve him. There was no reason to rush across the room. He made sure that he kept his posture tall and straight.

Bonnie was busy at another table as Cal took his seat. In prior days he thought she had a spindly figure. As he sat waiting his turn he had a chance to reassess her form in profile. He realized that she wasn’t so spindly after all. He judged her too tall to be curvy, like Roxie. Her figure was sleek, like a runner, and not very hard to look at.

“Variety is the spice of life.”

He never thought of Bonnie as a person of interest, and his opinion was not changed about that. He thought, for once, he’d enjoy the flirting that he had become used to. He had done well with Roxie and learned that the little game could be fun.

“Hi, Bonnie,” he said as she approached his booth, “it looks like I’m at your table again.”

“I guess you are, Cal,” she answered.

“I think you planned it that way,” he said and then gave her a smile.

“No, Cal,” Bonnie said in a monotone, “I barely had time to think about it at all.”

He was expecting more from Bonnie. Before he lost his new confidence he decided to send her away.

“Why don’t you just pour me a coffee and let me look at the menu for a minute?”

She did as Cal asked without saying anything more. As she walked away Cal wondered what had changed. Bonnie’s response was always so reliable. He thought about it and resolved to try again as he saw her returning to his table.

“Do you know what you want yet?” she asked.