*
THEY HADN’T GOTTEN a quarter mile down the road when the older woman said, “So you’re the young man Annie’s trying to convince not to close down Corbin Manufacturing.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Jack said, wishing he could have hung another identity on himself.
“Is she?”
Jack threw her a glance. “What’s that?”
“Convincing you?”
Nothing like directness to put a hitch in a man’s step. From all appearances, Lydia Parker was a sweet, gray-haired grandmotherly type. It looked as though he was going to get a quick tutorial that when it came to Annie, her protective feathers could get ruffled pretty easily.
And he liked her for it. Wasn’t too sure he appreciated her opening that front door at the precise moment she had, but maybe that had turned out to be a good thing. Because if she hadn’t, he’d still be back there on that porch, kissing Annie. There was just no denying that fact.
“I’m not too sure how things are going to turn out with the factory, Mrs. Parker. We’ll just have to wait and see. But yes, Annie’s had some very convincing arguments for trying to revive it.”
“You know there aren’t a lot of women around like that one these days.”
“She takes her job seriously,” he agreed, not sure where he was supposed to go with this.
“Yes, she does. Unlike that skunk of a husband she had.”
On this, Jack hoped she would elaborate.
“Any man who would run off and leave a woman and child like those two—” She broke off there, shaking her head, her opinion as clearly expressed as if she’d gone on for another hour reciting all the bad things that should happen to J. D. McCabe.
“Maybe he didn’t realize what he had.”
“No doubt about that,” she said with a nod. “She’d be just fine if she raised that boy on her own. But she deserves a good man in her life. It’s my hope she’ll find one. Or he’ll find her.”
Had Mrs. Parker been looking out the window before she’d opened that door a few minutes ago? Jack’s guess was yes.
“I sure would hate, though, to see her get her hopes up for something that didn’t have a chance. It’s taken a long time for her to get over the batch of hurt that J.D. left her with. She’s not one to let on to many people, but I saw it with my own eyes.”
“Annie’s lucky to have someone who cares about her the way you do,” Jack said, wondering if he should be offended that he was being alluded to in the same breath that Annie’s ex-husband was being taken down with.
“Not a lot of work to it,” Mrs. Parker said. “Turn right just past that barn. That’s my driveway.”
Jack slowed, flipped on his signal light and made the turn onto the gravel road. They drove another half mile or so before coming to a two-story brick house with twin pecan trees in the front yard.
“Thank you,” she said. “I appreciate the ride. I hope Annie’s efforts pay off.”
“Good night, Mrs. Parker,” he said, not sure what else to say. He waited while she unlocked her front door and let herself in with a wave.
Driving home a few minutes later, Jack thought about what the older woman had said. Not a lot of work to it. And he had to admit that she was right. If a man believed in such notions as love and commitment, it would be hard not to fall for a woman like Annie.
If a man believed in that sort of thing.
* * *
THE PHONE WAS RINGING when Jack walked into the kitchen at Glenn Hall a few minutes later. A renegade hope that it might be Annie was his only explanation for the speed with which he snapped up the cordless phone.
“Jack? It’s Clarice. I hope I’m not calling too late.”
“No,” he said, surprised.
“I was wondering if you’d like to come over for dinner tomorrow night.”
“Dinner,” he said, stalling and not at all sure where to go with this.
“I promise it’ll be good. Annie said she’ll supervise. She’s the cook in the family. I defer all judgment to her.”
Annie’s sister had just asked him out. So Annie had known she was going to? That explained, then, the frequent insertion of Clarice’s name at dinner.
It did not explain the fact that he’d almost kissed Annie less than an hour ago, and unless his intuition on such things had gone haywire, she’d wanted him to do so.
Apparently, his intuition had gone haywire.
Disappointment fell over him like thunderheads.